No Road Worries

The Dry Martini getting out of super dry and vodka territories

2012-01-14T03:37:00.006+01:00

Dear blog reader,

This blog contribution was inspired by a good friend and colleague who taught me to never accept a bad Dry Martini and eventually took me down the avenue of taking bar tender classes. Without ambitions of being the complete guide to the perfect Martini, here are a few hints on how to start getting Martini savvy.

THE ORIGIN

Even though many alternative stories exist how it was born, I suggest the adoption of the theory proposing Knickerbocker Hotel in New York in 1912 as the origin for the drink. This enables us to zip the drink in graceful centennial celebrations throughout the year.

THE FUNDAMENTALS

The basics about the Dry Martini are well-known and straight forward

Gin and Vermouth stirred with ice in a shaker
Serviced in Martini glasses
Garnished with Olives or a lemon twist.

In the search for the perfect Martini, bartenders exploit different types of Gin, mix ratios, ways of chilling the glass to perfection, tweaks to the garnish and topping it up with a famous quote or two when served.

GIN

The first Dry Martini point you might want to make is your choice of Gin. My Noilly Prat Vermouth is preferably blended with one of the following ones:

Hendricks – distilled in exceptionally small batches
Tanqueray Number 10 – Rich on citrus flavors
Bombay Sapphire – Rich on botanical additions.
Beefeater 24 – flavor rich recent invention with addition blended in during a 24 hour process.

MARTINI MIXOLOGY

Next point where people tend to have a clear preference is the mixing ratios between Gin and Vermouth. The past 100 years have seen the Martini to evolve from the original recipe to the driest possible advocated in the middle of the previous century.

Traditional: Mixing 2 parts Gin and 1 part Vermouth
International Bartenders Association guidelines: Mixed 3.66:1
Bernhard DeVoto – Harper columnist : 3.7:1
James Bond: 6:1
Very dry ones: 7-15:1
Dry Dry Martini contests: whisper Martini close to the glass….

The trend right now is towards less Dry Martinis and the DeVoto and IBA suggestion of 3.7:1 is proposed as a good aiming point to pick up at home

FAMOUS MARTINI QUOTES

The Dry Martini is tied to a number of good quotes. These one are my favourites

“I must get out of these wet clothes and into a Dry Martini” Mae West
“I never go jogging, it makes me spill my Martini” George Burns
“Martini is the only American invention as perfect as a sonnet”, H.L. Mencken
“One Martini is all right, Two are too many, and three are not enough” James Thurber
“Shaken not stirred” Ian Flemming

SHORTCUTS

Here are a few shortcuts helping me to serve and enjoy great Dry Martini

Spice up your bar with a few classic Martini glasses and some fun ones.
Always keep a few Martini glasses in the freezer. Safe bet in serving well chilled Dry Martinis at home.
Have 2-3 different types of Gin at home, to keep aficionados happy and the rest of us impressed.
Ask for the “Bartenders special” when in a bar, just advice him on the choice of Gin and you add a bit excitement to the game.

A personal preference for a Dry Martini is stylish and do not go out of fashion. Stay tuned until the next post.

With the right road warrior gear - you have nothing to fear

2011-12-12T03:20:00.011+01:00

Dear blog reader,

The inspiration to this blog comes from a recent business trip with a colleague who had great gear in his accessory kit. I concluded I needed an upgrade and have five suggestions that go beyond basics.

5000 mAh of gadget juice in one neat package. Have you ever been chasing power outlets at an airport as if you were working for the cleaning company? Or arrived at an airport with the booking in your laptop and realized that you used the last energy in the battery during the flight. Or having the wrong converter in your bag, don't mention the war. Luckily the solution is now available in the form of a super battery, charge once and it can charge your phone 2-3 times, or top up your Smartphone and tablet at the same time.

WiFi without the travel expense hassle. My resistance to WiFi on the road goes back to the first time in Hungary where log-in codes were sent to my mail, which I could not access, in order to log in. There are SIMpler solutions. Next the constant issue of the $9.95 bills for the travel receipts. or like on a recent trip $29.85 as they charged for each device I used, laptop, tablet and iPod.... With widespread 3G and 4G in major US metropolitan areas you can carry your WiFi with you in the form of a MiFi router. Just put it on the table, use all your devices, and get one bill a month. Business connectivity made SIMple.

Ever arrived at the airport to figure out the Neverlost was sold out and you are new in town. Recently I came to Kansas City and had a reservation for a GPS equipped car. The guy in front of me was new in town and was in desperate need for a GPS equipped car. I cancel my reservation and gave him my car and I waited for a colleague arriving a bit later. I also took the decision to bring my own portable GPS in the future. I found one with life time map updates and updates on construction work. It is not a part of my hand luggage kit.

Are you getting tired of your big noise cancellation head-sets you carry? I never bought a pair despite extensive travelling. Instead I have used a pair of noise cancellation ear plugs that work great whenever I remember to carry batteries. A newer alternative is the sculpted ear plugs that are made to your ear and create a tighter plug into your ears not allowing sound to come in. Custom fitted in the shop or at home afterwards. On my shopping list for new road warrior gear, this one is high up.

Are you messing with booking information and receipts from your travel? One of our secretaries prints all the key travel info, flights, car and hotel bookings on the outside of an envelope. Great when travelling and easy to use for keeping all receipts in one place afterwards. I need to get a copy of the template.

My vacation trips are short - but the whole journey is of the longer sort

2011-12-08T05:00:00.010+01:00

Dear blog reader,

The inspiration to this blog came from a few magazine subscriptions, a few new releases of great books and a recent trip with plenty of time to reflect. My journeys start very early on. Way before the voyage starts, or even the destination is selected.

My mental start of the trip is typically an inspiration gathering where I look broadly for new places that sound stimulating. I rarely go twice to the same location. So experience new win over the old proven feel good experience. Sources at this stage of they come from magazines, e.g. National Geographic Traveler, Airline's magazines etc.

By the time I pick a destination I research what a route could look like. My trips are rarely a one location trip, but a route to travel. All the best routes in the world have been travelled by someone already, so my job is most likely just to copy some great originals. My new favorite for spotting journeys is the "Great Journeys - travel the world’s most spectacular routes" from Lonely Planet. Already at title level this book trigger my travel mood.

Experiences play an important role on my journeys. And by picking travel partners with similar preferences on what to experience you are on a good track. My trips are typically a mix of adventure, doing the new/different thing you can do at home. Wind down and relax, but perhaps even more so get some personal reflection time. Finally I am to test the local cuisine, ideally together with a local friend or colleagues that can put the meal in the right context. The 1000 Ultimate Experiences is a new fresh book helping me to find more experiences I am interested in pursuing.

When getting to the stage of planning details of my trip I normally read the sections of a Lonely Planet guide around my key experiences. Not for deciding on what to do, more of creating a gross list to pick from when coming to the destination. I normally find some smaller niche interesting things that make it to my want to do/see/feel list. And if you have ever seen one of my marker filled pages, you can see the energy and emotions I build up at this stage.

I let the first steps go on for quite long to create the right desire before I do my bookings. I have converted to online booking for air, car and hotels but book excursions locally after researching the alternatives. The slight premium for late booking is offset by the opportunity to pick the one you like best and can get local recommendations on.

Have your mental journey started for your next trip? If not this might be a trigger, and your voyages will be longer than the actual trip itself.

Cuban characters - people and their passions

2011-12-04T00:12:00.007+01:00

Dear blog readers,

Meeting new people is the fuel that makes trips truly memorable. It is hard to get a feeling for a completely new society, I knew little about Cuba before, in just a week. Here are a few impressions.

Music play a key role. You learn salsa at home. it is played in a lot of locations. Strangely there are few salsa clubs in Havana. Flirtous people. Seem to meet in the street rather than in homes.

Education is important. Doctors and culture more developped than I expected. Low salaries trigger many to get a second job as taxi (machina) driver or renting out rooms in their homes (casa particular). All second jobs are in the areas where payments are in CUC, the convertible currency required for all premium goods.

The basic food is rice sugar and beans. Two good local beers Cristal and Bucanero. Cheap rum for party nights. Ropa Vieja (old clothes) is a tasty local meat dish. Very strong coffea with plenty of sugar.

One child per family seem to be the norm. Living in concrete houses. Not possible to rent or sell apartments, you inherit or build. Concrete roofs to protect against thunderstorms. Fridge and TV in all homes. AC but no heating. Charges for incoming calls to mobiles, making fixed phones still very common.

(Photo used with permission from copyright owner Agnieszka Anglin)

Cuba-cabana - the beaches of Cuba

2011-12-04T00:02:00.007+01:00

Dear Blogreader,

on a vacation to a Caribbean island with sand between my toes, a few words on beach life is natural.

Playa del Este is located 20km east of Havana. Easily accessible by the local tour bus. Fronting the Atlantic ocean and bit colder than the Carribean. Long stretches of sand, and mix of locals and tourists.

Veradero is a razorthin 20km long peninsula located 2h by bus from Havana. The largest conce

ntration of 4 and 5 star hotels. Popular for charter tourists from Canada and Russia. Beaches comined with limestone rock formations. I was there a cloudy day and enjoyed the ocean breeze, the waves breaking and the nearby pools. All lightened up by a Mohito by the pool.

Cayo Largo is a small island on the Carribean side. accesible by a 30 min flight fom Havana

or Varadero. Home to an Iguana reserve. Plenty of white beaches and corall reef for snorkling and diving. I did a day trip and the mix of experience and relax was great. And the early morning departure, and the late evening return from the Havana, Baracoa to the Cayo Largo Airport is an experince in itself. Expect hand written boarding cards and departures before, on or after stipulated time.

Havana is great for drinks - The rum inventions more than you think

2011-12-03T23:31:00.012+01:00

Dear blogreaders, as a certified bartender, rum drinks is a given blog topic during a trip to Cuba.

As the only? country in the world with a "Sugar

Ministry" Cuba is a natural Rum place.

Bacardi originate from here, and their former head quarters is a great neo classical building in Down Town Havana. Today Havana Club is today the dominating local Brand. Rum is created in 7 steps and just destilled once. 6 percent of the rum vaporize each year in the aging process. Anything upto 5 years is great for Rum and Coke. 7 years and upwards great for straight rum zipping. 100 year old rum can be bought for $1700 per bottle ....

The Floridita bar is the cradle of the Daiquiri. The bar is from 1817 and the Daiquiri was invented 1910. For a long time I have struggled with the pronounciation and the correct one is [Daj-kirrí]. Hemingway used to come here in the 50's for his Daiquiris, and from what I can tell it was a dialy habit. In the drink preparation the Floridita bar tenders used the mixer exceptionally long to get the right slushy nature of the drink. Served without garnish but with a short straw in Martini glasses. My clear Cuban favourite.

The Bodeguita del Medio bar is the home of the Mojito [Mo-hitou]. Even this bar is famous for being a Hemingway place. A small bar with just a handful of chairs. Most of the time trow in a trio band to make it even more crowded. Plenty of mint leaves in the drink. Second in my ranking.

Cuba Libre, Rum, Coke (or the local KuKola) and lime juice is another famous rum drink born here. 50/50 rum and coke is the norm. Varyiing degree of Lime to serve different tastes.

Pina Colada based on Rum, Coconut juice and Pineapple juice. Often served as straight juice, with a rum bottle to let you pour in rum to our own taste. A bit dangerous since thejuices neutralize most of the rum. By the time you feel the rum taste it is strong!!!

Smoking a cuban cigar - is well above par

2011-12-03T23:15:00.004+01:00

Dear Blogreaders,

A blog on cigar is inevitable with Smoke's (Tony Stewart) Nascar 2011 win coinceeding with my trip to Cuba

Cuban cigar is the norm for the best in the world. The quality come from great climate for cultivating the tobacco and grom a long tradition. The tobacco used is of three types. An inner layer with small narrow leaves with the bulk of the bulk of the tobacco leaves. The string in the middle of the tobacco leaf is removed, and with it all the nicotine. Cigars contains no additional chemicals, but have 100 of natural poisons in it. A fixture layer keeping all the inner leaves together. Finally an elastic wrapper layer giving the cigar its final look.

The tobacco is cultivated in very red fertile soil. Dried for around 45 days in special tobacco drying houses. All cigars ar made by hand, and a worker typically make 80-120 on an 8 hour shift. The rolled cigar get its final shape in a cigar molde.

The most popular model right now is the "Robusto", a short and thick model that burns in half an hour. Cohiba is considered the best and Monte Christo the best value for money. Other famous Brands are Romeo y Julieta, H Uppman and Hoyo de Monterrey. A great place for testing cigars is at the cigar factory just behind the Capitoleum building. Yes Havana have a Capitoleum very similar to the one in Washington.

