Another business trip!
This was an early start, not something I’m used to doing, but all in the call of duty. So at 5am I got out of bed and made my way down to the Bahnhoff to catch the early train to Zurich airport. I was lucky to get there on time as the train announced a 10 minutes delay, a delay I thought, this never happens and to be on the very day I needed this train to be on time as this was the first train in the morning. Well not including the 4am train, which I did not plan to get! So I managed to get there just in time as they were already boarding when I arrived, but I actually had some time to spare afterall.
The flight was to Vienna, not Bratislava, although the meeting was in Slovakia we (my colleague flying in from Finland – Markus) and I could both get to Vienna around the same time as there were far more flights to Vienna than Bratislava. We both arrived within 15 minutes of each other so he had the car hired as I arrived. The drive to Bratislava is less than 1 hour and only 46klm from the airport. Vienna and Bratislava, so I hear, are the 2 closest cities of different countries in the world, although I'm not sure if this is true.
The drive was great, the flat countryside
of Austria and the hundreds of wind turbines everywhere. There must be at least a thousand as I lost count after a few hundred, but the good thing is they look ok, well to me anyway. We arrived at the boarder and did not know the routine, so we handed over our passports and was not sure we had to pay anything, but the 2 security guards looked at us and muttered something in Slovakian and we thanked them and off we went, yes with our passports. Then the excitement began, we both thought the other one had booked the hotel, but in fact neither of us had. So with 30 minutes to go we had no idea where we were heading, but the good thing was we had the telephone numbers of 2 hotels sent to us by the Operator we were going to see. So without further a do, I called them, but both were fully booked, ‘No rooms at the Inn!’ but they gave me the name of another hotel and so it went on until I called the sixth hotel and finally we got 2 rooms at a reasonable price. The funny thing was, this was the very hotel we had both stayed in 2 years earlier but neither of us could remember the name (
City Hotel Bratislava). It’s strange how some things seem to work out.
We booked into the hotel around 7:30pm and then went out for dinner in the city with our potential customer. The city is fantastic; the inner part has been restored and looks great, pity I did not take my camera to dinner as we did not get time to go back during the day. We had dinner in a restaurant called ‘Pavaratsi’, and the food, the wine and the service, was great! This city is cheap and worth a visit…and not to mention the girl’s, well everywhere you look there are stunning girls, beautiful and all very charming. So if you are a single lonely guy (like the movie
Lonely Guy with Steve Martin), then get yourself over to Bratislava, as you will not be disappointed.
The following morning we got up and decided it was time to prepare the presentations for the meeting, talk about leaving things to the last minute, this was the last minute as we finished the slide deck just in time to get to their office. But in this job this is nothing new, we never seem to have enough time in the day so you end up doing things in the last minutes, but all went very well. I was just thinking lucky my customers don’t read my blog, but they do!! Haha. :-) They say the best presentations are the ones done just before the meetings, but then who needs slides, as I prefer talking and telling a few stories which is far more fun and a lot less boring.
The trip back was good, this time we did not take the country route but the main road, which ended up in the country. There is a massive road construction going on in Austria to improve the main road from Vienna to Bratislava, really eating into the countryside and right through Wind Turbine city. Well we got back to Vienna airport in good time, pretty easy driving and worth the view. We both departed 10 minutes apart so this was a good trip. All we needed was a signed contract, but then we will have to go back again for this. I finally arrived home at 12:30am, so was very tired again, but then tomorrow's another day!
The flight was to Vienna, not Bratislava, although the meeting was in Slovakia we (my colleague flying in from Finland – Markus) and I could both get to Vienna around the same time as there were far more flights to Vienna than Bratislava. We both arrived within 15 minutes of each other so he had the car hired as I arrived. The drive to Bratislava is less than 1 hour and only 46klm from the airport. Vienna and Bratislava, so I hear, are the 2 closest cities of different countries in the world, although I'm not sure if this is true.
The drive was great, the flat countryside 
of Austria and the hundreds of wind turbines everywhere. There must be at least a thousand as I lost count after a few hundred, but the good thing is they look ok, well to me anyway. We arrived at the boarder and did not know the routine, so we handed over our passports and was not sure we had to pay anything, but the 2 security guards looked at us and muttered something in Slovakian and we thanked them and off we went, yes with our passports. Then the excitement began, we both thought the other one had booked the hotel, but in fact neither of us had. So with 30 minutes to go we had no idea where we were heading, but the good thing was we had the telephone numbers of 2 hotels sent to us by the Operator we were going to see. So without further a do, I called them, but both were fully booked, ‘No rooms at the Inn!’ but they gave me the name of another hotel and so it went on until I called the sixth hotel and finally we got 2 rooms at a reasonable price. The funny thing was, this was the very hotel we had both stayed in 2 years earlier but neither of us could remember the name (City Hotel Bratislava). It’s strange how some things seem to work out.
We booked into the hotel around 7:30pm and then went out for dinner in the city with our potential customer. The city is fantastic; the inner part has been restored and looks great, pity I did not take my camera to dinner as we did not get time to go back during the day. We had dinner in a restaurant called ‘Pavaratsi’, and the food, the wine and the service, was great! This city is cheap and worth a visit…and not to mention the girl’s, well everywhere you look there are stunning girls, beautiful and all very charming. So if you are a single lonely guy (like the movie Lonely Guy with Steve Martin), then get yourself over to Bratislava, as you will not be disappointed.
The following morning we got up and decided it was time to prepare the presentations for the meeting, talk about leaving things to the last minute, this was the last minute as we finished the slide deck just in time to get to their office. But in this job this is nothing new, we never seem to have enough time in the day so you end up doing things in the last minutes, but all went very well. I was just thinking lucky my customers don’t read my blog, but they do!! Haha. :-) They say the best presentations are the ones done just before the meetings, but then who needs slides, as I prefer talking and telling a few stories which is far more fun and a lot less boring.
The trip back was good, this time we did not take the country route but the main road, which ended up in the country. There is a massive road construction going on in Austria to improve the main road from Vienna to Bratislava, really eating into the countryside and right through Wind Turbine city. Well we got back to Vienna airport in good time, pretty easy driving and worth the view. We both departed 10 minutes apart so this was a good trip. All we needed was a signed contract, but then we will have to go back again for this. I finally arrived home at 12:30am, so was very tired again, but then tomorrow's another day!
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