My First Season

My guest today was born in Alexandria, Egypt then emigrated to Philadelphia in 1961. He got his B.A. and Master’s at Temple University and was 2 years into his Ph.D. when he decided to apply to Club Med. His first season was at Club Med Fort Royale in 1970 as a Tennis G.O., where only three weeks before, he was a G.M. in the same village! Altogether, he worked for Club Med from 1970 to 2001. Who is this mystery person? Well, it is the one and only, Alex ElKayem!! Alex only held three positions in Club Med villages. He worked one season as a Tennis G.O. and then he was in Public Relations from 1970-1973 and then he was promoted to Chief of Village and served from 1973-1976, working in such villages as Fort-Royal, Agadir, Cargese, Martinique, Marrakech, Caravelle, Hanalei in Hawaii and his last season as CDV was in Moorea. After village life, Alex went to work in the offices and held positions such as Directeur du Pays in the Club Med offices of Milano and Brussels, General Manager of the Sydney office from 1977-1979, and Managing Director of the Auckland New Zealand office from 1979-1983. After that, he was the Commercial Regional Manager in the Singapore office for South East Asia and then came to my hometown of Montreal to be the Managing Director for Club Med Canada from 1985-1993. After Montreal, he was the Managing Director of UK and Ireland in the London office from 1993-2001. Alex is now retired and living in Bordeaux, France, and is only the second person and the first EXCDV to record two interviews, one in English and one in French! If you like to hear about the golden years of Club Med in the early 1970s, then this interview is for you! **My First Season podcast has always been ad-free and free to listen to and is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Samsung Podcasts, Podbean App, Podchaser, Spotify, Amazon Music/Audible, TuneIn + Alexa, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM, Pandora and Listen Notes. And if you like what you hear, please leave a review at Apple podcasts.

Mon invité d'aujourd'hui est né à Alexandrie, en Égypte, puis a émigré à Philadelphie aux États-Unis en 1961. Il a obtenu son baccalauréat et sa maîtrise à l'université Temple et était à deux ans de terminer son doctorat lorsqu'il a décidé de poser sa candidature au Club Med. Sa première saison s'est déroulée au Club Med Fort Royale en 1970 en tant que moniteur de Tennis, alors que trois semaines auparavant, il était G.M. dans le même village! Au total, il a travaillé au Club Med de 1970 à 2001. Qui est cette personne mystérieuse ? Il s'agit du seul et unique Alex ElKayem! Alex n'a occupé que trois postes dans les villages du Club Med. Il a travaillé une saison en tant que directeur général du tennis, puis il a été chargé des relations publiques de 1970 à 1973. Il a ensuite été promu chef de village et a travaillé de 1973 à 1976 dans des villages tels que Fort-Royal, Agadir, Cargèse, Martinique, Marrakech, Caravelle, Hanalei à Hawaï et sa dernière saison en tant que chef de village a été à Moorea. Après la vie au village, Alex a travaillé dans les bureaux et a occupé des postes tels que Directeur du Pays dans les bureaux du Club Med de Milan et de Bruxelles, Directeur Général du bureau de Sydney de 1977 à 1979 et Directeur Général du bureau d'Auckland en Nouvelle-Zélande de 1979 à 1983. Alex a ensuite été directeur régional commercial du bureau de Singapour pour l'Asie du Sud-Est, avant de venir à Montréal, ma ville natale, pour occuper le poste de directeur général du Club Med Canada de 1985 à 1993. Après Montréal, il a été directeur général du Royaume-Uni et de l'Irlande au bureau de Londres de 1993 à 2001. Alex est aujourd'hui à la retraite et vit à Bordeaux, en France. Il est la deuxième personne et le premier EXCDV à enregistrer deux interviews, l'une en anglais et l'autre en français. Si vous aimez entendre parler de l'âge d'or du Club Med au début des années 1970, cette interview est faite pour vous! **Le podcast My First Season a toujours été sans publicité et son écoute est gratuite. Il est disponible sur: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Samsung Podcasts, Podbean App, Spotify, Amazon Music/Audible, TuneIn + Alexa, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM, Pandora, Podchaser et Listen Notes. Et si vous aimez ce que vous entendez, veuillez laisser un commentaire sur Apple Podcasts.

My guest today worked for Club Med from 1993 to 1999 and held several positions such as Sailing, Snorkeling, Archery, Light Engineer, DJ, and Circus G.O. His first season was in Club Med Ixtapa in 1993 as a Telephone/Standard G.O. Please help me welcome, from Mexico City and now living in Quebec, Xavier Margain! Xavier worked in villages such as Huatulco, Playa Blanca (with Kenton Smith), Sonora Bay, Turks and Caicos, and Punta Cana. Xavier’s parents went to Club Med and thought he would be a good fit for Club Med. Years later after he graduated, Xavier was job hunting and walking around Polanco in Mexico City handing out résumés and he came across the Club Med office, walked in, had an interview, and then got a call the next day asking if he would like to work for Club Med. Xavier takes us through his interview with Club Med in Mexico, his first week in Ixtapa, and shares a pretty cool story about Kenton Smith in Playa Blanca in 1994 that I am sure many of you have not heard. Xavier also recounts a funny story involving the CDV Lefis in Huatulco in 1994 and you will love to hear his story about drinking rum and cokes with Spanish singer Julio Iglesias in Punta Cana and the story that Xavier shared with him. Xavier worked with a lot of special people in Club Med like Christy Harrington, Darwin, Batman, Salvatore Giarratana, Veronica Margellos, Laura Palmer, Rodrigo Tapia, Mary Kelly and Gecko, to name just a few. At the end of the interview, we share what we miss about Club Med and the adjustments we had to make in the “real world”. Please enjoy! **My First Season podcast has always been ad-free and free to listen to and is available to download on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Samsung Podcasts, Podbean App, Podchaser, Spotify, Amazon Music/Audible, TuneIn + Alexa, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM, Pandora and Listen Notes. And if you like what you hear, please leave a review at Apple podcasts.

Hey everyone and welcome to a brand-new segment of My First Season. I do not have a name for the segment yet, but I have been workshopping the term, My First Season- “In Couple”. In this new feature of MFS, I will be interviewing a “couple” of G.O.s (see what I did there?) who have worked together during the same season. If there are three of you, we’ll simply call it In Thruple! So, any EXGOs who are very shy or not comfortable about coming on just by themselves, now you can come on with a friend or two that you worked with in the same village of Club Med and had a lot of laughs with. My guests today worked together in Club Med Paradise Island in 2001/2002. One was a Tennis G.O. and the other was Landsports and they are two of the founding members of the “Four Horseman” of Paradise Island. What the heck is a Horseman? Well, we will get into that and what these two guys are up to nowadays. So, without further ado, please help me welcome back to the podcast, James “Joker” Cradle and Renato Paiva!! Joker (Landsports) and Renato (Tennis) both remember meeting each other on Paradise Island and they share some stories about their time there. They never lost contact once their Club Med careers ended, and they fill me in on what they are up to these days. What Joker and Renato are up to is “Sports Fest Ixtapa 2024” which will be held on April 24-28, 2024, in Club Med Ixtapa! This unique event will allow you to compete in tennis, soccer, or pickleball against players with similar skill levels, making the games both challenging and enjoyable. This sports festival combines the thrill of competitive sports with the luxury and leisure of an all-inclusive resort Mexican resort. And yes, there is an EXGO discount. Please email Renato at: [email protected] to enquire. Please visit their website below for more details on this one-of-a-kind event: Sports Fest (sportsfestixtapa2024.com)

I had the supreme pleasure of working with my guest today in Club Med Columbus Isle during the 1997/1998 season. Her first season was in Club Med Sonora Bay in 1997 as a Fitness and Landsports G.O. From Columbus, Ohio and now living in Toronto, Canada, please help me welcome the amazing Kimberly Eberwine!!! Before Club Med and between the junior and senior year of her Creative Writing degree, Kimberly went to Sonora Bay as a G.M. and fell in love with Club Med and the culture. Ever the maverick, she did not apply via the usual route to Club Med and instead faxed the village of Sonora Bay asking if they were hiring. They were, and that’s how she got to work there! Kimberly shares so many stories from her seasons and some of my favorite stories are from her time in Sonora. Like the time when she first encountered the concept of “French Math” and two unfortunate diving mishaps she had with a first-stage regulator rupture and the second one involved bumping into a Portuguese man o’ war on her ascent after a safety stop, whilst wearing her “cute” bathing suit instead of the practical one (she explained me the difference!). Kimberly also performed that time-honored, first-season G.O. rite of passage of being on the “Black List”, but this was due to Gatorade and not partying. Gatorade? Yup, you must listen to find out why! When we get to her season in Columbus Isle, we share stories of our love of all things Jean-Paul Morales. After Club Med, Kimberly got certified as a scuba instructor on Grand Cayman (and reveals her favorite pastime while there) and then she got her law degree from Case Western Reserve University, where she was second in her class of over two hundred and graduated summa cum laude. We get into the three things she misses the most about Club Med and how Club Med helped her in her law career. **My First Season podcast has always been ad-free and free to listen to and is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Samsung Podcasts, Podbean App, Podchaser, Spotify, Amazon Music/Audible, TuneIn + Alexa, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM, Pandora and Listen Notes. And if you like what you hear, please leave a review at Apple podcasts.

In the two-plus years of this podcast, I have never had a guest with such a unique perspective on Club Med, more than my special guest today. She lived for a time in Club Med all over the world, but she was not a G.M. and technically, did not work in the villages either. Confused? From age 0 to 16, she changed countries every 6-12 months and started the flying trapeze at age four and she and her brother had 200 big sisters and brothers everywhere they went. She is the daughter of a very famous Chief of Village (whose episode aired in May of 2023), and she was born in Zinal, Switzerland, and has UK and US citizenship. In 2010 she was hired by Cirque du Soleil for the show, La Nouba, as part of the Aerial Tissue Team, and she stayed with the show until 2017 (based in Orlando, Florida) when it closed its run, doing ten shows a week. Who is this mystery person? If you had the pleasure of being in a village with her and her dad, then you already know. For those that do not know, please help me welcome and get to know, the amazing, Kate Coltman!! In this episode, we cover Kate’s earliest memories and what it was like growing up in Club Med until she was sixteen years old. And we do cover quite a lot of Kate’s time spent at La Nouba because she is the first guest on MFS to have worked at Cirque du Soleil. Kate tells us what the application process was like, visiting Montreal for five days to sign her contract and get fitted for her costume (and running into an EXGO she knew from Circus), to performing in the shows and her memory of her first-ever show for La Nouba. If you were a Circus G.O. or are a big fan of Cirque du Soleil shows, then you will love this interview with Kate. I really hope you enjoy this episode with a very amazing person!! **My First Season podcast has always been ad-free and free to listen to and is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Samsung Podcasts, Podbean App, Podchaser, Spotify, Amazon Music/Audible, TuneIn + Alexa, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM, Pandora and Listen Notes. And if you like what you hear, please leave a review at Apple podcasts. Please check out the link below to Kate's Pilates studio in Orlando: Oak Tree Pilates

I never had the pleasure of working with my guest today, but she worked for Club Med from 1988 to 2000. Her first season was in Club Med Eleuthera in 1988 as a Mini Club G.O. Everyone, please help me welcome one amazing Aussie, Julie Ford!! When she was a young twenty-something first-grade teacher, Julie went to Club Med Moorea by herself as a G.M. at the suggestion of her mother. Even after that vacation Julie still was not sure she would apply one day to become a G.O., but she eventually did and had her interview in the Club Med New York offices with John Shelly. Julie worked in such villages as St. Lucia (89), Ixtapa (91), Noumea (92), Lindeman Island (93), Cherating (94), and Copper Mountain (95). She worked with Chiefs of Village such as Pierre Ruffaldi, Andrea Livingston, Patrice Prual, Carlos Castro, and Jean-Pierre Franquin. Julie was at the opening of Club Med Lindeman Island with Carlos Castro in 1993. I ask Julie to go into detail about the opening and she was kind enough to oblige me. Julie shares a story about a “borrowed” VCR and a future Chief of Village that you really must hear! She remembers watching the live telecast of the Olympics announcement on September 24, 1993, in the theatre of Lindeman and the place going nuts when Australia won the bid. Julie told herself then that when the Olympics came in 2000, she would be a part of it somehow. Did she? You will have to listen to find out!! We cover a lot in this episode so get comfortable! At the end of the interview, Julie tells us what she is doing now, the things she misses most about Club Med, and if she would do anything differently. Please enjoy this episode with Julia Ford!! **My First Season podcast has always been ad-free and free to listen to and is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Podchaser, Samsung Podcasts, Podbean App, Spotify, Amazon Music/Audible, TuneIn + Alexa, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM, Pandora and Listen Notes. And if you like what you hear, please leave a review at Apple podcasts.

