I just got back and I swear I will never again take two weeks of vacation away from this desk! On April 1st I left the office for 3 nights in Prague, and then a 7-night Danube cruise on the AMA Verde. I worried about the office almost the entire time. If there was no email for me when I awoke in the morning I would relax for the rest of the day; but around 6pm Bratislava time, I would start to get anxious. In the end, I heard nothing from the office and lo and behold, nothing happened!
Why was I so worked up? I was gone for two weeks in November and December (Thanksgiving and the International Luxury Travel Mart) and I was okay. I think it may be that ILTM was work; but I was still out for two full weeks. Maybe it was the pace of the work in the month leading up to the trip? In the two days prior to my departure I closed two very big bookings: one was 10 day yacht charter in the Galapagos for summer 2015, and the other was highly customized, high five figure honeymoon in Italy…complete with a $500 consultation fee. Could it have been nervousness over these two bookings? Actually, I don’t think it was – they were closed. One was deposited with nothing to do until the air charter in August, and the other was paid in full: I only needed to wait for the documents.
I’ve been back now for a little more than a week and I’ve finally figured out what was going on. I was nervous about loose ends I’d left untied on perhaps a half dozen other bookings. I was fearful that I’d left something out on the 2 or 3 that were traveling at the same time as me. Had I done so and so’s insurance? Had I remembered to get seats for Family X? Had I neglected to do all those little things because I’d been distracted by those two high yield bookings? It was just like wondering if you locked the front door or turned off the coffee pot!
I just got off the phone with a client who spent a week and a half in an apartment in Rome while I was gone. We talked for almost 30 minutes and the Mom was simply thrilled with the vacation. They did everything I suggested they do–ate at some of the restaurants I’d suggested, brought my list of great trattorias and cafes, and were simply…well, happy.
I guess I did get everything done! When you are out of your office, do you stress out? What have you found to be the best way to handle your absence?
Mindy Milliron has been a professional travel consultant since 1996 working in suburban Washington, DC. She specializes in personalized vacations and exotic adventures. Mindy has earned her CTA, and is certified as a specialist luxury travel and destination weddings. She has been employed by three agencies and her current agency is in the process of shifting affiliations from American Express to Travel Leaders.
One thought on “Travel Place — did I remember to lock the front door?”
Try to have a back-up plan if something goes wrong with your bookings while you’re gone (store useful informations or travel documents if your clients would lost them, ad-note emergency phone numbers from your partners). It happens to me too, I come back after 5 minutes to see if my door is locked and I spend 10-15 minutes to check everything is closed before leaving from the office, maybe it’s normal because we are not allowed to forget even a letter.
Anyway, keeping a database with details of the reservations accessible from distance, increased my confidence. I also play chess which calms me down and makes me anticipate some moves. Good luck!