ITP - 92: Spring Break Stories — Colombia, Switzerland, Maldives

Greg: Welcome to the show.

Greg: So welcome to the episode of the spring break. Check it. This is Greg the Single Guy, and I’m so sorry that I’ve got Kent in a weird mood tonight and I’ve got JP Mint down in Mexico. So we are all coming at you live—well, not live for you. It’s recorded for you. What I’ve got to check myself this time of year is, I don’t know, this is the time of year where if I’m going to say something really stupid to someone, it’s usually this time of year because at the end of the day I’m just tired, slightly cranky. It’s like working all day with kids that are just—people who are… I told JP, you’re a little grumpy. I told JP you’re a little bit grumpy, but that’s because it’s the end of the year and you’ve got like… it’s like you’re having a stand-up comedy routine with an audience that does nothing but heckle you all day. They just… they just, “Hey, you suck,” throwing their drinks at the microphone. I saw a video meme of somebody straddling kind of like a dam or something, and there was water going through on one side and then the other, and it was floating back and forth. The guy was going from one side to the other and it was just floating back. And he was like, teachers in May, just trying to tread water.

Kent: Another one for the ITP crowd. I know this is radio and not television, but JP Mint and I couldn’t help but notice that our co-host Greg the Single Guy is rather bedraggled today. Just an appearance. I would like to go live. I bet the ITP crowd would love to see us streaming live, unedited, as bedraggled as you are.

Greg: We want some feedback from our crowd though before we do anything live, so we need to hear back from our crowd.

Kent: You know what, JP Mint is the most presentable of the hosts. She is coordinated most days, showered. I don’t know if I can say it’s mostly, not every day. Hair is done. And today the earrings and the dress match. And I’m sure we’re going to hear the story about that.

Jacqueline: Well, I just think it’s important to take this seriously and not come half shaved.

Greg: Just half shaved but half dressed.

Jacqueline: Half dressed. Thank goodness the top half is, but we don’t want to comment on the rest.

Greg: Wow, when did I become the target?

Kent: Everybody.

Jacqueline: Oh, you are always the target.

Greg: Well, we were here last night waiting for you, to be fair.

Kent: I called you. I knocked on your door.

Greg: Welcome to the episode where we make fun of Greg the Single Guy.

Kent: So what happened? Did you fall asleep on the couch?

Greg: If you want, you can leave some comments about Greg. We figured you took a nap and fell asleep. See, some of us work.

Kent: Which one of us is that?

Greg: I came home from work and I just crashed. I was asleep. And Matt will attest to this—I could sleep through a hurricane. Once I go to sleep, I’m out. I can sleep like 24 hours if I didn’t have something to wake me up.

Kent: That’s what I said. I said maybe he’s just taking a nap. But his naps become nights.

Kent: Well, you’re up now, so we’ll take full advantage of that.

Greg: What are we talking about this episode?

Jacqueline: I thought maybe our listeners would like to hear about our recent spring breaks because I think we all went somewhere. This is one of the advantages of teaching and living overseas—it feels like you can just hop on a plane and go somewhere. Whereas a lot of my friends back in the States or Canada have to save up for two years to go somewhere like Italy. But we, as people living overseas, get to just hop on a plane and go.

Greg: It’s part of the best kept secret in education. I heard that somewhere. It’s part of the education. International Teaching: The Best Kept Secret in Education by Gregory Something Lemoine.

Kent: I like the way you said Gregory Something Lemoine.

Greg: I think it’s Gregory S.

Kent: Tell the ITP crowd what your middle initial is.

Greg: It’s H.

Kent: Hufflepuff?

Greg: I can’t put that out on the web.

Kent: My first initial is G.

Greg: No, that’s for Gregory.

Kent: I have a feeling a lot of this is going to be on the editing floor.

Greg: Oh no, we’re not going to edit all of this.

Greg: So I went somewhere. Did Greg go somewhere? Did Kent go somewhere?

Kent: I did go somewhere too.

Greg: Did you go somewhere?

Kent: Next topic after us, right?

Greg: Where did you go, JP?

Jacqueline: I’ll start us off. Back in October, I was at a round table with some friends, and someone asked, “Who wants to go to Colombia in the spring?” I immediately put my hand up, and I looked around and I was the only one. So my friend and I took off to Colombia this spring. It was our first time ever in South America. I did a lot of research and talked to friends. One of our previous guests, Chris Lang from the ITP crowd—shout out to Chris in Bucaramanga—I got to go see him. I got to meet his lovely wife, Pao, who would be my best friend if she lived in my city. I’m trying to get them to move here.

