A catch up podcast for the New Year. Both Kirsty and Nikki’s youngest expat/repat children have now graduated from school and are on their way to university/gap year. We talk film, books and television.



Kirsty:



Disclaimer – Apple TV



The Season – Helen Garner



Apple Cider Vinegar – Apple TV



Nikki:



Zero Day – Netflix



Paradise – Hulu



Black Doves – Netflix

Kirsty and NIkki discuss how differently there lives may had been had they done what they’d originally planned.



Kirsty’s favourites:



Dinasaur: Hulu, SBS on Demand



Fake: Paramount +



Dark Waters: Amazon Prime



Nikki:



The Gentlemen: Netflix



The Rest is Entertainment: Podcast

Starting a chat with someone new can be a little scarier when you’ve lost that expat hook. You know the chat – so how long have you lived here? Where are you from? Where did you live before you moved here? Nikki talks about her new intro chats as a repat and how she’s coping with conversations that seem to go nowhere.



When were you your most confident as an expat? Was it pre/post expat? Nikki and Kirsty discuss when they were at their most confident and why.



Our favourite things



Kirsty:



Life After Life



The Bear



The Big Swing – Season Two



Angela Hicks on Instagram



Nikki:



The Three Body Problem (Netflix)



Lie to Me



Nikki has given birth to a poet



See you in the first week of August.

This week we discuss Expats the television series based in Hong Kong. The series is adapted from the novel The Expatriates written by Janice Y.K. Lee.



Nikki is 6 months in with her repatriation and has a very honest chat about being friendless and miserable.



Our favourite things:



Tiny Beautiful Things



American Fiction



Past Lives



Taylor Swift The Eras Tour



One Day



Expats

What is a good salary in Doha? London? Jakarta? We’ve all seen the questions based on how much money you need to make to survive, today we have a new question. What’s been the biggest cost you didn’t foresee when you moved? What did you forget to factor in?



We also talk about the grieving expat. Going through grief when no-one understands the enormity of your loss. How do we cope with losing expat friends when we’ve moved on to a new location?



Favourite things:



Kirsty:



We talk Robbie Williams, Last Stop Larrimah, and Glen Maxwell’s iconic cricket innings.



Nikki:



Bosch Legacy – Season 2, Hard Fork (podcast), and a little story about lost in translation



What are you watching and listening to? How’s life where you are this week? Link in the comments.

The Trailing Spouse is dead – this week on the podcast we talk about why the “Accompanying Spouse” has arrived. I mean the Accompanying Spouse was always a better term wasn’t it? We all walk side by side don’t we? Sidenote – the term Trailing Spouse will no longer be used in the Two Fat Expats Facebook Group with Accompanying Spouse being the preferred term.



We’re also talking Posh and Becks and how no matter how much money you have or how many football teams you own you’re still going to lay awake at night thinking of schools, finding a hairdresser, finding new friends and feeling like a fish out of water.



We also discuss dealing with strong opinions on your host country from people who’ve never lived there. Has social media made it worse? 



Kirsty’s three favourite things:



Somewhere in Queens (Movie)



Blackberry (Movie – Amazon Prime)



The Morning Wars/The Morning Show – Season 3







Nikki’s three favourite things:



Nikki also loved Beckham



Silo  (television – apple tv)



Getting a giggle from the silent walking trend aka walking

This week on the podcast we answer a question from the Fatterati’s “Should I go home?” We also discuss the complications of re-acquainting yourself with old friends after repatriation.



Kirsty’s three favourite things:



Exposed (podcast)



Deadloch (television)



Travis and Taylor and everything EVERYTHING about them



Ange Postecoglou and The Tottenham Spurs



Nikki’s three favourite things:



Sex Education Season Four (television)



The Newsreader Season Two (television)



Wilderness (television)



What are you watching and listening to? Are Travis and Taylor the content you didn’t know you needed? What do you think of the social media trend “Taylor put Travis on the map”. How’s life where you are? Link in the comments.

🎧



Nikki has repatriated and she’s yet to make a new friend BUT it’s not all bad because she’s living in paradise AND she’s discovered her new favourite drink (a gin mule).



This week on the podcast we’re talking repatriation, the good, the bad and the ugly cry.



Kirsty’s three favourite things:



The Girlfriends (Podcast)



What’s love got to do with it (film)



Matidlas (Disney + Doco)



And I know I said three favourite things but I had to mention Wham! (Doco) 



Nikki’s favourite three things:



Scamanda (Podcast)



You (television)



The Summer I turned Pretty (television)

This was Nikki’s very last podcast before she repatriated.

It’s been seven hours and sixteen years…yes I know the song doesn’t go like that but it fits with the intro. It’s been a long time since Kirsty and Nikki have hit the maternity ward so we asked the Fatterati what it was like to have a baby away from home. We also did an expat mental health check, Nikki is now down to her last week as an expat before hitting the repatriation trail. Lots to discuss.



We also gave you our three favourite things (which we didn’t agree on) Nikki loves The Diplomat Kirsty not a fan. Come and have a listen and tell us what you think.



See you next week.

What are some of the unique challenges long term expats face? Savings and superannuation, self care and medical issues? Heart breaking friend break ups? Property ownership and all the tax implications that come with it? We ran through a few.



We shared food discoveries from the Fatterati, what can’t you now live without?



Kirsty’s three things: The Fablemans, Chris Rock, Benjamin Law article on Survivor experience



Nikki’s three things: The witch trials of JK Rowling, Pokerface, MH 370 the plane that disappeared.

