gaobest

Wow kudos on the BA fare! Their error, their willingness to accept the consequences! I've read anecdotes that other airlines don't honor their website fare errors.

So I'm definitely confused about the DUS meeting timing and why you'll need to base yourself in LHR for 2 nights as opposed to just overnighting in DUS. But I'll learn more when you post that trip.

The Wales work-building trip looked lovely but sad about the heavy accident. Was your colleague able to rest on the road or were they constantly awaiting the chance to move? Also would it have been possible to take train instead of driving 4 hours each way? That's a brutal drive!

Phaze

You have a bag for everything. Oddly reassuring to know I'm not the only one with this weird obsession.

DaveNCL

Week 2, Day 3

Trip - Dusseldorf Meeting
Agenda - New Project Meeting
Transport - Airplane
Hotel - Hilton Double Tree - Heathrow
Baggage - Rimowa Business Trolley
Additional Info - None really!

Today was tyre replacement, take two. They arrived around 10am and replace three of my tyres within 45 minutes.

Throughout the morning I was working through email. Today was the first day in the last two weeks where I felt I was on top of what needed to be completed and by lunchtime I shut the laptop to gather my things for this next three day trip.

Kit list was very similar to my Warsaw trip. I didn't bother with my camera or iPad but I did take my gym kit in the hope I might get a workout in at some point.

I found a new liquids bag


All packed


b]Route NCL-LHR[/b]
Flight Number 1333
Departure 1530 (Actual 1600)
Arrival 1645 (Actual 1655)
Seat 11D (Economy exit seat)
Aircraft A320

A picture says a thousand words, my trip today


At 2pm I left for the airport. I parked in the long stay car park which is less than a 5 minute walk to the terminal. Security was empty and I was in the BA lounge without breaking stride.

We had a small delay developing whilst I was sitting in the lounge, in the end we took off 30 minutes late. The flight was lightly loaded, I estimate around 70%. Once again I had managed to get an exit seat (11D) which is good on the BA new short haul cabins. Legroom has been reduced again in the normal economy seat and can be uncomfortable on any length of flight, with my knees pressing against the seat in front.

Exit row in the new BA short haul cabin




New high score


Time was made up in the air with a direct routing and constant airspeed. We landed 10 minutes late into gate 1. Gate 1 is the closest gate to the exit and I took the two escalators down to the Underground station. A tube was waiting and left 2 minutes after I boarded. A 10 minute tube journey to Hatton Cross was followed by a 2 minute walk to the hotel.

From the plane door opening to entering my room it took less than 30 minutes. This was one of the reasons I choose this hotel, direct connections with the Underground and no need to take the Heathrow Hoppa which can take you around the houses. I have stayed here in the past when the hotel was a Jurys Inn. Hilton have refurbished all areas and made a big improvement on the decor and the food and beverage options. One ceiling pillar has remained in front of the reception which makes queuing difficult. I think there were two when it was a Jurys, I'm not sure which designer thought the reception would work efficiently with those in the way. I think the reception could have been moved to the left to make better use of the space.

View from my hotel


Room




Once in my room I made a few calls and then went to the restaurant at 1830 for dinner. During dinner I managed to complete more of my TR, that's 4 days completed today so I am no longer behind in my writing. Hopefully I can keep to a one day delay but this is difficult when time is at a premium and especially when I am travelling with colleagues. There is not the spare time to sit at a bar and write up the days events.

Potato and lentil soup


Beef bourguignon


Dinner was good and I was back in my room for 8pm to get sorted for tomorrow. It was another early start for me this morning, with the same planned for tomorrow I didn’t want to stay up too late.

DaveNCL

gaobest thanks for your comments. It is great news on the BA flights.

For my DUS meeting I needed to arrive at my office by 10am and leave after 6pm. From NCL I can not arrive before 10am if travelling that morning, first flight via AMS arrives into DUS at 1100. It is the same for the evening, I need to leave on the 1800 flight to make a connection in either LHR or AMS. So it was either two nights in DUS or LHR. As my colleague was travelling from LHR on the early and late flights I chose a LHR hotel so we could travel together.

