Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Not quite a nightmare, but...


Woke up after an unpleasant dream that centered around a poorly organized business trip.  

I arrived at an unusual terminal in Toronto with a technical colleague and neither of us had boarding passes.  We had an unconfirmed meeting agenda with customers in Montreal.  My colleague and I deal with different agents and end up with different flight arrangements.  

Only when I'm at the front of the security line do I realize that I'm not certain if I needed to fly to another city after Montreal.  I purchased a one way ticket (on a very odd airline) which came as a surprise to the agent because it cost me over $400 which the agent thought was very expensive - I answered "normal for me".  

I know airports quite well, but a really had trouble finding this gate and had to ask a number of clueless people where the gate was.  I found a ton of people on the third floor where multiple flights were all boarding at the same time.  I squeezed my way to my flight and tried to board, but found out that this plane was massive and I was asked to board very specifically by my seat section.

I had a look around the gate area and recognized a restaurant my wife and I had eaten at in the past.  There was a huge group of people waiting for the flight.

I arrive in Montreal without any specific meeting details and still uncertain who I'm meeting with and where I need to fly next.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy my job that requires me to do a lot of business travel and I enjoy meeting customers face-to-face in exotic locations like Warren, NJ, but it does stress me out a little when flight and hotel scheduling is only confirmed days ahead of my trip.