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Exchange Rate Blues

While many times my business travels don’t take me to the most exotic of places, a few weeks ago I was in the UK and in Paris. As business travel goes, this generally ain’t bad.

However, since I travel within the United States much more then I travel outside the country, I’m far more accustomed to the world of domestic travel. I'm used to varying costs between US cities; however, I did not really realize how much our dollar has slipped versus the Pound Sterling.

Wanna know how much? Here is what $8.00 buys you.

That’s a cup of black coffee.

While in the UK, I decided to think in terms of units. So if I think of coffee as costing 3.4 units, rather than £3.40, then it doesn’t seem all that bad.

A Valentines Day Ode to ShallowGal

In honor of Valentine’s Day, this post is dedicated to my lovely bride. The following are the top 10 things that I love about my ShallowGal

• Not to dispel any myths, but she ain’t really so shallow. In fact, she’s probably the most caring human being I know. And she’s not afraid to take up a cause if someone is being mistreated or taken advantage of.

• Shallow Gal has an incredible sense of humor. There is nothing I enjoy quite so much as sharing a laugh with her.

• She is a fantastic mom to our children. I mean – the best.

• The chick can cook. I mean seriously cook.

• ShallowGal is the most amazing travel planner. She’s planned and pulled together some amazing trips for us.

• Anyone who has ever heard me describe ShallowGal knows that I always say that she is the smartest person I know. This is surely true.

• She’s real cute. I’d put up a picture, but she hates all the pictures. Personally, I’ve got about five pictures of her in my office.

• She is incredibly handy. She knows her way around a set of tools and can assemble any piece of furniture known to man.

• She writes incredibly well. Have you read her blog? Of course you have; how on earth else would you have found this post? I’m hoping she’ll write a book some day.

• Despite my blog-worthy foibles (and those that even she wouldn’t write about), my constant travel, my inability to load a dishwasher properly, and that fact that I’m apparently a bad sick person – she puts up with me.

I love you SG. Be my Valentine?

Oh the pressure....

ShallowGal has now listed me on her blog roll. And she's now getting traffic from all over the world. I think I'm going to need to begin updating my blog more than once a month. I know -- such a treat for the loyal reader. It's like the writers strike being over.

More soon.

Business Travel: Perception Versus Reality

Shallow Gal will readily tell you that when I got out of business school, I really wanted a job where I would travel a lot. She reminds me of this fairly regularly.Boy would that be cool -- nice hotels, fancy restaurants, first class seating on planes that departed on time.

14 years later I have a job where I travel a lot. It's cool sometimes. Mostly, it's a pain in the ass. In this post, we'll explore the ways my perception of business travel is different than what it's really like.

First, perception:

• Wake up at 7:00 am, shower, get dressed. Kiss Shallow Gal.
  
• Read Wall Street Journal in town car driven by well dressed driver with British accent.
• Breeze through security, grab cappuccino and bagel, walk directly onto plane (no line), plop down in large first class seat next to supermodel.
  
• Land on time somewhere cool like San Fran or New York and jump into waiting town car (same British driver oddly enough) who takes me to a big shiny building.
• Have many power meetings where I make decisions about "strategic direction" or "governance" or some other important stuff.
• Leave big shiny building in time grab an extended workout at the Intercontinental before leaving for a power dinner with other powerful people to discuss matters of great import.
  
• Return to Intercontinental. Sleep like a baby in 500 thread count sheeted king sized bed.
• Wake up, put on fancy robe. Order room service and "take calls" all morning.
  

You get the idea. My expectation was much like movie about business.

Now reality (from last week)

• Wake up at 5:00 am. Shower as quickly and quietly as I can. Eat cold cereal so as not to wake others. Take two Excedrin to get caffeine fix so that I don't have to use loud coffee maker.
• Wait for 6:00 am taxi to show up.
• 6:05 dirty taxi shows up smelling much like the dumpster behind an indian restaurant. Taxi driver barely speaks any English whatsoever and does not really know how to get to the airport. Finally accepts that I might have a better idea on how to get the airport than he does.
• Arrive at the airport. Wait 35 minutes in security line behind a bunch of people who've clearly never traveled before ("why do I need to take my shoes off?" "what, I can't bring a massive vat of red liquid on the plane?")
• Grab coffee and water, get in line to pay. Wonder if rumor about accounting denying expense reports for water is true. Decide I'm thirsty and I'll call it "tips" if I have to.
• Flight boards 20 minutes late. Instead of boarding plane, board bus. Sit on bus next to chatty guy in a bad suit. Hope he's not my seat mate on the plane.
  
• Take a seat on the smallest non-prop plane you've ever seen. Sit next to someone big enough to share my seat. Pilot promptly announces that we'll be delayed due to fog in arrival city.
• Sit on tarmac 1.5 hours in small regional jet. Seat mate falls asleep. Snoring commences.
  