J'ai eu le plaisir de travailler avec mon invitée d'aujourd'hui pendant une saison extraordinaire au Club Med Lindeman Island en Australie pendant la saison 2000/2001. Avant le Club Med, elle est allée en tant que G.M. avec sa famille dans les Club Med de Santa Theresa, Djerba La Douce, Da Balaia et Marrakech. Sa première saison a été au Club Med de Kos en 1999 en tant que G.O. du Petit Club. Elle a ensuite travaillé à Valmenier-Valloire (1999-2000) avec l'incroyable CDV, Gibus, et elle a également travaillé à Palmiye (2000). Aidez-moi à souhaiter la bienvenue à Nastasja Glume, de Bruxelles! Nastasja nous raconte comment elle allait au Club Med avec sa famille lorsqu'elle était plus jeune et nous fait part de nombreuses anecdotes sur son séjour au Club Med. Nous parlons de notre séjour sur l'île Lindeman avec Gibus, et de tout le plaisir que nous avons eu avec lui. À la fin de l'interview, nous parlons de ce que fait Nastaja aujourd'hui. Profitez de cet épisode avec Nastasja! **Le podcast My First Season a toujours été sans publicité et son écoute est gratuite. Il est disponible sur: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Samsung Podcasts, Podbean App, Spotify, Amazon Music/Audible, TuneIn + Alexa, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM, Pandora, Podchaser et Listen Notes. Et si vous aimez ce que vous entendez, veuillez laisser un commentaire sur Apple Podcasts. N'hésitez pas à consulter son Instagram où vous pourrez voir ses magnifiques dessins: Nastasja Glume (@nastasjaglume.le_contour) | Instagram

My guest today worked for Club Med from July 1993 to 2001 as Mini Club, Chief of Mini Club and Circus. His first season was in Club Med Ixtapa in 1993 as a Mini Club G.O. From Ontario, Canada, please help me welcome, Jamie Neilson!! Before Club Med, Jamie visited Club Med five times starting in 1986. He actually told his guidance counselor in high school that he wanted to be a G.O.! As a G.M., he went to Bermuda, Paradise Island, and St. Lucia. Jamie worked in villages such as Eleuthera, Roi Soleil in Saint Moritz, Guadeloupe, Huatulco, Arziv, and Punta Cana. Jamie took the train to Montreal for his interview in March of 1993 and not many prospective G.O.s can hand a reference letter from Ryan Leach and give it to the person interviewing him, in this case, Kevin Batt! Jamie met Ryan as a G.M. in St. Lucia, but I’ll let him tell that story. Jamie worked for Chief of Villages such as Toutoune, Teach, Hammer, and Alain Pistolesi, to name but a few. Jamie learned a lot from the late, great Darwin Hamilton and he remembers him fondly here. Jamie also reveals which CDV taught him everything he knows about leadership, management, and being a G.O. and who he considers to be a big brother. Jamie shares a pretty funny story from Eleuthera involving Darwin, Fergy, and a golf cart that you absolutely have to hear! When he was in Arziv in 1998, he created the Spice Girls' “Who Do You Think You Are” Crazy Sign and was pleasantly surprised to see that his Crazy Sign was being performed in Punta Cana in 2001! Jamie was also one of the first Field Recruiters hired by Club Med in 2000 and he talks about that as well. Please enjoy this episode with Jamie! **My First Season podcast has always been ad-free and free to listen to and is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Samsung Podcasts, Podbean App, Spotify, Amazon Music/Audible, TuneIn + Alexa, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM, Pandora and Listen Notes. And if you like what you hear, please leave a review at Apple podcasts.

My guest’s name is frequently brought up on this podcast when I ask them which CDV they enjoyed working with, so I am very happy he agreed to share the first part of his story with us. Why just the first part? Well, he worked for Club Med from 1967 to 1999 and spent twenty of those years as a Legendary Chief of Village! His first season was in 1967 in Club Med Caprera in Sardinia, Italy as a Scuba G.O. Everyone, please help me welcome the amazing, Mike Coltman!! I hope you are sitting comfortably because Mike came with some stories!! It’s impossible to take a distinguished career like Mike’s and condense it to one hour, so Mike will be back at a later date to talk about his Chief of Village years. Before Club Med, a leg injury curtailed his burgeoning football career, so he went into the Merchant Navy as an Engineer Officer. But a chance viewing of “Thunderball” in 1965 starring Sean Connery as James Bond and being entranced by the underwater scenes, led Mike to scuba diving. Twelve months later from that viewing, Mike was a certified Scuba Instructor. What’s included in this interview? Well, if you worked in Martinique as I did, you probably wondered where those cannons came from. Wonder no more, because Mike helped in raising those cannons to the surface from the Diamond Rock dive site!! He tells the amazing tale of how they found the cannons and the incredible amount of work it took to raise them. Mike also opened the village of Club Med Fort Royal in Guadeloupe in 1969/1970 and lets us know in vivid detail what that was like. So many stories in one hour, too numerous to mention here! Mike also worked with a lot of the legendary Chief of Villages back in the day, so if you are a Club Med historian, you will love this episode! **My First Season podcast has always been ad-free and free to listen to and is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Samsung Podcasts, Podbean App, Spotify, Amazon Music/Audible, TuneIn + Alexa, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM, Pandora and Listen Notes. And if you like what you hear, please leave a review at Apple podcasts.

I never had the pleasure of working with my guest today, but we do have 16 mutual friends in our Club Med family. Before Club Med, she studied Communications & Marketing at Eastern Michigan University and is a diehard Michigan Wolverines fan-Go Blue! Her first season was in May of 1988 in Club Med Paradise Island as a Hostess. She worked for CM from 1988 to 1990 in St. Lucia, Huatulco, and Punta Cana and she was also a Sailing G.O. Please help me welcome from Baltimore Maryland and now living in Huntingdon Beach, California, Robin Brogdon (Kopilnick)! During her first season, the American game show “Hollywood Squares” actually came to Paradise Island to film some episodes, and yes, we will talk about that experience. Robin first went to Club Med Guadeloupe as a G.M. in 1985 and then to Sonora Bay in 1986. Robin explains how after university she was a young working professional who had a good job and a house and a car at a very young age, but something was missing. She decided to change her life around and apply to Club Med, even though people around her thought she was a little crazy for giving all that up. Robin had her interview in Washington, D.C. with a group of people, and a few weeks later she got a letter in the mail telling her she was accepted. While waiting for her village, she decided to go to Club Med Paradise Island as a G.M. While Robin was there, she told the CDV, Bob Fagan, that she was going to be working for Club Med and Bob told her to go back home, get her affairs in order and then come back to Paradise Island, which is what she did. And the rest is history. So, if you were a late 80s or early 90s G.O., you will love this episode! Please enjoy! **My First Season podcast has always been ad-free and free to listen to and is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Samsung Podcasts, Podbean App, Spotify, Amazon Music/Audible, TuneIn + Alexa, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM, Pandora and Listen Notes. And if you like what you hear, please leave a review at Apple podcasts.

I heard about my guest during my first season in Turks and I did not meet him until 28 years later! So, as you can imagine, I am very excited to have him on the podcast! His first season was in Club Med Eleuthera in 1983 as a Sailing G.O. He worked for Club Med from 1983 to 2020 and held positions such as Sailing & Windsurfing, Public Relations, Chief of Sports, Chief of Village to Director of Training and Corporate HR in Miami and Director of UDT. Still don’t know who I am talking about? You have either all worked with him, or you know his name, as it is synonymous with Club Med. Of course, I can only be talking about the one and only, legendary, Howard McCarley!! Up until Chief of Sports, Howard worked in villages such as Ixtapa, Playa Blanca, Sonora Bay, Fort Royal, Île Maurice, Eilat, Luxor & Hurgada and Copper Mountain. Howard first heard about Club Med from a couple that he was giving windsurfing lessons to in California. It turned out that this couple frequented Club Med and told him all about it. Howard applied and drove down to the Scottsdale office to be interviewed by none other than CDV Sylvio de Bortoli, who was going on a recruitment drive. Howard helped open the beautiful village of Sonora Bay in 1984, with CDV Michel Proriol and we fondly reminisce over windsurfing on the Red Sea in Eilat. Howard shares with us which Chief of Village he modeled himself after and who became his mentor and ends the interview talking about his Chief of Sports stage in France. Please enjoy this first part of the interview. Hopefully, Howard will return in the near future for the second part! **My First Season podcast has always been ad-free and free to listen to and is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Samsung Podcasts, Podbean App, Podchaser, Spotify, Amazon Music/Audible, TuneIn + Alexa, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM, Pandora and Listen Notes. And if you like what you hear, please leave a review at Apple podcasts.

I had the pleasure of working with my guest today in Club Med Turks and Caicos during the summer of 1994. When I posted Anthony Salerno’s interview about the amazing “70s Celebration” in Turks that summer, he left a nice comment and his recollection of that incredible week. I reached out to him and he graciously agreed to come on the podcast. His first season was in Club Med Sandpiper in 1991 as DJ. Please help me welcome to My First Season, Darren Wasson! Darren was actually in a pool bar in Pasadena when he encountered someone who had worked at Club Med and told him all about it. Darren applied and had his interview in San Francisco and was sent to Sandpiper. He worked in villages such as Playa Blanca, Cancun, Martinique, and Paradise Island. Darren was a Snorkeling/Picnic G.O. for his second and third seasons and he shares some stories from that time. He has a very funny “picnic/porta-potty” story in Sandpiper that you will not want to miss! Darren also shares his recollections of the “70s Celebration” in Turks in September of 1994. He played Scrabble with rule-breaker Ron Palillo and handed over a packed dance floor to guest DJ, Felipe Rose, from the Village People, who probably should have stuck to singing and dancing! Darren recounts a classic Paradise Island ghost story and is patient when I grill him about the "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" show in Playa Blanca in 1991. Snow White in Playa in '91?! Okay! Near the end of the interview we talk about his YouTube channel on personal audio called “HeadKarma” and what’s it like living with a 140-pound Presa Canario mastiff. With a dog that size, can he have nice things? Darren lets us know! **My First Season podcast has always been ad-free and free to listen to and is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Samsung Podcasts, Podbean App, Podchaser, Spotify, Amazon Music/Audible, TuneIn + Alexa, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM, Pandora and Listen Notes. And if you like what you hear, please leave a review at Apple podcasts. Please visit his YouTube channel and hit that subscribe button! https://www.youtube.com/@headkarma

