#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.

#19 - The joy of shopping

The training course was happily over. It was my pleasure to visit in the middle of Texas prairie, but it was time to hit the road again.

The next day I was lucky to visit at our air conditioned office, because it was really hot outside. The last thing to do before driving to the airport was a visit to Toys R Us. Mr. H. needed to buy souvenirs to his children and I decided to do the same. I had really difficult to figure out what should I buy to my two children. When I finally managed to do it, I went to see how Mr. H was doing. His shopping basket was almost full, but at the same time it was half empty. That' when I realised that my colleaque had about a dozen children and as a gentleman he had promised to bring souvenirs to all of them.

For a poor shopper like me it was shopping until exhaust. However, our kids were happy to the souvenirs when I returned back to home.

Lessons learnt:

Do not promise to bring souvenirs every time you travel.

#18 - It ain't so easy to get to Paradise

It was time to prepare for a company training course in Texas USA. I was finally getting to Paradise. Really. 

As usual, the business was hectic and I decided to utilize my networking and delegation skills in the preparation. I was going to travel with my colleague, Mr. H. He was responsible for all the planning and preparations. We were supposed to meet at the Stockholm Arlanda airport and travel together to Paradise. For the last miles Mr H. had reserved a rental car and printed a road map. Paradise was calling for the first time in my life. I felt lucky that I did not have to print any documents about the destination. I thought that I will just follow my colleague.

I packed my sneakers into suitcase, as well as another mobile phone (the European mobile phones were not yet functioning in USA). There I was again at the famous Tampere airport. The weather was a bit misty. I was waiting and waiting. The flight was already late. The reason was that the aeroplane coming from Helsinki could not land at the foggy Tampere airport. Excitement was tightening. Finally the aeroplane arrived and soon I was on my way to Stockholm. We landed just in time at Arlanda, after which I needed to commute to another terminal. I saw that my flight still waiting for me. After a sprint I was at the gate, but unfortunately the gate was closed. No way to get in, even if the aeroplane was still standing on the tube.

Arlanda transfer center was kind enough to re-route me via Island to USA. There I was flying first time with Island Air. After some working session with my laptop I fell asleep. The next thought was that I must be landing on the moon, but soon I realized that it was the scenery of Reykjavik airport. So, I have been in Reykjavik, sort of.

During the next flight from Reykjavik to Chicago I had some time to think about the Paradise, especially how to get there. I did not know where it was and how to get there. All the necessary information was travelling with my colleague on another flight. In Chicago I started to make calls with American mobile phone. The battery was empty before I could clarify the answers to the tricky questions. It was not a pleasure the travel to Dallas without having any clue where to go. It was almost midnight when I arrived at Dallas. No phone, no coins, no destination, no friends. I felt so miserable.

Finally I managed to find the telephone number to the ranch in the Paradise. With a miserable outlook I managed to convince the airport crew lettting me make a call with their telephone. I was told that there are two ladies arriving in an hour and they have booked a limousine drive from the airport to the ranch at the Paradise. I was supposed to wait at the parking slot X until the limousine would pick me up. What a relief, I thought.

The joy was too early. Parking slot X had two levels. For the next hour I was switching continuously with my suitcase between the upper and the lower levels. Nothing happened and I started to be very nervous again. Finally the limousine arrived and drove me through the dark roads in the middle of a prairie. The Paradise was calling.

I must admit that it ain’t so easy to get to Paradise.

The Paradise
Source:Here.com

Lessons learnt:

It ain’t so easy to get to Paradise.

Remember the risks of delegation.

You may trust your friends, but not the system.

Risk management - Do not forget back-up plan.

#17 - Innovation tips free of charge

Curiosity is core part of innovativeness. If you can retain your childhood curiosity throughout your life, you will make miracles. I have tried to retain such an attitude and sometimes I even succesfully.

While using taxi in Italy, I am always wondering why the Italian taxi drivers keep the air conditioning off and windows open while on the move. It is very annoying, because the rapidly changing air pressure feels like a loud hum in your ears. We Finns do not have such a habit, because we see air conditioning as a valuable functionality that keeps the windows clear in winter and cools down the car in summer. I have been wondering this strange Italian logic, but never reached conclusion. Here are the options I have thought about:

1. The driver has not realized that there is air conditioning in the car
2. The driver wants to tease the customer
3. The driver prefers hot air rather than cool car
4. The customer pleasure is not adequate to compensate the extra energy consultion caused by airconditioning
5. This is just an old habit and people do whatever they have done so far every day

Another point of wondering couple of years ago was the number of television aerials on the roof of Italian apartment buildings. Every apartment must have at least one own aerial at the roof, which make the total number of aerials per house very high. Such a house looks like a nest of a Maggie. How about sharing one antenna per house? Here are the options I have thought about:

1.  Nobody has thought about that one television antenna could serve several televisions
2. Italians are too shy to talk with their neighbours about the issue
3.  How about going straight to cable and forget the antennas

The one who solves those equations and makes a tailored solution for Italy becomes famous and rich in Italy. This is your chance to get some respect. I have not been able to do it even if I had curiosity.

Lessons learnt:

Curiosity is a key of innovation.