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- Aug 26, 2010
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The Spanner in the Works (Part Two)
My early afternoon Saturday nap was disturbed by the buzz of my Blackberry. I had left it on vibrate by mistake. The little yellow message indicator confirmed it was an email, and it proved to be the long awaited email from my colleague!
“At last” I said to myself, “the itinerary”.
Unfortunately I was being delusional. (No change there I hear you say.) Not only was this not an itinerary, my colleague had advised the man on the ground in Brazil that I would be arriving a day later than I actually would.:shock:
Some of you (at least one of you) have been wondering why I would be so concerned about a third party arranging my travel so I thought I’d share my thoughts on the subject.
I travel a fair bit, 400 hours flying and about 100 nights away from home. Several years ago an old boss, whose understanding of our business could be written on the border of a postage stamp, decided that I needed to visit a company in Paris.
Apart from being a complete waste of time it was a reasonably straightforward exercise. Fly to Paris, taxi to hotel, picked up and delivered to the company the next morning. I organised the flights and the MD’s PA at the French company asked if I needed hotel reservation. I said “yes please” and the next day she emailed me the address of the hotel.
Those who have read my previous trip report will know that I love all things French.....apart from, of course, The French. This will perhaps give a little insight.
I arrived at the hotel to find there was no booking. “Qu'est-ce que c'est” I said, I’m not sure that was relevant or would have helped at all but at least it was some sort of French. Fortunately, well only slightly fortunately, the cheese eating surrender monkey* behind the reception desk had a smattering of English. He was unable to recommend any other hotel because they were all full and didn’t know what could be done! “Merci beaucoup” I said, wondering why I hadn’t packed my longbow.
In the end wotif.com was my friend and for an inexpensive $700, yes seven hundred of my Australian dollars, I managed to get a room at a nearby posh hotel. (I can't for the life of me remember which one, I have a feeling it was a Renaissance.) The next morning the MD of the French company looked at me and said, but of course, you did not give my PA your credit card details. Stone me, I thought, how could I be such an idiot? Now I know never to travel without the hotel booking reference. (Although I'm getting close on this trip!)
Tony's tip: Just because someone asks you if you want them to book a hotel for you, saying yes does not necessarily facilitate this.
The second experience is not mine, it belongs to my US colleague. On one of my, far to frequent trips to Blighty, I was scheduled to be involved in a teleconference. My US colleague was in Sao Paulo and was not answering his cell phone. We feared the worst, but with the majority of attendees being British we maintained our composure and demonstrated the traditional stiff upper lip. We would only go to $10,000 as a ransom if he had been kidnapped, and immediately set about finding a successor.
An hour into the meeting the call from our colleague came in. He was in some difficulty because the hotel for the previous night had not “worked out” and he had slept on the floor of an office. :shock: Yes you read correctly he slept on the floor of an office building in Sao Paulo.
Now bear in mind, my travel arrangements are in the hands of the same people who organised the office floor for my colleague, and as things stand, less than a week before I fly, I have no hotel reservation, no details of transfers, no internal flights, and a man called Sergio who thinks I’m arriving a day later than I am.
More to come soon, with pictures and everything maybe!
* If I have upset anyone from France, please accept my apologies(ish). I have nothing but respect (not sure if respect is the right word, I do wonder if it should be contempt?) for the French, particularly this year when they have not yet surrendered to the Pro Gadaffi forces and had a pro Gadaffi government installed operating from Vichy.
My early afternoon Saturday nap was disturbed by the buzz of my Blackberry. I had left it on vibrate by mistake. The little yellow message indicator confirmed it was an email, and it proved to be the long awaited email from my colleague!
“At last” I said to myself, “the itinerary”.
Unfortunately I was being delusional.
(No change there I hear you say.) Not only was this not an itinerary, my colleague had advised the man on the ground in Brazil that I would be arriving a day later than I actually would.:shock:Some of you (at least one of you) have been wondering why I would be so concerned about a third party arranging my travel so I thought I’d share my thoughts on the subject.
I travel a fair bit, 400 hours flying and about 100 nights away from home. Several years ago an old boss, whose understanding of our business could be written on the border of a postage stamp, decided that I needed to visit a company in Paris.
Apart from being a complete waste of time it was a reasonably straightforward exercise. Fly to Paris, taxi to hotel, picked up and delivered to the company the next morning. I organised the flights and the MD’s PA at the French company asked if I needed hotel reservation. I said “yes please” and the next day she emailed me the address of the hotel.
Those who have read my previous trip report will know that I love all things French.....apart from, of course, The French. This will perhaps give a little insight.
I arrived at the hotel to find there was no booking. “Qu'est-ce que c'est” I said, I’m not sure that was relevant or would have helped at all but at least it was some sort of French. Fortunately, well only slightly fortunately, the cheese eating surrender monkey* behind the reception desk had a smattering of English. He was unable to recommend any other hotel because they were all full and didn’t know what could be done! “Merci beaucoup” I said, wondering why I hadn’t packed my longbow.
In the end wotif.com was my friend and for an inexpensive $700, yes seven hundred of my Australian dollars, I managed to get a room at a nearby posh hotel. (I can't for the life of me remember which one, I have a feeling it was a Renaissance.) The next morning the MD of the French company looked at me and said, but of course, you did not give my PA your credit card details. Stone me, I thought, how could I be such an idiot? Now I know never to travel without the hotel booking reference.
(Although I'm getting close on this trip!)Tony's tip: Just because someone asks you if you want them to book a hotel for you, saying yes does not necessarily facilitate this.
The second experience is not mine, it belongs to my US colleague. On one of my, far to frequent trips to Blighty, I was scheduled to be involved in a teleconference. My US colleague was in Sao Paulo and was not answering his cell phone. We feared the worst, but with the majority of attendees being British we maintained our composure and demonstrated the traditional stiff upper lip. We would only go to $10,000 as a ransom if he had been kidnapped, and immediately set about finding a successor.
An hour into the meeting the call from our colleague came in. He was in some difficulty because the hotel for the previous night had not “worked out” and he had slept on the floor of an office. :shock: Yes you read correctly he slept on the floor of an office building in Sao Paulo.
Now bear in mind, my travel arrangements are in the hands of the same people who organised the office floor for my colleague, and as things stand, less than a week before I fly, I have no hotel reservation, no details of transfers, no internal flights, and a man called Sergio who thinks I’m arriving a day later than I am.
More to come soon, with pictures and everything maybe!
* If I have upset anyone from France, please accept my apologies(ish). I have nothing but respect (not sure if respect is the right word, I do wonder if it should be contempt?) for the French, particularly this year when they have not yet surrendered to the Pro Gadaffi forces and had a pro Gadaffi government installed operating from Vichy.