My guest and I worked an amazing season together in Club Med Playa Blanca in 1996/1997, so I am delighted whenever someone from that season comes on, such as previous MFS guests like Dana Winess, Vladimir Mayllen, and Luke “Gus” Neale, for example. His first season was in Club Med Huatulco in January of 1996 as Polyvalent Sports with Myriam Karaohanessian as CDV. He later became an Archery G.O., Animator, and Chief of Animation and then returned to Club Med in 2013 as Polyvalent Animation. From Montreal, Quebec but now living in the Sunshine State, please help me welcome a very funny man, Emmanuel Azuelos!! Emmanuel learned about Club Med from his parents who would frequently go there on vacation. The kids did not get to go with them however, and went instead to, I-kid-you-not, Winter Camp in Montreal (been here my whole life and never heard of that!)! Emmanuel’s parents met Myriam in Huatulco as G.M.’s in 1996 and they said their son would be perfect for Club Med. She told them to get him down to Huatulco and the rest is history. Emmanuel’s second season in Punta Cana coincided with Kevin Batt’s first season as a CDV! Emmanuel worked in villages such as Punta Cana (3x!), Ixtapa, Playa Blanca (2x), and Columbus Isle. He thought Playa Blanca in 1998/1999 would be his last season only to find himself working for Club Med again after almost 14 years. Emmanuel and I talk about our incredible season in Playa Blanca and he is kind to share a lot of funny stories with us! We also talk about what he did in those intervening 14 years and what he is up to now. Please enjoy this hour with, Emmanuel! **My First Season podcast has always been ad-free and free to listen to and is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Samsung Podcasts, Podbean App, Spotify, Amazon Music/Audible, TuneIn + Alexa, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM, Pandora, Podchaser and Listen Notes. And if you like what you hear, please leave a review at Apple podcasts. Please check out his social media: Boutique Emmanuel Menswear (@emmanuelmenswear) • Instagram photos and videos EMTVLive | Facebook

En plus de deux ans d'existence de ce podcast, mon invité d'aujourd'hui est le PREMIER et le seul invité à accepter d'enregistrer deux interviews distinctes dans DEUX langues! C'est exact tout le monde, cet épisode sera à la fois en anglais ET en français!! Qui est cet homme talentueux?! Eh bien, je l'ai rencontré au Club Med Cancun en 2004 alors qu'il était G.O. du cirque, mais sa première saison était au Club Med Cancun en mars 1998 en tant que scénographe. Il a travaillé pour le Club Med de 1998 à 2006 dans des villages comme Eleuthera, Hualtulco Varadero, Ixtapa, Turks et Caicos et Lindeman Island. Veuillez m'aider à accueillir, le seul et unique, de Montréal, François «Tiger» MacKay!! Tiger a également été Chef de Cirque lui-même et il est ici aujourd'hui pour montrer ses prouesses en anglais et en francais! Avant le Club Med, Tiger travaillait dans la construction et le design, ce qui l'a amené à répondre à une annonce pour le Club Med qu'il a vue dans le journal local. Comme la plupart des Montréalais, Tiger pensait ne rester que deux ans, mais il a fini par rester huit ans. Tiger a travaillé pour des chefs de village tels que Kevin Batt, Mike Coltman, LouLou, Saverio Friselli, Teach Mayer, Myriam Karaohanessian, Paul Langas et Hendel Duplessy. Mon histoire préférée de Tiger s'est déroulée au Club Med Ixtapa en 2001-2003 et impliquait le remplacement du "gag" du spectacle de trapèze, une nudité involontaire et le président du Club Med de l'époque, Philippe Bourguignon! Une autre histoire incroyable est qu'il a rencontré un G.O. à Cancun en 2005 et il s'est avéré que Tiger était son entraîneur de hockey quand il était plus jeune! Qui était le G.O.? Vous avez tous entendu parler de lui ou travaillé avec lui, et vous devrez écouter cette interview très drôle pour découvrir qui c'est, profitez-en! **Le podcast My First Season a toujours été sans publicité et son écoute est gratuite. Il est disponible sur: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Samsung Podcasts, Podbean App, Spotify, Amazon Music/Audible, TuneIn + Alexa, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM, Pandora et Listen Notes. Et si vous aimez ce que vous entendez, veuillez laisser un commentaire sur Apple Podcasts.

In more than two years of this podcast, my guest today is the FIRST and only guest to agree to record two separate interviews in TWO languages! That is right everyone, this episode will be in both English AND French!! Who is this bilingual stud and talented guy?!! Well, I met him in Club Med Cancun in 2004 when he was a Circus G.O., but his first season was in Club Med Cancun in March of 1998 as a Set Designer. He worked for Club Med from 1998-2006 in villages such as Eleuthera, Huatulco Varadero, Ixtapa, Turks and Caicos, and Lindeman Island. Please help me welcome, the one and only, from Montreal, Francois “Tiger” MacKay!!! Tiger was also a Chief of Circus himself and he is here today to show off his bilingual prowess!! Before Club Med, Tiger worked in construction and design, which led him to answer an ad for Club Med that he saw in the local paper. Like most Montrealers, Tiger thought he would stay only two years, but wound up staying eight years (winter in Montreal will do that to you!). Tiger worked for Chief of Villages such as Kevin Batt, Mike Coltman, LouLou, Saverio Friselli, Teach Mayer, Myriam Karaohanessian, Paul Langas, and Hendel Duplessy. My favorite story of Tiger’s took place at Club Med Ixtapa in 2001-2003 and involved the fill-in for the trapeze show “gag”, inadvertent nudity, and Club Med’s president at the time, Philippe Bourguignon! Another incredible story is that Tiger met a G.O. in Cancun in 2005 and it turned out, Tiger was his hockey coach when he was younger! Who was the G.O.? You have all heard of him or worked with him, and you will have to listen to this very funny interview to find out who it is. Enjoy!! **My First Season podcast has always been ad-free and free to listen to and is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Samsung Podcasts, Podbean App, Spotify, Amazon Music/Audible, TuneIn + Alexa, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM, Pandora and Listen Notes. And if you like what you hear, please leave a review at Apple podcasts.

My guest today and I almost met in 1999 in Columbus Isle, but just missed each other by a few weeks. G.O.’s spoke often of my nicknamed guest over the years, so I feel like I knew him a little. After the interview, we realized that we attended the same EXGO Reunion in 2008 in Cancun! His first season was in Club Med Turks and Caicos for the 1989/1990 season as a Scuba G.O., with Kenton Smith as his Chief of Sports. He was born in New York, grew up in the UK, and now lives in Mallorca. His rather long and amazing name is Nick Stael von Holstein, but you probably know him by another name. Please help me welcome to the podcast, the one and only, Winnie!! Winnie worked for Club Med from 1989 to 2000 in such villages as St. Lucia, Cancun, Playa Blanca, Martinique, Sonora Bay, and Columbus Isle. Before Club Med, Winnie graduated with a Marine Biology degree from Roger Williams University in Rhode Island and became a scuba instructor at just 18 years old. And, as it turns out, one of my favorite people in Club Med, gave Winnie his nickname within 24 hours of Winnie arriving in Turks! If you were an early 90s G.O., then you will love this episode. Winnie name-drops so many people from his past, it will make your head spin how many legends he has worked with-Cowboy, Jean-Paul Morales, Hammer, Kevin Batt, Red, Cheez, Jenner, Sparrow, Lisa Henson (my 1st boss!), Hansel Moss, Angie Boucher, Grant Simmons, Roast Beef, Scotty De Palma, Flower, Eric Turner and Dave the Wave, to name but a few. As you can imagine, Winnie is here to share stories and does not disappoint! Too many to recount here in this small space, but the stories that stuck out for me personally were happy hour at “The House of Kos” in St. Lucia in 1992, Hammer’s wedding in Turks in 1997 (and that same season he cut a very famous G.O’s long “Red” hair) and a Christmas Day scuba dive in Cancun in 1997 with a school of dolphins that will give you goosebumps. Please enjoy this episode with Winnie!!**My First Season podcast has always been ad-free and free to listen to and is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Samsung Podcasts, Podbean App, Spotify, Amazon Music/Audible, TuneIn + Alexa, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM, Pandora and Listen Notes. And if you like what you hear, please leave a review at Apple podcasts.

Bonjour à tous, et bienvenue à nouveau à mon podcast sur le voyage et le tourisme, My First Season. J'ai rencontré mon invité aujourd'hui à Kusadasi, en Turquie, au cours de l'été 2001 et je suis heureux d'annoncer qu'il était mon chef de village cette saison-là et qu'il est le premier chef de village français à participer au podcast! Sa première saison a eu lieu en 1987 à Avoriaz en tant que moniteur de ski. Il a travaillé dans des villages tels que Kamarina, Opio, Yasmina, Marbella, Eilat, Puerto Maria et Pompadour, pour mentionner que quelques-uns. Avant de devenir lui-même Chef de Village, Laurent a travaillé pour des Chef de Village comme Jean Philippe Yvert, Patrick Calvet, Yves Mongis, Françoise Gravière, Mehdi Serrour, Juvenal Da Cunha et Lionel Benzoni. Pendant toute sa carrière au Club Med, il a travaillé dans 20 villages au total et jamais deux fois dans le même village. Sa première saison en tant que chef de village s'est déroulée à Eilat, en Israël, et nous parlerons de cette expérience et de bien d'autres choses encore. Merci de m'aider à accueillir, depuis la France, Laurent Grenouiller! **Le podcast My First Season a toujours été sans publicité et son écoute est gratuite. Il est disponible sur: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Samsung Podcasts, Podbean App, Spotify, Amazon Music/Audible, TuneIn + Alexa, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM, Pandora et Listen Notes. Et si vous aimez ce que vous entendez, veuillez laisser un commentaire sur Apple Podcasts.

I met my guest today in Club Med Playa Blanca in 1997 when he was a G.M. and I was a Landsports G.O. It is because of this podcast that he reached out to me roughly 25 years later. He said that meeting me and the Rock Climbing G.O. in Playa Blanca, Claude Gagnon, inspired him to apply to Club Med. His first season was in Club Med Ixtapa in May of 1997 as an Archery G.O., with “Toutoune” as the CDV and “Godo” as the Chief of Sports. From Montreal and now living in Alberta, please help me welcome to the show, Rich Reichman!! Rich only did one season in Club Med and explains why at the end of the interview. Luckily for us, he has a very vivid memory of that first season! Rich is kind enough to share a lot of stories with us. Knowing there was not a weight room in Ixtapa, Rich brought two 70-pound detachable dumbbells in his suitcase!! I love this story so much that I asked Rich to not spare any details!! Other stories are Rich getting an archery injury early on in his season (but not what you’re thinking), a nerve-wracking sports demonstration set to the tune of Bryan Adams’ Everything I Do (I Do It For You), to an animation prank gone awry, to a Fire and Water show wardrobe malfunction, to hanging out with Blair Underwood, Rich has got some stories! For the last 14 years, Rich has been a Unit Manager in the ER, ICU, CCU, Medicine, and Operating Room and is currently in Endoscopy and we talk a little about that. Blair the nurse in Ixtapa was partly Rich’s inspiration for becoming a nurse himself and we delve into that as well. We talk about the 3 things he misses the most about Club Med and his favorite Crazy Sign. If you were a 90s G.O., then this episode is for you! Please enjoy this interview with Rich! **My First Season podcast has always been ad-free and free to listen to and is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Samsung Podcasts, Podbean App, Spotify, Amazon Music/Audible, TuneIn + Alexa, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM, Pandora and Listen Notes. And if you like what you hear, please leave a review at Apple podcasts.

