My First Season

My guest for this podcast is none other than “7^th” Evan Eichler, originally from Wasaga Beach, Ontario. Evan shares his story about auditioning for Club Med in Toronto after hearing a group of people at a table discussing it at the bar where he worked. He nails the audition and heads to Club Med Sandpiper, Florida in January 2003 to be part of the Landsports Team. He recounts a surfing trip with a buddy along the Florida coast gone awry (for Evan) on his day off and lands a dream resort for his second season despite only having been at Sandpiper for about 3 months. Sit back, relax and enjoy!

*If you hear some background noise on this podcast, that is due to the fact that the only time Evan could record this podcast was while at the Gym/Physical Fitness Centre he owns, Eastern Shore Performance Center ESPC. If you are in the Stevensville, MD area and looking for a Gym, look him up at:

http://www.easternshoreperformancecenter.com/

And please give them a follow on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/easternshoreperformancecenter/

Welcome everybody, my name is Greg and this is the first episode of the podcast, “My First Season”. In this podcast, I will be interviewing people who worked for resorts, hotels, cruise ship and airlines and we’ll talk uniquely about their first season in the travel and tourism industry.

My first guest is James "Joker" Cradle from Boston. Joker and I worked together before in Club Med Lindeman Island in 2000/2001, briefly in Club Med Punta Cana in 2003 and then in Club Med Cancun in 2004/2005. In this episode we talk about James's first season in 1997 in Club Med Cancun as an au pair Village/Village G.O. Listen as Joker shares a story about trying to exit a gated community one early morning in downtown Cancun. Sit back and enjoy! Listen here or where ever you get your podcasts. **My First Season podcast has always been free to listen to. My First Season is available on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Podbean App, Spotify, Amazon Music/Audible, TuneIn + Alexa, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM, Pandora and Listen Notes.

**There may be some terms you are hearing for the first time, so if the letters, "G.O." come up during the podcast, that stands for "Gentil Organisateur". This is a French term referring to Club Med employees who work in the resort. The guests who stay there are called G.M.'s or "Gentil Membres". 

My guest for this episode is James Martin. James and I worked together before in Club Med Cancun in 2004/2005. Originally from Minnesota, but now living in Florida, James shares his hilarious story about auditioning for Club Med in 2001 and is placed at Club Med Crested Butte, Colorado in December 2001 as a Bar G.O. He recounts one of the best stories (or only story) I’ve heard about someone meeting the 39^th President of the United States, Jimmy Carter. Sit back, relax and enjoy! **My First Season podcast has always been free to listen to. My First Season is available on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Podbean App, Spotify, Amazon Music/Audible, TuneIn + Alexa, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM, Pandora and Listen Notes.

My guest for this podcast is someone I had not worked with before, but our paths had crossed. She is originally from Montreal and currently resides in Newfoundland. She is also the co-founder and administrator of the largest EXGO site on Facebook with 8.1K members, The Official Club Med EXGO Facebook Group, everyone, Miss G.A! G.A. recounts one of the best of not THE best G.M. to G.O. stories I’ve ever heard that takes places in 1989 in Club Med Martinique. I don’t want to spoil a minute of this amazing story so you’ll really have to listen if you want to hear more and man, is it worth it! G. A. also co-founded Kitchen 4 Missions along with EXGO Katie McGowan and the description for K4M is below:

Kitchens 4 Missions (K4M) was sparked by Anthony's Bourdain's loss to his battle with depression. The suicide of this culinary hero drew attention to mental health challenges not just within the hospitality industry, but the world over. Knowing that 1 in 5 Canadians will be faced with a mental health crisis in any given year, yet stigma and limited access to care means many won't get the help they need, K4M emerged to help meet this need. Through our "food philanthropy" event, we work to raise funds for accessible counselling services and normalize conversations about mental wellness. If you’d like to know more, please visit the link below:

www.kitchens4missions.com

It gives me great pleasure to introduce today’s guest, you know him, you love him, please help me welcome, Eric Goldberg! Eric’s first season was in Club Med St. Lucia (then a single’s resort) in November 1987 as DJ. He had been to Club Med Turks & Caicos prior on vacation, which is where he got bit by the bug to apply to Club Med. Eric recounts the craziness of Olympic Day in the late 80’s and what it was like being the resort DJ and also his mom crashing his first fashion show by the pool. Sit back, enjoy and shout ,"Hey, lady!"