Back on the road again

Back on the road again for the first overnight of the year and it starts on a Sunday. I dislike having to fly on Sundays as it foreshortens the weekend. Sometimes however no matter how early you start on a Monday you just can’t get to where you need to be by the time you need to be there on Monday. This Sunday it was out at 0900 to a sports match with one of my children. I returned at 15:40 the taxi arrived at 16:00 for a 16:30 bus to Luton Airport, the bus schedule did not allow for a later bus without cutting the time to the flight very short. I arrived at the Airport at 18:00 had something to eat and killed time until the 20:25 departure. I noticed a lot of corporate jet movements which I know from my work are mainly people coming to London for work on Monday. For me the benefit of having your own aircraft is being able to travel when you want so why do these people travel on a Sunday? Why don’t they just get up early on Monday?

My arrival in Gdansk was at 23:30 local and I arrived at the hotel about midnight, I left for the airport again at 08:00 so in fact saw nothing of this, I believe, beautiful city hence the picture of my hotel room.

Sumary of the year

The end of another year, and what a year it’s been; 136 flights totalling just over 289 hours visiting 48 different airports in 21 different countries. I have a new tool that I log the flights on and apparently I have flown 127,306 miles which is 5.1 times round the earth. On a slightly less positive note it also tells me I am responsible for 27 tonnes of Co2 1.39Kgs of Methane and 1.14Kgs of Nitrous Oxide.

Business wise the centralised Load Control unit that I run is expanding massively with an increase from 15 to 55 staff and a new site in Poland. The volumes of flights we have to deal with will rise stratospherically in 2012, the current throughput is about 5,000 units per month which will become 10,000 in February 2012 25,000 in March and topping out in April at almost 35,000 flights. The rest of the business is also doing very well; I have now risen to the fourth most profitable business in the group. The current market conditions are such that 2012 will be challenging and trying to pick the customers that will survive is quite a challenge. The survival of the Euro is something that causes everyone a worry. I never conceived that I could be writing contracts with a duration that might be greater than the currency they are billed in.

Personal highlights for me were accompanying a high profile music tour in South Africa, which provided the most memorable evening of an access all areas pass at the Port Elizabeth gig. The new contracts for the Centralised Load Control unit, winning new business provides an enormous high. And finally my work as a school governor in the local primary school; it helps me grounded and the school is a source of huge personal pride to me.

2012 is looking as busy as ever, I already have 26 flights booked to 12 countries.......

Lost in Translation

Maybe I am away from home too much, my wife went shopping yesterday, apparently it is a jumper.

The Gold ATM

I have heard of these “Gold” ATM’s before but a recent visit to Leipzig Airport allowed me to see one close up for the first time. It is just like any ATM except the screen offers a variety of coins. The prices change as you look at the screen; it went up 3 cents whilst I was watching it. The machine indicated that there was a CCTV camera watching it; although I could not see it. I wonder how much gold, if any is actually in it.

Too much choice

I have just spent a week in the US to visit my customer’s, it is a round of lunches and dinner’s. The United States has so much choice it is overwhelming. On of the games I play is to try to order breakfast without having to be asked a question, “two eggs over easy, sausage, hash browns coffee and orange juice please.” “What sort of toast sir, white brown or sour dough?” ... failed again.

One Customer picked me up from the airport and on the way to the office we stopped at a drive through coffee shop, the fact that they have Drive Through coffee shops was amazing enough but the choice was endless. “Coffee or tea”, “large medium or small” (in that order), “How many shots”, “what sort of syrup”. “Full fat or skinny milk” etc. etc. I asked for a medium cappuccino and the assistant was waiting for the rest of the order, I said “just a medium cappuccino”, it took a while before she understood that I just wanted a plain Medium Cappuccino with nothing else. For lunch we went to a Pasta Bar, on the wall is a list of ingredients and sauces. The first question was “which three ingredients?” after some thought I went for Chicken, Mushrooms and peppers Then a few moments later “what sauce do you want?” I went for cream sauce, then it was “what sort of pasta?” I have no idea what the shapes of past are called... its all just pasta to me. I was reduced to pointing. Then finally “parmesan cheese?“ What I really wanted was a menu which I could pick a meal that suited me. I am not a chef I don’t want to assemble the food myself..... let the professional’s do it.

The next day I was in a different restaurant with a different client. I was ordering steak; the meet in the Midwest is the best in the world. I was asked how I would like it cooked and asked for “medium rare” “we can’t do that sir, will medium do?” I asked why not and was told that there was an increased chance of food poisoning from eating uncooked meat and this particular restaurant did not allow medium rare in case you became ill and sued them foe serving undercooked meat.

Choice when you don’t want it and no choice when you do. It is these sort of oddities that I love about the US!!

Atlanta Airport Car Hire Centre

I am on a visit to my US customers this week; one of them is based off airport near Atlanta so I have to hire a car for the day. This time it was from Hertz. The Car Rental centre at the airport is of monumental proportions the text below is from the airport website.

Rental car center facts
· More than 2 million people rent vehicles each year at Hartsfield-Jackson.
· The ATL SkyTrain operates six two-car trains. Each car can carry 50 passengers and their baggage.
· The rental car center includes:
o Two four-story parking decks
o 2.8 million square feet of parking area
o More than 8,700 parking spaces
o 1,200 additional ground-level parking spaces
o 137,000-square-foot customer service center
o 1.3-acre facility to store and maintain trains
o “Quick turnaround” area with maintenance, wash and fuel facilities for rental vehicles
o 58 fuel pumps
o 19 wash bays with water recovery system

Hertz gave me two cars with flat batteries, the walked me out to the third car ... just in case. I was talking to the manager from the Hertz Unit, he told me they had a fleet of 6,000 cars at the airport and they have about 3,000 rentals on a Monday which is their busiest day..... and that is just Hertz, they have another 12 companies including Advantage , Alamo, Avis, Budget, Dollar and National.

Apparently this is only the fourth largest facility on the country ... where are the top three and how big are they!!!

Over London

I have flown into Heathrow from the East a few times recently in cloudless skies, for me it is one of the most amazing approaches to an airport there is and I never tire of it. The geography of London is breathtaking and from above you can see how the city had developed. The first thing you see are the 1960’s housing developments of Thamesmede, often you see this many times as you go round the holding pattern!! Once released by Air Traffic for the final approach you fly over Docklands and its impressive skyscrapers, then the tightly packed City of London followed by the Tower of London, Tower Bridge, the Houses of Parliament and London Eye. Then it’s Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park and the west end all the time getting lower and lower. Finally its over Richmond, Kew Gardens and Hampton Court palace about 60 seconds before touchdown. At night with all the lights on is it different but equally breathtaking. I can only imagine the excitement this a must bring out in tourists visiting the city for the first time.