MrForeplay's blog: "travelling for business, great fun !"

This is surreal .... Brazil has everything to please: great climate, lovely and in many aspects unique scenery, friendly population (yeah, you know me, I'm talking about those sexy women scattered around everywhere, I think it's the climate, I've seen the same in South-East Asia, women dress very sexy - well, at least to me, a silly European). BUT ... today I experienced again the total failure of their air traffic organisation. It started good though, only half an hour to queue up at the TAM desk (where supposedly my tickets were waiting for me). I ended up with a kind young man who said nothing more than "they are checking for your ticket, sir" and left me to myself. After 15 minutes, a girl appeared and she managed to print me my e-ticket in less than 10 minutes ... after which I had to go to another counter (of course) to get my boarding pass. I tried (and succeeded) e-boarding, so off I went, full of high experiences. Alas, boarding gate was a 'general' gate, meaning everyone is directed to that gate, and then you wait for the announcement of your flight ... What did you guess ??? My flight was not announced, until 5 minutes past official boarding time (I had been asking before, but of course, all flights are on time, lol). "Boarding at gate 1C" ... so everyone downstairs to the gate .... .... after 10 minutes, another message ... "Boarding gate has changed to gate 5" ... everyone again one floor up to gate 5. Finally we boarded one hour late. "Not too bad", I said to myself (having the recent experience in Rio in mind - see my other blog). Approaching Belo Horizonte, the captain made an announcement (unilingual Portuguese, what did you think), from which I understood that there was a "small problem" on the landing strip, so the airport was "unavailable for landing", for the next 2 hours... I also understood there was a plane with a tyre problem, blocking the airport. Someone has to tell me how a plane that bust a tyre when landing, can keep an airport blocked for several hours. I think they just made that announcement not to create panic, but that something much more serious had happened ... We circled around Belo Horizonte for half an hour ... Then another announcement (again only in Portuguese, am I happy I understand it more or less because I know Spanish !!!) stating that we were heading for Campinas airport (that is almost back to our departure, São Paulo). Well, what can one do when sitting in a plane? Right, nothing .... Campinas was not a good destination for me, as I cannot fly to Vitoria (my next stop) from there, so I was already examining how to get back from Campinas to São Paulo (120km, good orads, so just over an hour drive). Fortunately the plan was to refuel and finally leave to Belo Horizonte ... 5 hours later than foreseen. Arrived in Campinas, refueled, some people got off the plane because the trip to Belo Horizonte didn't make any sense anymore for them, and after a little over two hours stop we took off again, direction Belo Horizonte (again). No on-board service this time anymore (I guess we drank all the booze on the first leg, lol), and we did land in Belo Horizonte, 5 hours later than foreseen. Fortunately the company car was still there to pick me up, and I had an exceptionally good and professional welcome at the hotel. There they told me that there had been a lot of confusion at the airport, so it must indeed have been much more than a busted tyre. I seriously think of choosing another airline for flights inside Brasil (afterwards I heard that there was a serious problem during landing, so not a blown tyre as they told us, I still don't know the details). Tomorrow I fly to Vitoria (again with TAM), I hope I just make it to there, lol. I have no ambition whatsoever to get there in time, just getting there would be an achievement. And it's not all, the next day I fly back to São Paulo ... yes, with TAM again, haha I'm sure you'll all want to know the rest of this interesting trip, lol. Don't worry, if I don't crash I will keep you updated, lmao

Ok, this is a trip that is too crazy to be true, yet it was like that until now. On March 10th, I flew from Brussels to Frankfurt, then Frankfurt-Seoul (arriving there 11th around noon), had a meeting in Seoul on 12th, left on 13th at 10am from Seoul to Atlanta (14 hours in the plane, but because of time difference I arrived there an hour later on the clock, lol, still on 13th), then had an 8 hour stay in Atlanta, and then had a flight from Atlanta to Rio (another 10 hours in the plane, arriving in Rio 14th around 8am). On top of that I got sick (I have a sore throat, I think I caught a severe cold in Korea). When arriving in Rio, I took a taxi and immediately went to attend a conference (no need to tell you how much attention I paid, lol, having travelled that much and on top of it being sick as a dog). The conference ended the same day early afternoon, so I took a taxi back to Rio airport to take a flight to São Paulo. My flight was supposed to leave Rio at 8:05pm, but it did finally leave at 10:50pm, so almost 3 hours delay ! And all the time I was sitting there being sick .... I arrived in São Paulo around 11:45pm and then had to queue up in a taxi line for 30 minutes to reach my hotel at 00:45. I was so tired and feeling so bad that I went to sleep immediately. I had a pretty good rest and I am feeling a bit better now. The pain in my throat is better too, so I hope the worst is over. Just thought I'd share this hell of an experience with you ... lol. I did a lot of travel in my life, but this has beaten everything until now. And it's not over yet ... Tomorrow (Sunday) an afternoon flight from São Paulo to Belo Horizonte, then on Monday a flight from Belo to Vitoria. On Tuesday back from Vitoria to São Paulo, then on Wednesday São Paulo-Frankfurt and Frankfurt-Brussels