I think my colleague had to just sit it out with everybody else. A train to mid Wales is not possible without several connections and a lot longer than a 4 hour trip. Not to mention there is no station close to the golf course and I would need to carry clubs.

I have taken the first step and admitted to my problem!

intuition

Haven't read all posts yet, but I must say this is an interesting concept - I especially like that you are mixing in some feelings and some background and tidbits from the working life into the report.

While my type of travelling is diametrically the opposite to yours, with a smile I do recognise some things (like the need to schedule when passports can be at embassies or getting the train ride with food to better fit the schedule)

Especially this one
which is exactly what has enabled my hobby / obsessive compulsive behaviour the last few years - understanding boss and a work situation where I could schedule my holidays at will. (Sadly I'm not as fortunate anymore)

OTOH some things in your report are unheard of in my type of travelling (like needing to be at a certain location at a certain time), and this contrast makes it also an interesting read.

DaveNCL

Week 2, Day 4

As had been the case in the last week I was awake before my alarm, waking at 4am. I tried to get back to sleep but it didn't work and I give up 10 minutes before my alarm went off.

After a shower and packing my case for today I left the hotel to walk the 2 minutes back to Hatton Cross catch the 0551 tube to T5.



My tube carriage was full of Heathrow workers and within 10 minutes we had arrived at T5. In the past I've always used the lift to get to departures and I noticed yesterday when doing the trip in reverse signs telling me to take the lifts as they were quicker. Always opting to ignore the facts I went with the escalator and could see a queue of people waiting for the lift. I had made it to the platform before a lift had even reached the arrivals floor. On that logic it was the escalator again for me this morning. However it’s a little more complicated to get to departures on the higher floor. In summary, for arrivals to the Underground the escalators are quicker and when going from the Underground to departures the lifts seem quicker.

I was travelling with a colleague today and we had agreed to meet in the BA Galleries South lounge, I had only ever used north in the past. This is mainly because the North lounge is on top of the normal domestic gates at T5. Whether I am arriving or departing it was always the closest lounge for me to use.

Route LHR-DUS
Flight Number 0936
Departure 0740 (Actual 0750)
Arrival 1000 (Actual 1010)
Seat 10C (Economy exit seat)
Aircraft A319

Upon arrival the security signs were showing 5 queuing people for north and 2 for south, I headed towards south. Fast track was empty and I was through in 2 minutes after a full body scan and the removal of my shoes.

I made my way to the south lounge only to find the gate had changed from A21 on the south side of the building to A4, the North. Not to worry, we had plenty of time to walk back.





Gate A4 is a bus gate so we had to endure the confusion upon boarding that often exists at these small gates. Priority boarding was called and everybody made for the desks. The gate agents started turning non entitled people back, which was the right course of action but in this small space it created a big block. Eventually we got through and boarded the bus.



The flight duration went without any real problems, I skipped the filled croissant breakfast option and took a black tea. Originally the Captain said we would arrive 15 minutes early but a bit of holding put pay to that and we ended up at a bus gate 10 minutes late. Cue another bus trip and we were through border control to our waiting driver to the office. Normally we would take a taxi to the office but we are testing a new company so we ended up in an very nice E Class Mercedes for the 45 minute drive. Ironically it was the same driver who took us back to the airport later in the day.

Our meeting and brainstorming session took the best part of 6 hours with a working lunch in between. We were discussing a new operating platform and products with the meeting led by our R&D team who had been the project leads so far. Of course as soon as you show new items to Account Managers opinions are expressed and changes asked for. Needless to say I think there will be a few sleepless nights and long days ahead for the R&D team to get these changes actioned and be ready for launch.

This was the main purpose for today’s meeting so both sides got what they needed. When we come to present this system and roll it with our customers it will put us in a much better position and more customer focused. Overall it was a very successful workshop

At 1730 we took the car back to the airport to wait for our later flights. Due to the late finishing and the distance from the airport the earlier BA flight was not an option. There were 3 of us with similar flight times so we got a few beers and then ordered some burgers.

Throughout all of the day the temperature was way above what was comfortable. Outside it was around 32c, air conditioning seemed to be an after thought in the car, office and at the airport.