Colurful cuban cars - a rolling museeum

2011-12-03T22:12:00.003+01:00

Dear Blogreader, here are some some reflections from a recent trip to Cuba

Cuba was a large car markets in the fifties. Import stopped with the revolution. The streets of Havana is full of old American cars and more recent Lada additions. The American cars are referred to as "Machinas" and serve as cheap taxis for locals. For 10 pesos (50 cent) you can go a long distance. Each seat 5 passengers. The driver is a man in his thirties, playing salsa music on the stereo and keeping plenty of cash on the dashboard or in his hands at the steering wheel.

Follow one of the the main streets and it is easy to flag down a a car with a piece of card board with the route number you want to travel. The old cars have very little in common with the originals. Engines are changed for a Hyundai diesel or an old tractor engine. The coil suspensions are replaced by blade suspensions suiting the road qualiy with many potholes. The maintenance level vary greatly, with a few well mainted ones being the exception, and close to wrecks being the norm. The largest offense you can do to the driver is to shut the door to hard, nice and gently is requested.

The spectrum of colors is very broad. Far away from the stylish black, white, grey and darkblue being the norm for a new car in the Western world. The streets of Havana ar lit up by yellow, purple, turquoise, lightblue and pistage green cars. American cars from the fifties will remain a signum of Havana for a long time to come. Either at the current standard level or with a major facelift of the fleet of "Machinas" depending of were the future goes for this country.

There is also a fleet of 3 wheel 2 seat tourst taxis. Rolling around twon like small eggs. Quite pricy and low on value. More of a tick in the box touristing thing than a genuine travel experience

The Smoke that Thunders - one of the worlds natural wonders

2011-10-03T01:37:00.021+02:00

Dear Blogreader,

One of the most beautiful places I have visited is the Victoria Falls, at the Zambesi river on the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe. These natural wonders are called "The Smoke that Thunders" and the best time to visit is in the rainy season. Flying into Livingstone airport in Zambia you get a first view of the falls from the plane. The landscape is absoluitely flat and the only thing you see is a spot with a white smoke ... surrounded by trees.

The first view of the falls was from the bus when passing over the Zambesi river. The 1 600 meter wide falls have to pass a narrow gorge. The water drops 100 meter and turn into a white mist. The water make a lot of noise and blend nicely with the trees. The bridge is wide enough for a train and one lane for regular traffic. Amazing that Livingstone made it to the falls already in 1855...

The second view of the fall was from a boat on the Zambezi river. Departing from the magnificent Royal Livingstone hotel, just upstream from the falls. From the garden you have a great view over the mist of water. You can hear the thunder. Most of the time see a rainbow. The current in the river is quite strong and plenty of animals. Hippo watching is a great way to enyoj the river.

The third view of the falls came after a short walk. You can walk up very close to the falls on the Zimbabwe side. The walking trail is at the same hight as the top of the falls. The guide recommended rain gear.... Very special feeling, the water is coming up to you. And it is not a mist, it feels almost like being under water. And have way around the trail you have a great view of the bridge. Priceless.

If you have never been up in a Helicopter, the Victoria Falls is a great place for your virgin trip. Heliport just nearby the falls. Six people in the Cabin and off we went. Great vciew of the Zambezi delta. And the view of the falls, with the bridge and the narrow gorge is just amazing. 15 minutes of pure luxury life. enyojed it every second and will carry the memory the rest of my life.

So after a full day on the ground and in the air the experience was completed with a trian trip. Old steam engine style. Feeling like in the 1920s. A stylish Martini like to old explorers. Slowly moving up towards the bridge and watching the sunset from the window. Topped up with a bit of sparkling french ...

I am truly greatful for this AAA experience. For getting the opportunity and for not seing the 46 flight hours as a problem. A great life is born out of perfect days like this. Life in the Diamond lane from from A to Z, with capital letters.

And a minor detail, in this context, Victoria Falls, Livingstone and Johannesburg added to the list of airports visitied. Stay tuned for more journeys in life.

September in 1978, 2001 and 2011 - have sent a lot of my herroes to heaven

2011-09-11T22:08:00.003+02:00

Dear blogreader,

September 11 2001 is one of those days in your life that you will always remember what you did when the Twin Towers when down. I was in Sweden to attend the funeral of my father, who lost the fight against cancer the week before, and was watching a movie on TV when the breaking news stopped all TV programs and the scene switched to New York.

We soon learnt that the US airspace was shutdown and airtravel was forever changed. We had a return flight scheduled on Sunday the 16th to LAX and was polling for updates in what/if/how/when the airspace would be opened up again.

The flights open up in the morning on the 16th and we got the message in the morning and took off to Frankfurt. It was total chaos at the US bound gates, and there were approx 10 flights scheduled between 10 and 12 in the morning. The manual search of all bags was a new routine no one had planned for. Four hours delayed we left as the second outbound flight going to Los Angeles. The adhoc meal/drink wagons passing the line every 2 hours made people manage the situation reasonably well.

LAX international terminal was super empty when we arrived. I think I saw 2 other planes at the terminal. The huge parking house in the middle had been emptied and every single car taken out. Rental cars had been returned en masse, without anyone picking up cars and the 800 name big Herts #1 club screen had 16 names on it when we arrived. The 5-10 blockes slosest to the Rental car center was full of cars that did not fit at the rental companies parking spots. Obvious as very very few cars were rented out as normally. It was a silent ride to our Santa Barbara home. and arriving we learnt that evry single TV channel had shown CNN only for 4 days.

I did not fly for 3 weeks and the first flight afterwards was a short domestic one, and I had to show up 2 hours in advance and there were 10 of us going on the small 30 seater. and Airlines were cutting flighst like crazy. Including the AA79&80 that used to be my favourites out of ORD. Fun to see that they now operate to Europe where I am now living 10 years later.

The conversation topics for my Sunday morning golf trips changed from Football and Fun to foreign policies, my view on America as a non native/citizen. Gone was the self confidence and security in people I have got to known a few months earlier. One of the key take-aways after a few weeks was that people expressed a deeper and profound understanding between clients and suppliers that phone conferences would play a bigger role in doing business to reduce air travel.

On my second trip there was a man of Asian descent with a big black beard entering the plan. The whole plan went silent and he was followed by veryone in the plans as he entered. Three persons felt so uncomfortable so that they complained to the stewardesses and the he was eventually asked to leave the plane. I remember thinking who was most the most disadvantaged, all people becoming nervous when a bearded asian man entered a plane, or all the asian men having to live with everybody viewing them as a suspicious person.

A few weeks later was the fatal SAS accident at Linate Milan. When hearing about the accident on radio I immediately realized that I would recognize names on the passenger list. I came down one third when I saw the name of a colleague that I have got to know a few years earlier. That day I took the decision to get back up in the air as quickly as possible, in order to regain confidence of flying and doing it with teh airlines that had lost planes. It turned out to be a wise decision that cemented my confidence.

The 11th of September is also the date that Ronnie Peterson died in 1978 after the tragic accident at Monza the day before. And today tehre has been many ceremonies to remember the players of the russian hockey team, a few of them from my home country including one of the most talented goal tenders ever. I am quite confident that KHL will loose their appeal from young hockey players taking an extra year to prepare for NHL or extend their careers in a country where flying safety has been under the radar.

But my biggest hero was not a man that did fly a lot, but he pushed my to aim high up in the sky. I carry his insights and early encouragement deep into my heart, and those events back in 2001 made my re-evaluate a few principles in my life and the most important one being, "We all get a life, and you are allways the pilot on your own journey"

When your manager provide you with an important task - there is perhaps a few questions you should ask

2011-08-04T04:59:00.008+02:00

Dear blogreader,

Most strategic questions and larger action points, start at a meeting higher up in the organization and the task to provide the result for the topic is often delgated to subject matter experts one or two steps down in the organization.

There is an opportunity to cut the required time, to develop the result, in half and significantly improve quality if you adopt a few ideas provided today.

Strategic questions and larger tasks are almost by definition vaguely defined from the beginning, and keeping them vague throughout the process is a proven recipe for failure.

An alternative is to structure the task or action point around four man clarification points and you can turn the odds in your favour and deliver a result that make the sponsor satisfied. It is also a great way to secure that the most interesting task and actions will continue to come your way.

Within the first 48 hours of receiving a major action point aim to loop through the topics below and recirculate back to your sponsor.

ORIGIN AND DESTINATION
Clarify which forum the action point came from, and where it shall be reported back. Probe for when the final deliverable is due and if any interim reports are expected. Understand the expectations on how the action shall be reported (written, oral or both forms), how deep the investigation should go in the final reporting and what the presentation support (Decisions, Follow-up, Education etc.)

SPONSOR/S, ANCHOR POINTS & CONTRIBUTORS
Most large questions are so complex in nature so that they invove multiple management tiers as well as a team of subject matter experts in the development. Clarify who the sponsor for the task is, and the one you primarily shall support in making the result succesful. Identify the key anchoring points that you need to anchor any proposals with on the way up to the sponsor / reporting forum. Select the team required to deliver the best result possible. A small and diverse team is your best pick. A vital aspect to consider is to involve contributors reporting to the main stakeholders in the anchoring so that results can flow multiple routes upwards as you approach the reporting day. A vital early priority is to secure the external resources that are required, beyond direct reports to sponsor/s and key anchoring points.

CONTEXT IS KING
The single biggest contributror in cutting development lead time and increasing quality is to define the Business context that frame the question. Five to six well formulated insights about the context that is conveyed to the team, provide both a good foundation and secure good motivation.

CLEAR SCOPE OR NO HOPE
The scope of the study is best clarified by which questions the study should provide answers to. Many team start with a generic analysis framework, i.e. classic businessplan, five force analysys, SWOT or similar, that waste a lot of time on any kind of market observations instead of focus on the defining questions. These questions are clear to your most insightful people, and make sure you figure out what they know about the problem. The second time theif is the lack of clearly defined boundry conditions, both regards to what is inside and what is outside the scope of the study. By being explicit on both what is in and what is out you have a welldefined frame to execute in.

Good luck and stay tuned for more quick guides.

if you want to set a record for a 747 flight - be prepared to be in the air both day and night

2011-07-28T00:33:00.000+02:00

Dear blogreader,

This spring the worlds longest non-stop flight, operated with a 747 was recorded for a flight from SYD to DFW, at 15.25 hours for flight QF 7. I have ever since been puzzled with how they manage to get it back, knowing that the west-bound route is always longer

The clue to this came the last time I visted DFW and could not find the flight on the departure table. The clue is that the return flight make a a dash-and-splash stop in Brisbane before returning to Sydney, and thereby cut out the last 2 hours.

This flight is the longest one ever for a 747-400ER in commercial operation, even though longer flights have been made with the airbus A340-500/600 and the 777-200LR/300ER. The flight enable Australians to enter in the middle of the US with comparably short final hops to their east coast destinations.

A couple of interesting aspects of this very long flight are

The maximum range at full load for a 747-400ER is 14 205km, leaving just 400km of extra fuel when the whole distance is covered has been covered the straightest way
Airlines have well establsihed statistics on weather patterns, that need to be learnt for a new route like this.
Taking a full load of passengers and fuel, might not leave room for all the luggage to get on board, and so happened for one of the first flights were a lot of head wind was anticipated.
Quantas have never lost a plane, and are very likely eager to keep that track record.

This route and other long routes enabled by the 787 Dreamliner is likely to push the current world record Newark-Singapore at 18:50hours up further. But still close to 19 hours is a long time in a plane....

Stay tuned.

Playing around with grammar & words is a social game - You better refine it if you in great places want to be seen as a name

2011-07-23T23:02:00.007+02:00

Dear blogreader,

Welcome back, or perhaps you have been here and I have not ;)

I have embarked on a new project to refine my second language. We learn a language as kids that we call our first language, but there is a lot of ways to become better than first! So this blog is about a few tools and tips that I have picked up and that perhaps could be a bit of inspiration to your journey as well. And if for no other resaon, you can expect your boss to have a better language than you, or that you as a boss is expected to be well articulated. I will today touch upon three main areas, extending vocabulary, picking up idioms and good tools that can help you along the road.

EXTENDING YOUR VOCABULARY

Your vocabulary is an important part of your language, and extending it with new words that add granularity and the right tone to the conversation is a good basic step. Here are a few words that I just picked up:

thesaurus - a dictionary of synonyms and antonyms
peloton - the big group of cyclists in a bycicle race hada
ringer - a person that can be stand-in for you
blamestorming - a brainstorming with the objective to figure out who to blame
bluechip company - respected for quality in products and stability in growth and earnings.