• Arrive in Raleigh, North Carolina. Pick up shitty Ford Focus rental car at Hertz. Wonder what good being Five Star Gold on Hertz is.
  
• Spend day managing small crises, dealing with employee relations issues, learn of problems I didn't know I had in my group. Become frustrated. Negotiate major vendor contract -- win big concessions. Feel like a master of the universe. Worry that I've left something on the table. Feel like a guy who was lured into feeling like a master of the universe.
• Have 2 hour dinner with company president. Wish I'd prepared better.
  
• Check in to Sheraton behind boisterous line of medical device convention attendees.
  
• Use Clorox wipes to sanitize literally everything I might possibly touch.
• Listen to TV through the wall of my neighbor. Wonder how anyone could possibly watch 3 hours of Cops.
  
• Take sleeping pill. Fall asleep sometime between midnight and 2 am.
  
• Alarm goes off at 6:00 am. Drink diet Red Bull. Read and return emails from Europe. Wonder why they really have to be on a different time zone.
  
• Go to gym.
  
• Woof down half a bowl of oatmeal at Sheraton Cafe. Notice Orkin Man walking in to kitchen. Decide not to finish oatmeal.
• Go to office. Deal with issues large, but mostly small. And virtually all annoying.
• on and on...

Perception does not equal reality. Reminds me of a great post from Overheard in the Office:

9AM A Recent Graduate of Turnip Truck University

Employee: I'd like to work the booth. I could be good at that. I'd like to travel, and go to trade shows.
Manager: You'd have to educate yourself so you can speak to clients about what we do here. You'd also have to work some weekends.
Employee: Do I get paid?
Manager: You get travel for free - meals, hotel, airfare.
Employee: Wow.
Manager: And of course your regular paycheck.
Employee: Is this scheme widely known in the company??

Rapid Recliners...Rudeness at 30,000 Feet

I travel almost every week for my job. In general, my fellow passengers are just like me – busy professionals, just trying to navigate the labyrinthine travel system to get where they need to go to earn a living. Most people are courteous and respectful. As in any scenario where you interact with hundreds of strangers; however, you're going to find a few peaches.

In this post, I'm going to address one particular air travel faux pas that that simply must stop – those who recline their seats without asking the passenger directly behind them. In these days of decreased leg room on most major airlines, a reclined seat in front of you often means that you go an entire flight with virtually no room to move. And I'm not a particularly tall guy; I can only imagine what this is like for anyone over 6 feet tall. It makes it extremely difficult to work on a laptop or watch the in-flight entertainment. In what other place in society is it acceptable to invade another person’s personal space with no notice or apology?

The most egregious of these violations is the “rapid recliner” in which the person ahead of you reclines their seat very quickly. If one does not watch out, a laptop screen can easily be cracked when it catches in the in seat screen in front of you.

Is it too much to ask that on short flights, people simply don’t recline? Seriously, on a shuttle flight is it really necessary to recline? And on long flights, isn’t it reasonable to turn around and ask, “do you mind if I recline my seat?”

Seriously. A little courtesy at 30,000 feet, please.

Last Week in Houston

One of my oft-visited cities is Houston. To be more precise, my company has an office in Sugarland, TX that I visit maybe once a quarter. A couple interesting things to point out about Houston:

1) If you like concrete, you’ll LOVE Houston. It’s kind of like a less attractive LA.

2) If you like zoning, you’ll HATE Houston. You gotta love a place where you can find an adult store co-located with a Neiman Marcus and an Intercontinental Hotel. Seriously.

But there are some good things about Houston. I usually stay near the Galleria because there are a variety of good hotels and restaurants, and it’s closer to the airport than Sugarland. This week, I stayed in three hotels (it’s a long story, but let’s just say there are things you have to do to maintain your status with Starwood). I stayed in the Westin Galleria, Marriott West Loop, and Sheraton Suites. Of these, the Westin and the Sheraton were far better than the seen-better-days Marriott. In particular, the gym at the Marriott too small and contained inferior equipment. For $259 / night, this just doesn't cut it. The gym at the Westin was far better -- spacious and oladed with Reebox equipment. I was barely at the Sheraton -- checked in late at night and left early in the morning. However, I plan to try that hotel again. The rooms are mini-suites with a sitting area with desk (and plenty of power outlets) and a bedroom. Two TVs. No high def, but HBO.

One of the things I do like about going to Houston is the food. This time, a colleague and I went to America's Restaurant near the Galleria. America's in an upscale Latin restaurant with outstanding churrascos and very good sides. I had a beef churrasco which was fantastic along with a side of onions jalapenos prepared table side. Awesome. A reasonably priced wine list allowed us to get out for less than $150 for the two of us -- thereby avoiding the wrath of my company's accounting department.

I also ate at Lupe Tortilla, a fantastic and authentic tex-mex place in Sugarland. Not fancy -- but seriously good. Have the enchiladas with red sauce. And the guac. I took a potential new employee there for lunch and it was a perfect informal place to meet.