Henk van de Goor's Bloggers@large

I think I've made more business trips in the last 6 months than in the last 3 years or so. It's really funny in a sense because the company I work for at the moment isn't exaclty a huge international firm or something. But somehow I wind up with the accounts that require some travel. So Thursday and Friday I went to Paris to meet some people from one of my companies major accounts. Because the meeting was at 10am we decided to drive there a day before and spend the night in a (cheap) hotel. So Thursday night we enjoyed a nice dinner and walked around town a bit. The next day we had a very productive meeting so I would say our trip was a success (I think we all left with a positive feeling). After that we enjoyed a nice lunch at some brasserie at the Boulevard Haussman and drove back to Holland. All in all not bad...



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Well wouldn't you know it: flying with Easyjet is just like cattle herding. Flying back on Thursday night from London Luton was one gigantic mess again. Security is just stupid. I had the same computer bag with me as last time, but this time I didn't get any comments or have any problems with it being searched or anything. However, this time on the way to London I did get padded down myself. The security gate went of on me because I left a bit some Mentos in my pocket: the aluminium in it must have triggered the alarm. My collegue had a similiar problem: he had a Palm Pilot in his luggage and for some reason they decided to have a close look at it. It was very weird: as if they had some kind suspicion that people are using such a device to blow up planes. Weird.

Anyway: when we got to Luton on our way back the hall was filled with people and the lines for check-in where enormous. The only thing missing were cattle herders with cattle prods. We were lucky to only have hand luggage so we could bypass the lines. Off course since it was the last flight out to Schiphol we had all the accumulated delays of one day and so the plane was delayed (as usual). Once I got home around 11:20pm I just took a shower and went to bed. Had been up since 5am and it was a long day.

Cattle herding: the easyjet way

Tomorrow I once again fly to England for yet another business trip. And again it's going to be a Amsterdam - London Luton roundtrip. And yet again I am preparing to be herded around like the cattle we are. The only thing missing are the cattle prods to herd us through check-in, passport control, customs and the plane. Big sigh. I hope we can avoid the kind of shit that the guys had that made this video.

Just got back from England. Another 48 hours of travel and business. It always sounds cool when you say "I have to go for a business trip to ......" (fill in the blanks with a interesting sounding name). It sounds important and it's like "hey" you're "the man". In reality it usually means you hurry to some airport - way to early in the morning - run to get a cab, hurry to a meeting, spend a couple of hours at that dull meeting, hurry back again to catch another cab (if your lucky you catch a glimpse of the city your'e hurrying through), take a plane and land again at your starting point: Wham bam, thank you ma'am. Unless you're spending some days at a conference or something, its just no fun. In short it describes my trip the last 48hrs. Once again flying on Londen Luton with Easyjet. This time my group consisted of three, myself included. So this time we managed to rent something bigger than a 'Kia Picanto'. A fullsize Volkswagen Passat no less. This time we drove to some small city called Corby where we attended a meeting that lasted for 6hrs.

After that we drove to a hotel in the town of St. Albans near Luton, to meet afterwards with the agency that brought us on this project and spend the night. For some odd reason it took us an hour to get from Luton to Corby, but it took us almost two hours to drive to the hotel? We discussed the various aspects of the project and had a nice dinner (in my case a grilled filet mignon steak) and an English Lager. Yummy! At around 11pm we finished (Dutch time: midnight) and I returned to my room where I tried to sleep a bit, just to be rudely awakened around 2:20am from some annoying beeping alarm from outside. I somehow managed to more or less block that sound out and at 5am (although it seemed like just 1 hour later) my alarm went off and I had to get up and leave for the airport again.