BUSINESS IDIOMS

The ideoms are common expressions with a different meaning than the the litteral one. We use them more frequently than you think in our native language. And if you are dealing with your second language, you better pick them up or you are sidelined in the conversations.

get down to brass tacks - start digging into the practical details of something
dot your i's and cross your t's - to be very careful and pay attention to details
face the music - to deal with an unplesant situation realistically
nothing ventured, nothing gained - If you do not try to do eomething you never succeed
throw cold water over (an idea, a plan) - to present reasons why something will not work
copper bottomed - a very safe plan/contract/business

USEFUL TOOLS

I have been sold on the idea that there are useful books on the topic and that you can find a few ones that could take you forward. During my last exploration at the book store I came up with the following ones that I think are great for me:

Colour Oxford Thesaurus - a small size one to be used to find at least one new alternative words a day for my high runner words
30 days to a more powerful vocabulary - simple exercizes for 15 minutes work per day
The productive writer - for taking control of your writing life.
Writing your life - you have valuable life experiences, time to share them?

This is all for now, stay tuned, soon more to come!

In which states have I been before – and which new ones are there to explore

2011-04-13T18:30:00.008+02:00

Dear Blogreader,

In a country with 50 states it is easy to get the concept of country wrong.

I thought I should be able to pull off the capital city, abbreviation and nick name for states I have visitied, but was not even close.

Prize to the ones that nail all three for five of the listed states below. Rules and restrictions might applify for citizens and greencard holders.

NY – Empire State - Albany

CA - Golden State – Sacramento.

IL - Prairie State - Springfield

TX - Lone Star State – San Antonio

GA - Peach State - Atlanta

OK - Sooner State - Oklahoma City

NJ - Garden State - Trenton

FL - The Sunshine State - Tallahassee

NC - Old North State - Raleigh

WA - The Evergreen State - Olympia

CO - Centennial State - Denver

LA - Pelican State - Baton Rouge

HA - Aloha State - Honolulu

AZ - The Grand Canyon State - Phoenix

MA - Bay State - Boston

If you did not make it you are in good company, neither did I at first. Just 35 to go and perhaps I should follow the easy to understand pace and do a state per day as hikers , hitchhikers and fishing fans have done in the past. or it might be down to 34 by then since an IN trip is already scheduled.

The langauge of the locals is always cool – especially when have it in your own vocabulary pool

2011-04-11T18:45:00.000+02:00

Dear Blogreader,

when coming to a new country, the language is key to learning the culture deeper and to enjoy life more. Most of us tend to believe we know English just because we picked it up early at school, that we see a lot of movies in English with subtitles and that it is the global norm for cross-country/culture communications.

Not really true, as there are so many sources that add to the english flavours. Here are a few new ones that I have picked up recently where I think most are of American English origin:

Awesome – when great is to mild as a descriptions. Just move to [Aaaaaaa-sum], that what inspires the Awe.
Humongous – more down the avenue of stating an extreme, in this case size
Hilarious – when something is was more fun than fun.
Have a good one or HAG1 if u text – used any time of the day to whish some one a great day, and especially as the three letter word one should be interpreted as another three letter word, day.
How are you doing – a greeting when entering any store, where the comments you make in response is less than obvious
Tailgate - Load the barbecue grill on the tail of your truck, pull up to the gate of a major sporting event, have a picnic at the tail by the gate well ahead of prime time
Roadkill – More likely to be served in peoples’ homes than in restaurant, meat dishes telling more about how the animals ended their life rather than what is actually served. Not tried yet.
Dry, Moist and Wet counties - Dry (not Martinis just soft drinks, Juice and mineral waters), Moist (Beer and wine available) and Wet (also the adding the Vodkas and Gins of the world)
Miles Per Gallon – Fuel consumption, or rather Distance traveled per unit of fuel and not the other way around...
Turnpike/Expressway/Tollway/Parkway – just when you think that you have it nailed with Highway and Freeway. And it does not get easier when abbreviated….

More to come as word are picked up and I have not forgotten the abbreviations

When you are living on a ranch – perhaps your horses should have a bulldog stance

2011-03-30T18:19:00.011+02:00

Dear Blogreader,

Horses are perhaps the number one thing you associate with a ranch, and the more the merrier. And some of the can be encapsulated in steel, aluminium and carbon fiber. Most ranch owners might opt for a FORD F150 as the perfect workhorse but since my place a juts a ranch by name, I do not feel forced to stick to the truck concept.

I find the MINImalistic approach more attractive. A lot of history going back to the days of Paddy Hopkirk that became an rallying icon in the sixties when driving the rally of Monte Carlo in a Mini. Tuned by the legendary John Copper and grown out of his Formula 1 racing skills. With BMW exiting Formula 1 and the Sauber outfit , running Ferrari engines, who is then best equipped to carry the racing flag for the group, beyond touring car racing, if not Mini, The MINI!

Mini is entering the World Rally Championship (WRC) in May with Mini Countryman. Sounds like the Bimmer Motorsport folks are putting some racing muscles behind the smallest member of their family. Inspired by the fact that most of my driving with a fresh license was done in a 32 hp 1974 Mini and a lengthy copper centric career, a journey into Cooper land 2011 sounds kie great fun.

Starting with scheduling a driving test, or a motoring test as Mini enthusiasts or marketeer would call it, the following warning sign came with the invitation letter……

A bold set of statements made, and most turned out to be true. And the amount of fun features the new Mini concepts has been loaded with, keep you smiling already when reading the broschures, not even have to enter the show room

The Club Door - An small extra backdoor on the Clubman, opening backwards and just a feet wide to make it easier to jump in the back

Motoring Graphics – small vinyl details that can be attached to various parts of the car, just luv the Heliport landing sign for the roof.

Motoring gear – an extensive range of toys, with the garage for they keys being my favorite.

Zig, Zag, Zug – the way of referring to cruising in a Hardtop, a Cabrio and the Clubman respectively.

The Italian job - what I have heard is a must see movie from the past, both the 1969 and the 2003 versions.

Plenty of options to chose from and the only things that was clear that Copper is the way to go.

So what about the bulldog? It is called bulldog stance when there is one wheel in each corner of the car...

Stay tuned ;)

First week in a new place - start of a cross-cultural race

2011-03-05T02:10:00.008+01:00

Dear blog readers,

A number of first impression from my new home country and more specifically my new home state. Captured during my first week of introduction courses and days zooming around in my small rental car.

This is clearly a car land and the idea of taking the bus is remote and most places are beyond walking distance.

The pillars of society contradict each other - "Everybody have the freedom to choose" and "Everybody have equal rights". Both sound nice and I have never reflected on that they partly contradict each other, wonder which of the two that should carry extra weight.
Getting the vital numbers - without a social security number and a bank open to provide you with a creditcard you can not move an inch. Just missing the drivers license one now.
Finding a place to live - easy you are in a country where people move arouand, all places have a leasing office, and you get assisted to visit 7 places in a day and make up your mind the day after...
TV channel line up - should I stick to the basic (that is 100) or go for the full enchilada (450). Wonder why premium sports is not considered a basic need, and always come last in any country. I'll go for 10 channels if I could start picking at the premium end.
Traffic lights - Red and green are different. You can turn right on red, which is a good idea. Yellow is interpreted as accelerate harder, and the time from red to green for the other guys is short, and cars beating the yellow is great to avoid.
Back into checking -I have not written a check in 8 year, but it is great in some situations. I have a bunch of new ones and ready to go.

All the best until next blog is around.

When you are moving abroad – you are carrying a bit of extra load

2011-03-02T23:00:00.002+01:00

Dear blogreaders,

I have now started an adventurous journey which I hope will generate a few new blog post, than what become the standard last year.

The first step in moving abroad, often means a lot of attention of all what you are moving to, and to a less extent on what you leave behind. But what you leave behind is not something that is lost or will be lost, it is just the end of a chapter that the following chapters in your life story will build upon. My last week in my home country turned out to be a very intense one with a lot of great memories:

A cake with the colleagues and friends in the office. 50 of the best months with so many new challenges to learn from and so many great people in my extended relationship register.
A week full of dinners with different constellations of friends. Going abroad is a bit like getting the funeral speeches about your good sides while you still are alive, and reminding you about the importance to stay in touch with great friends while you are abroad.
A weekend with my family, where my first grade nephew will teach my mother to mail and she will help him to read his mail, with his first and brand new e-mail account. Great idea that I was not part of inventing.
Fully realizing that humans must be direct descendents from squirrels, or at least I, since there was plenty of stuff in my apartment, which falls in the good to have for future projects, which never will take place.
Purchasing a few souvenirs from my home country that will come in handy when visiting new friends.
Preparing for the return by leaving a place to come back to, and hopefully with great tenant taking care that way I would have done it.

The last day I spent by taking a long walk to places nearby that I for some reason have managed to miss. A few relaxing hours in mid of the turmoil before finishing the last bits and catching a 6.20am flight with the emigration sticker attached….

Stay tuned for future posts.

Relax with Swedish Crime - when you have a bit of spare time

2011-01-07T12:41:00.010+01:00

Dear blog reader,

Long breaks between the posts but I promise to be more active in 2011 with stories from journeys in life. As a starting point I have this christmas learnt that most of my favourite swedish authors have been labeled Swedish Crime.

Several of the crime books are tied to a specific city as follows:

STOCKHOLM - Lisbeth Salander & Mikael Blomkvist by Stieg Larsson. 45 Million copies sold! Looking forward to the premiere of the US film version.
YSTAD - Kurt Wallander by Henning Mankell. Final book in the decalogue high on pocket top lists.
KIRUNA - Rebecka Martinsson by Åsa Larsson. Quadrology, "Solstorm" released as movie, but the other ones are equally good.
SANDHAMN - Thomas Andreasson by Viveca Sten. Three to date with #3 in pocket coming out now in January.
FJÄLLBACKA - Patrik and Erica by Camilla Läckberg. Seven books published and entering the US in 2011 with "The Preacher".
STOCKHOLM - Fredrika Bergman by Kristina Ohlsson. First book in 2009 and third already announced.
ÖLAND - Johan Theorin. Half way through a Quadrology with seasonal division. Great newcomer.
STOCKHOLM - JW by Jens Lapidus. Fast from books to movies.
LINKÖPING - Malin Fors by Mons Kallentoft. Quadrology, seasonal division with the fourth to be published as pocket this spring. Great travel writer in SAS magazines.
STOCKHOLM - Johan Kristian Homan by Jan Mårtenson. 37 books with writing combined with a career as ambassador.
GOTLAND - Anders Knutas by Mari Jungstedt. Zicksacking the Gotland Island, eight books to date.
STOCKHOLM - The A-group by Arne Dahl. A decalogue completed, to be followed by four new books starting mid 2011.

There are also a few ones that are not tied to a specific city that is high up on my list

Karin Alvtegen. Various themes and really good ones.
Annika Bengtzon by Liza Marklund. 7 big bestsellers.
Evert Grens by Roslund & Hellström. "3 Seconds" hitting the US as book and Hollywood movie is in the works, and four more books to read.

and a recognition to our neighbours as well

Harry Hole by Jo Nesbo. Number 8 sooooon hitting the pocket shops.

So if you are tired of snowshowels, run to the bookstore and prepare for some relaxing time in your favourite chair.

When your mind get stuck with a song - adding own voice/music is not wrong

2010-10-04T22:52:00.020+02:00

Dear Blogreaders,

Last summer my mind got stuck on a song when playing a round of golf. Just figured out that it was the most played song of 2010. An also ended up on a crib recording with my voice to it, not yet published...

Being curious if my version was the worst one I have made a brief Internet evaluation to see what is out there. I was amazed about the variety as indicated below, that clearly illustrates the power of media in general and user generated in particular.

The original - a bit special video to start with ...
Nicoflow - great piano instrumental
Max Wilkinson - Easy going accoustic
t1enacious - Piano and Guitar Instrumental
Sims 2 HD - animated video, does not look like a fast track job.
MyTwangyGuitar - Electric guitar add-on to original
timsmadbasskills - Bass overlay on original
JhoovsDrumChannel - Drum overlay on a remix version
PopPingooCP - An innovative way at presenting lyrics
AlexiBexi - Don't get better in German
EvilDanzer - getting the moves right
KelseyLynnMusic - a great voice and a guitar
Colin & Riot - playing around with the sound
Toby Davy 11 - A private remix, with great photo overlays
Pyrofilac - Violin overlay on Instrumental
Apple Shampo - a commercial with a rockier version
California Boyz - a different voice
Jason Chen - Voice over to instrumental, outperform me with a mile or two.....

Texas Gurls -Great destinations seem to pick it up as well...

After having been a long time on the ground - here are a few things that I on this trip found

2010-09-27T20:28:00.003+02:00

Dear blogreaders,

After having been grounded for a while, this extended week called for a 10 legs in 10 days stint.

I almost had forgotten how to pack and what to pack, but did of course not let go of the principle to travel with hand luggage only. The chance of a checked bag making 10 flights without getting lost in tight connections somewhere is slim cloze to zero. I was positively surprised at the IAH connection where “hand-luggagers” can get into the fast lane at the immigration and avoid the huge immigration line, as big as it was 5 years ago when I last lost a connection despite being on-time, and zoom through to the connecting flights.

