Tocsin

Surely that pigeon should have been a Magpie

DaveNCL

Week 4, Day 1

I would say this is my last ‘quiet’ day for a good few weeks, or more probably 8 weeks. I have felt a fraud as the last week has been less about travel and more about my day at work! From now on there should be more hotel rooms and flights.

This remainder of this week is taking place around the UK, I have a busy few days. Next week I have a couple days holiday and then real travel kicks in. Originally, I was going to start this thread in September with this block of travel but with the Warsaw and Dusseldorf trips I thought it may be good to start a little earlier.

Back to today, it was going to be a busy day with preparation key for the week. I needed an early start so my alarm went off at 0530, but by this time I was already nearly awake. The main goal today was to get my presentation ideas into a PowerPoint for the UK meeting.

Starting is always the hardest but once I have some content I can adjust during the next few days. The content mainly writes itself but I need to make sure I position it correctly to get the desired results and make sure it is applicable to the team I am speaking to.

One way I prepare for these presentations is to keep a page free in my note book. In the weeks before a presentation, if something comes up which I think would make a good topic I write it on this spare page. This means that when I come to start the presentation I have an idea what I want to include and nothing is missed.

For this meeting, I am not given a presentation framework so I am free to include what I feel is needed. Generally I do an EU and UK sales update, upcoming customer projects, wider customer overview and then objectives aimed directly at the UK team. This last point would be important for the UK team.

Also scheduled in for today were two conference calls. One was a product transition update whilst the other was a weekly catch up with my marketing lead.

My desk is a little too messy!


To give myself a break I went to pick up my passport mid morning. When the courier had called me last week I tried to give him the access code to allow him to post it through my letter box. After several attempts he could not get past the security door, much to my bafflement as I was giving him the correct access code. It was one of those instances where I use that code multiple times a day and I was questioning myself. Once I picked up the packet I realised why he couldn’t get access, it was addressed to door number 7 not 87. He would have been at the wrong door, house number 7 is in a different block.

Once home it was back to work, this was not a massively busy day but one of those where all of a sudden the clock hits 6pm and you still have not finished everything you wanted to. As I had been working all day, I decided to stop for today.

I went to vacuum the inside of my car, I will be in it all week and there is nothing worse than a dirty car.

Finally I settled down to dinner and started to watch the football. I managed to get a clean sweep of exit seats on my Budapest flights which were booked last week, for travel in late September. I already had 3 out of 4 exit rows but for the LHR-BUD segment there were no remaining exit seats when I looked last week. On checking tonight I found there were four empty exit seats so I snapped one up.

The evening was wrapped up by reading Jermyn’s trip report, I got a good deli recommendation for my trip to New York in May and thoroughly enjoyed the first few posts.

After that it was time for bed, my alarm is set for 0530. I have a lot to do before driving to London tomorrow.

DaveNCL

TransAsia I have prepared a small section in my next part for you.

The ball control was way too good!

SeamasterLux

If I may

http://parisiangentleman.co.uk/academy/the-gentleman-traveler-pt-2-packing-for-a-3-day-business-trip/



P.S. I'm posting the picture as I'm the author

TransAsia

[QUOTE=DaveNCL;25326087]TransAsia I have prepared a small section in my next part for you.


I am official a big fan now Keep it coming pls!

TransAsia

What's a privilege to get to know the original author of one of my favorite blogs. I actually visited the link last month while I prepared my four weeks trip from New York to East Asia and then New Zealand. Since the whole trip is a great mix of business/ leisure, humid / dry / wet weather and summer/ winter seasons. I feel it quite challenging to pack my bags. At the end, I brought three bags and obviously half of them were not be utilized. It would be nice to see a master like you to demo something like this next time ^

DaveNCL

Week 4, Day 2

Trip - London / Cotswolds for the remainder of the week
Agenda - Training session and UK Meeting
Transport - Car
Hotel - Various
Baggage - Leather weekender bag and laptop bag
Additional Info - A Long week ahead

Once again it was an early start, but I am used to those and woke naturally around 0520. Late on last night I was made aware of an equipment issue at one of our customer locations. This was a 15 minute drive away from me so I decided to get a shower and then visit the location. Thankfully it was only a small issue which I was able to fix on site. Within one hour I was back home eating breakfast and turning the computer on.