My guest today worked for Club Med from 1989 to 2004 and her first season was in Club Med Sandpiper in 1989/1990 as a Baby Club G.O. She worked her way up to Chief of Baby and Petit Club and was also a Child Care/ Circus HR manager as well as the Child Care Regional Manager. From British Columbia, Canada, please help me welcome Jo Moore!! Before Club Med, Jo worked in a YMCA summer camp that was just like Club Med, the only difference was that it did not have a bar! Jo went to Club Med Ixtapa as a G.M. on vacation when she was 18 years old. There she met two future Chief of Villages you may have heard of, who were in their very first season: Kevin Batt and Steve Riely. Jo worked in villages such as Punta Cana, Eleuthera, Ixtapa, St. Lucia, Crested Butte and Paradise Island. Jo shares so many funny stories and my personal favorite would have to be that she might have been the only woman in the world who did not know who Lenny Kravitz was when she met him in Club Med Eleuthera in 1990! Other stories Jo shares are playing "Six Degrees of Separation" at dinner with astonishing results, taking a four-foot swan dive off the stage in Sandpiper, “Kids in a Kenton Village”, and fond happy hour memories in K building in Eleuthera. Jo tells us what it was like opening the village of Crested Butte in 2000/2001 and what her experience was working at the corporate offices of Sandpiper and Miami from 1997 to 2000. At the end of the interview, Jo talks about her website, “Expandingjoy.love”, which sells t-shirts and hoodies and is a place “where each person is encouraged to live their happiest life based on what makes them happy”. Please enjoy this episode with an amazing person!! **My First Season podcast has always been ad-free and free to listen to and is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Samsung Podcasts, Podbean App, Spotify, Amazon Music/Audible, TuneIn + Alexa, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM, Pandora and Listen Notes. And if you like what you hear, please leave a review at Apple podcasts. Please visit Jo’s website below and consider your next gift-giving idea here! https://expandingjoy.love/ ExpandingJoyDesigns - Etsy Canada https://www.joannemoore.ca/ And her social media: https://www.instagram.com/expandingjoyapparel/ https://www.facebook.com/joannemoore.ca/

As promised, he is back for more!! My guest today is from Nassau, Bahamas and we met in Club Med Columbus Isle in January of 1996. His first season was in Club Med Paradise Island in 1980 as a Sailing G.O. Please help me welcome back to the podcast, the amazing and hilarious, Hansel Moss! Hansel’s Club Med story (from 1980-1992) cannot be contained in just one episode and the fact that I call him a dear friend after having the pleasure of working with him for two and a half years. In this episode, Hansel recounts how he met Hamer, Cheez, and Jenner in Club Med Moorea and started their Club Med careers. He tells a very strange story involving JoJo the dolphin from Turks AND actor Danny Glover. As Chief of Sports, Hansel is very proud of the “Miami Vice” show at the pool he put on in Club Med St. Lucia that took four weeks of prep for rehearsals and set building. He is equally proud of the huge “World Wide Wrestling” event in Club Med Playa Blanca that he staged there with Red as Hulk Hogan and Jenner as The Ultimate Warrior. Hansel recounts how crazy Club Med Cancun was back in the 80s on Mexican night and we talk about how Hansel trained me with iron for two and half years and turned a skinny Canadian into an absolute beast! (Hansel’s training methods were absolutely medieval in the best way!). We also talk about L.P. and how Hansel used to tease me (in a good way) about how incredible L.P. was. We talk about his bicycle rental, Flex Gym, and sports bar "The Zone" in San Salvador and the good news that Columbus Isle finally reopened on October 22, 2022! I hope you enjoy this second interview with a great and charming man! **My First Season podcast has always been free to listen to and is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Samsung Podcasts, Podbean App, Spotify, Amazon Music/Audible, TuneIn + Alexa, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM, Pandora, and Listen Notes. And if you like what you hear, please leave a review at Apple podcasts. If you missed his first interview, please see below: My First Season-Hansel Moss | My First Season

I never had the pleasure of working with my next guest, but I did hear his name throughout my career in Club Med and in the two years of this podcast, his name has come up quite frequently. His first season was in Club Med Marbella, Spain in 1979 as a Watersports trainee. He worked for Club Med from 1979 to 2004 (25 years!) in more than twenty different Club Med villages. Who am I talking about? Well, it’s the one and only legendary, Carlos Castro!! Before Club Med, Carlos traveled abroad since he was only nineteen years old and moved to France to learn the language, right after university. After only two seasons on the sports team, he became a Chief of Sports in Fort Royal, Guadeloupe. His first village as a Chief of Village was in 1984 in Eilat, Israel. Carlos worked in villages such as Itaparica, Rio das Pedras, Djerba La Douce, Playa Blanca, Cherating, Otranto, Copper Mountain, Bali and Bodrum, to only name a few. Carlos worked with Chief of Villages such as Jacky Amzallag, Alain Decouan, Myriam Karaohanessian, Guy Lagoutte, Pierre Hermet, and Pierre-Jean Laplace, to name but a few. He was the Chief of Village that opened my favorite place in the world; Lindeman Island in 1992, so of course I have to know what that was like. Carlos also describes where he met his future wife and how he proposed to her in Thulhagiri in the Maldives in 1985. I of course assumed he had proposed on the beach like many other Chiefs of Villages have done, but I was sooo wrong! (you have to hear this story!). Carlos’s last season as a CDV was in Paradise Island in 1999 and we talk about his transition to the Miami office and his role as an Events Producer and working in Promotions and Sales. He tells us the three things he misses most about Club Med and is the first guest in over two years to give us an extraordinary surprise at the end of the interview! So, please make sure you listen all the way to the end and no fast forwarding!! Please enjoy this interview with a Legend! **My First Season podcast has always been ad-free and free to listen to and is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Samsung Podcasts, Podbean App, Spotify, Amazon Music/Audible, TuneIn + Alexa, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM, Pandora and Listen Notes. And if you like what you hear, please leave a review at Apple podcasts.

I never had the pleasure of working with my next guest but I did hear about him when I was working for Club Med. His name came up on Dean Barbour’s episode and a chance encounter at Red’s birthday party during the summer of 2022 clinched the deal, so to speak. He is from Montreal, Quebec and in Club Med he was known as…Fergy!! Please help me welcome to MFS, Mario “Fergy” Ferguson! Fergy’s first season was in Club Med Martinique in 1988 as Landsports. Fergy worked for Club Med from 1988 to 1997 in such villages as Cancun, Huatulco, Sonora Bay, Eleuthera, Sandpiper, Turks & Caicos and even Waterville in Ireland! Fergy went to Club Med Guadeloupe as a G.M. when he was 18 years old and had such a great time that he knew he wanted to work for Club Med. Fergy knew he would have to learn English to work for Club Med, so he moved to Vancouver for six months to immerse himself there in the language. He applied to Club Med from Vancouver but had to go back to Montreal for the interview and the rest is history. Fergy has a ton of funny stories that I don’t even want to tease them here, you’ll just have to listen to this amazing interview! He mentions many names from the past of people he enjoyed working with and the three things he misses most about Club Med. He also shares a story about how he met his wife in Montreal and might not have met her had he not learned how to catch for the flying trapeze in Club Med Eleuthera in 1994, by the late, great Darwin Hamilton. **My First Season podcast has always been ad-free and free to listen to and is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Samsung Podcasts, Podbean App, Spotify, Amazon Music/Audible, TuneIn + Alexa, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM, Pandora and Listen Notes. And if you like what you hear, please leave a review at Apple podcasts.

Bonjour à tous, et bienvenue à nouveau au podcast sur le voyage et le tourisme, My First Season. J'ai rencontré mon invité aujourd'hui sur le groupe Facebook «Club Med Le Groupe des G.O.'s». Il a travaillé pour le Club Med de 1986 à 1988. Sa première saison a eu lieu en 1986 à Djerba la Douce, et il a travaillé dans des villages tels que Cap Skirring, Turquoise, Metaponto, Pompadour et Les Restanques à Saint Tropez. Il était un moniteur de tennis et un responsible de tennis aussi. Il a travaillé pour des Chefs de Villages tels que Jean Philippe Hiver, Josanne «Jojo» Desmartes, Éric Georges, Ricardo Gonzalez, Gamounet et Jean-Pierre Grand. Il est également le propriétaire de «Planet Show Evenements», et nous en parlerons à la fin de l'entrevue. Joignez-vous à moi pour souhaiter la bienvenue à Bruno Schwab de Paris! Le podcast Ma première Saison a toujours été sans publicité et gratuit à écouteret est disponible sur Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Samsung Podcasts, Podbean App, Spotify, Amazon Music/Audible, TuneIn + Alexa, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM, Pandora and Listen Notes. Veuillez cliquer sur le lien ci-dessous pour visiter le site web de Bruno Schwab: animations evenements,animation mariage,soire casino,DJ (planetshowevenements.com)

Hello everyone, this is part 5 in the MFS series “Amazing Women Doing Amazing Things”. I came across my guest today by reading an article of hers published in “Outside” magazine in November 2022, entitled, “Let Me Tell You the Truth About Being an Adventure Guide”. From that article, I learned about a course that she had taken called “National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS)”. The course lasted 89 days, and of course, I had to ask her all about it. She is a backpacker, rock climber, experienced wilderness guide, writer, photographer, trail runner, certified Yoga instructor, and watercolor artist (she makes me wonder what I’ve done with my life!). She is also a seasoned wilderness-therapy guide and very passionate about supporting mental health. Please help me give a very warm welcome to an amazing person, Erin Phillips! We cover a lot in this interview, from her early life in Maryland to her website-Erin Marie Design, where you can see her beautiful photos, paintings, and her personal writings. We also cover how Erin pitched her idea for an article to “Outside” magazine and how much she loved the entire process from conception to publication. Erin is also doing an editorial internship with Jaunt Media Collective, based out of Vail, Colorado, interviewing people and writing about their life experiences. She is also interested in creating a book as a tribute to the Guiding community, about why they love it and the challenges that come with the lifestyle. So, if you are a wilderness guide or know someone who is and might be interested in sharing their story, please reach out to Erin via her website (see below). **My First Season podcast has always been ad-free and free to listen to and is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Samsung Podcasts, Podbean App, Spotify, Amazon Music/Audible, TuneIn + Alexa, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM, Pandora and Listen Notes. And if you like what you hear, please leave a review at Apple podcasts. Please check out Erin’s website to find her published articles, photography, paintings and to submit your adventure guide story: Share Your Story | Erin Marie Designs And her Instagram: Erin Phillips (@erinmp93) • Instagram photos and videos Her article in Outside magazine: https://www.outsideonline.com/adventure-travel/essays/adventure-guide-seasonal-job-testimonial/

In two years of this podcast, today’s guest’s name has come up so often when I ask them which Chief of Village they liked working with, that I had to reach out and ask if he would like to come on. He has done 39 seasons in Club Med and 14 years in the Miami office where he currently holds the position of Senior Director UDT (University des Talents). In Club Med, he is known by only one name and in fact, he is the only Club Med employee around the world that has a nickname in their Outlook address. I can only be talking about one man, from Vancouver, it’s the one and only, the legend himself, Chris Keeley, AKA "Hammer"!! Hammer first learned about Club Med from his friend and EXGO, Sparrow, who had visited Club Med with his parents. Hammer actually had two first seasons, one short-team season in Moorea and one full season in 1989 in Club Med Turks and Caicos. He held many different G.O. positions over the years such as Waterski, Beach, Golf, Animator, Sports & Animation Coordinator, Chief of Sports and of course, Chief of Village. This interview covers his career from his first season as a Sports G.O. up until his last season as Chief of Sports. Hopefully, he will return at a later date for another interview, and there we will cover his first season as a Chief of Village. Before he became one of the most respected Chief of Villages ever, Hammer worked in villages such as Turks and Caicos, Playa Blanca, Cancun, Martinique, Sonora Bay, Phuket and Lindeman Island. In this interview, Hammer mentions a lot of names from the past you will recognize, people that mentored and inspired him. We also get into the origins of his famous nickname, and I’ll bet that you didn’t know it was given to him by a former NFL player! Not only does Hammer have a ton of great Club Med stories, but I also asked him about competing in Iron Man competitions and what that was like (he did his first one in 2015 in Mont Tremblant!). We also talk a little about what he is currently doing in Miami and how Club Med established itself as a premium brand and now offers a luxury range with the Exclusive Collection. We end the interview with the three things he misses the most about working in the villages. Please enjoy this interview with an amazing person!! **My First Season podcast has always been ad-free and free to listen to and is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Samsung Podcasts, Podbean App, Spotify, Amazon Music/Audible, TuneIn + Alexa, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM, Pandora and Listen Notes. And if you like what you hear, please leave a review at Apple podcasts.