ok, here i go again ! leaving from Brussels to Amsterdam, then Amsterdam-Kuala Lumpur. One night in KL, then the next day 4 hours drive up north to Penang, meeting in Penang. In the afternoon flight Penang-Singapore, spend the weekend in Singapore ( :-) ). On Sunday afternoon back to Penang, for a meeting on Monday. Monday afternoon, Penang-Singapore, then Singapore-New Delhi. Th enext day very early morning flight (5am) Delhi-Nagpur. Meeting in Nagpur in the afternoon, then evening flight to Mumbai. The next day (21st Nov) Mumbai-Calcutta flightg at 7:50am and train at 2pm to Rourkela (arrival 9pm, lol, 7 hrs train) 2 meetings on 22nd in Rourkela. Then night train (I hate night trains in India, lol) to Bhubaneswar. Meeting at 11:30am in Jajpur (2 hrs drive from Bhubaneswar) Evening in Bhubaneswar on 23rd. Then travel back on 24th: Bhubaneswar-Delhi, Delhi-Mumbai, Mumbai-Amsterdam, Amsterdam-Brussels. Arrival Brussels in Sunday 10:15am Anyone wanna come with me? lol

Off to India again! As last time I nearly missed my connection in London because of fog, I decided to go to London the day before, in order to leave to Delhi tomorrow without having to worry about delays on the flight from Brussels to London. Sitting in the Sheraton Heathrow now. Tomorrow I leave to Delhi, where I will arrive in the middle of the night on Sunday morning. Then meeting in Delhi on Tuesday (rescheduled, was planned on Monday). Original meeting planned on Tuesday has been cancelled, meaning the next meeting is then on Thursday in Bhubaneswar (travel from Delhi to Bhubaneswar on Wednesday). Back to Europe on Friday, arriving in Brussels on Saturday 2nd Dec around noon. Will see if I can take some pics on Sunday in Delhi.

heh, after a pretty busy week in india, i got to relax a bit in singapore over the last weekend. Visited sentosa island (very nice). Then on Momday flew to Kuala Lumpur (or KL as it's known here) and then to a meeting in Banting ( mins taxi). The same day I flew back to S'pore, had dinner in the hotel (misu soup, ushi, some hot sake) ad I'm actually writing this in the British Airways lounge. So, a big hug and kiss to all my lc friends who do the effort to read this. Talk to y'all soon!!!

just heard that i don't get back to kolkata, and then fly back to europe, but have a slight change because someone somewhere managed to get a meeting organised in Malaysia (Klang). So tihs means i have to fly first to Chennai, then Chennai-Singapore. On monday hire a car+driver to take me to klang (3.5hrs drive it seems), have my meeting, then drive back (3.5 hrs again), and take a flight back singapore-london-brussels. I am used to late changes, but this beats all records, lol, i was almost on my way back home, rofl. I wonder if i can still get a seat on all those planes, i'll see

