The first trip is always a difficult one, generally it’s
early in the New Year after a period of time off and getting back into the
groove takes a few hours. On this occasion I had to visit Warsaw Doha and Hong
Kong in the space of five days so it was going to be gruelling.
Sunday 3rd January.
I was up by 9AM and packing by 9:30, I always travel “hand
baggage only” if at all possible, it means you can be at the airport later and
out of the airport quicker and without the stress of wondering if your baggage
made it intact. On this occasion I was going to be away for seven days so I
needed to pack carefully. Limiting your space means you have to think carefully
about what to take, on this occasion I was going to be with two clients and one
prospect in three different cities and with one exception only with them for a
single day each time. As a result I was planning to get more than one day out
of some of the clothing such as shirts and trousers. So with the packing consisting of eight sets
of underwear (one spare), five shirts, (two for evenings three for work) one
pair of jeans for the aircraft one pair of trousers, one Suit and one pair of
shoes I was ready.
Having had breakfast I left for my local airport at 11:00 to
catch the 11:40 bus to Heathrow arriving at 13:10, by 13:30 I was in the BA
lounge and catching up on some of the complex e-mails I had not dealt with over
the Christmas and New Year break. At 14:45 I went to the gate to board the
flight with eventually took off at 16:15 due to air traffic delays, on this
occasion I had taken advantage of one of BA’s £120 upgrades to Business class,
mainly because this would mean I would obtain enough tier points to retain my
frequent flyer lounge access for another year and traveling like I do the
lounge access is a godsend. We arrived
in Warsaw at 19:10 local time, I was staying in the Marriott courtyard across
from the terminal which was good as the temperature was minus 14 Celsius.
Having checked in on line I was given a key on arrival and in the room by 19:30.
Having already eaten on the plane I stayed in the room and continued to work
until 21:00 local time when it was time for bed.
Monday 4th January.
As is usual I did not sleep well and only managed 6 hours
waking at 6AM (5AM on my body clock) half an hour before the alarm was due to
go off. First task was a quick run through of the fortunately small amount of
overnight e-mails and then breakfast having carefully repacked my case to
ensure I have everything. My pickup was
at 8AM so just time to grab some breakfast, the meeting was 1KM from the
airport. With the meeting finished I was back at the airport at 2PM for a
flight to Doha where I arrived at 11PM. It was quickly through customs and then
to the Hotel where I arrived at midnight finally getting to bed at 1AM, with a
pickup planned from the Hotel at 8AM I needed to be up by 7AM
Tuesday 5th January
I was up at 6:30AM with my body clock telling me it was
3:30AM, after a bit of staggering around managed to make it to the pickup by
8AM. The meeting concluded about 3PM and there was nothing planned for the
evening so my colleague I and took the opportunity to visit the local Souk for
something to eat, being the winter the temperature was cool and it was a great
evening with some fantastic local food, which is a highlight of the Middle
East, before returning to the Hotel to catch up on the work as the UK business
day was just coming to an end.
Wednesday 6th January.
Up at 6:30 to check the e-mails before the pickup at 8AM, I
had managed to get a late checkout so did not have to pack fully this morning.
As my body clock was telling me it was too early for breakfast I decided given
that we had lunch planned for midday that I would not eat and wait until lunch.
The morning meeting overran and lunch never happened. We finished with the
customer at 3PM and they dropped us at the Hotel. The meetings had gone well
and I was quite relaxed but at this point I had still not eaten and there was a
possibility that we may be having dinner with the client. I needed to eat but
not a massive amount, so it was a “club Sandwich” from the menu. I am not sure
what they used for the bacon as being in the Middle East it would not have been
pork but it tasted good. I had said to the client that I would be checking out
of the hotel at 5PM and would be happy to have dinner before going to the
airport but at 5PM I received a call that they were busy with budget meetings
and would have to work late so I opted for going straight to the airport as we
would not be meeting, Having checked in via the internet and with hand baggage
only I did not need for the baggage drop to open in another five hours so I
went straight to the departures lounge. Working in aviation I like to explore
airports I have not visited as I am often asked questions about airport
geography in my job so this being my first time at the new Doha airport I took
the opportunity of exploring. After an hour, my curiosity satisfied, I took
went to the business lounge. I have
managed to achieve the required status with One World and Star Alliance to gain
lounge access and it is the single biggest perk for me as I spend a lot of time
in airports and free WIFI, coffee food and a quiet place to work are precious.
