WHY
FRIENDLINESS/FRIENDS MATTER WHEN YOU ARE A FREQUENT TRAVELLER?
If
you are traveling once in a while, you can search whether your destination is
hosting National Football League Matches or the annual gathering of Berkshire
Hathaway! In the USA, when an event of such a magnitude occurs, hotel rates
soar and space becomes unavailable and of course cars are rented out.
In
the USA, I have to fly into Omaha once a month to attend to the Omaha Indians
who live 100 miles north of the airport.
This
week they are hosting some form of a sports competition and I could tell from
the rates for car rentals and hotels that something was going on, I was to know
that only later.
I
have been very loyal to AVIS rent a car during the time I have been using Omaha
Airport. One special employee has been my friends over the years and has helped
me procure the best rates.
This
morning was no exception. She texted early in the morning to say that she would
be at the office at 10 am. I got there in time and after much manipulation, she
got me a Jeep at an attractive price for the next four days. Our conversation
does not end there, she tells me about her family and the lifestyle changes she
had made. A pleasant exchange, that sets the good mood for the day.
There
is a particular agent at the Priority Check in at Miami airport, let us call
him James, I will wait for him to be free so that we can spend a few minutes
talking and always he takes care of any of the problems, especially the other
agents seem not to wish the extra work necessary to check in for flights to
Cuba.
The
staff at Centurion Lounge near gate D 15 is friendly but no one can beat
Yunior, the Haitian-American Food manager, who greets me with a big smile and a
glass of Sauvignon Blanc. Or Victor from RD, who takes extra care while making
Arepas for me at the Flagship Lounge near gate D 30, both in Miami.
Travel
is no longer a novelty for me, even though I look forward to each and every one
of my trips (like the upcoming one to Brussels, Hamburg and Haifa). I very seldom
talk to fellow passengers on the ground or on the air but go out of the way to
make friends with people who make our journeys pleasant. I have a PHL-DOH-CMB
COK-DOH-CDG flight coming up on QR and I am always excited to board that flight
and try to procure my favourite seat 1K. L look forward to my flights with QR
and pleasant chats with Fas from Romania or India or Other countries.
Regardless
of the countries you visit, travelling in Cuba is so different from travelling
in Colombia for example, the little help an array of people offer you add to
your experience and the collective story of your life.
Countries
visited this year:
Cuba/USA
France
Israel
India
Malaysia
Colombia
Brazil
Qatar
Singapore
Looking
forward to a trip to the Amazonia in July.
and of course I can never forget my friends at Al Mourjan Lounge at Doha airport
