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Speaker 1: Scary times as once again conflicts has erupted in the

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Speaker 1: Middle East, and my thoughts over the weekend have been

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Speaker 1: with travelers who may well be caught up in It.

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Speaker 1: Turns out that includes a local Jam McQueen. She is

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Speaker 1: in Doha and was out on a walk when she

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Speaker 1: got the scary call from her daughter saying get home now.

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Speaker 2: As soon as we got back, the sirens started and

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Speaker 2: we had probably yesterday about four sirens with emergency alert.

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Speaker 2: At that stage, we were kind of thinking, oh, well,

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Speaker 2: here we go again, because we were in a very

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Speaker 2: very similar situation fifteen years ago when we were in Libya.

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Speaker 3: And that was just at the brink of.

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Speaker 2: The civil war, so that's exactly fifteen years ago plus

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Speaker 2: about three days. So there was a very strong sense

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Speaker 2: of dejaboo. So we came to the apartment and for

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Speaker 2: what's right, and that's when the strikes began. And that

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Speaker 2: was a very real and pretty unsettling given that when

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Speaker 2: we're in Libya ares helicopters and gunshots that we were hearing,

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Speaker 2: whereas hair it was in the sky. And yesterday was

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Speaker 2: an extremely busy day. I think we had about maybe

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Speaker 2: seventy five or seventy seven air strikes during the course

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Speaker 2: of the day. And I mean you hear them and

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Speaker 2: you can see them. They explode as they intercept that

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Speaker 2: they explode in the sky and set off a trail

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Speaker 2: of it looks like a shooting cloud if you can imagine.

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Speaker 2: Imagine that. And in some cases yesterday we did witness

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Speaker 2: some of the debris exploding in the air, and of

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Speaker 2: course that debris is coming down and has caused a

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Speaker 2: few injuries and even caused a warehouse to alight this morning.

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Speaker 3: So there was quite a.

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Speaker 2: Major fire at the place of landing for some of

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Speaker 2: that debris. It was a big warehouse that actually had

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Speaker 2: a lot of really important stuff just for the livelihood

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Speaker 2: of Kataris and other people who live here in Doha.

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Speaker 2: So they're pretty resounding and pretty sobering, especially as they

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Speaker 2: gather momentum. They might come in groups of two or three.

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Speaker 1: Do you feel safe?

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Speaker 2: You can't not feel any otherwise because you've got no option.

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Speaker 1: Do you feel stranded?

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Speaker 2: No, because everybody else is going through the same situation

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Speaker 2: as you are.

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Speaker 3: There's a sense of acceptance because there's something you can do.

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Speaker 1: Oh my goodness, we've.

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Speaker 2: Come here for four weeks. Our son and daughter in

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Speaker 2: law live here. They worked here, so we arrived and

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Speaker 2: you know, we're just kind of just waiting it out

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Speaker 2: at the moment, and we can't get out anyway. We

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Speaker 2: can't do anything because the airspace was blocked yesterday and

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Speaker 2: it will remain blocked for how long ever it takes.

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Speaker 3: But whom I do feel.

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Speaker 2: Sorry for is that thousands and thousands and thousands of

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Speaker 2: travelers have been stranded throughout the area, and Doha is

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Speaker 2: no exception. We've got so many people stranded at the airport.

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Speaker 1: Feels ill fitting bringing this up given the context of everything,

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Speaker 1: But no doubt it's top of mind for many people.

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Speaker 1: Jen None of this is covered by travel insurance, is it?

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Speaker 3: No, none of it is.

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Speaker 2: And hotel costs butarked, I know that with some cut

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Speaker 2: our airways, they are absorbing those costs for their travelers.

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Speaker 2: They are Yeah, No, I mean they are taking a

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Speaker 2: massive hit with this, and so you know, getting all

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Speaker 2: those people into hotels and looking after them and everything. No,

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Speaker 2: they're taking that one on board. So I think in

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Speaker 2: many cases it depends on the airline and the goodwill

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Speaker 2: of the airline.

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Speaker 1: Have you had any word from our officials, from our government.

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Speaker 2: No I registered on the New Zealand website this morning,

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Speaker 2: but the advice is no different to what we're getting locally.

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Speaker 2: Stay at home, don't go out. In Olivia, when we

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Speaker 2: were trying to evacuate from Libya, the New Zealand Ministry

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Speaker 2: and Cairo was telling us to get a plane out

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Speaker 2: you're going No, wait a minute, guess Spase doesn't have

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Speaker 2: planes in it. No no help at all because you know, people,

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Speaker 2: unless you're right on the ground with the embassy, and

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Speaker 2: it's something that they're really really familiar with doing. And

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Speaker 2: that is in the terms of evacuation, there was really,

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Speaker 2: with all due respects, nothing that they can really do

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Speaker 2: at the moment.

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Speaker 3: We're not deserted and we're not without a home.

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Speaker 2: Well, I wouldn't like to say we're safe, but we

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Speaker 2: can't be any safer than what we are.

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Speaker 3: Now.

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Speaker 1: What if you do need to get out jen for

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Speaker 1: say groceries and supplies as the sky is literally falling,

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Speaker 1: Can you go shopping?

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Speaker 2: No? So, but fortunately Doha has a very good infrastructure

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Speaker 2: serving people with the home deliveries and everything. So we've

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Speaker 2: just well, fortunately before all of this happened, we did

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Speaker 2: go out and do a big shop and we've just

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Speaker 2: ordered everything in and those delivery services, those folks on

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Speaker 2: their little motorbikes running around like little worker bees that

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Speaker 2: just you.

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Speaker 3: Know, they deliver anything and everything. So we're well stopped up.

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Speaker 1: Gee, So how are you distracting yourself? It sort of

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Speaker 1: feels like COVID times, but with far greater weight.

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Speaker 2: Through all of this, you know, we're having lots of discussion,

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Speaker 2: reading a lot, listening a lot, watching a lot, and

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Speaker 2: there's a massive learning curve to really understand.

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Speaker 3: What and why everything is going on.

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Speaker 1: She's you're braver than me. I'd be turning the TV

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Speaker 1: off and just hungering under the blankets or something. To

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Speaker 1: be fair, we're going to you can't do that, Janet.

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Speaker 1: We're going to need to leave it there. But I

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Speaker 1: really appreciate your time and you're being so candid. At

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Speaker 1: least you've got some connectivity there. Stay safe the best

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Speaker 1: you can, and I certainly hope that the sirens don't

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Speaker 1: rattle too much today. It means a lot that connected

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Speaker 1: with us.

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Speaker 3: Thank you so much, Luke. Yeah, take care, you take care.

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Speaker 3: Oh yeah, that's right, do that too,