OwenBloggers: Isha - MBA '08

On the go

A chance meeting of two ladies at the Philadelphia airport. Both wearing the same suit.

One turned to the other and said: “Nice suit.”

The other replied: “Great taste!” And then they parted ways.

Warsaw, 4 am

PC = portable computer?

Fly or not, but do check your reservations

There is nothing like the holiday rush. Considering that it’s a week after New Year’s I thought that it wouldn’t be all that bad. How wrong was I!

First my family insisted that 2 hours is plenty of time to get to the airport, go through check-in, and have plenty of time to get bored after I’m done with duty free shopping. I said three. There was a single line to get to the counters. A line that swirled like a snake through the terminal and was easily 500 ft long before it reached a preliminary check point. Not a very reassuring thought when you have less then two hours till departure and it seems that the line is standing still. On top of that LOT has all there transatlantic flights departing about the same time, and guess what: all three use the same check in area. So as the time passed, the line crawled towards the culmination – the check-in counter.

I bough my tickets 3 months ago to ensure that I would have a seat and as soon as I got to the check-in counter I got informed that since no seat was assigned during reservation all they can do is put me on standby. I was not exactly pleased. But I kept my spirits high and politely smiled to the attendant. She was a scared trainee, and I saw no reason stressing her out, especially since there was nothing she could do about. But her supervisor who stood right behind her appreciated the civility and lack of complaints and she messaged out that she would really appreciate a seat for me. Maybe it was nothing, but she didn’t have to do anything. As a result, I had a very comfortable flight in business class.

This could be treated as any other travel story or it can be looked at from operational standpoint. The flight to NYC was late an hour on departure. The flight to Toronto was late over 90 minutes. And this is not unusual; when I first looked at my itinerary I was worried that I have only a three hour layover in NYC. The ordeal I went through in NYC to get onto Delta flight to Nashville is another horror story and is yet another example of poor resource allocation by the airlines/airport authorities.

The break is over

Not literally, but practically that strange moment has come when I am closer to flying out then I am to have flown in. But it was time well spent. However, I still have my doubt if I have slept enough over the last couple of weeks, but that is purely my issue of trying not to convert to the local time. Regardless of my personal opinions, it was beautiful! Southern Poland that is. I was lucky enough to have white Christmas. Warsaw was, and still is, horribly gray. Granted, it was a bit on the chilly side, but worth every gasp of fresh, cold, and unpolluted air. Poland is known for its stunning soft rime formations, and lately the conditions were spectacular, fog and temperatures falling below freezing point.

But everything must end at some point. So I left behind the beauty of snow covered fields and came back to the city to catch up with some old (and new) friends. After a year long absence there are so many new husbands and children to see it’s strange. And on top of there is a new portal that is bringing school friends together. Unlike classmates.com, Nasza Klasa is a free portal that is based on existing connections. You can message anyone you like, none of that you got to pay for it stuff, post pictures and no one asks you your complete work history. There isn’t even space for it. It is just a bit weird to see people you haven’t seen or heard of in about 20 years and realize that they have all grown up to be normal people, with normal families and kids. For better or worse, there are some things you just can’t imagine as a teenager…

Day 0 - Price is not the issue here

We arrived in DC just to find out that the hotel reservation had us coming in the next day. Luckily there were rooms available, however yours truly needs to change rooms later on today. Yes, I’m SO excited… We are staying at the Sofitel in Lafayette Square. I wouldn’t mind so much if this wasn’t such an overpriced piece of real estate. First of all there is no wireless here, I mean there is but for additional 10$ a day. This is less then 3% of the room price, so come on! Include it in the price and let no one be the wiser! Have you ever stayed at Hampton Inn? Middle of no where in Arkansas and there was free wireless and a WSJ waiting outside the door. Here, not so much. Again, this is such tiny fraction of the price that no one would notice if you hiked it a bit. I would say it’s the French, but I know too many French hoteliers to insult French owned hotels lightly. Then again, all of my friends worked for Sheraton and  such.

Yesterday we had a chance to explore DC a bit. It was a gorgeous day and we walked around the area. The South Lawn was open to visitors so we got to see the White House gardens. In the evening we walked a bit more, discovered some local night life, found the Deloitte building and had a drink or two. Over all, it was a very enjoyable day.

Technorati tags: Owen Graduate School of Management, Business School, Vanderbilt, MBA, hotels, travel

Here comes the rain again

It’s raining. No, it’s pouring cars and dogs. Actually in Poland we would say that it’s throwing frogs. But the phrase is irrelevant, the intensity is. I’ve been waiting for this rain like salvation, in a way. I thing I have bloged enough about the weather over the summer – had to write about something when I couldn’t write about my internship – but it was all about heat and humidity, not about rain. Sure it rained in between now and then, but that was just a drizzle.

More important should be the reason why I was waiting so impatiently. You might think that when you have high humidity you don’t have a drought. Apparently one does not exclude the other. So yes, rain is good.