My guest today is the first guest invited back to the podcast. Why is that, you ask? Well, he was the first guest ever on My First Season just over two years ago, but back then, I stuck to the script. Meaning, we only talked about his first season and none of the other 10 seasons or more that he did. He was kind enough to be a test subject of sorts for my podcast, and like all things, My First Season has only evolved from that very first interview with him. He has agreed to come back to the podcast and talk about his other seasons and make you laugh your butts off! From Boston, Massachusetts, now living in Montreal, please help me welcome back to My First Season, James “Joker” Cradle!! I have known Joker for 23 years now and counting and we met on the dock in beautiful Lindeman Island, Australia in 2000 for the very first time. Joker worked for Club Med from 1997 to 2005. He worked in villages such as Cancun, Huatulco, Cefalu, Moorea, Foca, Paradise Island, Punta Cana, and Ixtapa. You want funny stories?! Joker has them!! From getting a nasty head injury during a show in Moorea to the famous “Singles Mingles” cruise in Lindeman Island (The CDV sent me on the cruise to control Joker's enthusiasm). How did that turn out? Like you’d expect! From the Kusadasi (Greg) versus Foca (Joker) G.O. volleyball game during the summer of 2001 to a Razor scooter wipe-out at the Atlantis resort on Paradise Island to an interesting choice of dress (or lack thereof) for the Christmas party at Hendel’s place in Cancun in December 2004, it’s all here!! Joker mentions a lot of people from the past that he enjoyed working with, his three favorite Crazy Signs of all time (Tiffany?!), and the three things he misses most about working at Club Med. Hope you enjoy this trip down memory lane with Joker!! **My First Season podcast has always been ad-free and free to listen to and is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Samsung Podcasts, Podbean App, Spotify, Amazon Music/Audible, TuneIn + Alexa, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM, Pandora and Listen Notes. And if you like what you hear, please leave a review at Apple podcasts. This is the video (part 1) where France’s Woman’s Olympic Beach Volleyball team handed our butts to me and Joker in Lindeman Island, Australia on September 3, 2000: CM Lindeman Island-Sept 3 2000-Beach VB Part 1 - YouTube And, if you want to listen to the first ever "My First Season" interview with Joker, see below: My First Season-Joker | My First Season

My guest today and I have never met but his name has come up quite a few times on this podcast. His first season was in Club Med St. Lucia during the winter of 1989 as a Bar G.O. Originally from Seattle, now living in Florida, please help me welcome, Terry Drummey!! Before Club Med, Terry was getting a Commercial Tourism and Business Management degree from Washington State. He was working in a bar and a customer who went to Club Med on vacation told him he’d be a perfect fit for Club Med. Terry applied and during his interview and he was asked by Ye, the CDV, if he knew the difference between a Pina Colada and a Chi Chi. He did, and the rest is history. Terry worked for Club Med from 1989 to 1995. He went from Bar. G.O. to Chief of Bar to Regional Manager for all the bars in the North American Zone. He worked in such villages as Huatulco (summer ’89), Copper Mountain (winter ‘90), Eleuthera (summer ’90), Playa Blanca (winter ’91) and Turks and Caicos (summer ’91). Terry might just be the only EXGO that I know of that showed up to his first season with money (and a whole lot of it!) and even forgot that money at the bank when he left! Terry shook hands with Prince Charles and got to hang out with him for a bit in St. Lucia and met Billy Joel and Christie Brinkley while jogging in Playa Blanca! Oh, and that bar customer that told Terry about Club Med? They later became roommates in Huatulco, I-kid-you-not! Terry has owned “Hemmingway’s”, a restaurant right down the beach from Club Med Turks and Caicos on Grace Bay Beach, for the last twenty-five years. Not only that, it was just named by USA Today Reader’s Choice poll as the BEST restaurant in the Caribbean (2023)!! Terry is also Chairman of the Ed Gartland Youth Centre in downtown Providenciales, which is all about empowering local youth by cultivating life skills through a holistic youth-focused approach that enhances the developmental needs of our youth (please see the link below). **My First Season podcast has always been ad-free and free to listen to and is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Samsung Podcasts, Podbean App, Spotify, Amazon Music/Audible, TuneIn + Alexa, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM, Pandora and Listen Notes. And if you like what you hear, please leave a review at Apple podcasts. Please click on the link below to see Terry’s restaurant and stop in and say hi the next time you are in Turks and Caicos! Hemingways (hemingwaystci.com) The Ed Gartland Youth Centre: The Edward C. Gartland Youth Centre – Empowering teenagers with information and skills (ecgyouthcentre.com)

Bonjour à tous, et bienvenue à nouveau dans le podcast sur le voyage et le tourisme, My First Season. J'ai rencontré mon invitée aujourd'hui sur le groupe Facebook «Club Med Le groupe des G.O.'s». Elle a travaillé pour le Club Med de 1981 à 1988. Sa première saison a eu lieu en 1981 à Cefalu, en Sicile, et elle a travaillé dans des villages tels que Pompadour, Agadir, Vittel, les Boucaniers, Santa Teresa, les Bermudes, Cap Skirring, la Caravelle et Sainte-Lucie. Elle a occupé plusieurs postes au Club Med dont ceux de tir à l'arc, de yoga, de snorkeling, de fitness, Repsonsable du restaurant typique et des relations publiques. Joignez-vous à moi pour souhaiter la bienvenue à Nadine Reynaud de Paris! Avant son passage au Club Med, Nadine travaillait à l'Opéra national de Paris comme caissière ou sa mère y était costumière. Nadine a travaillé pour des chefs de villages tells que Yanis Giourgas, Pierre Simaeys, Mery Beillili, Ricardo Gonzales, Josanne «Jojo Desmartes» et André Lentini. Nadine partage avec nous tant d'histoires étonnantes, j'espère donc que vous apprécierez cet épisode avec une personne très amusante! Le podcast Ma première Saison a toujours été sans publicité et gratuit à écouter et est disponible sur Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Samsung Podcasts, Podbean App, Spotify, Amazon Music/Audible, TuneIn + Alexa, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM, Pandora and Listen Notes. Et si vous aimez ce que vous entendez, veuillez laisser un commentaire sur les podcasts Apple.

Mon invité d'aujourd'hui et moi avons travaillé ensemble au Club Med Lindeman Island en Australie en 2000/2001. Sa première saison se déroule au Club Med d'Avoriaz durant l'hiver 1993 ou il occupe le poste d’animateur. Il a travaillé pour le Club Med de 1993 à 2015 dans des villages tels que Chamonix, Djerba La Douce, Cargèse, Valmeinier-Valloire, Phuket, Kamarina, Pompadour, La Plagne et Agadir. Mesdames et messieurs, aidez-moi s'il vous plaît à accueillir à My First Season (Ma Première Saison), le seule et unique, de Lyon, Franck "Kanoon" Asciac!! Nous parlerons de ce que Kanoon a fait avant le Club Med, de son entrevue d’embauche en Club Med et bien sûr nous parlerons du temps incroyable que nous avons passé à Lindeman Island avec l'incroyable chef de village, Gibus. En plus de Pierre Letellier Gagnon, Kanoon a travaillé avec d'autres chefs de villages tels qu'Arlette Gilles, Bernard Giampaolo, Gérard Parachou, Gilbert "Gibus" Burgio, Yves Mongis et Greg Levy. Vous pouvez imaginer que Kanoon a beaucoup d'histoires drôles et il a la gentillesse de nous en partager quelques-unes. Des histoires comme tomber sur des fourmis rouges à Phuket, nager avec des dauphins à Djerba (seulement il pensait que c’était des requins) ou tomber d'un catamaran en Australie en essayant de pêcher! On parle un peu de sa vie après le Club Med et un fait intéressant à propos de Kanoon, c'est que dès l'âge de 7 ans, il est le plus grand fan de l'émission télévisée La Petite Maison dans la Prairie. Il s'est même rendu dans le Minnesota pour visiter Walnut Grove et il est le fondateur de la plus grande page de fans sur Facebook de La Petite Maison dans la Prairie avec plus de 27 000 fans! Le podcast Ma première Saison a toujours été sans publicité et gratuit à écouter et est disponible sur Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Samsung Podcasts, Podbean App, Spotify, Amazon Music/Audible, TuneIn + Alexa, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM, Pandora and Listen Notes. Et si vous aimez ce que vous entendez, veuillez laisser un commentaire sur les podcasts Apple. Page Facebook de La Petite Maison dans la Prairie: Facebook Instagram: Kanoon Franck (@kanoonfranck) | Instagram

My guest today was not a village G.O., but he was a Club Med New York office G.O. and was a HUGE part of why my first season in Club Med Turks and Caicos during the summer of 1994 was so amazing. He worked for Club Med from September 1987 to 1995 at the Club Med corporate offices in New York City. He was the Director of Advertising and Sales Promotion in the Marketing Department. Everyone, please help me welcome, Anthony Salerno!! A cousin of Anthony’s went to Club Med Paradise Island and raved about it so much that Anthony booked a vacation there in 1983, where he vividly remembers the very funny animator E.T.! After Paradise Island, he went on vacation at Club Med Martinique twice (1984 & 86) and Cancun (1985). Not wanting to leave his advertising job, but still enjoy a Club Med vacation, he applied and accepted Club Med’s offer of employment. He had four weeks of vacation a year and was allowed to visit any Club Med he wanted. We talk about his start working for Club Med in 1987 and where we wound up crossing paths in Turks in ’94. Anthony helped organize the INCREDIBLE “70s Celebration” in Turk and Caicos my first season and it was SO awesome!! Only the G.O.s, G.M.s and G.E.s that were there those 3 glorious weeks from September 2 to September 23, 1994, will understand how much fun it was to do the “YMCA” Crazy Sign with the actual Village People!! Anthony also brought in Ron Palillo (RIP), who played Horshack on “Welcome Back, Kotter”, Lyle Waggoner (RIP) from “Wonder Woman” and Barry Williams who played Greg Brady on “The Brady Bunch”, and many more. We talk about what it took to plan this massive event, but we also talk about what it was like filming a Club Med TV commercial in the various Club Med villages. Anthony also worked with French fashion photographer and former International Creative Director of Elle magazine, Gilles Bensimon. There were plenty of Club Med radio spots as well in the late 80s and Anthony worked with actors Frank Langella (Dracula/Frost/Nixon), Frances Sternhagen (Cliff Clavin’s mom!), and Joe Sirola (Hang ‘Em High), the long-time voice of Club Med. Anthony also approached Archie Comics for them to feature Club Med in one of their issues and we talk about that as well. Anthony discusses the evolution of Club Med’s famous taglines and the ad agencies that created them “The Antidote for Civilization” (Ammirati & Puris) and “Take Home A Club Med Vacation” (TBWA) and why these were replaced with, “Life as it should be” (Messner Vetere Berger McNamee Schmetterer). Anthony also met his future wife at Turks that week, who was a G.M., and in March 2023, they will celebrate their 28th year anniversary! **My First Season podcast has always been ad-free and free to listen to and is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Samsung Podcasts, Podbean App, Spotify, Amazon Music/Audible, TuneIn + Alexa, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM, Pandora and Listen Notes. And if you like what you hear, please leave a review at Apple podcasts. Please check out his LinkedIn below: (1) Anthony Salerno | LinkedIn