Greg: So jealous. I wish I could go to Bucaramanga.

Jacqueline: His wife is Colombian. She left when she was young and grew up in Florida. My friend from Texas said she sounded like a Floridian when she spoke English.

Greg: Quick shout out—one of my nieces is half Colombian and has been working out with the Colombian softball team. She’s been traveling and is really excited about it.

Jacqueline: I loved Colombia. If I wasn’t already settled in Mexico, I would be moving there. It was such a beautiful country, such friendly people, and they’re excited to have tourists. I went through a neighborhood in Medellín that used to be considered one of the most dangerous in the world in the 80s and 90s. An older man came out and said, “Bienvenido,” and I almost started crying. He was so happy to see foreigners in his neighborhood. That means welcome in Spanish. I felt welcomed everywhere. It wasn’t “gringo go home.” It was arms open wide. People should go visit Colombia before everyone discovers how amazing it is. I can’t speak enough about how people should be getting on a plane and going to Colombia before more people discover it.

Greg: JP, you’ve sung the praises of Guadalajara before. What is it about Colombia that makes you think it could be a future home?

Jacqueline: I always look at a few things. First, the people. If you feel welcomed and feel like you can be part of the society, that’s huge. I’ve lived in places where you feel like you’re always on the outside, and that’s not a good feeling. In Colombia, I felt like I could fit in quite easily and quickly. It helps that I speak Spanish fluently. If you go without much Spanish, you might not have the same experience. English is growing there, especially in tourism, but day-to-day life is still very Spanish-based. The second thing is affordability. As a semi-retired person, I’m always looking at where my money stretches the most. Mexico is affordable, but Colombia felt like half the price of Mexico in some ways. You can live really well there. The third thing is the environment. What am I going to experience day to day? Beautiful greenery, moderate temperatures, a bit of rain in the evenings. It was the start of rainy season, but it wasn’t all-day rain. It would come in the evening, and you plan around it.

Greg: I like the parrots. The green parrots flying around in Venezuela and Colombia. That rainforest environment is amazing. You look up and see these green Amazon parrots flying around.

Kent: What do we have here? Former pets that escaped?

Greg: No, those are wild.

Jacqueline: Colombia actually has one of the most diverse bird populations in the world. I don’t want to quote numbers, but it’s in the hundreds of species. Everything—tropical birds, hummingbirds. I saw so many hummingbirds. At one coffee plantation, there were probably 10 or 15 hummingbirds in one flowering bush. I thought I was being swarmed by bees at first.

Greg: I want to piggyback on that. I was in Venezuela once, in the Orinoco region, and I looked up and saw seven toucans in one tree. I had never seen a real one outside a zoo before.

Kent: What were they doing?

Greg: Just sitting there. I didn’t get to interview them. But the point is, the nature in that part of the world is incredible.

Jacqueline: Exactly. The jungles, the plants, the rainstorms that come in the afternoon and then disappear.

Greg: And the people. The people are so welcoming.

Jacqueline: That’s what really stood out. After years of being somewhat isolated, they’ve opened up and are excited to have visitors. But I also think that might change as more people discover it. I already saw retirement communities forming, especially in Medellín. Bogotá is huge and very high altitude. I had a headache almost the entire time I was there because it’s around 3,000 meters above sea level. But Medellín is lower, around 1,600 meters, and much more comfortable in terms of climate and getting around.

Greg: How long were you there?

Jacqueline: Twelve days, and I visited four regions. One of the great things about Colombia is the affordability of internal flights. I call it puddle jumping. Flights were around $50, and none of them were longer than an hour.

Greg: Avianca?

Jacqueline: Avianca and LATAM. They make travel really easy. We went from Bogotá to Bucaramanga, then took a bus to Barichara, which was this beautiful small village with white houses and terracotta roofs. Then we flew to Medellín for four days, and then to the coffee region. The coffee region was amazing. We visited plantations and saw how coffee is produced. Then we flew back to Bogotá and returned to Mexico. It was a quick trip, but I know I’ll be going back.

Greg: So for Colombia, biggest city Bogotá, capital, second city maybe Medellín. What do most people do there? What industries did you see?

