The Trouble with Travel

You eventually have to come home. Returning home isn’t a bad thing; it’s much easier to do your laundry at home. Your family is at home. It’s just that it’s a bit of a let down. While you’re off on holiday or on a business trip it’s easy to imagine living in a different country. The difficult part would be paying for it. If only I had an endless supply of money! It’s been a jet set kind of late summer/early fall for me. Holiday in Japan and a business trip to London and Oslo. Here are the highlights/lowlights...

AIRPORT
Seattle: The queue for security was completely stopped. Rumor had it that a person ran through. As soon as security was done with that person I wanted my turn. Good thing I arrived early.
London: Passport control was very pleasant. I swear the inspector’s eyes rolled back into his head when I said I was visiting brokers and underwriters. I did get the inevitable carry on bag search/pat down on my way out of the UK. On the bright side, there is no need to remove your laptop from it’s case when going through the x-ray machine. Because you know, the x-ray machine can see through the case so they know it’s a laptop.
Oslo: 10:30 pm I disembark from the plane. 10:55 I am the second to last person through passport control. There were only about 60 people in line but I managed to get stuck behind a group of about 12 PRC citizens traveling in a group. Only one of whom spoke English. The inspector ended up calling her supervisor. When my turn finally came, I was asked if I spoke Norwegian (in Norwegian). My last name happens to be Danish. I can assure you that was the reason why and not because of my Scandanavian features.

TRANSPORT TO/FROM AIRPORT
Seattle: Husband: he’s so nice!
London: Heathrow Express: so handy!
Oslo: Flytoget: also very handy. If only I had selected the correct exit when I arrive in Oslo at midnight...

HOTEL
London: A lovely place, conveniently located near all of the offices I needed to visit; nice gym facilities. A couple of funny things about it though. First, the hairdryer. I assume that the hairdryer is going to be located in the bathroom. Seems logical. There was a phone in the bathroom but no hairdryer. I looked and looked and finally picked up the phone to call the concierge when I noticed a plaque on one of the desk drawers...”hairdryer” it read. I pulled the drawer open and there it was – attached to the bottom of the drawer. So, to dry my hair, the drawer had to be open and I had to position myself between the bed, the desk and the tv. Second, they didn’t have an extra ethernet cable (I had forgotten to bring one). Fine, they don’t have one so I ask the concierge where I could find a computer store that was open. What followed was a 10 minute discussion about how everything in the “city” was closed and I argued that there must a shop open somewhere in London, etc. I couldn't even manage to get him to at least agree with me in principle that there must be a store in London open on a Saturday afternoon. I gave up and asked for the location of a store near the hotel that would be open on Monday. Luckily, I found a store on Sunday while I was wandering near Charing Cross/Trafalgar Square. On the up side I had a view of the Gherkin.
Oslo: The hairdryer was in the bathroom! I had a view of the National Theater building. The seminar was in the hotel so that made it convenient. Breakfast was very nice as well. The best part, the duvet. I wanted to bring it home with me.

SIGHTSEEING
London: The high point: tourists asking me if there were on the right train.
Oslo:The Nobel Peace Center – very, very cool!

WORK
London: I always think I have allowed myself enough time for the various appointments, but alas, I’m always wrong. I actually got some things accomplished which was good. London business usually means a lot of eating and drinking. Great fun except when you have to get up the next morning for an early appointment. I won’t even go into the “work boyfriend” issue. If you know me, then you can ask me.
Oslo: Attended a seminar held by the underwriter. It was fairly informative if a little dull at times. I had a good meeting with the underwriter and the client, so again, it was worthwhile.

FOOD
London: I had some good Thai, some nice English/Euro cuisine – it was all very tasty.
Oslo: Good food here too. Especially the breakfast at the hotel, lots of cheeses, meats, bread, muesli, lox. Yum!

I had a very enjoyable trip all around, even if I was completely worn out every night. I definitely thought it was worthwhile on the job front – it’s always a good thing to see the people you work with and to do a bit of socializing with them as well. Makes it much easier the next time you have to discuss a tricky situation with them. If they hate you, then it’s probably not any easier and they despise you even more after having to spend an evening or lunch hour with you. :-)