Due to being away for the rest of the week I needed to be organised, especially when I came to what I needed for our UK meeting on Thursday. I went through my presentation and made further changes. The content is finalised but I like to reduce the words on the slides as I get more familiar with the presentation. I will also add animations as I need them. Once I was happy it was near the final version I printed two copies so I could add notes in the next day or so.

As part of an extra team activity I have decided to do a quiz based on a variety of company facts and product information which is part of our teams day to day job. I finalised a set of questions and set up the quiz rules.

After a quick look through emails, I shut the laptop and started to pack my clothes for the rest of the week.

Following TransAsia’s question on packing I took a bit longer today to photograph my packing today.

Tips on packing smarter, rather than lighter




Today’s packing was a little simpler as I am with my car all week, weight and size isn’t quite as stringent but the same rules apply. I still only left with my leather overnight bag and my laptop bag.





Once packed it was time to hit the road, sat nav and experience told me it would take around four and half hours down to Heathrow, where my hotel was for the night.



My training session the next morning was in Walton-on-Thames, this is about 7 miles from Heathrow. The local hotel options were not great, a Holiday Inn offered the best option but the reviews were not great. I decided to book the same Hilton Garden Inn as a few weeks ago at Heathrow. It has easy parking and would be about a 30 minute drive the following morning. I also liked the F&B options from my stay two weeks ago. Arriving at this hotel by car you get a tour around the perimeter of the airfield and past the BA hangers. No matter how many times I fly I am still surprised at the size of some planes when viewing them from the ground. This was demonstrated by a 747 and 777 parked near the fence. Airbridge boarding certainly reduces the scale of these planes.

Arriving at the hotel just after 1530, I checked in and relocated to the bar for a green tea and to catch up on email.





This took me through to around 7pm. Happy that I had cleared some of the email backlog I decided it was time for dinner.

Butternut squash soup


Beef Teriyaki


My later evening was spent writing up the latest part of my TR and browsing the Internet. Newcastle were also playing in the league cup tonight so I was keeping an eye on the score. Due to this scheduling I couldn’t be at home tonight so had to miss the game.

After we had secured a 4-1 win I watched TV for an hour and then called it a night.

Phaze

Nice update. Once you've gone hand baggage only there's no going back. The saved time and convenience is far too difficult to give up.

gaobest

Great hand packing!! I don't travel light (plus I now travel with family) but I'm very impressed, esp with the 2 extra pairs of shoes in your bag.
Thank you for the TR! Always loving it, while also knowing how busy you are. Hope your body is feeling ok!

DaveNCL

Week 4, Day 3

This morning started like many others and I was at my customer location for 8am, with the planned training session starting at 9am. I wanted to ensure I had plenty of time so I wasn't caught out with London traffic, but there was very little on the roads.

Breakfast


Typical hotel toaster. One pass through too pale, two times burnt!


After a successful session and good follow up meeting I headed back to the car at 1130. On the way back I stopped at Sainsburys to buy some lunch and to buy a prize for the team quiz tomorrow. I went with the safe option of alcohol.

My next stop would be the Cotswolds which was about 2 and a half hours away.

Half way there I stopped for lunch and the weather had really turned bad. Traffic was slow on the M25 and M40 because of this and visibility was really poor.





Once I turned off the M40 it started to clear up and I stopped to take a conference call at 1pm on the outskirts of Oxford. I had forgotten about this call, my phone was still on silent from the earlier training session so I didn’t get an alert. It was by complete chance that I looked at my phone at 1259 and saw the alert.

Fortunately this call only lasted 30 minutes so I could continue my journey. Driving through Cotswold villages typically seen on biscuit and chocolate boxes made a nice change to a motorway. The summer tourist season was in full force judging by the traffic and the number of people walking the streets.

Tonight I was staying at the Fish Hotel in Broadway. This hotel was set within beautiful surroundings on the Farncombe Estate.

By the time I made it to the hotel the weather had really changed and it was bright sunshine. The hotel was difficult to find as the post code took me to the town centre, it was tucked away in the estate with no real signs. I had to stop and look at Google maps and realised it was back the way I had already come. I got to reception to be told I could get my room key but I couldn’t go to the room until 3pm.

