mardi 22 mai 2018

WHY FRIENDLINESS/FRIENDS MATTER WHEN YOU ARE A FREQUENT TRAVELLER?

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



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