After 5 hours it was time to go to the boarding gate for my flight to Hong
Kong, I had been hoping that the person organising my next meeting might have
managed to upgrade me but it was not to be and I was destined for a night in an
economy cabin. The flight left at 2AM and six and a quarter hours later we arrived
in Hong Kong at 2PM in the afternoon. Initially I was not tired so watched half
a film, I then fell asleep for about 4 hour before waking up and watching the
other half of the film.
Thursday 7th January
Hong Kong is a favourite city of mine, I grew up thee but I
was not going to see it on this trip, time was short and the meetings were at
the airport so the hotel was at the airport, The Regal Hotel is a personal
favourite of mine with rooms that have a view over the apron. I noticed that
there was a set of weighing scales in the bathroom and on weighing myself I
discovered I was 80KG after the Christmas break so I will have work at
losing about 5Kgs-10Kgs before the
spring. There was not much work as the UK was only just waking up and my Middle
Eastern client had not sent me anything so I watched the aircraft for a couple
of hours, at 6PM my colleague who had arrived the day before came to the Hotel
for dinner and to catch up on his day with the potential client. Dinner and a
few beers later I called my mother to wish her a happy birthday before going to
bed.
Friday 8th January
I was up at 7AM, my body clock had given up on me but it was
11PM the previous night at home. We met with the client at 9AM and were with
them until 3PM, the meeting went very well, business is done by people and any
“connection” you can make with your potential client helps in the relationship
building, it turns out that the senior manager on the project used to live on
the same estate as I grew up on in Hong Kong at about the same time. Whilst we
have not signed them up there is a clear timetable to do so. The difficulty is that in order to make the
deadlines they want for the implementation it is clear we are going to have to
work fast. This was the first week of January, they have to complete the
business case before the deadline for the next financial management committee on
February 24th but there is Chinese New Year on the 8th –
10th February which is their primary holiday of the year so we need
it complete by about the 4th February. If we miss this the entire
project will be put back by about 2 months.
With all this in mind my colleague and I had a further
meeting in the airport to discuss the strategy and by 5PM I was done and back
in the room. With Europe just waking up it was time to “start work” and I was
busy until after 9PM when I went for some food. Back in the room by 10PM it was
time for bed but with all the excitement I did not get to sleep until after
1AM.
Saturday 9th January
The alarm went off at 6AM as I had a 9AM flight, I could
have opted to go back to the UK late on Friday night but had decided to take a
day in Beijing instead. The ticket I had purchased for the trip was EUR300
cheaper if I returned from Beijing and not Hong Kong so I redeemed some miles
and purchased a “redemption ticket” from Hong Kong to Beijing. The flight
arrived in Beijing at midday and I was not leaving until 1AM Sunday
morning. Those that no me know I am an
aircraft nut and rather than drag my gas around town for 12 hours in -10C
temperatures I opted for a day at the airport, China had grown enormously and for me a day watching it is a day well
spent.
Sunday 10th January
A travel day, we left Beijing at 1;20 AM and after an 8 hour
flight arrived in Doha at 5AM, leaving again at 7:45AM and back to Heathrow at
midday, this it’s a two hour coach ride home so I should be in the house at
about 3PM. One thing of interest to me, I am flying on an Arabic Airlines and
they will serve Alcohol but the sausage in the breakfast is a chicken sausage
so Alcohol is OK but not pork
Tomorrow I have to be up at 4AM to drive to Heathrow and fly
to Prague where a journalist is going to write a piece about my company and
interview me for the trade press, the flight from London is at 7:20AM and I am
back at Heathrow at 5PM so will be home by 7PM. Tuesday is a working at home
day, Wednesday I have to be at Heathrow my 7AM for a flight to Brussels to
attend an implementation meeting review with a new customer, once again I am
back by 5PM so home by 7PM. Thursday I am in our Gatwick office and Friday I am
having as a day off ……….
