Wait, Wait - Don't Tell Me - Bluff the Listener segment with a Taiwan 2020 reference

Arts & Sciences Culture & History
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This was fun to listen, to.

The following link has a transcript of the segment

JOBRANI: Remember when summer could mean taking a trip out of town or even out of the country? Sure, it took a lot of effort to get your family to the airport, check them in at the counter, go through security, clear immigration, walk to your gate, wrangle the kids as they run in different directions, finally board the plane and buckle in for a long flight seated in an upright position. But it was all worth it because you were going to an exotic destination. Now, imagine all of that without the exotic destination.

HIGGINS: (Laughter).

JOBRANI: Welcome to summer 2020 at Taipei’s Songshan Airport, where travelers are being offered an airport tour called, quote, “Pretend to go Abroad,” end quote. Yes, since Taiwan locked down its borders in March because of the coronavirus pandemic, people have been stuck in the country and looking for things to do. The airport, having gone through a series of renovations and expansions in 2019, thought it would be fun to offer tour-takers the chance to be the, quote, “first to experience the new facilities,” end quote.

And it worked. In a sign of how desperate people are for entertainment, 7,000 people responded to a Facebook post from the airport’s social media team, and 180 people were chosen to enjoy the half-day tour. Part of the tour included boarding a China Airlines flight and just, well, sitting there.

HIGGINS: (Laughter).

JOBRANI: In-flight meals were not provided since the passengers were not really in flight but rather in airport. Given how successful this tour has been, perhaps people will take a page out of Taipei’s playbook and apply it to other pretend tours. Cruise line docks could do Pretend to be an Octogenarian tours. Taxi pickup stations could do Pretend to Risk your Life in the Backseat tours. And bus stations could do Pretend to Run Away from your Family tours.

SAGAL: A completely fake airplane flight - a trip to nowhere with all the joys of going to the airport and getting on a plane and then getting right off.

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UN recognition can’t be far behind :taiwan: :happyrunningaround:

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What were the other two stories?

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SAGAL: All right. So this summer, if you’re bored of being locked in all this time, you can do one of these three things. Is it, from Paula Poundstone, ordering the fun family home COVID-19 cure kit so you can try to save the world while having good together time; from Maz Jobrani, going to the airport and enjoying all the thrills of taking a flight to somewhere while actually going nowhere; or, from Maeve, self-transformation kits - a seven-day journey to a totally new and different you? Which of these is something that somebody is actually doing this summer for fun?

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