My guest today and I worked together in Club Med Cancun in 2004/2005 with Hendel. His first season was in Club Med Sandpiper in 2004 as a Waterski G.O. Originally from Chicago and now living in Austin, Texas, please help me welcome, Parker Burke! Before Club Med, Parker obtained a degree in Business Management with a Minor in French. He even did a semester abroad in Aix-en-Provence, France in 2002 (and we never talked about this during our season in Cancun!). After Club Med, he got a Master’s degree in Hospitality & Tourism Management. You could say hospitality is in his blood because his maternal grandfather owned and operated the historic and opulent Pfister Hotel in Milwaukee. Parker had his first meeting with Club Med in New Jersey and when it came to the talent portion of the audition, he did something so weird and wild at that interview, that people requested he do it at each different village he worked at (if you don’t know, then please listen!). Parker worked for Club Med from 2004 to 2007 and worked in the resorts of Sandpiper, Cancun and Ixtapa. It wouldn’t be a My First Season interview if we didn’t talk about hurricanes and Parker had quite his share of them. Ever the optimist, he acknowledges that if it were not for Hurricane Wilma, he never would have met his future wife in Sandpiper in 2005! Parker has always had an extreme personality so lately, he has gravitated towards trail and ultra running. I ask Parker why anyone would run a 50k for “fun” and he is kind enough to answer my many questions on that subject. We talk a lot about Parker being a Waterski G.O. and how rewarding it was for him to teach disabled water skiers, moments he will cherish and never forget. We end the interview with Parker telling us the three things he misses the most about Club Med. **My First Season podcast has always been ad-free and free to listen to and is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Samsung Podcasts, Podbean App, Spotify, Amazon Music/Audible, TuneIn + Alexa, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM, Pandora and Listen Notes. And if you like what you hear, please leave a review at Apple podcasts. Please check out his Instagram: Parker Burke (@jparkerburke) | Instagram And NatureQuant which we talk about in the interview: NatureQuant

My guest today and I worked together in Club Med Columbus Isle during the 1997/1998 season. Her first season was in Club Med Cancun in April of 1997 as a Sailing and Windsurfing G.O. A family trip to Club Med St. Lucia when she was 16 years old lit the spark and she wanted to be a G.O. from that moment on. She has a degree in Journalism, dance and Secondary Education and she hails from the Lone Star State. Please help me welcome the amazing and funny, Jennifer "Jen" Simonds!! Jen may have started out as a Sailing G.O., but she quickly became a Choreographer in November of 1998 at Club Med Ixtapa. The genesis of why Jen wanted to become a Choreographer actually had to do with laundry and not her extensive dance background. Wait, what? Yes, laundry! (you’ll just have to listen and find out why!). Jen also worked in the villages of Sandpiper, Eleuthera, Turks and Caicos, Crested Butte, Paradise Island, Sahoro, Phuket and Lindeman Island. You want stories? Jen has you covered! From breaking bones in her foot not once but TWICE during her first season (how did she not get sent home the first time? Listen and find out!), to a champagne pyramid gone awry in Ixtapa, to making the transition from Sailing to Choreographer, to seeing snow for the very first time in Crested Butte, to meeting Brad Paisley and working out with former President Jimmy Carter (what?!), to some mild culture shock in Sahoro, Japan, to not licking cane toads in Lindeman Island, Australia, to working at Turks and Caicos a whopping five times, to putting on a “Godzilla-themed” show in Paradise Island as part of her choreographer stage (please people, send me photos of this Godzilla show if you have them!), we cover it all in this episode! We also talk about her current job being a middle school dance teacher and maybe or maybe not teaching her students some Crazy Signs as a warm-up (Toma Que Toma and Chocolaté anyone?)! Jen lists the three things she misses most about Club Med and if she would have done anything differently. I hope you enjoy this interview as much as I loved talking to her again! **My First Season podcast has always been free to listen to and ad-free and is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Samsung Podcasts, Podbean App, Spotify, Amazon Music/Audible, TuneIn + Alexa, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM, Pandora and Listen Notes. And if you like what you hear, please leave a review at Apple podcasts. Please check her out on Instagram: Jennifer Simonds (@jenn.diamondz) • Instagram photos and videos And please check out her YouTube Channel: Jenn.choreographer - YouTube

Welcome to a very special 100th episode of My First Season! My Guest today and I met during my 1st season in Turks and Caicos during the summer of 1994. His first season was in Club Med St. Lucia in 1991/1992 as a Scuba G.O. Everyone, please help me welcome, the man, the myth, the legend…in his own mind, from the city that never sleeps, Cowboy!! Before Club Med, Cowboy worked for Associated Marine Institutes and taught juvenile offenders how to sail and scuba. A guy he worked with named Buff Miller, told Cowboy all about Club Med. Buff Miller then told Cowboy to call "BooBoo" at the Club Med office in NYC to set up an interview (I could not make this story up if I tried). Cowboy worked in the villages of St. Lucia, Turks and Caicos, Sonora Bay and Cadaques, Spain. You would be right in thinking that a guy named Cowboy from New York City must have some wild stories and he does not disappoint!! From getting his nickname on the flight to his first season in St. Lucia (and giving Hollywood his nickname on the same flight!), from getting lost on the open seas from St. Lucia to Turks and Caicos (that is a hilarious story!, it’s all here, look no further! Cowboy was a big reason why my 1st season was so special, so it was nice to go down memory lane with him and also talk about a G.O. we miss the most, Yannie Nielsen. So as Cowboy would put it, “let’s kick the tires and light the fires and get at it, son!” I hope you laugh as much as we did recording it! Enjoy! **My First Season podcast has always been free to listen to and ad-free and is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Samsung Podcasts, Podbean App, Spotify, Amazon Music/Audible, TuneIn + Alexa, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM, Pandora and Listen Notes. And if you like what you hear, please leave a review at Apple podcasts.

My guest today kept posting one amazing photo after another on the various EXGO Facebook sites, that I asked him if he would agree to come on and share his story. His first season was in 1979 in Club Med Martinique as a Snorkeling/Picnic G.O. From NYC but now living in beautiful Arizona, please help me welcome Gary Sirota!! Gary worked for Club Med from 1979 to 1989 with a few various stints here and there after that. He worked in such villages as La Caravelle, Paradise Island, Copper Mountain, Magic Isle, Cancun, Sandpiper, Eilat, St.Moritz, Vittel and Moorea. Serge Trigano interviewed a seventeen and half years old Gary in New York City when he applied (no pressure, right?!), and he was sent to Martinique not soon after. Gary has very vivid memories of his time in Club Med, so if you were an early 80s G.O. or want to know what Club Med was like back them, then this interview is for you!! In Magic Isle alone, Gary met David Lee Roth, Pat Benatar and Bob Guccione along with some Penthouse playmates. Gary eventually became a Bar G.O and then Chef de Bar and has one amazing story after the next!! He mentions a lot of names from the past and the three things he misses the most about Club Med. Please enjoy! **My First Season podcast has always been free to listen to and is available on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Samsung Podcasts, Podbean App, Spotify, Amazon Music/Audible, TuneIn + Alexa, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM, Pandora and Listen Notes. And if you like what you hear, please leave a review at Apple podcasts.

Today’s guest worked for Club Med from 1988 to 1991. His first season was in Club Med St. Lucia in 1988 as a Carpenter. From Potomac, Maryland, please help me welcome, Lee Siegel! Lee worked in the villages of St. Lucia, Copper Mountain, Eleuthera, Playa Blanca and Punta Cana. He may have started out as a carpenter, but he worked his way toward Bar G.O. and then Chef de Bar. Even though Lee had never bartended before Club Med, he became so good at it that his “Goombay Smash” cocktail beat out several locals in a contest in Governor’s Harbour in Eleuthera! Lee met his future wife Lisa in Club Med Playa Blanca in 1990/1991 and I am happy to report that they recently celebrated their thirty-year wedding anniversary in November 2022! Before Club Med, Lee was working as a Bouncer/Doorman at Bennigans in Westminster, California. One of his co-workers went to Club Med on vacation to Turks and told Lee that they really should be working there! Lee applied and was sent to St. Lucia as a Carpenter. As an 80s G.O., Lee has a lot of great stories and he is kind to share some of those with us. Want to hear a New Year’s Eve fireworks celebration gone awry in St. Lucia? We have you covered! Never heard of a Scorpion Bowl before? (me neither!). Did his future wife sabotage her AC unit in Playa on purpose just to see Lee? Tune in to find out! After Club Med, Lee became involved with the jewelry, diamond, gemstone and high-end wristwatch business and graduated from the Gemological Institute of America. We end the interview with the three things he misses most and how he would not be where he is today without Club Med. **My First Season podcast has always been ad-free and free to listen to and is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Samsung Podcasts, Podbean App, Spotify, Amazon Music/Audible, TuneIn + Alexa, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM, Pandora and Listen Notes. And if you like what you hear, please leave a review at Apple podcasts. Please check out Lee’s website below: Sell Jewelry, Diamonds & Gold For The Best Value & Immediate Payment | Just Jewels USA

My guest today’s first season was in Club Med Punta Cana in 1998 as a Hostess and she has had some bad luck with hurricanes! From Ottawa, Canada, please help me welcome, Anna “Rubia” Ferdinand!! Anna has held many jobs within Club Med: Reception, Boutique, Excursions and Chief of Excursions. Anna worked for Club Med from 1998 to 2004 in the resorts of Paradise Island, Martinique, Turks and Caicos, Playa Blanca and Ixtapa. Before Club Med and right after high school, Anna was working in retail in downtown Ottawa but really wanted to travel. Anna discovered a local company that had all the addresses where to apply to work on cruise ships and at Club Med. Club Med called a few months later and set up an interview in Montreal. For her interview/audition, Anna did a cartwheel and then sang “Happy Birthday” standing on a chair! You think you have some Club Med hurricane stories?! Anna may have you beat! Anna was at Punta Cana for only one week when Hurricane Georges had his way with that resort (in terms of destruction of course) and the G.O.s were sent home (jealous!). Her second season (in Paradise Island) involved a hurricane as well (Floyd), but you will need to listen to this entire episode to find out what happened! Anna took a short break in between seasons to work on Sark Island, a small, royal fief island located in the southwestern English Channel. You must hear this story because it has all the markings of a romantic comedy about to happen (picture the 2010 movie Leap Year with Amy Adams). Did Anna meet a sexy, recently widowed farmer with two charming kids while she was there? You’ll have to tune in to find out! I hope you enjoy this interview with an extremely positive and upbeat person. If you are sad or feeling down, listen to this episode and you’ll forget about your worries for an hour, guaranteed! **My First Season podcast has always been ad-free and free to listen to and is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Samsung Podcasts, Podbean App, Spotify, Amazon Music/Audible, TuneIn + Alexa, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM, Pandora and Listen Notes. And if you like what you hear, please leave a review at Apple podcasts. Please check out her website and Instagram below: Home - Play! Joyful Fitness (playjoyful.com) Play! Joyful Fitness (@play_joyful) | Instagram

