Around The World In 80 Missions

Listen to the audiobook edition of Around the World in Eighty Missions by Jacques Tocatlian, with an introduction and fifteen chapters following Jacques Dupont through UNESCO missions, unexpected encounters, cultural discoveries, and gentle humor around the world.

Inspired by Jacques Tocatlian’s international work with UNESCO, Around the World in Eighty Missions follows Jacques Dupont through humorous cultural misunderstandings, unforgettable characters, and unexpected adventures, proving that curiosity, kindness, and laughter are often the best travel companions.

This Book is not an autobiography. It is rather the product of an interaction between imagination, experience, fiction, reminiscence and fantasy. A cocktail mixed in the environment of Unesco – the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization – and…

At my recent farewell party at the Unesco Headquarters, in Paris, the Assistant Director-General had said in his speech, “After thirty years of service, our friend Jacques Dupont is retiring. Lucky man ! He will be free at last. He…

I was in New York on one of my missions to the United Nations to represent Unesco at a meeting. I had been to the UN on several occasions before. In fact, I had established, over the years, a fairly…

I remember when I got off the plane I found Heathrow airport crowded. The sky was blue, but everyone had an umbrella. I guess, in England you just do not trust the weather forecast.

The meeting in Morocco had been scheduled to last three days. It was a restricted, semi-formal consultation, at the invitation of the Government of Morocco, to help finalize an important project for international assistance on the theme of: ‘A national…

I distinctly remember it was June 1980. I had just turned forty-five and had been promoted Director of a large division. That Monday morning I was peacefully planning my week at my desk, hoping to catch up with the backlog,…

I opened my eyes. The room was dark. It was not my room. The street lights projected a ghostly silhouette onto the window. As I moved in my bed, the silhouette turned and spoke. I recognized Brigitte’s voice: “Are you…

The twelve-hour flight had resulted in a first-rate jet lag. Unfortunately, Melatonine had not yet been marketed and I was desperately struggling to sleep in my tiny room at the Tokyo Hotel. One would assume that at fifty, after twenty…