I learnt that the low dollar exchange rates and high prices in general in my home country resulted in shopping hungry travel companions:

Six out of seven bring suitcases to check, can not remember that that has happened on a business trip before.
One letting wife pre-ordering clothes shipped to a friend, or soon to be ex-friend…
A bunch of electronics gadgets going into various bags
Running shoes, half price from home, so no risk of being alone in next years running events….
And listening into a group translating pounds to kilogram to figure out if there still was room for an extra pair of Converse, without exceeding the new luggage weight limits...

Proud of myself resisting all the cheap golf gear on display, and sticking to my summer insights that short game classes score better than drivers and mid-woods.

Sitting on a Sunday in a (or rather various) airports and reflecting on where travel brings my mind. I am becoming aware of how positively affected I am by buying an interesting business book and applying it on the issues I carry as batch jobs in my brain. Having time on your own to reflect and think, helps me to process these jobs a bit faster. Strangely enough I do not manage to step into the same mood at home. Perhaps I need to convert one room at home into an airport lounge environment, i.e. restricted access, silence, fruits and drinks and a great place to read and relax.

Sixth leg was a flight with a 7:30 start, which could lead you to assume that it was the first flight of the day. Still not quite sure if it really was. The service assistant at the desk made the announcement that it was delayed 30 minutes. Short delay announcement without a reason, normally is the first in a string of pearls meaning trouble and major delays. Upon a direct question she assured me that it was “just a regular mechanical failure”. A statement that could be broken down into a variety of interpretations:

Mechanical failures – is a JUST without any particular impact on flying safety….
Regular – Mechanical failures are always there and you should not be bothered.
Mechanical failures – as so regular these days so we have started to pay attention.

Last but not least, many small mistakes on a daily basis will inevitably lead to lifelong failures. A culture dominated by individual choices in combination with the availability of regular (interpreted as poor value for money) and large (interpreted as great value for money) options for your three daily meals could lead to a lot of extra weight to carry with you in life. Hard to imagine how even a good work out sessions on a regular basis could adjust for the unbalance imposed y unhealthy eating habits. Home cooked decent sized meals is not a bad choice after all.

Up in the air - some connections can be rare

2010-05-03T19:33:00.003+02:00

Dear blogreader,

The Up In The Air movie did hit the screens earlier this spring and sounded quite promising as a candidate for a road worrior must.

An finally the DVD made it into my player and kicked of some relaxing moments. It had quite a bit of points and I started to wonder how many of these thoughts that have crossed my mind before. And it was quite a few.

First the whole 10 Million miles thing. Is it real? Is it doable? A mormal pace at 30 000 fet is around 550 mph or 900 km/h. 10Mn miles would take you ballpark 20 000 flighthours. Given that a pilot fligh around 500 hours it would take 40 odd years of serious flying. So unless the Business premium is included it is difficult task to say the least.

My personal reflections of the flight gossip

Having a milage accomplishment target in mind - crazy and putting emhpasis on the wrong things
Travelling to avoid settling down - could be so.
Travelling to avoid family - not very likely, flying can not replace family and friends.
Connecting at airports - an art you can become quite good at.
Connecting on planes - the life stories from the one next to you often have a lot to tell.
Replacing airmiles with Visual Communication - soon here and a major disruption for both Airlines and Telecommunication companies.

All in all a great movie, worth enyoing and reflecting upon.

All the best

With a volcano stopping flights - many end up with memorable nights

2010-04-16T00:59:00.002+02:00

Dear blogreader,

Mother nature can have significant impact on travel plans in the air. The vulcano eruption in Iceland did at least trigger the following memorable trips tonight.

A Commuter missing a return flight and likley making a taxi distance record

A Business trip return ending up in an international rental car ride. I wonder how those returns are fixed.

And the best to last, 6 adults squeezed in in a BMW station wagon for a 24h ride to Northern Italy for an exhibition...

My new daily walk to the temporary garage feels very manageable and straightforward and I have started to enjoy the new streets I am criss-crossing and the windowshopping in all the small shops I have found.

All the best to the next blog

2010-04-02T15:08:00.002+02:00

Dear blogreader,

Time to hit the road again. This time for a private trip. Going to one of my former home countries. And going to the amusement park area we used to visit every second week. Fun times.

First day of having lost my parking spot close by, since the garage is being renovated. Will be a nice 20 min walk every moring and every evening, so hopes for a summer with little rain and plenty of sun.

Just bought three good books that will come in handy. If i manage to stay a wake on the plane. Reading non business litterature is my favourite way of relaxing on plane trips. And thtat I am keen on doing right now.

soon back

When you shall communicate a thing - you might need support from Jing

2010-03-28T22:34:00.003+02:00

Dear Blogreaders,

I guess you have some times been in a siatuation where you have a good idea, that you have described on a slide, but where the message get lost when just sending it in a mail.

This weekend I have tested a new tool, jing, that allow users to capture a portion of their PC screen and record a video with the voice-over to the slide. The benefits I can see immediately are

The message comes across better than if you just send it
It saves time in early phases of developping a slide, talk goes quicker than to write notes
It is possible to move the cursor to hightlight the points you talk about

I can envision this as a powerful collaboration tool going forward, and realize that my mailbox will fill up even quicker....

All the best

You have never lost grip on time - when you live your life in light of lime

2010-03-20T10:36:00.004+01:00

Dear blogreader,

Time is an asset, that we sometime spend and some time we use. We use it to be productive, to create things, to do things. But we also use it to just be.

When being together colleagues, friends and familty we often measure the value of time in what we have done. When we are alone and being we often measure it with how we feel.

The most rewarding part of time for most of us is a combination of the two. A daily life where we get a little bit of both. An for some of us trying to get out of the do-hamster, a dose of "feel-time" could be very beneficial. For some else of us, an additional dose of "do-time" would make the difference.

I think the best insight to carry forward is that when you live in the lime light of life wheater it is about do or feel, doing nothing is not time that you have lost control of, you are just using the vary valuable asset for a different purpose. And feeling good is a great purpose.

When the changes in the market almost make you blind - What are the theories and strategies that do not leave us behind

2010-03-07T21:00:00.001+01:00

Dear blogreader,

The Olympics are over and we are now back into the normal mode where some sports analogies spill over into strategic business challenges

"Skating where the puck is", i.e. finding the fundamentals around which you can build future business strategies.
"Hockey stick growth", i.e. Validating growth plans that have hockey stick patterns, and make sure that the investment period is short and the revenue growth is high rather than the other way around.

It used to be easy with straightforward business plans in 10 simple steps. But with the large changes that the Broadband/IT/globalized economy has caused, these methods does not represent a big enough toolbox. So where could I turn to get some theories that are proven to really work in the field and that are simple enough so that I could use them in daily strategic planning work.

In the late nineties we did we all went down the search for bowling alleys in order to find sailing winds inside the Tornados just to figure out that we are know back to dealing with Darwin and build from our roots.
Staying closer to our roots have made it important to enhancing Profits from the core and to search for growth by expanding Beyond the Core.
We also learnt that the discipline of market leaders and the new market leaders is about making choices and realizing that there is few basic roles you can play in a given market.
We also learnt that the knee of the hockey stick need to be clearly defined as the inflection point, that is fundamental to understand the likelihood for any growth scenario to occur.
Information is is optional but insights are mandatory. When reinventing strategy a model for how to capture the key insights, and how they relate to the insights that applied before, could come in handy
The power of your insights and ideas and the ability to quickly make the point is becoming increasingly important. You are often down to making your point on the back of the napkin and having to say it with charts that is appealing to executives

If you do not have the tiome to read books shorts cuts like Soundview and Learn out loud might come in handy.

With these book suggestions I hope that you can secure that your business challenges are prevented from ending up with a Business looking like this ...

If you are looking forward enought to the slope - then sun and blue sky might not be the only hope

2010-03-04T20:42:00.006+01:00

Dear blogreaders,

One of my passions is to go skiing, and preferrably down mountains. And over the weekend I had the opprtunity to refelct on what makes a day of skiing really good.

It all starts with the slopes, bad slopes is nothing that good clothes, good skis nor good wheater can correct and this time it was exceptional with an opportunity to do resort hopping in France and Switzerland. Three big skiing areas in three days. The long runs in La Flaine in France, underestimated for day trips but perhaps not a choice for a week. More caused by the proximity to other great places close by than poor skiing in la Flaine. The superb skiing in Verbier in Switzerland. It was the best resort I had ever visited in 1988 when I first visitied, and I must admit that I wonder why I have not gone back befoire. Stunning. And last but not least a glimpse of a corner of Chamonix system in France. Full of history, myths and a great views over the white mountain. But I wounder if I qualify as a visitor without have gone up to Grands Montets nor Aiguille du Midi....

All of us love skiing in the sun with blue skies, or was it blue skis. I tend to be long to the weird category of skiers that prefer snowy and/or colder weather as that reduce the waiting time in the lift whan the sunshine lovers stay at home. There are only four situations that can stop me from skiing when slopåes are within reach:

Rain - that is the true opposite of sun and that makeyour goggles impossible to use, even if you have great clothes that keep your dry.
Fog or poor visibility - when the contrast go away skiing become annoying.
Strong Wind - that cause the staff to stop the lifts
Temperatures below -20c - when it is hard to keep going for more than an hour.

So what are safe bets in days of Global warming and climate change. I have found the following to be safe bets in Europe.

Secure that you have great company, skiing on your own in whatever slope or conditions is quite boring.
Pick a skiing system with high altitude skiing. At least 3000m peaks since above 2000m it never rains, sun is out more often and you can allways get in 1000m of vertical drop and a long run during a run quite late in the season.
Pick a place to stay with access to a bsu to the main lift stations. Staying at ski-in/ski-out places has become very expensive.
The option of picking a cheap flight, renting a car in Geneva with 10 great resorts next to each other and staying at small places close to the main places is a very attractive option.

soon back with more stories

How to arrange a stage performance where the impact is large - and still allowing the audience to be in charge

2010-02-21T09:43:00.008+01:00

Dear blogreaders,

Independently if it is about presentations, speeches, seminars or conversations, we are all challenged with how to get the message across and the same time to build confidence and trust to continue the dialogue. I have been especially puzzled about how I can come across as listening while I speak. But now I am closer to having a clue .

The past week I had the opportunity to be part of a two new stage performance concepts that were designed to increase the level of the interactivity during a seminar. Interactivity and presentation could be perceived to be mutually exclusive but here are some hints on how you can spice up the show a bit.

I have found the concept of creating and delivering a seminar to build on a few simple things:

Select speakers that delivers, that delivers under pressure and that do what it takes to not make fools of themselves on stage.
Select a scripter that find the messages, find the flow, add twists to the words, litsten to ideas but always see them from an audience angle
Select a slide maker that can get the messages into the visual material and improve it all the way up to stage time. Paying atten to details pays-off.
Stick to the same team throughout the process to gradually build confidence in the team

This week we tested a few new ideas. The first one was about enhancing interactivity by providing choices in the seminar were the auidence could select which option that should be presented. Meaning that all sections were prepared but not presented: So what is the value of adopting this approach:

The audience get more engaged since they feel that they run the show
The auidence get keen on wanting a follow-up session since they know they did not get the whole story.
You get feedback on what the audience find most interesting as you speak, even if it is an extensive seminar set-up, as an alternative to getting lost in presentation mania.
Time flies by and a 40 minute session feels like 15 minutes, and the audience stay alert

The second idea was about how you could summarize your main points in a different way than the obvious "These are my key points". We were inspired by the TV shows "Jeopardy" and the "Letterman show". I found the summary method of listing things in reverse order and gradually building it up to the top to provide the following benefits

Allowed you to summarize more than three points that is the regular
Sharpen up the message by actually forcing the speaksers to put a weight to their message
Keep the interest in the auidence to listen to all of your points in summary, and doing it in a way that actually build up attention as you approach #1

I was fortunate to be part of two great teams that took me down the avnue of picking up these new experiences. And from the staging of the seminar location there is a tweak to the old saying, "It is not over until the speakers sit on the FatBoy sack"

My hometown need a decent environmental permit to race - in order to re-engineer & keep up with the global economy pace

2010-01-26T23:55:00.000+01:00

Dear blogreader,

The brand name of my hometown was created around a race track, that was constructed in a useless swampland, and financed by locals with the vision to host Formula 1 races one day. The vision was realized in 5 years during an era were the sport was at a different level and the TV/Media coverage in the 1970's of a full race weekend was restricted to 5 minutes.