Route DUS-LHR
Flight Number 0945
Departure 2045 (Actual 2147)
Arrival 2105 (Actual 2234)
Seat 12D (Economy exit seat)
Aircraft A320

Our other colleague was on Flybe back to Manchester so once we left him to go through to the B gates we stopped off at the Hugo Jonkers lounge to wait for boarding. At 9pm they announced the lounge was closing so we made our way towards the gate for a 20 minute wait. Boarding was a bit of a scrum with an announcement prompting everyone to walk towards the gate. Once they had organised the barriers it flowed easier, quite why this wasn’t done before I am not sure.



Unfortunately we had a creeping delay on our flight, we eventually took off 90 minutes late. We held for 30 minutes at a remote space due to inbound restrictions at LHR. Thankfully I had someone to share the boredom with so we managed a good catch up throughout all of this.

An uneventful flight got us back to Heathrow around 2230, fortunately for us border control was quiet so I was straight through and onto the Underground via the escalators. The tube departed 5 minutes after boarding and I was back in my room approximately 30 minutes after landing.

It turned out to be a long and hot day but it was very worthwhile. The plan for tomorrow is to get back home, follow up on a couple of issues and hopefully get an early finish for the week. Let’s see how that plays out.

DaveNCL

Thanks intuition in my mind you have just arrived in Helsinki following your Chongqing - Helsinki flight. This is where I am up to in your TR. Thoroughly enjoying it as well, even if I do think you are a little crazy. BTW no measuring seats for me up until now. They are all narrow!

Interesting you mention you new(?) boss. I have just changed boss and before I could really do whatever I wanted when taking time off. It will be interesting how this is for me going forward. Although one of the first things I did was to send him 3 sets of dates for future travel.

intuition

Then you've been riding the express to bottom floor and sadly the best is behind you in that story!

Identical to my situation - so far no denied holidays but the subtle change to coordinate with boss is (mentally) hampering when you want to make quick descisions on good fares.

Good to see you've set the bar already!

goodeats21

I haven't been perusing many trip reports lately, but very glad to have opened up this one. Great to see some business travel perspective on the board.

Thanks for taking the time to keep it updated.

Curly

Really enjoying this report. Thank you for the time taken.

One small point, is that the HGI at Heathrow rather than the Doubletree?

Phaze

^

Worth reiterating. No doubt a lot of effort goes in to updating it while working.

Looking forward to the next installment.

gaobest

Thanks for also explaining the 2 nights at LHR hotel, drive to Wales, etc - I notice certain logistics and think Why, and it's lovely to get answers to what are probably very mundane questions.
I am definitely curious as to how much clothing fits in the carry-on bag for your DUS trip, but I know that this is starting to get a bit personal! But with my own work travels, I simply can't get on with only a carry-on bag. I definitely have checked luggage. But I don't travel for short trips, it's just a different situation.
Glad you traveled with your colleague so that the DUS-LHR delay could give you more bonding / work-creative time.

DaveNCL

gaobest thanks for your comments. The TR being interactive is really what it is all about. I'm more than happy to answer questions and give my perspective. The more questions the better.

With regards to my travel decisions I will try and explain a bit further as they occur.

On the Rimowa trolley the partition is removable.





For trips of up to 3 days (depending on the situation) I can leave the partition in. Normally I would travel with the following in the case:- 2/3 shirts, jeans, polo shirt, jumper, trainers, underwear, toiletries, laptop, notebook and cables.

For a day or two longer I can remove the partition, if I'm using it more as a small case the partition serves no real purpose. I can then get an extra 2 shirts and another pair of trousers.

Maximum so far I've done in this configuration was 4 days, however this was on a training course, so I needed a change for each day but no specific extras. For evenings a few options of casual clothes were enough.

As well as what is in the case I would be travelling in trousers, blazer, shirt and shoes. If I travel casual then the jeans, jumper and trainers come out and are replaced by the blazer, trousers and shoes.

I find it one of those cases that looks OK for a short trip, or even a day trip, but I can also get another couple of days out of it. I prefer this option to using the maximum size cabin case all of the time.