Quite an interesting day (no business involved, maybe that's why, lol). Went to the Taj Mahal (with a guide, it's a must, otherwise you miss the whole story). The Taj Mahal is a monument erected by Shah Jahan (5th generation mogul) for his 3rd wife (the first 2 not being able to bear him children) after she deceased at 39 yrs of age. It took 20 thousand people (imported from Persia) 22 years to build it !!! All the decorations are in (semi)-precious stones, it is a*m*a*z*i*n*g, not by accident one of the 7 world wonders. I'll see if and when I can post pics of it (I'll delete some other ones). The monument is in white marble, hauled in from 400kms far away (building took place between 1631 and 1653). The white marble has the special feature that it is translucent, i.e. if you light a torch behind it, you see it glowing at the other side (I have a pic of that, amazing!). Everything was carved manually. Even now it takes the craftsmen e.g. two years to prepare a dining table (costing you 7000€, 8500$), but it is a unique piece !!! After the Taj, I went to visit Agra Fortress, where the mogul Shah Jahan (who ordered to build the Taj) was held prisoner by his son, mainly because he intended to build a second Taj, in black marble, the other side of the river, for himself, lol, the youngest son did not agree with that, killed all his brothers, who were before him in line of succession, and put his father on house arrest in the Agra fort, nice kid huh? Though I think he was right some way, coz' it must have cost an awful lot of money, and the population was extremely poor. Even today, the Indian government prohibites any industry in a radius of 50km around the Taj - prevent damage by pollution - and sponsors the local craftsman by paying for the shipping costs of their products. So you can buy anythign in marble, as well as jewelry or carpets and have it shipped to your home at no extra cost. This was probably the last interesting blog of my trip to India, as the rest will be travelling from one business issue to another, lol Thanks for your patience reading this, lol, will be back later with the rest of my travels (as long as someone is reading this, rofl)

just made my connection in london, as the plane took off late in brussels (fog in london). Would Friday 13th have a kinky meaning after all ??? After all the hurrying and sweating, one major good news: got an upgrade to first class for the trip london-delhi! More leg space, more comfort, better food, better wine, personal video, haha, i tasted it all (but it would have been better if i had my baby with me, lol). Had a bit of rest, arrived in delhi 22:40 local time. Had to wait 30 minutes before we could disembark (other plane boarding, occupying the slot). And even my luggage got transferred in time in london, so i saw my suitcase back in delhi ! Hotel car was waiting for me, took the Radisson (closest to the airport). One more lucky stroke: got an upgrade to an executive room!!! (lots of space) for those of you who sent me their EM addy, they got the pics in their mailbox already (most of the pics, some are ... ehhh .... private and for my baby only) Had a short night sleep, no breakfast, immediately went for dinner, as my colleague had arrived from Kolkata. Hired a car with driver to take us to Agra. 200km trip took us 4 and a half hours (indian roads and traffic, lol, plus the driver had to ask the way to the hotel on 4 occasions, lol) Arrived in the hotel in Agra (Sheraton), went for dinner with my colleague (light meal, i had spaghetti). Will need to get up early tomorrow morning, we're gonna visit the Taj Mahal and the Agra Fortress. Will send pics to me EM friends. To be continued ...

for all of you who envy me, and think it must be great to travel at company expenses to the four corners of this planet, here's my program for my next trip to India: ° Arrive Delhi on 15th night/16th early hours ° Meet Jindal Steel & Power at 10.30 hrs on 16/10 ° Leave Delhi for Kolkata by IC - 264 on 16/10 : Dep Delhi at 17.00 hrs and arrival Kolkata at 18.55 hrs on 16/10 (I'll have some gin & tonics then, lol) ° Leave Kolkata (Howrah Railway Station) for Tatanagar by Train on 17/10 morning : Departure Kolkata at 06.10 hrs (means getting up at 4 am, maybe i don't go to sleep and continue with the gin & tonic) & arrival Tatanagar at 09.45 hrs ° Meeting with Tata Steel officials on 17/10 ° Leave Tatanagar Railway Station for Kolkata on 17/10: Dep Tatanagar at 20.00 Hrs and arrive Bhubneshwar on 18th Morning at around 08.00hrs . ° Leave Bhubneshwar on 18/10 at 9.00/9.30 for Jindal Stainless Plant at Jajpur. Reach Jajpur by about 11.30 hrs ° Leave Jajpur in the afternoon around 15.00 hrs and reach Jindal Steel Office at 17.00 hrs to meet Mr. Ashish Das ° Leave for Delhi on the 19/10 by IC 878 - Dep at 14.30 hrs enroute to Europe Any takers ????? It was like this for many many years (plane-taxi-meeting-taxi-hotel-taxi-plane- etc etc), but since a couple of months I am incorporating more time. Hence, I arrive in India earlier. I asked my secretary to book a flight on Friday 13th (omg, lol) in order to be able to visit the Taj Mahal (hope to post some pics of that here, if I get to the next level, or send them to the people I have an EM addy from).