Today such projects are coming with a $100M price tag but still a number of new projects have been completed in Bahrein, Abu Dhabi, South Korea and with India under way. All with the objective to reinforce the global profile of these places and countries. It represent an opportunity to create high profile events with global attraction capabilities, and hefty media coverage. Motorsport and Football/Soccer are not only sports that capture large TV crowds, they are in the category of the rare few that have traction to drive a dedicated channel line up.

The 40 year old track in my hometown have over the last couple of years been renovated and turned into a national Motorsport high school. The primary outstanding problem is that their environmental permit, the one that is required to host motorsport events, have been restricted to 2 weekends per year. Even tough there are no major Formula 1 races anymore, it is easy to see the limitations that such in permit introduce for all involved.

During the the last 2 weeks 12 000 people have signed their support for a change of the permit, and this in a town with 5000 inhabitants. And 1244 cars did show up last Saturday (here in an aerial view) to further show their support, for what I think is a dual edged business opportunity of meaningful proportions.

The races themselves and the business they bring in during a weekend
The larger opportunity to exploit a worldwide known brand for all kinds of new local businesses and that in a highly entrepreneurial area

With the rapid development in the personal vehicle market segment it is easy to see how motorsport will be changed during this decade with access to completely different types of engines with a different environmental impact. This at the same type as the automotive industry is re-shaped and the the likes of BMW, Toyota and Honda having exited exit the pinnacle sport and new ones like Virgin, Campos Meta, US F1 and Mercedes entering. All could be interpreted as clear signs of a changing global economy.

If the larger global business context can come through to the policymakers in charge for this topic, it is likley to allow the region to exploit a strong brand with a variety of new businesses. By revoking the permit, the Brand and the associated opportunities will be significantly smaller and likely to be erased during this deacde.

The alternative is to leverage the existing motorsport infrastructure, adopt a decent environmental permit level and to develop a new businesses associated with motorsport. I am convinced that all the local entrepreneurs can and will capitalize on such an opportunity and thay will play a role in re-shaping motorsports to meet the future environmental demands if they get supported by a decent permit.

It has been a great pleasure to travel extensively across the globe and to recognize that most people are familiar with the company I work for, some know something about my home country and all that are motorsport interested know my hometown! And believe me they are quite a few in the world.

All the best!

When someone is your neighbourhood is falling short - and you would like to make a comment of the sarcastic sort

2009-12-27T15:40:00.006+01:00

Dear blog reader,

Time for some fun one-liners from radios this fall and some net search.....

My favourites

Not shoveled all the way
The cheese slid off of his cracker
Too many birds on the antenna
A few hints shy of having a clue
A few shades beyond blond
Not all the states on the map
Not all the buttons in the jacket
Too much yardage between the goal posts
Too little oatmeal in the porridge
No major studentloan deficit

Classics

The wheel is spinning but the hamster is dead
The light's on but there is no one at home
The elevator do not go all the way up
Not all the horses in the stable
The engine is on, but there is no one at the at the steering wheel
Not the quickest bunny in the forest
Not the the sharpest tool in the shed
Not all the soldiers are marching in line

Short of

A few sausages short of a BBQ
A few beers short of a six-pack
A few colors short of a rainbow
A few cards short of a full deck
A few threads short of a sweater
A few clowns short of a circus
A few bricks short of a load
A few ice bricks shy of an igloo

Techie ones

Missing a few buttons on the remote control
Receiver is off the hook
The battery is not fully charged
The moonroof is leaking
The hard drive is spinning but the OS hasn't been installed
Working with an unformatted disk
A nibble shy of a byte
He's the guy always looking for the aluminum magnet
There must have been a fire in the fuse box

Notties

Not the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree
Not all the indians in the canoe
Not the brightest light in the harbor

Figure games

Twelve shy of a dozen
Takes him 1 ½ hours to watch 60 Minutes

Opposite to good

All foam, no beer
All fence, no posts

Food associated

Not all the cornflakes in the box
A few fries short of a Happy Meal
A few sandwiches short of a picnic
A few pecans short of a fruitcake
A few caloires below a water diet
Trying to nail Jello to a tree
Do not have all the toppings on the pizza
A few tacos short of a fiesta platter

Sharpness

Not the sharpest knife in the drawer
As sharp as a marble ball

Ways of working

Knitting with only one needle
Rowing with only one oar in the water
Doesn't know whether to scratch his watch or wind his butt
He/She couldn't pour water out of a boot if the directions were no written on the heel.
Couldn't fight his way out of a wet paper bag
Doesn't have all his dogs in one leash

Excluding

Not the brightest star in the sky
His belt doesn't go through all the loop

Off limits

Working too much with glue
Got into the gene pool when the lifeguard wasn't watching
Body by Fisher-Price, brains by Mattel
Too much chlorine in the gene pool
A few WMDs short of clear and present danger
Two pounds of [anything unpleasant] in a one-pound bag

Sometime a few sentences could be the life scent - that can allow you to travel straight and not bent

2009-12-21T13:48:00.007+01:00

Dear blog reader,

Vacation time is often reflection time, and here are a few thoughts to play around with in your mind as a starting point for your life in the next decade

One man can make a big difference, and everyone should try. - John F Kennedy
Shoot for the moon, even if you miss you will end up among the stars. - Brian Littrell
The bad news is time flies. The good news is you're the pilot. - Michael Altshuler
Everything can be taken from a man but ... the last of the human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way. - Viktor Frankl
If you aren't fired with enthusiasm, you will be fired with enthusiasm. - Vince Lombardi
Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go. - T.S. Eliot
A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it. - George Moore
The purpose of learning is growth, and our minds, unlike our bodies, can continue growing as we continue to live. - Mortimer Adler
Aim for success, not perfection. Never give up your right to be wrong, because then you will lose the ability to learn new things and move forward with your life. - David M. Burns
Wisdom too often never comes, and so one ought not to reject it merely because it comes late

Merry Christmas

What the winter travelling is all about - Do not connect where there is risk for whiteout

2009-12-20T02:24:00.003+01:00

Dear blog reader,

My most recent trip was a rough one. An 06.40am start. 2 hours delay at the first transit point. Lost connection at the 2nd, which forced a 3rd connection point and arrival at destination at midnight. Just to arrive when the local team, that had won the national football cup, is coming home and tons of people are welcoming them at the airport. This resulted in a 3h taxi queue for the rest of us, that were somewhat less fanatic about the team and their achievements.

The good news were in the mail the day after. Air France sending an apologize for not meeting their own quality standards, and providing a few extra miles as a nice gesture. Appreciated, especially as they stand out for still serving decent food on their planes, and have a clear competitive edge in that area.

With some time to think and reflect I have almost forgot about the basic rules for travelling in North America at winter time

Avoid connecting at the North Eastern airports in the US in general
Avoid connecting at ORD in particular
Avoid at connecting between two competing alliances
Avoid checking luggage

There are a lot of news with regards to the Alliance landscape that affect North American travel. This becomae very clear to me as I started on a SkyTeam carrier, landed with a OneWorld carrier, and got my delayed bags shipped with a Star Alliance carrier. Little hope for that such a combination to result in any speedy bag delivery. The following is worth considering

Continental have left SkyTeam, which make ATL the only decent SkyTeam HUB in the US for the time being
Continental has joined Star Alliance making IAH and EWR new attractive Star Alliance Hubs in addition to ORD.
Mexicana have joined OneWorld, and is starting to play a larger role in the routes from DFW and south, at the same time as they maintain their conncetions to ORD and a few other US locations.

The waiting time for my bag reminded me about some of the old rules of how to secure that you get your checked bag back and experience less hazzle from loosing it temporarily:

Have a prewritten information sheet with all your local contact details, bagtype etc. that you can hand over to the desk dealing with lost luggage. And request both phone and Internet contact details. If it is one department that have few staff for phone calls these days it is the department for lost luggage.
Always put a Letter/A4 paper on top in your checked bag with all flights informations and contact details, in case some bagtag or nametag falls off. Preferably naming all high value items in order to prevent anyone making your bag a bit lighter en route.
Travel with a copy of your travel insurance details wrt how/when the different threshold levels for emergency shopping kicks-in. They are normally picky on the time and date stamps for the receipts when making the claims.

Looking at the most recent weather reports I am happy that my connections going home will be southbound on the first leg, with plenty of connection time on the first stop. There might be a chance that I will get home in time for Christmas even though the schedule is tight at the end.

Happy Holidays !!!

Saved by the bill - or a long financial uphill

2009-12-11T21:27:00.003+01:00

Dear blog reader,

In order to deal with the economic downturn our government have enable a 50% tax deduction when you hire electricians, plummers etc. to do jobs in your home. The primary purpose is not to subsidize my investments but to secure that i make the effort to stay in my profession and let others do what they are superior at.

During the last few weeks I have for the first time in my life hired a couple of different professionals to stay focused on what I do better. But with hourly rates between €50 and €76 some of the advices could come in handy to save you by before the bill gooes out of control

PROJECT PLANNING

Your professional skills could come in handy and without them you are lost. Here a few hints that might be useful

Establish a clear written specification of all details in what you want to get done - and update it daily!
Request a firm price - but expect to be billed by the hour by someone that never ever commit towards a time estimate, since your project is sooooo special
Even if you do not get a firm price - make an own budget and make your guestimate known the first day
Buy all required material in advance - and be prepared to re-stock on a daily basis to prevent being charged for purchasing time as productive time

PROJECT EXECUTION

I am of the opinion that you and your way of acting is part of this as well

Have someone representing you on site - it pays off, and don't leave home without it
Your perception of productive time is sound to measure - and expect billed hours to be include a coffea zip first thing in the morning and collecting stuff before arriving on site and a lunch break where transport to and from the lunch restaurant is likely considered as billed hours.
Check in daily to get a status report - and ask for the estimate of remaining time. I have a hard time to understand that the average time of connecting a power outlet could be 87 minutes !!!
Set a firm end-date - scope creep from TTM misses is likely to be your largest cost.
The last half hour is winding down time - to assure punctual departure 2 minutes before the hour.

BILLING

Always fun to see what kind of surprises that will show up and how to deal with them

This process is a lot more paced - apparently this is where the speed goes up
Ask for detailed break down of billed material - that otherwise t is likely to show up in a lumpsum
Question hours billed, that tend to be rounded up to nearest full day - even if we just talk about 3 hours work
And as if billing for transport time was not enough - the bill is likely to be spiced up by additional travel expenses

It is facinating how some professionals, even if hired locally, are prepared to gamble with their business reputation and the power of word of mouth. I understand the strategy high price and fast quality work, but combining high price, medium pace and lack of ability to predict required working time sounds like a few hints shy of having a clue about running business.

All the best

Happy to remain gold - even though 70k is not bold

2009-12-04T21:55:00.004+01:00

Dear blog reader,

After having prepared for the last 6 months that I would loose my gold card, I got really happy when I learned that the milage limites had been reduced so that I will enyoj another year in the airport diamond lane.

Scared with the thought of loosing it I have learnt to enyoj the small benefits associated with each flight. Check-in in the fast lane, clearing security in the fast lane and getting a a sandwich before the flight and making the no meal flights decent.

Feels like a while since the triple card days when the AA80 flight still was on the schedule and when you had to book transatlatic christmas flights 6 months in advance. This year I booked less than 2 weeks in advance and still at a decent price. An interesting reflaction nowadays is that private road warrior skills is more about checking a large number of booking sites to shave off the last 40% of the price than it is about to making connections.

After a hectic fall it is time for well needed!! well deserved ?? christmas break and time for reflection. During the last weeks I think that all the parts on the book I decided to write 10 years ago is finally coming together. The plan was to get famous first and publish then but right now it feels more like that the reversed order is the only option. Next question if I should write first and publish then or if I should write it and publish in pieces and later decide on what will make it to the printed verion. A bit curious how I will do it. The only think that is clear is the title, and that will remain a secret...

All the best

When you sit in an office room where the energy goes low - its is perhaps time to turn on a music show

2009-11-15T17:30:00.003+01:00

Dear blog reader,

Your office life might have changed in the direction towards a different on than when your professional career started. Away from an own room, a lot of productive time on your own and meetings limited to a line meeting and a project meeting per week. The journey continued through more frequent meetings, more different types of meetings and your office cubicle turned into an open office space.

The next step in the evolution is where the meeting with other people take the central role. Meetings that easily can consume a full working day, a full working week, or the better part of your scheduled working month. At this point both you and your employer both have reached the conslusion that your office desk is the least visited place and that a hot desk on the roll is starting to make sense.

An essential part of your daily work then becomes the role of giving energy to meeting participants in meetings and getting energy from fellow meeting participants. Energy and how to get energy into a room is perhaps the single most important factor fot improving meeting efficiency and an art that few of us master yet.

I could be time to give the freedom to meeting participants to dosk their music player to the loudspeaker for a 3-5 minute re-energizing is session at anytime during the meeting. And allowing for 60 average energy level minutes be turned into 50 high energy level meeting minutes and 10 minutes used for re-energizing and reflecting.