Also, the ageist expat are you a victim or a perpetrator?



Kirsty’s three things:



Shrinking, The Big Swing and while we’re on the subject….golf!



Nikki’s favourite three things:



White Collar, 1923, Robbie Williams live in Copenhagen



And watch out Amsterdam we’re coming for you!

Welcome to our first live audience podcast recorded in Singapore – yes yes Kirsty was in Singapore in 2016 but it was a 4 kids, 20 suitcases and a beagle reading whereas this was the full package!



The theme of the evening was friends. Kirsty asked Nikki will she have to change the way she recruits friends upon repatriation. What will be different? Nikki asked Kirsty How will you replenish or change up your friendship group post covid now that you have quite a defined time split between countries?



We then talked all things expat friendships before giving our three favourite things.



Kirsty:



The Kelce brothers and their mother Donna.



Here’s the video of her post game



Bullet Train:



This NYT article about why men find it so hard to make friends



Nikki:



That 90’s show



Offline – Jon Favreau – Interview with Dr Robert Waldinger (the Good Life – Lessons from the Longest Study on Happiness)



Pivot – Scott Galloway – Friendship Aside

Nikki is dealing with the realities of the impact her expat life has had on her family relationships and describes how it feels like a bit of a “kick in the guts”.



We talk about Kirsty’s book and its premise. Ever been described as excess baggage? Get ready for the reply.



Three favourite things Kirsty:



Meet Cute



The Good House



Helen had her baby – The gorgeous Wengel (meaning the good news)



Three favourite things Nikki:



The Sound: Mystery of Savana Syndrome



The Last of Us – Episode 3



New friends long coffees

How will you settle? Expats traditionally have itchy feet so how do you settle when you’re heading home?



How will you plan your expat year ahead? Or how will you divide up your time ahead? Now that expats are back travelling between countries what’s the most effective way to plan your year?



Kirsty’s three favourite things:



She said



Steven Spielberg on Smartless 



Have you ever taken your kids to a driving range in the holidays? Highly recommend.



Our author friend Kylie Ladd



Nikki’s three favourite things:



Offline – Jon Favreau. Episode – How to Avoid Distraction with Johann Hari 



‘Stolen Focus’ – JH book



Hard Fork (New York Times podcast) – Tik Tok and Chat GPT transforms a highschool classroom (for the better) and is M3GAN real? 



The Last of Us – HBO 99% Rotten Tomatoes (not so much a recommendation more a discussion)

How will you cope with no-one giving a flying fig about your expat life when you’re home for the holidays or repatriating? Kirsty and Nikki discuss why expats are hurt by friends and family that appear disinterested in their expat lives. Is it time to accept that you’re really not that special? 



How will you deal with newcomers writing you off when they hear that you’re leaving? And how will you keep yourself open to making new friends even though you know you’re at the end of your expat gig? 



Kirsty’s favourite things:



The Flatshare



Mathew Perry’s autobiography



Cherry Cherry Yum Yum (NYT’s food)



Nikki’s favourite things:



Treason BBC



The Recruit 



Turning on the subtitles to listen to the lyrics in films (Nikki swears you’ll be amazed)



Did you listen to last week’s podcast? Any topics you’d like us to discuss?



Let us know in the comments. xx

Will you be with family or without for the festive season? What do you do to make your holiday season special or is the holiday season non existant where you’re currently living?



Instead of our usual three favourite things with podcasts, movies and television we discuss our three favourite holiday traditions.



Nikki:



Making or tracking down Christmas Crackers and Bon Bons



Buying a christmas ornament from your expat location



Christmas Eve baking followed by a Christmas movie



Kirsty:



No more Christmas Wrapping Paper it’s recycled newspaper all the way with re-used ribbons



Teenagers/young adults filling the adult’s stockings



Christmas Movie countdown (three favourites The Family Stone, Love Actually, Christmas with the Moody’s)

In our would you/could you we discuss what Covid restrictions look like in China right now. Would you/could you move there? We talk to the Chinese Fatterati about their lives and report back.



Would you/could you make your house a home without your shipment? How?



Kirsty’s Favourite Things:



Colin from Accounts



Shetland



Magnetic Eyelashes



Nikki’s Favourite Things:



White Lotus Season 2



Wednesday



Long Lazy Lunches watching your expat kids catch up with old connections

This week on the podcast we discuss travelling between countries with medications and how to navigate when you’ve been prescribed something in one country only to discover it’s banned in the country you’re moving to. Nikki has some big news which leads us to discuss expat redundancy.







Nikki’s favourites



The Rest is History (The World Cup series)



The Inside Man (Netflix)



Limitless (Disney +)



Kirsty’s favourites



The Staircase (Netflix)



Pivot – Episode How to Raise the next Scott Galloway



Fisk (ABC Australia)

This week’s episode is all about the World Cup both in Qatar and South Africa. I’ve written a piece about living in Qatar and the recent press.



Here’s a few of the links I talked about:



David Beckham Peyton Manning World Cup Commercial



Ghanin Al Muftah – the star of the opening ceremony.



Michael Sheen – Welsh message



Nikki’s three favourite things:



Heartbreak High on Netflix



The Handmaids Tale Season 5



Peripheral



Kirsty’s three favourite things



The Documentary Podcast – The real housewives of Doha



Good luck to you Leo Grande



Phantom of the Open