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Old Feb 2, 2005 | 4:38 pm
  #2  
NNH
20 Years on Site
 
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: LA, after growing up in London and living all over Europe
Programs: Ex-BD, ex-NW, ex-AA, BA Gold
Posts: 1,459
Have fun! It's a whole different dynamic when somebody else is paying. My first business trip was to Jordan when I was working for the British government in export promotion. I was 24 and more than a little wet behind the ears. The promotion and show went pretty well, despite some C-list British celebrities having been booked to add British "sparkle" to proceedings. One night, after a long day on the trade stands, a few of us decided that some wine and western food was just what we needed. Pizza Hut is perhaps not the most obvious choice, but on a public sector per diem rate, it would do. We had eaten great Jordanian food for a week and had been wonderfully looked after, so it was rather ironic that it was our one and only western meal that gave us all the galloping trots the next morning. We quickly established a rota on the trade stands that would allow each member to dash to the lavatories every 15 minutes or so, passing any potential trade contacts on to whoever had just returned from the facilities. Being foreign and slightly exotic, we got away with this by pretending that we were passing people around so we could all get a chance to meet them! I don't think we did any damage to Britain's export prospects, and we all felt that we had more than done our duty for Queen and Country!

Last edited by NNH; Feb 2, 2005 at 4:41 pm Reason: Spelling, grammar
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