Jacqueline: Bogotá, being the capital, is very industrious. There are a lot of international companies, skyscrapers, and business activity. Medellín is also industrious, but the geography really shapes things. The whole region is mountainous, so the city is built into the mountains. What I learned on a Medellín tour is that the higher up the mountain you go, the poorer the neighborhoods tend to be, mainly because of access to transportation and jobs. Historically, those areas were more dangerous because they were isolated. But in recent years, they’ve built cable cars and gondola systems that connect those neighborhoods to the main transit lines. Now people can move in and out more easily, which has improved safety and access to jobs.

Kent: A couple things I won’t do, Greg and JP—judge me if you will. I’m a little hesitant about small propeller planes, especially in mountainous regions. You know, the ones that look like they’re held together with duct tape. I’m also not a fan of cable cars or chairlifts. Not really my thing.

Jacqueline: I have a fear of heights too, but sometimes you just have to go for it.

Greg: This is interesting because Kent also went somewhere on his spring break. Kent, you were in Switzerland, right?

Kent: Yes, I was.

Greg: Did the heights bother you there? Looking down into valleys from trains and mountain routes?

Kent: Trains I’m okay with. I enjoyed the trains. We did the Golden Pass and went up into the Alps. That was a highlight for me.

Jacqueline: Was this your first time in Switzerland?

Kent: Yes, it was. It was beautiful, but I’m not sure I’m rushing back. We were actually delayed getting there by about two and a half days.

Greg: You’ve got to tell that story.

Kent: We flew through Dubai, and there was massive flooding during spring break. The airport basically shut down. We were delayed about eight hours getting in, and when we arrived, it was chaos. There were no employees visible, people everywhere, and no clear information. It looked like the New York Stock Exchange, with people waving tickets and shouting. We stood in one line for about 14 hours before realizing no one was actually working the desk. Then we found another line and waited another eight hours. Eventually we got help, but it was a very long process. You couldn’t leave the airport, and you couldn’t get on a flight. You were just stuck. There was a lot of frustration and tension, but thankfully nothing escalated too far.

Kent: Two quick stories from that airport experience. One was a young guy named Mateo. He’d been stuck there for hours before we even arrived. At one point, he stepped out of line to stretch, and he split the back of his only pair of pants. He ended up somehow finding a pair of shorts, so now he’s walking around looking like he’s on a beach vacation while stuck in airport chaos. I hope he made it home. Another was a guy named Asher, an older British gentleman. He wanted to message his dad to let him know he was okay. He handed me his phone, and it was one of those old phones that doesn’t even connect to the internet. So I let him use my phone to send a message. He told me he hadn’t used his ATM card in eight years and wasn’t even sure if it had a PIN. It was just one of those surreal situations where everyone was stuck together with no clear way out.

Greg: That sounds like a once-in-a-lifetime situation.

Kent: It really was. And honestly, the airport staff probably had it worse. Some of them couldn’t get home or get to work because the whole transport system shut down. People were stuck in subways for hours.

Greg: And after all that, you finally made it to Switzerland.

Kent: Yes, but by that point we had lost two and a half days of our trip. We had planned nine days, but we ended up with much less time. Our first stop was Lausanne, but we arrived late at night and left early the next morning, so we never really got settled. It was beautiful, but we were exhausted and never really found our rhythm. One thing I noticed was the food. It was very heavy—very German-style food where we were. I enjoy good food and wine, but it just wasn’t what I was in the mood for at that point. That said, the train rides into the Alps were incredible. You see people on the train in ski boots, carrying skis, like they’re just going to step off and start skiing. We even got snow in April.

Jacqueline: I miss Switzerland. I should have gone back.

Greg: I think you promised to take Miss Cat there again someday.

Kent: We’ll see.

Greg: All right, let’s take a moment to tell people how to get in touch with us. You can find all of us at itpexpat.com. You can email us at [internationalteacherpodcast@gmail.com](mailto:internationalteacherpodcast@gmail.com). We also have a Facebook group where you can find behind-the-scenes content. And you can find us on Instagram at ITP Expats. We have listeners in over 100 countries, and we appreciate all of you. All right, let’s get back to the show.

Greg: Greg, you had a pretty exciting spring break as well. You went to the Maldives. It’s a small country that straddles the equator, south of India in the Indian Ocean. It’s made up of atolls, with crystal-clear water, and diving is the main attraction. I spent two weeks there on a liveaboard dive boat. You wake up, dive, eat, dive again, take a nap, and repeat. I spent about 30 hours underwater during the trip.