DaveNCL

Week 2, Day 5

Today's natural wake up was at 0530, at this point I checked a few emails, caught up on some news and checked my flight times. The BA app was showing at current 1hour delay, but on the app it can change quickly. Unless BA confirm the flight is retimed you always arrive in time for the original departure time.



At 6am I decided to hit the gym to wake myself up and get in at least one session this week. I am away for the weekend so I know I won't be able to go then. Luckily next week I am working from home for at least two days so I hope to get back on track. It wasn't a long session but it at least got the heart going. Once again heat was an issue, the small room was sweltering with the air conditioning not making any difference.

After about 45 mins I went back for a shower and to pack my case. I checked out at 8am and I was walking the well trodden path from the past 2 days back to Hatton Cross.



Route LHR-NCL
Flight Number 1326
Departure 0955 (Actual 1025)
Arrival 1115(Actual 1130)
Seat 11D (Economy exit seat)
Aircraft A320

From yesterday's learnings on arrival at T5 I took to lifts to departures and I was through security within 5 minutes. Overall in the past two mornings I have found T5 to be unexpectedly quiet.

This morning I was back to Galleries North for breakfast (same as yesterday) and I managed to do a little work on a promising development from one country.

I had two more requests for meetings in Frankfurt and Milan. The Frankfurt meeting is an important customer project which I need to attend. This date is flexible but I am without my passport next week while my visa is processed and I only have 2 days free the following week due to a UK team meeting. In September I have 3 free days and these back onto other travelling which will make things difficult. I hope to get this finalised early next week but it won't be easy and may need reorganising of my current flights.

The Milan dates are for an European Sales Team meeting and they conflict with a Portugal trip. This is a conference for a big portion of our business and cannot be changed. The following week I am on holiday in Toronto. I have declined the invitation and confirmed my diary around this date. We normally have 4/5 of these meetings per year. So far I have missed the first two due to holidays, part of the problem has been the late announcement of the dates.

Due to my flight delay the gate was late to be announced but once it was I packed up and headed out of the lounge. Normally I wouldn't leave this early but I wanted to go to Duty Free to buy some Vera Wang Aftershave (this is the only one I wear) and some Molton Brown. 100ml aftershave tends to last me about 12 months so I normally end up buying it on my annual Portugal trip in October. However I left my bottle on the bathroom window sill at my friends on Tuesday morning. Fortunately there was only a very small amount left so I told him to keep it.

In the past few days there has been a media story about certain retailers claiming VAT back on products sold airside when customers are leaving the EU. This is all legal but the retailers have not been passing on the savings to customers. They determine this by requesting your boarding pass before processing the purchase. When I was trying to buy my items one customer claimed he didn't need to show his boarding pass relating to this news story. What he didn't understand was that these prices were duty free and all he succeeded I was holding up the queue. Once I had paid it was a short walk to gate 2 where boarding started shortly after.



We left the gate around 25 minutes late, I was once agin in 11D the emergency exit row with the middle seat remaining free. A full house on this trip for exit row seats. A long taxi to the other end of the airport and we took off at 1044.



Once again the flight was uneventful. I spent the time writing another part of my TR and reading the newspaper. Arriving at 1126 it was a short taxi to the gate and arrival into a wet Newcastle.

From the airport I went straight to the Post Office to send my passport down to my visa consultant in preparation for my Russian visa application next week. After lunch I tied up the loose ends for the week and spoke to two customers. This was to arrange training sessions with them in the next couple of weeks. These extra dates now take up a free day in each of the next two weeks.

By this time I felt enough had been done for the week and started looking towards the weekend. Once again I relaxed with a little PS4 gaming and then some dinner.

I needed to get a few things together for my weekend trip and complete a few household chores. I finished the day by catching up on a few TV programs before heading to bed around 10am. I was knackered and I had a 0430 start in the morning.

My TR passed 10,000 views today, thanks for reading and thanks to those who have provided feedback.

DFW_CK

I check this thread every 1 hour for a new entry from Dave

I said it before and I'll say it again - this is one of the BEST TRs I have read. Maybe because I can relate to Dave's job on the road. Well done and thank you.