My personal assistant will book all my travel and I’m really looking for
something that is of a good standard, but it doesn’t have to be super
luxurious. I’m certainly not going to spend company money on a five star
hotel. I need to have wireless internet access, which is an absolute must.
I’m also in to keeping fit, so will want a gym that I can go to early in the
morning.
The restaurants and bars in a hotel aren’t that important to me. If I’m away,
I’ll arrange evening meetings and we’ll go out to eat.
Which long-haul work trips have you been on?
Last year I went to Mumbai with a group of 15-20 businesswomen to learn about
how business operates in India, which was organised by the British High
Commission. It was fascinating and there are some opportunities out there
which I’d like to take advantage of when I’m not quite so busy.
We had some fun out there, although nothing too silly. There were planned
events on most evenings but on one night, three of us decided to go on a
rickshaw around Mumbai. We thought it was great and happily paid 1,200
rupees. Then we found out our colleagues had paid 100 rupees for the same
journey, so we didn’t demonstrate great negotiating skills there. We also
went to see a Bollywood film being made, which was a bit of an eye opener.
Where did you stay?
In the Taj in Mumbai and of course that was where the bombs were a few months
later. It was an amazing place and the food on offer was incredible and we
were just lucky that we weren’t there at the wrong time.
Which airline did you fly on?
Everyone had to pay for their own flights so I did go Virgin Upper Class,
which was really nice. I like a bit of comfort when I travel long haul and
it was worth it.
What about short haul flights?
It’s totally different. With a short flight you don’t need the extra space and
I’m quite happy to go on a no-frills flight. The airport is more important.
I really want to fly from East Midlands airport, so I’ll take any carrier
from there rather than having to go down to Heathrow.
Any scary moments on flights?
I had a scary moment when I was flying back from a conference in Cyprus. After
about an hour, there were funny noises in the aircraft and something was
going wrong with the engine. We were told that we would have to go back to
Cyprus and suddenly there were aircraft circling us and more planes waiting
on the ground for us when we arrived. It turned out to be nothing much, but
it was all a bit frightening.
Do you arrive early or late for flights?
I tend to check in online if I can, which is great, and then I arrive as late
as I can. I don’t really like hanging around airports and I don’t have the
time.
Do you have a favourite destination?
I love Dubai and New York, because they are both fantastic for shopping! I
went to Dubai before all the building work started, so it looked better than
it probably does now. I got some Jimmy Choo shoes in New York for about
£400. I really needed them, because they were for an event I was attending.
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