My personal toolbox of music has developped over the last couple of weeks since a colleague showed that music could play a key role in geeting progress in the avilable 50 minute time slots. Here are a few ideas of what it could consists of:

1. Heath of the Moment - 4:03

The workout mix by Orlando of the Asia hit. The upbeat version of a classic with a clear message to the audinece already in the title.

2. Living on a Prayer - 5:06

The Power Music remix of the Bon Jovi classic hit. The very upbeat version of the original to stress that the current. If you are short of time Stellar Karts 3:09 version on All gas No brake does the job as well.

3. Here I go again - 3:33

When you feel that some of the meetings participants fail to get the point you are trying to get across. Best energized by the Top Modelz remix of this Whitesnake classic.

4. Anyway you want it - 4:54

In a lot of situation meetings get stuck on a certain topic where progress can be acheived by selecting one of two more or less equal tracks. A breif reflection time on the Power Music remix of theis Journey classic song will make the journey faster with a clear direction

5. Every little thing she does is magic - 5:24

Sometimes there are women in the room that you think could bring more energy into the room. Why dont tease them with the Ronnie Maze Club Mix of the Police megahit.

6. Video killed the radio star - 3:42

Many meetings get stuck on points where the group fail to progress since all participants do/can/will not see the inevitable need for a chnage of track and get stuck in defending legacy positions. Time to spice up the meeting with the Ken Lazios remix of the Buggles hit.

7. Hit me with your best shot - 2:55

Sometimes you feel that the meetiong is best progressed if someone give you the action to get the issue resolved outside the current meeting. The Rock of ages Broadway musical version of the Pat Benatar classic could take the meeting across this hurdle.

8. Down Under - 5:56

Sometimes you get stuck on a point a point that can not be resolved among peers and

need to be escalated. The Australian tunes can come in handy and best in the Power Music remix

9. I don't wanna lose your love - 5:10

Sometimes as chair you feel obliged to get the meeting back on track without destroying the creativity of the participants. The Power Music remix does the job for you.

10. The adams family theme - 2:17

Sometimes there is just a need for a generel shape up across the whole line-up.

Rock songs that everybodey know singnals that there is a need to move forward

Remix of rock songs signlas that the pace need to be stepped up

And messages in the title could be used to address what you see as the fundamental blocker.

Hasta la vista

Sometime you have to speak with one voice and take a fight - for a purpose where multiple groups have to unite

2009-11-03T20:37:00.007+01:00

Hi,

Certain professional journeys involves the task of uniting multiple different groups with similar interests. I have just had the pleasure to be part of such a team, I am always facinated by all the key learnings you get out of it. The key take away from this one was how a few key individuals dealt with the task of uniting internal and external stakeholders around a target that could be communicated with one voice without room for misinterpretations

1. The bigger the stakes - the more protection against mistakes

The complexity grows with the the size of the stakes that potentially are involved but could be turned into something mangeable if you stick to a few guidelines

establish a solid fact base for the case
be prepared to walk the extra mile of anchoring, tuning and refining the case
be prepared to interate it a number of times until stable
identify the key stakeholders early in the process.

2. Be prepared to act in two ways in the play - both making moves and being told to move or stay

Larger tasks do often require interactions between multiple management layers in parallell

and important part of the skills required are

the ability to define the strategies to be executed and that required play on your level
the need for anchoring and escalations to plays at higher levels
the ability for you to move in between different roles depending on where the playing field is right now.

3. When the mission is about to unfold - rally the troups and bring it out bold

At some point you approach the point when the mission reach completion.

A firm date often help in taking the required final decision and taking the

project down the completion alley. A big part of getting it out right is the

support that is gathered the last few moments before show time.

Thanks you all for allowing me to be part of this journey.

As roadwarriors we have an interest that is joint - a dedicated and true passion for powerpoint

2009-10-31T09:28:00.005+01:00

Dear blogreader,

Thanks for staying tuned to these lines that swing greatly from small jokes to travel novels.

The topic of today is how to make shortcut in the noble art of getting the message across, when you best need it. Having seen a number of great presenters in action recently its was strikingly clear that great speakers rely on three fundamentally different skills. And the other key-take away was that few combine all three at the same time.

Skill #1 - The preparation of the storyline, messages and visual support

Great presenters often have the ability to be dropped into any kind of presentation situation and come out on their feet whatever visual support they use. They might even skip it all together and just rely on a pen. Great presenters get the messages across, but were they the best ones?Were they the right ones? Where they sharp enough?

The greatest presenters avoid the last trhee question marks and stick to a set of basic rules

They schedule their talking time to 50% of the allocated slot, and reserve the rest for interaction with the audience.
They frame their session with the 3 fundamental slides that are easy to skip; Goals with this session, Topics to be addressed and Summary & Key take-aways
The pick 5-6 slides as visual support that are designed around the "whole message in one-slide" approach
The slide messages are focused on insights rather than information
All slides used adhere to the Back of the Napkin thinking, putting simlicity and focus on the essential point in focus
The message is word-smithed as a sharp sentence that includes a number in stead of the commonly used alternative message approach restricted to just two or three words and/or generic words and/or leaving the figure out
And finally, they determine in advance what to cut out if they get short on time and have to skip during their session.

Skill #2 - delivering the messages

On stage, the performance is determined by your ability to deliver the message. It is all about confidence and putting you in the center for the attention, and bring it back there whenever you have caused the audience attention to move somewhere else

The greatest presenters on stage are normally characterized by the following

They know the topic they will present by heart - to come across as knowledgeable
They "guide" the audience through their storyline - in a pace that suits the audience
They plant clear discussion topics in the messages - to trigger questions
They throw in a few jokes and examples here and there - that make the audience feeling part of the flow.
They make their biggest point by being silent just around them - to allow the audience to reflect

And when they get the graveyard shifts after lunch and the last slot during the day, they normally break away from the planned slide-show and move into a pure talk-show or limit the visual support to a pen and the whiteboard. Why? Just to put the audience in a different mood!

Skill #3 - responding to upcoming questions

Good presenters pay a lof of attention to selecting their slides and memorizing the messages. Their assistance in terms of pre-prepared slides are often down this alley as well as the required information as speakers notes. But 9 out of 10 do not prepare for the questions that will come

The greatest presnters on stage have realized that the result of their stage performance is judged by their ability to respond to the questions raised. The following is a common preparation path

Guestimate what 2-3 key questions each of your slides/messages could provoke
Learn a short respons to each question
Learn the Broader context for the question you identified so that you could move the response to a broader question if needed
Set as a key objective to never leave a question in the room when you have left
Have a supporter in the room, and a specialist stand-by outside so that you have a life-line if needed that could be activated through SMS

All for today and Happy Halloween!

With a view from the 49th floor - and the whole Tokyo outside the door

2009-10-27T06:24:00.004+01:00

Dear Blogreader,

At Roppongi Hills there is a high-rise building with 51 floors and since most of the surrounding buildings are not that tall you have a fantastic view over Tokyo. At the 49th floor there is a conference center, Accademic Hills, and a lounge area with public access. Since the view is mind boggling here is some mine/mind-blogging.

The harbour and Haneda Airport on one side. The Red coulored "Eiffel Tower" on another side. and a view all the way to Mt Fuji on another side. And the city never ends. Even more Amazing than flying into Mexico City, that also is a kind of huge city. and I believe that this is the biggest city in the world.

Yesterday the rain was pouring down and it was impossible to see anything for anyone. And having slept for 16 hours with monthly contact lenses, at the end of their lifetime, did nothing to contribute to clear visibility. Today is a different story, or more specifically the 49th story. Clear Blue sky, eyes back in shape and soon on the way on to the stage.

It is a bit different to send the slides for translation way in advance. Having to prepare by going through the slides with an interpreter multiple times, and then figure out how to do it in realtime. Talk slow - not my regular cup of tea. Wait with switching slides until the transaltor has stopped translating and picking up all the questions through a translator, which mean that I have to have both a microphone and a funny looking earpiece. Will be a new exercize, but my translator is great so it should not be much of a problem

No I just have to learn my closing phrase:
Goseicho, Ariga-to, gozai mashita - Thank your very much for your attention

Thanks for reading and all the best to the next one!

The hotel @ Tokyo Dome - is 4 a few days my temporary home

2009-10-25T14:58:00.002+01:00

Dear readers,

This is penultimate trip as a Gold card holder, and it started in the best possible way. Upgraded to seat 1A on the long haul overnight flight. Great start!!! with NRJ as my final destination I would like to share a few refllections about a country that I really like. Most of them thanks to the locals that live here that took care of me during my first day. Thanks A&M!!!

LIMITED COMMUNICATION - BUT SUPER SERVICE
I find it difficult to travel around with English at the only language, but even though it is hard to communicate verbally, tehre is always a service minded smile where ever you go. On the bus from the airport, that left on time and took me all the way to the hotel. When entering the H&M Store. When ordering from the picture menu. An everthing done without the left hand coming in the second wave to collect the tip

STARBUCKS IN EVERY CORNER - AND THE COPYCAT NEXT BY
During my down town stroll today I did se easily 20 Starbucks so coffea on te go must be a real hit. in the local convenience store thtere was another firend with the circular green logo and a similar name, and oustide the coffea shops with a blue round logo but the picture copied.

ABSOLUTELY CLEAN EVERYWHERE - AND NOT A DUSTBIN ANYWHERE
I bought a cup of coffea and went walking with my friends and started to look for a dustbin after 30 minutes. Still walking with it 1 hour later I realized that there are no waste baskets in the street corners and that people talke care of their own waste. fantastic! apparently the result of a campaign long ago.

A HIGH TECH COUNTRY - WITH LOW TECH TAXIS
Most cities have their unique cabs established as the Taxis, e.g. London, New York, Mexico City. But with even the old London cabs being upgraded the local Crown branded cabs look really low tech. Style similar to the russian Volga cars. Colours in an odd selection. Huge mirrors above the front wheels. The most techie feature is the driver manageable opening and closing of the rear doors

AKIHABARA LOOSING ITS TOUCH
Everytinme since I came hirst first I have visited the Electric Town, Akihabara. First time I was amazed by the huge selection and cheap prices. Last time the prices where up a bit but this time the selection was thin as well, and several stores under renovation. And me looking forward to all kinds of tuff to my home network...

AND MEALS AND PLATES BEEING DOWNSIZED A BIT
My day finished at a local "Picture menued" restaurant. Being allergic it is alway a challenge to stick to a ritten menue if you do not understand even the letters. So I went for a safe bet, a restaurant with pictures on the menue. 7 dishes marketed on an A4 sized menue. made my order and then got it served, and your gueess is correct the size of the plate was the size on the picture in 1:1 correlation. Ordering two was agood choice.

TODAYS COMPLIMENTs TO SO SO PERFORMERS
* He did not have all the buttons in the shirt/jacket
* He didn't check in all the way
* He was as sharp as a marble ball

All the best to the next

What is under the cover of a low fare - an All-Exclusive experience in the air

2009-09-08T19:49:00.002+02:00

Dear reader,

In 1987 you could go buy a Tube TV for €400 and you can still get one in 2009 for th same price, now it is flat, digital and with a lot of new features included, so product innovation companies have brought you more for less. In 1987 you could also fly to a round trip between Europe and the US for €400 which you still can do today, but what are the new way of flying all about.

After having completed my virgin flight with a so so called "Low cost airline" you realize that the innovation with low advertized prices has very little to do with product innovvation, and is just about new Business models, i.e. not elimination of cost but shifting of cost from the airline to the traveller. So it did not take long to figure out that the real proposition is an an"All-Exclusive experience"

1st RULE- EXPECT SURCHARGES TO DOMINATE THE PRICE OF THE FLIGHT

An All-Excluisve Airline are elaborating with a large set of "Business model innovations" such as

1. Just advertize a one way flight prices - who want to go back home ....

2. Exclude the airport taxes- who would consider that a compulsory cost ....

3. Free web check-in -but just one way, paying for the return web check-in seem logical ....

4. Pay for luggage - both ways so it does not look that pricey!

5. Reduce the luggage weight limits - so that you can maintain a €10 per kilo one way upside, since the extra luggage kilos is negligable in comaprison with the take-off weight this cost is pure margin.

6. Priorityboarding without pre-defined seating - an option made available to all passengers on a flight. Value creation taken to a new level!!!

7. Meals - Why was food on flights ever included to keep stewards & stewardesses busy

8. Lottery tickets - in case you missed to hand in the Lotto coupon

9. Charge heavily for any potential travel mishaps - Failure to check-in o-line, checking hand luggage weight at the gate instead of at check-in where you could move the stuff to your checked bag.