My guest today is from beautiful San Diego, California and her first season was in Club Med St. Lucia in 1986 as a Snorkeling G.O. Please help me welcome to My First Season, the amazing and funny, Sharon Lee! Sharon had quite an interesting route to Club Med. She went as a G.M. with her mother to Club Med Ixtapa when she was sixteen years old in 1984 and loved that week so much, she knew that she wanted to work for Club Med one day (and one day very soon!). When Sharon graduated from high school at seventeen and a half years old, she bought a one-way ticket to St. Lucia, in the hopes of finding a job at Club Med. She met the Chief of Village and he let Sharon stay au pair for two weeks on a trial basis. Well, she wound up staying the whole season and her Chief of Sports was none other than the incredible, Hansel Moss! Sharon’s second season was in Club Med Martinique in 1987 as a Hostess and she worked with the one and only, Angie Boucher! Her third season was in Club Med Sandpiper in 1988 and Sharon did one last season in Club Med Paradise Island in 1992. We also talk about her love of travel and her passion project, “Culture Club: Real People, Real Places, Real Adventure” (please see the link below). She is also a member of “The Traveler’s Century Club”, which is for travelers who have visited one hundred or more countries and territories (Sharon has been to 103!). I hope you enjoy this episode with a very funny lady!! **My First Season podcast has always been ad-free and free to listen to and is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Samsung Podcasts, Podbean App, Spotify, Amazon Music/Audible, TuneIn + Alexa, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM, Pandora and Listen Notes. And if you like what you hear, please leave a review at Apple podcasts. Please check out Sharon’s Culture club website: cultureclubshow.com - Real people, Real places, Real adventure And her Instagram: Sharon Lee (@therealsharonlee) | Instagram

My guest and I worked together in Club Med Columbus Isle during the 1999/2000 season, but his first season was in Club Med Turks and Caicos in September of 1995 as an Aide Econome. From Montreal, please help me welcome, William Connors! Before Club Med, William was studying Hospitality Management at Carleton University. He also taught English in Japan for two years, from 1991 to 1993. He then got a scholarship to Schiller International University in Florida and obtained a degree in Business Administration in Hotel Management. William met a guy in Montreal who had worked for Club Med as a Windsurfing G.O., and suggested he give it a try. William’s first season in Turks had quite the star-studded lineup of G.O.s: Ye was the CDV, Cookie at Animation, Hendel at Landsports, Steve Riely was Chief of Sports and TinTin was at Snorkeling. William worked in the Club Med resorts of Valbella, Switzerland (which was his second season), Cancun, St. Lucia, Columbus Isle and Paradise Island. We cover a lot of ground and stories in this interview, as William is one of the first EXGOs from the Food & Beverage team, specifically the restaurants, that I have had on, so he has many great and funny stories from an area of the village you might not be that familiar with. You must hear the “exotic dancer/The Little Mermaid” story from Cancun 1997 and the “pumpkin” story from St. Lucia 98/99! William has been living in London, England the last twenty years, so I ask him questions about that as well. William tells us who his favourite CDV was, his favourite Crazy Signs and the three things he misses the most about Club Med. Please enjoy! **My First Season podcast has always been ad-free and is free to listen to and is available on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Samsung Podcasts, Podbean App, Spotify, Amazon Music/Audible, TuneIn + Alexa, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM, Pandora and Listen Notes. And if you like what you hear, please leave a review at Apple podcasts. Please check out his social media links below: William Connors | LinkedIn POSDoctorCanada (@posdoctorcanada) | Instagram

My guest today hails from beautiful Montreal, Quebec and his first season was in 1996 at Club Med Punta Cana as a Boutique G.O. Please help me welcome to MFS, Steve Ouimet!! Before Club Med, Steve was a singer in a rock band and he also managed a clothing retail store (Neon) in Montreal. From 1996 to 2007 he worked in Club Med resorts such as Magic Isle, Haiti, Club Med 1, Varadero, Cuba, Cancun, Playa Blanca, Paradise Island, Crested Butte, Columbus Isle and Djerba la Douce. When Steve was eighteen years old, he went to Club Med Cancun as a G.M. in the late 80’s. During Steve’s first season, he actually thought he had to be at each activity (like beach volleyball for example) if he was not working at the Boutique! This went on for ten days until someone told him he did not have to do that! Steve may have started at the Boutique but went from there to Sailing, to Landsports, to Chief of Sailing, Chief of Sports to finally Leisure Manager. Do you want a ton of stories?! Steve has them!! From Skydiving with Aureo Stern in Club Med Varadero, to performing a G.M. Show number with Uncle Larry, to crossing the Atlantic Ocean twice with the Club Med 1 and actually witnessing the Club Med 1 and Club Med 2 pass each other on the open water, Steve had quite the adventure in Club Med! The interview ends with Steve telling us the three things he misses the most about Club Med and the names of some of the incredible people he met and became friends with. **My First Season podcast has always been ad-free and free to listen to and is available on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Samsung Podcasts, Podbean App, Spotify, Amazon Music/Audible, TuneIn + Alexa, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM, Pandora and Listen Notes. And if you like what you hear, please leave a review at Apple podcasts. Please check out the link below to see the 4-star hotel in Paris where Steve is currently the General Manager: Boutique Hotel 4* | Maison Barbès | Montmartre, Paris (maison-barbes.com) And his Instagram: Steve Ouimet (@steve_ouimet.art) | Instagram

My guest today went to Club Med Cancun for a two-week vacation in December of 1989. He started as a G.M. that week, but wound up as an au pair Snorkeling and Picnic G.O. We will get into that and more on this episode of My First Season. From Maple Ridge, British Columbia, I am pleased to welcome to the podcast, Dean Barbour! Dean was looking to relax for two weeks when he went to Club Med Cancun as a G.M., but he ended up tearing the ligaments in his ankle and was on crutches for the rest of his stay. The G.O. team showed exceptional care for Dean during his vacation and this made him approach the Chief of Village, Ye, to see if he could work there. Dean moved to Sailing a few months later and then to Landsports. After Cancun, he went to Club Med Huatulco in December 1990 to November 1991 as Landsports. While at Huatulco, he starred as the love interest in a Nathalie Simard music video called “Reste Ami”! While everyone from Quebec knows who pop singer Nathalie Simard is, we will explain in the interview for the rest of the world who does not! From the second Dean sent me this video, I had so many questions! He was very kind and patient to discuss this hidden piece of 90’s gold with me. Not since Barney Stinson uncovered the “Robin Sparkles” video in “How I Met Your Mother”, has there been a greater video! I see your “Let’s Go to the Mall” or “Sandcastles in the Sand” and raise you one “Reste Ami” video (or as I’m calling it, Floorplans in the Sand-you will understand why once you watch the video!). After Club Med, Dean studied Dramatic Arts at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Los Angeles and then got a Business Administration degree at Mt. San Antonio College in California. The interview ends with Dean telling us the three things he misses the most about Club Med. Please enjoy this episode with a very funny man!!**My First Season podcast has always been free to listen to and ad-free and is available on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Samsung Podcasts, Podbean App, Spotify, Amazon Music/Audible, TuneIn + Alexa, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM, Pandora and Listen Notes. And if you like what you hear, please leave a review at Apple podcasts. Here is the famous video with Nathalie Simard that we spoke about. Dean is the shirtless, blonde hunk in the video. Please enjoy! Reste Ami 1991 - YouTube

My guest today and I just missed crossing paths in Club Med, but his first season was during the summer of 2003 in Club Med Cancun as a DJ/Animation G.O. From New York City, please help give a warm welcome to DJ Wej!! Before Club Med, Wej was pursuing a Criminal Justice degree from Long Island University. Not really wanting to use his degree, he took a friend’s advice that he should check out Club Med. Wej had his interview in New Jersey and at first was offered a Club Med Artist contract. He politely declined that and waited for a contract, which came in the form of a DJ contract to Cancun, not long after. Wej worked in Cancun for one year and then worked for six months in Club Med Turks and Caicos. Wej has very vivid memories of his first week in Cancun and shares them all with us. Wej shares a very funny JoJo incident, a story about G.O’s in Turks chartering a plane to Cuba on their day off and the three things he misses the most about Club Med. We also get into what he is currently doing now and we talk about his Tik Tok account and the many videos he has on that platform. I had to ask Wej about his Tik Tok video where he went from New York to Naples, Italy, just to try a sandwich (true story)! I hope you enjoy listening to this interview as much as I enjoyed recording it! **My First Season podcast has always been free to listen to and is available on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Samsung Podcasts, Podbean App, Spotify, Amazon Music/Audible, TuneIn + Alexa, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM, Pandora and Listen Notes. And if you like what you hear, please leave a review at Apple podcasts. Please check out Wej’s social media: privatejetsetter420 (@privatejetsetter4) | TikTok Sativa Dave (@privatejetsetter420) | Instagram

This is part four in the series, “Amazing Women doing Amazing Things”. In July 2019, my guest today accomplished her goal of visiting all forty-seven National Parks of Canada, making her the first-ever visitor to do so. She is an accomplished wilderness adventurer, Nordic skier, backpacker, kayaker, canoeist, cyclist and world traveler. She is also a Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society and The Explorers Club. Her work has been published in Canadian Geographic Magazine, CBC News online and The Explorers Club’s “Far Afield” magazine, among many others. Her book called “Park Bagger: Adventures in the Canadian National Parks” was published in 2021 and it chronicles her adventures being the FIRST visitor to all of Canada’s National Parks. Everyone, please help me welcome, author Marlis Butcher!! Marlis grew up in Montreal and has a B. Com from McGill University and an MBA from Concordia University. In visiting all forty-seven National Parks, Marlis has had her share of adventure! From snowshoeing in -40 degrees in the Southern Rocky Mountains to witnessing Polar bears in Churchill, Manitoba to a travel horror story that took her eight long days to get to the Central high Artic, Marlis’s book recounts the visits to each National Park in great detail. Her book will make you want to visit Canada’s National Parks and also inform you that not all National Parks are accessible by car (like I previously thought!). Marlis is a skilled photographer and her book is full of beautiful pictures that she took of the many parks she visited. At the time we recorded this interview in August of 2022, Marlis was leaving the next day to visit the forty-eighth National Park, Thaidene Nëné, in the Northwest Territories! I hope you enjoy this interview with an extremely interesting and kind person! **My First Season podcast has always been free to listen to and is available on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Samsung Podcasts, Podbean App, Spotify, Amazon Music/Audible, TuneIn + Alexa, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM, Pandora and Listen Notes. And if you like what you hear, please leave a review at Apple podcasts. Please check out her website below to find out more about Marlis: About – Canadian Park Bagger

My guest today who worked in Club Med in the early 1980s have never met, but he came to my attention when I saw him post the most excellent photos of his time in Club Med in the 80s on the Official Club Med EXGO Facebook Group. His first season was in December of 1980 in Club Med Magic Isle, Haiti as a stagiere Choreographer. Born in and raised in Alhambra, but now residing in beautiful San Diego, please help me welcome to MFS, Doug Evenson!! Before Club Med, Doug was that rare athlete (football & basketball) who also won a theatre scholarship. His father went to a Club Med in Guadeloupe in 1976 and told Doug that this is the place that he should work! In 1980, his best friend saw a tiny Club Med ad in the newspaper looking for theatre folk. From that ad, he got his interview and it took place at the Universal Hilton in Hollywood, California. The first part of Doug’s story takes place from December 1980 up until October 1986. He worked in Club Med villages such as Cancun, Copper Mountain, Paradise Island, Ile Maurice, Bora Bora, Fort Royal, Playa Blanca and Eleuthera. Doug was even present when the famous (or infamous) 1983 movie “Copper Mountain” starring Jim Carrey and Alan Thicke, was being filmed at Club Med Copper Mountain! Doug has so many interesting stories to share during this interview. Some highlights are The DC-3/Cancun/Chichen Itza story, the submarine story, lunch with Pierre Salinger (Press Secretary for President John F. Kennedy), hanging out with Rita Coolidge in Copper Mountain, Bar Games with Sean Connery in Paradise Island in 1982 and driving his 1969 Volkswagen Karmann Ghia to Copper Mountain from California. I really hope you enjoy this interview with one heck of a raconteur! **My First Season podcast has always been free to listen to and is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Samsung Podcasts, Podbean App, Spotify, Amazon Music/Audible, TuneIn + Alexa, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM, Pandora and Listen Notes. And if you like what you hear, please leave a review at Apple podcasts.