I found this a little unhelpful as it was only 30 minutes until 3pm. When driving in I had seen a visitor attraction and viewpoint at Broadway Tower so decided to head back to take a few pictures and get some fresh air.

Broadway Tower


Parking on the road to avoid the car parking fee I walked up to the visitor centre and bought a ticket to go to the top of the tower. £5 is a little expensive in my opinion but the views were extremely good and it was nice to be out of the car.

Visitor Centre


Kites






























By the time I had finished looking around it was after 4pm so I drove back to the hotel and took my bags to my room. The rooms are spread across the hotel grounds with a main reception building housing a bar, games room and restaurant. Rooms are in several outer buildings, mine for tonight was in the old stables. When I had checked in earlier I was given a map, a clear sign that the place was a little spread out.

My room was modern and well appointed with typical country fixtures. Around the site they also offer various activities including segways, quads and other outside activities. Our meeting was being held here tomorrow in one of the conference rooms.

Old Stables










I had time to check emails and complete a few jobs before two colleagues arrived. Once they were checked in we went for a stroll around the grounds and sat down for a drink in the sun.



We had arranged to meet a local colleague for dinner so I headed back to my room for a shower before we left. A local pub was the choice for tonight and the 5 of us enjoyed our meal. I had a nice steak but forgot to take a photo. This was an award wining 2 rosette pub, on the night we were eating it was being visited by The Times food writer.

At 10pm we took a taxi back to the hotel and enjoyed a final drink in the hotel games room. They had darts, pool and foosball to keep us entertained.

Overall a very nice hotel which would be a very nice setting for a weekend retreat in this area. I plan to keep it in mind for a New Years get away if BA don't offer any good Xmas getaway deals.

DaveNCL

My thoughts exactly. Thanks for your continued reading.

Luckily we have a long weekend in the UK due to a public holiday today. A little longer to relax, however I only have one day at work before a short break at the end of the week. Thanks for taking time to read the updates.

DaveNCL

Week 4, Day 4

Our meeting was due to start at 0930, due to the hidden location of the hotel and a lack of signs a few people were struggling to find it. This was after I had sent out clearer instructions in an email last night.



Old coach house converted into meeting rooms






Once all the team had arrived we started at 10am. After a quick introduction by the UK Area Manager it was my turn to present. Due to the content and discussion points my presentation lasted through until lunchtime, where we relocated back to the main building to the restaurant.

My presentation went well and I was happy my main points got across to the team. This will reset standards on how we need to support the customer and to grow our business.

The conference room was well stocked throughout the day with a small coffee area in the foyer. The afternoon continued much as the morning had started and we managed to be finished by 1730. As a conclusion we agreed on set of priorities for the remaining half of the year and confirmed training dates for various members of the team.

We had a table booked for 1830 at a pub around 20 minutes away. The pub also had a few rooms which some of the team used, whilst we had a B&B booked for everyone else.

The short drive took us through some more spectacular countryside and we arrived at the pub. I checked in and took a quick shower before meeting downstairs for drinks.







There was a nice beer garden where the sun was shining whilst we had some drinks. At 1830 we relocated to the dinning room in a secluded corner which was slightly away from the main dining area.

Following a very nice meal, for me it was chicken terrine to start and then stone bass as the main with a nice bottle of white wine. A few had deserts and we had a few speeches to round off today’s meeting.

In typical meeting tradition most of us stayed around the bar until closing time, I eventually headed to bed around midnight.

Wickersley

Kudos to you Dave; for such an undertaking

My schedule is similar to yours, albeit 90% international, I've no idea how you make the time to maintain this fascinating TR

Thank you

DaveNCL

This week was a bit of a stretch, as you can seen I'm a little behind on posts. I have thought a few times if I should devote time to other things but I like the feedback. Let's be honest I would be watching TV or playing PS4 if I didn't do this!

That's it for UK travel for the next 8 weeks really. All Europe and a holiday to Toronto from now on.

I must say I'm looking forward to getting back on a plane on Wednesday after two weeks off.

Thanks for reading and providing comment.

stevie

Very cool insight into, well, your life. Will continue to follow.

Hope Newcastle can get a few good results for you too