At my virgin trip the supplementary charges were equal to 838%, no meals, no mishaps & web cehck-in as suggested. Clearly the system is by created one-up-manship lawyers with the primary policy being "Don not screw us sometime, we screw you everytime"

2nd RULE - THE FLIGHT IS THE SHORTEST PORTION OF A PAN-EUROPEAN TRIP

All Exlusive Airlines consider a time to be a natural resource that the traveller have an immense and limitless supply of:

1. Fly from airports as far away from society as possible - typically re-badged with a new "marketable" city name

2. Especially airports with poor or non existing local transport options - expect diesel buses

3. And just to make sure, selected far-away fairports at both ends of the trip

4. Web check-in must be done at least 4hours ahead of the trip - living in the digital age

3rd rule - PEOPLE SHORT OF CASH ARE LIKELY TO HAVE SHORTER LEGS

Clearly some kind of management consultant has been doing a good work on identifying what is the kind of comfort that you should focus on eliminating to ensure that the bus experience is brought on to the airbus are:

1. Extra short spacing between chairs - The natural bilogical correlation that people that pay less have shorter legs.

2. Non-reclinable seats - Now all rows have the comfort of the row in front of the toilet ...

3. No pre-defined seating - Why not upselling window and aisle seats at a premium. Missed value creation opprtunity!

4th RULE - CONNECTION OF BUSES AT BOTH ENDS

All exlusive airlines seem to be airbus wanna-bees that connect Buses an Boeings

1. They just fly direct - Good as long as they make the right city choiches

2. They can not connect - not even selling tickets between to Boeings

3. They just fly once - so forget about any recovery operations such as picking the next flight

5th RULE - A FEW THINGS TO THEIR CREDIT

1. Use new planes - You can fly anything as long as you prefere a 737-800

2. Stick to the time tables - seem to have plenty of padding in the schedule and no risk of time slot issues at the rural airports as the root cause of the accuracy

3. Claim to not apply overbookings - must have been missed by the policy lawyer

4. No bathroom charges - missed value creation opprtunity.

Upcoming story

So what about Vintage Airlines that have managed circumvent the All Exclusive experiences and instead to introduced 20 booking classes (almost using the whole alphabet A, C, D, J, Z, Y, S, B, M, H, Q, E, V, W, U, K, L, T, G, O) advertised as 3 types of seat/service level classes. Now which one is Plain Old Coach....

Why do not head to Southern Ayrshire - When you for golfing have a strong desire

2009-09-06T22:01:00.003+02:00

Dear readers,

Todays blog is dedicated to having fun at ease in Southern Ayrshire, or more specifically around Troon in Soth Western Scotland. Having found an "all-exclusive airline" to Prestwick and thinking about golfing in the Glasgow area, we did some last week changes to the program and set up our base in Troon at the Piersland House Guest Hotel.

Arriving to the hotel we were welcomed with our home country flag at the entrance. The hotel turned out to be very well managed, great dinners at affordable prices, a wide selection of whiskys in the bar and plenty of golf courses within a 10GBP taxi drive. This became our home for 3 days.

The top-course played was Western Gailes, a course used for the qualification rounds for this years British Open. Nicely laid out on the dunes between the sea and a railway. 4 holes north, 9 holes south and 5 holes back up north. Nice layout and a fantastic finish. Our scores did however take a big hit in the wind that was blowing strongly. We got use for the expression "It was so windy so that even the birds were walking" And the challenge was further enhanced by playing 36 holes in a day. Don't miss a beer and a whisky afterwards that were offered at what we interpreted as a 3 for the price of 1 concept.

The second best of the courses played was Dundonald Links, just on the other side of the railway, and u r right, it was windy as well. Mor variety of the holes and a few dog legs. A PAR 3 playing at 145m straight into the wind, we all played driver and no one reached green.... Started a bit late so the last two holes were tee shoots in "leap of fait" style, just hoping that they landed on the fairway. Hard to put well.

The third was Kilmarnock (Barrassie) links also across the railway from Western Gailes. A course with 9 holes located inbetween trees and 9 more open = windy. A lot of doglegs and varying holes but distance markes was limited to one single 150 yard sign per hole!!! Almost impossible to guestimate the right clubs for approaches and many shoots sent way off the target. Bunkers in play on most tee shots as well as around the greens, I think I managed to get 5 decent shots into bunkers on the first 3 holes.

We were recommended LochGreen among the public courses, and I have a run around the lot, most likely against the local rules, and found it to be a open course with now trees, plenty of straight holes and open for wind when that is around.

Will most likely go back, keen on playing Troon, Prestwick St Nicholas and a public course. And May and September seem to be the period to travel. The only thing to be aware of is to book tee times veeerrryyy early if you plant to play a Saturday or a Sunday, most clubs then only offer a handful of teetimes in the late afternoon. But these negatives are more than balanced by all the possitives that we experienced.

It is stimulating to meet people on the plane - and now e are urged to start already at the train

2009-08-28T01:40:00.004+02:00

Dear blog readers,

As I have written before, there is a great opportunity to meet great people on a plane. And there is also a growing trend that fight trips are extened with bus/train/taxi rides at both ends to take you between your starting point and destination.

I normally start my flights with a train ride to the airport, sometimes a bit late to the train station for the final stress moment, getting the ticket out of the machine and hopefully no queue.
This morning that task was a lot more fun. During summer time the flight train company offfer a 2 for 1 deal. and that is for obvious reasons easier for pairs than singles to benefit from. But as they apparently have heard about difefrent airplane clubs they seem to have ideas about how to offer you new experiences.

This sign has recently been introduced advertising a "Pick-up square" where you can pick-up the travel companion for your journey. So what is the catch? The square is located after the ticket vending machines so most people will miss it. But nevertheless a thing that make you smile in the early morning rush

If you want to know what a COPA traveling experience could be – It is not a piece of cake nor anywhere close to my cup of tea

2009-08-19T22:17:00.002+02:00

Dear Blog readers, Finally I have managed to renew my domain name so here we go again

Recently 48 hours did put all my travel skills through a phenomenal stress test, But finally I ended up on the last flight home after 7 flights in 48 hours and all kinds of hassles on the road. It is clear to me that my first experience which COPA Airlines of Panama most likely is the last also, for a large number of reasons. Their logo is almost a replica of the Continental one, even use same font for the company name, but there all similarities stop. COPA turned out to be one of those non-dependable airlines, with poor understanding for road warrior needs and an attitude towards their customers that was absolutely stunning. The abbreviation seems to stand for Can Only Punish Airpassengers.

My reflection of having traveled with the SkyTeam group and the smaller airlines in Central America is that connections at the Central American “Hub-look-a-likes” should be avoided as far as possible for a number of reasons:
* On-time flights in the region are rare and highly unlikely (4 out of my 7 flights delayed more than 30 minutes and 2 by more than 2 hours) and a root causes from travel disturbances. This during late with clear weather, mid day traveling and very little passengers and airports.
* Few alternatives are available if you miss the connections in Bogota, Panama City, San Jose or Mexico City, where the options to major metropolises often are restricted to 2 per day.
* Poor integration of ticketing systems and boarding pass systems, especially within the Sky Team group, with COPA as the worst example, It is clear that their associate status in the Sky Team alliance signals significantly lower capabilities and status with regards to what you experience from the Big three alliances at their major hubs and airline members.
* Un-experienced staff in the customer services centers blended with a too stong Latin service mentality leave you on your own to find and re-book your connections.
* Smaller airports that are primarily feeders to the hubs are facing clear challenges in feeding Hubs across country borders, so if needed avoided them for cross country.
* Do not expect any preference to be secured or even given with premium status in the affected airlines, never have I seen my cards having such a low impact in the recovery process

As a direct result I think I have to refine the list of required pre-cautions and formulated the following new guidelines for hassle free traveling for days requiring triple and/or quadruple flights in a day
* Make sure that all flights are on the same ticket and the issuing party is the major airline in the alliance, i.e. Delta/KLM/AirFrance in Sky Team, AA/BA in One World and LH/United in Star Alliance
* Make sure that the reservation allows you to get ALL, without any exemptions, Boarding passes at the first point of check-in. Print the boarding passes in advance if possible or get them at first check in but do not leave the first airport without all Boarding passes for all the flights during the day in your hands. Any missing Boarding pass introduce a risk of having to leave the secure areas and/or expose you to challenges in case of re-ticketing.
* Make sure that you have all “Check-in” closure times explicitly printed out, Mot airlines do not publish them and confront you with more or less relevant “deadlines” that you can not judge/justify.
* Add 30 minutes extra check-in margin for your first flight on Triple/Quadruple flights days to get all required details in place at the first check-in desk.
* Always travel in sports shoes, running at airports to recover late incoming flights, is becoming the recovery norm more than anything else,
* Make sure that you have back-up routes, including flight numbers, in place for at least one recovery rout per potential delay incident.
* Schedule meals break on your route for Triple/Quad flight days. The nutirition standard on 2h flights or shorter is not down to soft drinks and soft drinks only.
* Adjust your hand luggage standard to the fact they that 737/MD-80 fleets are to a large extent being replaced by regional jet options for feeder flights and as normal never ever check luggage.
* When mixing Business and vacation flights, make sure you add vacation flights to business flights, never the other way around.

After all a happy camper that managed to get away without any dealys on the final return flight but the price this time was very high
* Three new flight tickets bought en route to recover from service desk abilities to re-book and re-issue tickets. Totally unacceptable!
* All phone calls to own 24h travel agency helpdesk, and pre-defined charges plus waiting & talking times at $4 per phone minute.
* Awkward transiting times waiting for clarity and options, e.g. 6h during day in Panama City, 4h during evening in San Jose and 5h at night in Mexico City. Acceptable if service is OK but not acceptable if you have to all work on your own and pay for it.!!!

Soon a new story subject to address……

Three countries in a day does not have to be a pity - at least not if you log a new airport like London City

2009-06-14T22:04:00.002+02:00

Hi blog readers,

After having spent most of the spring at base I ended up with some road duities this week. An early morning departure from to LCY turned out to be a new frist time visit to that airport. Used to travel a lot to LGW in the mid nineties, with Transwede, a ompany that turned out to be the operator on the flight that I was on. Since it was subway strike we where lucky to transportation arranged in advance. Good idea to pay a bit more than ending up in the Taxi queue after arriving with Heathrow Express at Paddington. Can you imagine the queue, it was looooooong.

So what is the NoRoadWorrries trick when their is a tube strike and you have a tight connection. A got start is to ask ten different people about the best option, Bellboys, check-in personel, waiters etc. It truned out that the Bellboy's advice was correct. Taxi to the Airport express train. These trains remain high on my favourite list of NoRoadWorries inventions. Reliable and punctual indenpendantly was is going on overground. Food on European "domestic" fligts remains a big concern. How healthy is a cheese platter and noodles in the lounge spicey up with sausabges on the flight.

Last flight out to a new country and time to crash in a bed. Luckily very close to the customer premises, so after having completete slides late, I could get a big good breakfast after some extra sleep. Second time with customer in 2 weeks and preparations really paying of. Rushing of to the airport and scrutinizing the taxfree and found a new gin that will be perfect for the new Martini bar. Hope it tastes well as well.....

Got dissapointed at the airport when my travel mate and I were given seats in different rows, and mine being 1B, a sure looser seating in any type of plane. But being in good mood I took the opportunity to leave the PC untouched and caheck out if any of my seat buddies had interesting life experiences to share. Turned out to be really interesting with insights gained in web project management methods, i.e. Scrum, from another one that have decided to open up a mind full of ideas and share them in a blog. And my old NoRoadWorries rule stands - You often have a very interesting person in the seat next to you, don't be shy to trade life experiences.

summer is here, no fake - time for a renovation break

2009-05-31T22:17:00.004+02:00

I am still alive, but a normal job and a hobby-carpenter mission on the weekends have taken out most of my blogging insipration and blogging energy. But the project has now reached the summer milstone. Almost where I planned and the long-weekends in May came in handy.

Kitchen has now been equipped with a birch wood floor, where the actual raw material come from the Storm Gudrun, that was converted to wood floor in a factory my native hometown. The ceiling is painted and the walls are white, with two painted in terra cotta colour. Looking forward to put together the 10+ Ikea chairs in the garage and the tbale with 4 extra inlay parts.

The hall has been equipped with a wall of friends! The signature design of the cottage is now a stone wall, that now just is longing to put up pictures of the visitors that I hope will show up during the summer to relax in good company. A bunche of photo frames are waiting to get pictured up.

The relax room was the last one to get ready. Old chimney became white. Black tiles around replacing the grey/green ones, big difference! Now looking forward to assemble the sofa and the sleeping chair (Schäslong) and get an electrician to power up the place. Hardly no outlets yet.

Petrol colour spiced up the Bedroom and signature parts are the bookshelf and the integrated florescent tubes illuminating the wall. Box in place now just have to find the right luminares.