On a side note, British Air announced earlier today that they will split the replacement of their aging 747’s between Boeing 787 Dreamliner (24 planes) and Airbus A380 (12 planes). I just finished a case last week contemplating the feasibility of A380 R&D and trying to value the NPV of the project without knowing demand. One thing I can say is that product conversion rates sure make a difference. I’m still not convinced and question whether I want to get into a double decker and fly long haul.

Song of the Day:
Eurythmics - Here Comes the Rain Again

Technorati tags: Owen Graduate School of Management, Owenbloggers.com, Business School, Boeing, Airbus, Eurythmics, Weather, Vanderbilt

Last day of freedom

Oaxaca.  Another night on the bus.  With barely 238 km (142 miles), the trip took us 8 hours.  Why? The road is so windy that the bus was going pretty slow. Regardless of the speed, we were both feeling pretty sick.  There were couple of times that I almost fell out of my seat (and I had my seatbelt on).  Needless to say, we were both a bit grumpy this morning.  On top of everything when we got to the chosen hostel, the doors were locked so we went on searching for a different place.  Result: we did a tour of the city at daybreak walking about 20 blocks just to end up across the street from the hostel we were planning on staying at.  But for 25$ we got a room with AC and a bathroom that I'm not afraid to get into.  Over all, I would say it's a pretty good deal.

 After a quick shower we decided to head out to Monte Alban, another set of ruins.  The city was builtbetween 200 BC and 1592 AD with the golden age ending in 800 AD.  This ancient capital of the Zapotec Indians is a spectacular example history left in stone.  And of course, there were plenty more steps that I had to climb there in order to see anything. There is no rest for a tourist.  No, there is no rest for a traveler.  A tourist will sit in his all inclusive hotel for the entire stay making maybe one excursion in to the exotic local market. Thank goodness I'm not a tourist.

When we got back we went through the local covered markets exploring and thinking about shopping.  We spent the rest of the day wondering the streets and enjoying our last moments of freedom.  Soon she will embark on a journey to Mexico City and I will get on a plane in the morning and fly home.

Technorati tags: Vanderbilt, Owen Graduate School of Management, MBA, OwenBloggers.com, Business School, Spring Break , Mexico, Tramping , Oaxaca, Monte Alban

International Women's Day

It's hot.  We found out the hard  way that the collectivo's don't run after dark so we had to take a taxi to the Pochutla to get to the bus station.  So we are here, with an hour to kill in a town with nothing to do.  But today is the international Women's Day and I wonder how many people know about it.  When I was growing up, it was a big deal,  but now  no one cares anymore. But it is a big thing.  It's about equality, protection, and opportunity.  So next time March 8th approaches, let the women in your life know how much they matter.

But enough politics, today was my last day at the beach.  And it was the laziest day I could imagine.  OK, so we did go to a Tortoise Center to see the different types of turtles that live in  Mexico, and I am glad we went. The rest of the day was spent on laying flat on the sand or pondering deep thoughts like "how can I get into the ocean without moving" or "where is my beer?" Pretty tiring ...

Caraibbean Blue

Second day of nothingness, total laziness and sun. It is almost unreal that on Monday we were in cold and rainy San Cristobal. More to the point, it was so cold that we had to utilize the happy hour at Jazz DaDa where a very nice barman made us extra long drinks to warm us up. We had “Sacrificio Maya” and “La Cucharacha,” both of which were served flaming. Not that it mattered much, the tequila in them warmed us up perfectly. It was so cold that tourists were buying extra warm clothes to survive. We were one of those tourists, and this morning I was putting on my swim suit at 7am, it seemed silly to see a wool sweather on the chair. Considering that it's a nice round 90 F right now (and should be in the high 70's at night) it's no wonder that excessive clothing is not on my mind.

We were planning on going to Zipolite, but we wnded up in Mazunta. The place is almost empty. There are barely any tourists here, but the ones that are here seem to have been traveling for several months already. Hence laziness and total relaxation. No one is rushing anywhere and the only desire I seem to posses is to have the beer class closer so I don't have to reach for it too far. Of course it would be false to assume that we don't do anything. This morning we went on a boat tour to see sea turtles and swim with the fishes. Pretty...

Those nice creatures decided to copulate in front of us. I never expected it to be such a risky business. While the male tries to hang on to the female, the feamale tries to keep them afloat so they don't drawn. I have seen plenty of animal shows, but I've never seen one quite like this. Maybe it was the up close and personal factor that had something to do with it.

Tomorrow night we are off to Oaxaca. Another 8 hour trip, another night on the bus. But it will be the last over night bus in this trip. At least the last one fo me. On Saturday it will all be about plane hopping and going home. What a shame I don't have sevelal months, like some that I have met here, to travel. This place is in an odd state of being. This is the Mexico I imagined, or at least as I imagined it when flower children were up and about in large numbers. I am glad that we were here for those three days, I needed the rest.

Song of the day:
Enya - Caraibian Blue

Technorati tags: Vanderbilt, Owen Graduate School of Management, MBA, OwenBloggers.com, Business School, Spring Break , Mexico, Tramping , The Beach, Turtles