Jacqueline: I have questions about that. What kind of boat are you on? Are you sharing rooms or sleeping outside?

Greg: It’s not like a budget trip. It’s more like a floating resort. There are about ten cabins, usually two people per cabin, but I had my own this time. The boat has a full kitchen, dining area, and everything is taken care of. There’s also a smaller dive boat that follows the main vessel. You move from island to island, diving at different sites each day. It’s basically all-inclusive diving. Every day, you wake up, dive, eat, dive again, take a nap, and repeat. It’s a pretty good routine. One of the big highlights of diving in the Maldives is the marine life. You get huge schools of fish because the waters are protected. You also get whale sharks and manta rays. Those are some of the main draws. On this trip, I saw manta rays, a whale shark, and lots of sharks—gray reef sharks, blacktip reef sharks, white tip reef sharks.

Kent: Is there any danger with all those sharks?

Greg: No, not really. Sharks generally don’t go after humans. If anything, they’re more at risk from us. Divers actually pay to go see sharks, so it’s the opposite of what people think.

Jacqueline: That sounds incredible.

Greg: It is. And the Maldives has become very popular for diving, which is both good and bad. There are more divers now, and that can impact the environment, but the country is trying to manage it.

Kent: That brings up an interesting point about responsible travel and ecotourism. Do you think people are becoming more aware of their impact when they travel?

Greg: In diving, there’s a strong emphasis on not touching anything, not disturbing marine life, and leaving no trace. The Maldives relies on tourism, so they have a vested interest in protecting their environment. One thing I always do when I dive in other parts of the world is pick up trash. My gear has pockets, and I’ll collect plastic or debris when I see it. In the Maldives, I didn’t really see trash underwater. It was very clean.

Jacqueline: That’s impressive.

Greg: It really is. In many places, you’ll see plastic or other debris, but not there.

Jacqueline: I think ecotourism is becoming more important. When I was in Colombia, I was thinking about ways to travel more responsibly. We wanted to stay in eco-lodges, but it was actually hard to find options that really fit that idea. We ended up staying in Airbnbs, but we tried to be mindful—recycling where possible and supporting local businesses.

Kent: I think it’s something more people are starting to think about, especially younger travelers. Miss Cat and I have started talking about it more as well—how we travel and what impact we leave behind.

Greg: It’s definitely something that’s going to keep growing as a topic.

Jacqueline: I had an interesting experience related to language while I was there. I met a young girl at a restaurant who was learning English on Duolingo. We started talking, and she showed me her app, and I showed her mine. She was also learning French. It was one of those moments where you realize how important language is as a bridge. Even at six years old, she’s already opening doors for herself.

Greg: That’s great.

Kent: I always worry someone is going to ask me a grammar question I can’t answer, like what’s the past progressive?

Jacqueline: Just ask them for an example.

Kent: Exactly. I just try to communicate and connect.

Greg: That’s what matters. Making the effort.

Greg: This has been great to catch up over spring break.

Jacqueline: I just want to tell our listeners that this is one of the reasons we go overseas—to travel, to get to know other cultures, to learn languages, and to meet people from different backgrounds. For me, that was one of the top reasons I moved overseas—the conversations you can have with people from around the world. I would encourage people to look at international teaching because you get experiences like this. Even with the misadventures—like being stuck in an airport—you still meet people and hear their stories. And then you get to see incredible places like Switzerland, or go diving in the Maldives, or travel across Colombia.

Greg: That’s a great point.

Kent: I think what makes travel such a key part of international teaching is proximity. In the United States, you can fly for six hours and still be in the same country. Here, you’re a few hours away from completely different cultures—Greece, Italy, Egypt, Turkey. It’s also more financially accessible, and it becomes part of the culture of international teaching. You bond with colleagues over travel stories. It’s a big part of what we do.

Greg: You’ve done it again, Kent the Cat Guy. I’d like to thank our future sponsors, Duolingo and Days Inn. And I’d like to encourage you to sign up for our future Patreon, where you can hear more stories. You can find JP Mint at jpmintconsulting.com. You can find my book, International Teaching: The Best Kept Secret in Education, on Amazon. And Kent, where can people find you?

Kent: You can find me in room 402, enjoying Teacher Appreciation Week.

Greg: Thank you for your time. We’ll see you next episode.

All: Thank you.