My guest today and I met and worked together during an amazing season in Club Med Playa Blanca in 1996/1997. His first season, however, was at the opening of Club Med Lindeman Island in Australia and he arrived on December 12, 1992, as a Musician/Animator. From Newcastle, Australia, please help me welcome former Chief of Village, Luke "Gus” Neale!! Before Club Med, Gus was studying Tourism Management at the University of Newcastle. As part of his degree requirement, he organized a five-day field trip up the East coast of Australia, from Newcastle to Brisbane. On that trip, he met a Belgian Club Med employee called Bellings, who gave Gus his business card and told Gus that if he ever wanted to work for Club Med, to give Club Med that card and the rest is history. For those who have had the pleasure to work with Gus, know that he plays a mean violin (and guitar and didgeridoo). He started playing violin at seven years old and even got a scholarship to study music at the Conservatorium at the University of Newcastle, where he studied for four years. Gus worked as an animator and Chief of Animation in resorts such as Cherating Beach (Malaysia), Bora Bora, Kamarina (Italy), Bali, Playa Blanca, Turks & Caicos, Huatulco and Djerba La Douce (Tunisia). As a Chief of Village, he worked at Sonora Bay, Cancun, Crested Butte and Lindeman Island. Gus is kind enough to take us through his Chief of Village stage in France and what his first season as CDV in Sonora Bay was like during the summer of 2001. We cover a lot in only an hour, so I really hope you enjoy this episode with Gus! **My First Season podcast has always been free to listen to and is available on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Samsung Podcasts, Podbean App, Spotify, Amazon Music/Audible, TuneIn + Alexa, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM, Pandora and Listen Notes. And if you like what you hear, please leave a review at Apple podcasts.

My guest today and I have never met or worked together before, but we do have a “Quebec” connection that we will talk about in this interview. His first season was in Club Med Martinique in May of 1987 as a Waterski G.O. From Napa Valley, please help me welcome to the podcast, Steve McClaine!! Before Club Med, Steve attended the University of California (Berkeley) and obtained a Political Economy degree. He did not want to start using his degree just yet, so he taught skiing at Heavenly Mountain Resort in South Tahoe. One of the ski instructors mentioned Club Med to him and Steve took it from there. Steve also worked in the Club Med villages of Copper Mountain (April 1987-88) and Cancun as a Waterski G.O. in 1988. Steve tells an amazing story about a pre-college basketball player, who later helped win a fifth Championship for the NBA Chicago bulls in 1997. This story is incredible, so I will not spoil it here with more details, you’ll just have to listen! Another amazing story is one Steve thought wasn’t that interesting or even merit as a “fun fact” that I ask guests to provide for their interview. While he was at Berkeley, Steve played trumpet and percussion for the University of California Marching Band. In March of 1983, Queen Elizabeth (RIP) and Prince Philippe came to San Francisco aboard the royal yacht Britannia to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, in a ten-day trip across the state of California. Steve, as part of the Berkeley marching band, performed for the Queen with the San Francisco Ballet at the Louis M. Davies Symphony Hall as part of a San Francisco/Americana-type show. Because the Queen enjoyed the show so much, they were invited back the next day to the pier where the Britannia was docked and the Queen watched the show from the balcony. Steve didn’t think this was a fun fact! We cover quite a lot in this interview and how different Club Med was back then in the 1980’s. Steve ends the interview by telling us the three things he misses the most about Club Med. Please enjoy! **My First Season podcast has always been free to listen to and is available on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Samsung Podcasts, Podbean App, Spotify, Amazon Music/Audible, TuneIn + Alexa, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM, Pandora and Listen Notes. And if you like what you hear, please leave a review at Apple podcasts.

My guest today and I have never met, but I had heard very funny stories about him from other EXGO’s over the years. His first season was in Club Med Sandpiper in February of 1992 as Manager of the Annex restaurant with Carlos Castro as CDV. From New Jersey (via Florida), please help me welcome, Sammy Orodenker!! Before Club Med, Sammy was doing a double major in Hospitality Management and Musical Theater, making him a much-desired prospect for a company like Club Med! Sammy was given the title of Manager of the Annex because during his senior year of college, he also owned a catering company. He then later switched to the position of Animator and Chief of Animation. Sammy worked for Club Med from 1992 to 2001. He worked in villages such as Club Med Copper Mountain, St. Lucia, Punta Cana, Eleuthera, Ixtapa, Cancun and his final season in Kabira. Sammy has so many stories and we tried to pack in as much as we could in an hour, so if you were an early 90’s G.O., you will want to hear this one! Sammy recounts some stories where he got locked out of his room wearing only a barely-there towel and having to walk to reception, getting caught during a “Walk of Fame” moment behind the main restaurant in Sandpiper and why his cocktail of choice was always a Rusty Nail. Please enjoy this episode with Sammy!! **My First Season podcast has always been free to listen to and is available on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Samsung Podcasts, Podbean App, Spotify, Amazon Music/Audible, TuneIn + Alexa, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM, Pandora and Listen Notes. And if you like what you hear, please leave a review at Apple podcasts. Please check out his "Pissotieres" sketch from Copper Mountain 92/93: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wdnTSULnrc

I never had the pleasure of working with my next guest, but we did cross paths at EXGO Reunion 3 in Cancun in 2010 (and we currently have 112 mutual friends!). His first season was in Club Med Eleuthera, Bahamas in the Summer of 1990 as a Mini Club G.O., with the amazing Denis Amsellem as CDV. From Fresno, California, please help me give a big MFS welcome to Chris Wiehl! Before Club Med, Chris was a walk-on shooting guard at UCLA Bruins men’s basketball team. Although the coach was Walt Hazzard at the time, Chris did get the opportunity to meet legendary UCLA coach John Wooden twice. He first heard about his future employer from a French girlfriend in high school who told him about Club Med (she later worked at CM St. Lucia in ’88). After he graduated from UCLA, Chris went to the family resort of Club Med Eleuthera, as a single guy (there is a story there). Before his week was over, he was approached by the late, great Mini Club G.O., Jim Henry, who asked him if he’d like to work there and then cleared it with Denis Amsellem. Chris worked at the resorts of Club Med Punta Cana, Sandpiper and Playa Blanca. He finally made the leap to Landsports at Playa Blanca the winter of 1991/1992, under Gregg Snyder, who was doing his first season as the resort manager. Chris is a heck of a raconteur and you will love his Eleuthera/Shell Hill/Ronnie’s Hideaway story with the Mini Club as well as his Richie Cannata (Billy Joel’s saxophonist) story. Chris talks fondly about the early G.O. reunions that the late and amazing John Shelly organized in San Francisco in the late 1990’s and how much he misses both John Shelley and Jim Henry. **My First Season podcast has always been free to listen to and is available on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Samsung Podcasts, Podbean App, Spotify, Amazon Music/Audible, TuneIn + Alexa, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM, Pandora and Listen Notes. And if you like what you hear, please leave a review at Apple podcasts. Please check out his Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cswiehl/

My guest today and I met in Club Med Columbus Isle in January of 1996. I was Landsports and he was the resort photographer. Little did I know at the time that I was in the presence of true greatness and I am very grateful for the 2 ½ years I got to spend with him. His first season was in Club Med Paradise Island in 1980 as a Sailing G.O. Everyone, please help me welcome, the Bahamian sensation, the one and the only, the Best Chief of Sports there ever was, Hansel Moss!! Before he started working as a Sailing G.O., Hansel was actually a plainclothes security guard in Club Med Paradise Island. He asked the Chief of Village, Greg Russell, if he could become a Sailing G.O., even though Hansel did not know how to sail! He then recounts a hilarious story about a sailing outing with G.M.’s on the harbour-side of Paradise Island that you will absolutely want to hear! Hansel’s Chief of Sailing his first season was none other than LouLou from France, and you have to hear Hansel describe meeting LouLou for the first time! His second season was in Club Med Cancun with Alain Decouan, who then asked Hansel to go to Club Med Donoratico, Italy with him for Hansel’s third season in 1981. It was Hansel’s first time in Europe (at 19 years old) and you have to hear the visa/travel horror story that Hansel endured, when a Bahamian tries to go to Italy in the early 80’s, when he was told he did not need a visa to go! When that season ended, Hansel went to visit his girlfriend in Holland for about a month, only he didn’t call her to tell her he was coming-he just showed up at the address she gave him! And yes, that is another funny story! This interview goes up until his first season as a Chief of Sports in Club Med Sonora Bay. Because of my long history and friendship with Hansel and the history he has with Club Med, the second part of this interview will come out at a later date. **I changed the setting of this episode from clean to explicit (as there was not a middle option), for some mild expletives and the fact that we were talking about Club Med in 1980 and that it was a very different time for everyone. **My First Season podcast has always been free to listen to and is available on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Samsung Podcasts, Podbean App, Spotify, Amazon Music/Audible, TuneIn + Alexa, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM, Pandora and Listen Notes. And if you like what you hear, please leave a review at Apple podcasts.

My guest today and I crossed paths in Club Med Columbus Isle in 1997/1998 where she was in training to be a Choreographer, but her first season was in Club Med Copper Mountain in Fall of 1996 as a Reception G.O. Originally from Atlanta, but now living in Marina del Ray, please help me welcome the amazing, Ouija Whittemore! Before Club Med, Ouija (and yes, we will get into her name!) was a professional dancer until she was thirty years old and her first dance class was at just four years old. She was also a regular on The Mickey Mouse Club and even got to interview Milli Vanilli (you have to see this video!). Ouija went to Club Med Cancun in 1995 as a G.M. and wanted to work for them based on her experience as a guest. When Ouija got home from Cancun a few days later, she saw an ad in the newspaper that Club Med was hiring and she promptly applied. During the span of her first season, Ouija went from Reception to Yoga Instructor to Assistant Choreographer! Ouija entered Club Med specifically with dreams of being a Choreographer and after a season in Club Med Sandpiper in 1997, she was sent on a three-month stage to become a Choreographer. The training took place in three separate Club Med villages: Paradise Island, Columbus Isle and Eleuthera. After Club Med, Ouija became a professional cheerleader for the Orlando Predators in 2001 and presently works in legal cannabis sales and distribution. Ouija is currently training for a half marathon on October 22, 2022 and is running as part of a team of EXGO’s, led by Tracy Nathan. The team is collecting donations that will go to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s (LLS) TNT. The link is provided below, so please donate to this worthy cause if you are able, thank you! **My First Season podcast has always been free to listen to and is available on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Samsung Podcasts, Podbean App, Spotify, Amazon Music/Audible, TuneIn + Alexa, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM, Pandora and Listen Notes. And if you like what you hear, please leave a review at Apple podcasts. The link to Leukemia & Lymphoma Team in Training Fundraiser: https://pages.lls.org/tnt/calso/yourway23/OWhittemore?fbclid=IwAR0MpZTVCIBZGa6kcR8qtJ7Mp9hslBYx7MSRwMaG4ZaUyrTbKtnaCCxy_QE Her Mickey Mouse Club interview with Milli Vanilli (Ouija asks her question at the 3:05 mark) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpWyx1THQgY And please check her out on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ouijatheog/