After a short, uneventfull drive (except for us managing to hit a fat pidgeon flying by) we got back at Luton Airport, where we had a traditional English breakfast (sausages, white beans, bacon, tomatoes and hashed browns). Now, ever since we had that terror-alert in England, security is still extremely annoyingly high. So after ditching my bottle of water (no liquids allowed on board) I passed the checkpoint - or rather tried to pass it - they singled me out and told me that I needed to check-in my carry-on because it didn't fit some stupid box they put together. WTF! I specifically bought that computer-case (a Belkin Neu-Elements TR) because it matches airline specific dimensions for carry-ons. It fits the regular metal boxes they use for measuring that. Knowing that arguing with security people - who have the IQ the equivalent of a Neanderthal - is useless, I decided to go back to the Easynet desk and check it in (after getting out my laptop). Going back I cut by the line and just went through security (you're required to take off your shoes as well).

Folks, let's face it: traveling by air is just one big annoyance. People say we prevent terrorist attacks like this. Well, I say they already succeeded in their goal. And I will have to go through this again on the 28th of September, when I have to attend yet another meeting in England. Big sigh...

This Tuesday and Wednesday I went on a business trip to the United Kingdom. My collegue and I flew to London Luton, with Easyjet (mind you: why do they call the airport "London" Luton is beyond me: London is actually not close at all: it's over an hours drive!). There we took a rental car and drove to our hotel in Peterborough, about one hour north on the M1. Now, on June 15th I also went to the UK as well and I flew with a tiny turbo-prop plane with an airline I had never heard of (Scott Airways). We flew on Southampton and I really enjoyed my trip: I got to Schiphol, got my boarding pass, checked in, went through customs, got to the terminal, got in he plane, popped out, got picked up, did the meeting, then did everything in reverse and popped out at Schiphol again. No hassle, no problems. In and out, just like that.

Now, if you watch TV and you like those 'real-life' TV-series, you might have watched the one that features features Luton and Easyjet (I think it actually is called "Airport"). You might have noticed all the crap going on with Easyjet. People complaining, trouble with getting on and of planes, delays etc. etc.. Well, I can confirm officially: Easyjet is crap! Both on the flight in and out we had delay of 30 and 45 minutes. But if you are late checking in, then they just cancel your ticket. All in all it just is like taking a bustrip to Spain with one of those cattle herding bus companies: no service and the stewards and stewardessess seem just dumb as a rock. Yup folks, I know I have to fly into Luton again in September, but I will try my utmost to do it with another company! You're treated as cattle when you fly Easyet. My advice: just say njet to Easyjet!

Another story was driving from the airport to the hotel and back. The English are incredible. They are part of the EU but they just refuse to become Europeans! I mean: they refuse to use the Euro and instead still have the Pound and while 99% of the world drives on the right side of the road, they still drive on the left side. So naturally we had a "right-hand" drive car as well: a crappy crispy Kia Picanto. Mind you: why they call it "right-hand" is a mystery to me, because there is nothing "right" about it! Luckily my collegue was brave enough to drive (next time I will have to do that myself). Boy, having the gears on the left and the signals on the right (wipers on the left) is a pain in the ass. I think he did admirably well: no mistakes, just a little one when we got to the hotel (we turned into the street on the right side, which actually was the wrong side).

The meeting went very well and it looks like we will get the project. So all in all that was very positive. Now, when we got back to Luton around 2.30pm and checked in, we already noticed how security suddenly had tightened. I never before had to open my luggage (except a couple of times at Schiphol at customs) for security reasons, but this time they singled me out and sniffed out my laptop bag. It seemed like every 3rd or 4rd person passing the machine was routinely checked. Off course this meant that huge lines were forming at the security checkpoint since they only had two machines there. All in all that seemed a bit odd.

Anyhow: after the check we went on and had to wait in the lounge and then flew back (with a delay) to Amsterdam. I had a dinner (nice Teriyaki salad) with my collegue and his wife and drove home (on the right side of the road).

When I woke up this morning it was all over the news: the big terrorist threath and all the extra airport security and the incredible chaos as a result. So now it made some sense why yesterday they were already upping the security so to speak. I hope everything is over by the time I fly again next month! Because if I have to check in my hand luggage as well, it's just going to take more time to get in and out of the airport! That sucks! Also I will make sure to get an automatic shift car so I don't have to bother battleing my instinct to shift gears with my right hand.

Easynjet