#24 - Wine is stronger than water

Vienna is a beautiful city. My first business trip there was a business trip long time ago. I like wine and I learned a lot about local wine culture. Our host arranged us a traditional wine evening. The proposal sounded very promising, but the experience was very different from my expectations.

Grinzing at the end of streetcar line 38 was our destination. That is famous local Heurigen area. Heurigen is a tavern serving fresh wine and "drinking food". The wine is really fresh, i.e. this year’s wine (heuriger). Sounds good with a portion of sausages and pork.

Local persons started the evening by mixing soda water with the wine. I did not want to do that, because the water would spoil the taste of a good wine. However, that was a really wrong assumption. After a sip of wine I added some soda water to my glass. After another try, I added some more soda water to my wine. After couple of rounds the cup was mostly soda water and the drink started to task pretty ok. Sometimes wine can really be stronger than water, even stronger than man.

Lessons learned

The devil is on the details.

Aim to the best, but be ready for the worst.

Be open-minded; do not make a decision based on prejudices.

Vienna and Grinzing Heurigen area. Source Here.com

#23 - Chain smokers

Couple of years ago I was doing a strategic project with a French customer. Paris is a beautiful city and French are interesting people to work with. One guy used to say that French are best when they are fried and served with ketchup.

One of my trips was unforgettable. I flew from south Europe to Charles de Gaulle airport at the evening and the next evening back to home. I never stepped outside the airport. That helped me a lot to understand Tom Hanks in the movie called The Terminal. I slept at the airport and had the meeting at the airport. 

The atmosphere of the meeting is not easy to forget. I was already used to non-smoking rules at public areas in Finland. However, France was still the promised land of chain smokers. It was quiet at the airport business center when I and Mr JT stepped into the meeting room with our customers. After couple of hours I needed to step out in order to visit restroom. It was almost impossible to see through the smoke at the corridor, because the corridor was crowded by the chain smokers. The situation was the same when the meeting was over and it was time to leave the meeting room. I could barely survive while holding my breath for a while. My suit required couple of dry-cleaning rounds after such an experience. Luckily the good old times are gone and smoking is no more in fashion.

Lessons learnt:

What does not kill you makes you stronger.

French - fried and served with ketchup. 

#22 - Aerobic and dirty hands

Long time ago I participated into an European Travelling and Sightseeing Institute standardisation meeting, this time in Uppsala Sweden. I do not have any memories about the meeting, but I remember very well the most important parts of the trip.

One of the evening I had a nice opportunity to run in the sunny and beautiful city of Uppsala. The best part of that exercise was the group of beautiful ladies having their supervised aerobic lesson in a beautiful park. I joined the group for the latter part of the exercise, enjoyed the beautiful sight and hard work at the same time. That gave me a lot of energy to the next days.

That energy was very much needed the next evening when I had an opportunity to enjoy a dinner at Uppsala old town. We wore Viking helmet, old sackcloth and ate the fatty pork with dirty hands the real Viking style. That was an enjoyable spectacle.

Uppsala Sweden. Source Here.com.

#21 - Dream come true

While I watched American movies as a teenager, I was jealous to all those people who had opportunity to enjoy the atmosphere of the beatifull Central park in the middle of Manhattan skyscrapers. That’s when my dream about myself running in the central park was born.

The night in Vancouver was restless. No wonder, as I knew that tomorrow is going to be a big day, again.

Sneaker Traveller jogging at the corner of Central Park

Early in the morning the three musketeers had to say goodbye to the Lincoln Town Car and fly to New York. The first thing to do after arriving at the hotel in Manhattan was to put my sneakers on and head to the Central park. Despite the winter and of grey winter colours, it was a perfect run and I enjoyed the park. I was excited; my teenage dream had come true. 

Even the smallest ever hotel room did not bother me after all. There was not enough space to open my suitcase, except on my bed.

Tiny room in Manhattan. No room to open suitcase.

Training day went very well, business as usual. It was nice to recollect some memories of the perfect business travel on the flight back to home.

Even if there is no free lunch, there is possibility to take business as a pleasure.

Lessons learnt:

Dreams tend to come true.

When the dream comes true, you realize that it is not just the moment, but the whole journey that matters.

Skating in Central Park. Not me, but the others.

#20 - Surfing on the waves

Lincoln Town Car - an American dream

Three musketeers; myself, Mr W and Mr K, were going to spend couple of days in North America. We had some training to give there. The first target was Vancouver, one of the most beautiful cities in the world, if you count the nature around the city.

After arrival to Vancouver airport, we walked to Herz car rental where the medium size car with Neverlost navigation system was supposed to be waiting for us. The rental officer made me a sudden question; do you mind taking an upgrade? We can offer you a bigger car for the same price? Without any analytical thinking, I accepted the offer. What a silly decision that was.

Soon the three musketeers were heading to a Lincoln Town Car, probably one of the biggest American cars. The problems started when we tried to fit three suitcases to the trunk. The size of the trunk was enormous, but only from outside. Only one of our suitcases fit into the trunk. One of us needed to sit on the back seat with two suitcases. Luckily that was not me.

Lincoln Town Car - Big outside, small inside

Backseat - Mr K. with suitcases

I was driving the Town Car for the first time. I felt like a captain of an ocean ship. The car was literally sailing on the waves. The next problem appeared when I tried to enter the parking garage at our hotel. The doors and the parking slots were pretty tight for such a car, so my two colleagues needed to step outside outside the car in order to give directions to the driver who was slowly but successfully driving to the parking slot. That’s when I decided not to accept such a big car never again.

Training day went very well, business as usual. In the evening I was happy to enjoy the best tuna ever as a dinner. I also enjoyed my run at the Stanley park, even if the weather was rather misty. It was end of the week and the next week we were going to stay in New York. We had to make a decision whether to stay the weekend in Vancouver or New York. That decision was easy to me.

Totem poles at the Stanley Park

Early Saturday morning I and Mr W. drove our Lincoln Town Car to Whistler, the host of winter Olympic 2010. Despite of the summer tires and snow conditions, it was an easy ride with such a car. After renting skies, we headed couple of times to the top of Whistler (altitude of 2182 m) and Blackcomb (altitude of 2240 m) mountains, slopes having vertical drop over 1500 m and longest run of 11 km. Sunshine, few clouds and couple of meters of snow. That was a perfect day I will never forget.

Sneaker Traveller in Whistler

It was time to drive back to the city and get some sleep. Tomorrow will be a big day.

Lessons learnt:

Think before you act.

Challenge the well known aspects – e.g. the bigger, the better.

Business is pleasure.

Above the clouds - one of the best experiences ever.