And now time to convert to female shopping logic. Since I have done so much work myself, I have "earnt" money to spend on feel good attributes. Wonder what might come first. And even though the lawn-mover will be one of the first things, it rarely qualify in the feel good category....

Staring to have fun - beginning with a spring run

2009-04-23T22:59:00.002+02:00

The half Marathon application made a looooong ago is finally attacking the lazyness and urging for practice runs as preparation. Last fall I was preparing for the 30km race and was able to cosnistently do pretty long runs and keep a 4 day per week exercize scheme.

This time it is different. Having started four weeks before the race, with no major exercize efforts since February this is going to be a tough one. Nevertheless I am finally on with the practize runs. Started with my small round I realized that the pace is way slower than last year.

The buildling efforts has clearly taken a toll on the condition. But my hope stands to the fact that my strength should be in good shape and that no extra kilos have surfaced. All for now but I definitively want the run back into my running shoes.

Do you know who you really are - it might come out behind the wheel of a car

2009-04-09T22:16:00.002+02:00

Having grown up 3km from a race track that used to host the biggest races of them all, Formula one and MotoGP, my motorized genes were influenced early on. So how do they stand and affect your feeling behind the wheel?

Having learnt how to start a car with a button instead of a key I thought I knew how to fire up an engine as long as it was not broken. Learnt the past two weeks that that is not the case. I rented a hybdrid car and it was the first time I ever drove such a car. Key in to the lock and pushed the button, waiting for the four cylinder sound to kick in. Nothing happened, tried once more, two colleagues in the car, starting to get embarassed. Then it started to move all of a sudden and just after the engine kicks in. Understood that the first meters was on battery only and I guess we have to learn that a car can be "on" without a sound going forward......

I have figured out that I am sort of an animal friend, one that like horses even though I am allergic to them. I do especially enyoying being the jockey and setting the pace when riding. The great feeling of having all the horses in the stable and sending all of them off at the same time. I have a preference for the onces grouped in six "barns" that tend to behave well at alla paces.

Riding also provide the great advantage of a naturally drying the hair. Letting the wiind blow through the hair and ending up with the naturally shaped hairstyle. Creating turbulence behind you and geeting a nice sun tan on the bald parts of the head that is coming out here and there....

And the horses' intelligence growth seem to follow morse law and are capable of host more and more new things as time pass by. Four illuminated rings that are turned into proper light when the darker parts of the day shows up. Well diciplined horses that by themselves detect when they are too close to the ones in front and reduce the pace. Of corse they are able to pull a cart and can hide the little knop automatically.

Well since you all have figured out that it is all about cars I am facinated by the remarkable performance by the Brawn GP formula one team. This years most remarkable sports performance of winning the two initial races shoulöd be seen in the light of:

* A team having trailed solidly at the back end of the grid for the previous two years

* A parent company decision to shut down operations including engine supply late last year

* Management buy-out completed three weeks ahead of the season start

* Missing out all pre-season training until the very last week-end

* Just a two race sponsorship in place befire shipping the cars down under

Hat of for Button and Barihello and the remarkable fighting spirt behind this achievements

Local transportation could be quite a mess - when your are naive and mostly guess

2009-03-30T06:24:00.002+02:00

When you have 1 hour on a Friday afternoon to arrange Hotels and Loccal transportation it is tricky to get everything right. Well this time I did not get it absolutely right.

FIRST STOP SFO AND SURROUNDINGS
As I almost live there for a while and have rented cars numerous times I thought I could save some corporate dollars by eliminating the Never-Lost option. It is wise as long as you got to an office you know and stay and eat at a place you know. This trip it was the food that was created the major head ache. First night, no good value place to eat within the Hotel premises and shopping mall across the street limited to Asian cuisine only. Crused for a while and finally found a pizza, next problem how to find the way home.

Lunch third day at a nice but slightly remote place. Found it by following another driver. But different deadlines after lunch, with mine being the shorter one. Forced myself and a colleague to eat faster than anyone would recommend. Luckily there was another fast eater that could assist on the way back

SECOND STOP IN YEG
Uncertail at if I really needed car or if Taxi was a better option. But staying over the weekend I was afraid of getting grounded. Since it was the second time I was sure that never-Lost was the only choice. Next question where to park. Hotel turned out to be down-town. A great parking space just next door, but of course did not the meter work. And no parking at the hotel except for a valet option, with 15-20 minute delivery plans. Pricing? As you can expect at a Fairmont hotel were I and the NHL players stayed overnight. Corporate discounts applied for nights but not parking so I guess what ever is negotiatied it is always someting that come back and beat you.

THIRD STOP IN LAS
On my way there tomorrow I am getting back into more well known territory again. I know that I do not need a car, I knwo where the hotel is and now it is just to figure out if the exhibition is in the regular exhibition hall.

So what is the key take aways:
* Save in the right places, and not finding your way add to the gas bill instead
* Count in parking details and a key determination factor

Stay tuned for more

When you fly in the sky- Logic does not apply

2009-03-25T05:58:00.001+01:00

In contrast to most people I actually enjoy a day of multiple flights, a valuable asset for road-warriors. One of the things I do quite frequently is to take the opportunity to speak to the people seated next to you, as they with very high likelihood have a completely different background and profession than yourself, and hence have very different stories to tell about life.

My two flights today was very different from that perspective, the short flight next to an ex-pilot working as a plane accident investigator and the long flight next to a old lady that turned out not to be able to neither speak nor hear. I am happy that I still have all my five senses in place and to learn that flying is one of the absolutely safest ways to travel.

But as an NoRoadWorries ambassador I had to put in a few questions about worthless knowledge about flying that is here presented without structure but with a smile to the details on additional insights at the journeys throughout the world.

My former belief that there were only three airlines in the world that has been flying Concorde commercially turned out to be wrong. British Airways and Air France are these easy picks. Singapore airlines the third one that you find after a bit of research, but it learnt that there is a forth one one the list as well. Braniff, a American carrier that ceased to exist 15 years ago. I am keen on finding out who they were and what they do.

Complaining recently about the very poor leg room on Spanair’s MD-80s I might have to revise my position, or at least not be as firm until I have been flying domestically with a 747 in Japan, where they seat 550 people in a single 747. Considering that Lufthansa seat 16/66/270, there might be some room for interpretation of the wide-body term, and it does not apply to the passengers physics for sure.

Still waiting to fly on the Airbus 380 I learnt that the plane in its maximum seating configuration can take 872 passengers!!! And as if that was impressive, they can evacuate a complete plane, just using half of the emergency exists, in 90 seconds. I better stay fit to make sure that I do not clog the aisles if the drill needs to be executed in reality.

But key take-away from the conversation is that logic does not apply, and especially not the laws of probability. The probability that BOTH engines will be stopped when flying into a flock of geese when departing form a major Metropolitan airport is as slim as one divided by the growing US budget deficit. Nevertheless it happens and that’s when we are all happy that the pilots go through endless simulations, are well paid, and can turn on the noble art of avoiding massive disasters. They do it for us on a continuous basis.

How far do we stretch to fly away - and to on top of the statistics stay

2009-03-16T22:27:00.003+01:00

Dear blog readers,

Not that I am obsessed by figures and facts about special flight trips, but perhaps I have a sense for details about a trip when I hear about one. Especially if it qualifies on top in any kind ofspecial category that could be created. So here is a quick shot about trips that have been done by people that I either know or am myself

1. Twentythreethousand fiftyone kilometers - The longst trip in one journey without a hotel night stay inbetween - along the route KBV-BKK_PEK-IAD-GRU-GIG. Especioally amazing as one half a lap around the world is ~20 000 km

2. Fourhundredsixtytwo - The number of flight hours logged in a year for non-pilots. As a reference, RyanAir pilrots fly ~900 hours per year, BA Intra-Europe staff ~725 hours and swedish national pilots ~480 hours. 17 hours short of a pilot in a year make you question what your real job is about.

3. HundredFifty - The amount of different airports visited in a liftetime. Require a decent US footprint a solid travel spread in Asia, Europe and Latin America on Top. Hard to add new ones after that without going for low cost airlines special airports.

4. HundredTwo - The amount of countries visitied by sea, land and air in a liftetime. Require a solid challenge to areas with a lot of countries, i.e. Asia and Africa.

5- Fourteen - The smallest amount of passengers on a flight with a widebody aircraft. Really weird flight between GRU-MEX on a Colombian Airline, almost impossible to see the check-in que, almost impossible to see any passengers when gate opened, and eeeeempty onboard.

6. Twelve - The number of intra-Continental flights made in a regular 5-day working week. 2 flights a day do not require GI diets on top

7. Seven - The number of flights it has taken one person to get from A to B within Europe. Caused by numerous delays and route changes and the airlines creativity to make the person stick to flights within the alliance. And was done travelling with a 1 year old toddler.

8. Five - The amount of flights logged on a single trip. Three you can do any journey that require two hubs to connect. Four you can do with a great effort in a single day. Five is without a aout a multi-day journey.

9. Sixteeen percent - The amount of time spent on the destination, in relation to the whole travel time. Require a looong trip, faaar away and a shoooort stay. Nine hours on the ground in Melbourne, after coming from Europe and returning to Europe

10. Four - The amount of nights spent in a row on palnes without any Hotel nights in between. Made along the route of ARN-FRA-DEL-FRA-GRU-FRA-ARN. Not all Airlines are like a hotel bed.

Thanks for reading all the way down here, Now it is your turn to share an interesting travel figure with the NoRoadWarrior travel community. All the best.

Koh, Koh, Koh, Koh, Koh, Koh, Koh, Koh, Koh - THA-islands is FantastiKoh

2009-03-08T06:51:00.004+01:00

So now my ten day excusion to Thailands islands are coming to an end. And straight to the burning question "What did I DO on my trip". Well this trip was not so much about doing, e.g. snorkeling, sunbathing, kayaking, cookingclasses, visiting as it was about feeling, feeling good and laughing. All thanks to four people that I have had the opportunity to meet on my trip.

An old friend that is taking a fight against a decease and that have been fighting sucessfully and now rewarded herself and family with a Thai trip. Great fun to just chat about everything from A-Z and a surprise that made me feel proud and important. Many years without a contact but when you take it up again is feels like the last time you hang-up the phone was yesterday. Perhpas we have been on the phone for hours in the past.

A close friend that had decided to fulfill a big dream and enjoy life more, longer and simpler than most of us believe is possible thanks to our narrowminded views of the possible. Paradise on earth could be defined as hot air, green water and white beaches. But far more important is your will to want to feel good and your determination to select what make you feel good. As stimulating as always. An a friend that have heard all your stories numerous times, have to stand a continous talker most of the time and still have not found the pause button.

The third person I almost knew even though we have never met nor spoken to each other. Connecting through friends is a great way to connect, but also through similar viewpoints, challenges, desires etc. Exchanged books and I have now taken on a 923 pager that is really really interesting. But more intersting than the book, the person behind the recommendation. Did earn my trust on various topics, and one thatI hope I will meet again.

The fourth one was an old friend that I have not had contact with in many years, we just ran into each other on the beach, live 15 minutes apart at home and have to go around earth to meet. Life is strange especially as I was wondering what she was doing just before I left.

So what had these four persons in common. They all turned my trip from a "three times three night hike in a physical paradise" into en inspirational trip from which I go back full of energy and with a big bigsmile on my lips. They were all women, perhaps women are better at searching the feeling good part of life. Nevertheless since it is March 8 here is a big salute to all women around the globe.

Butin order not to dissappoint you readers, a story about the nice places Ao Nang, Koh Mook and Koh Lanta will come within shortly, and especially if alliterations makes sense as a way to write breif about a trip in a way that allow readers to understand breifly what you were up to. Over and out !

Where thaime stands still - I will my life with experiences fill

2009-02-27T10:51:00.003+01:00

Great to be back on the travel track again. This time for pleasure with my long time fellow the army green back-pack and my favourite tennis shoes. So what is up, well a bit of Seize the day hiking around between islands in the Souyh East. Actually I never though I was going to make this trip as there where to many "out to to isntead" kind of things in the way. Finally I decided that they will be thare tomorrow to worry about then and that you do not have yo deserve nor need to earn your right to feel well and decide to do things that you long for.

So I have "sports break" for the first time in ages. And I am having it without a pair of slalom skis on my feet. Wonder if that has never happened before, chances are slim to say the least.
Thinking time when renovating the cottage truned my mind around, send my off buying an LP guide book and off I went. I was a great feeling to have a lot of ideas what to do but no firm plan in place. A few islands will turn life into a fantastic time anyway so no need to bother. First stop will be at a place I can hardly pronounce, nor write the name of the Hotel that I booked by Phone based on a phone number only reference. Interesting!!! Looking 4ward to see a freiund that I grew up with, have not seen in ages, and where we turn out to be at teh same place, the same week, without any contacts in the planning phase. Let's see what life has to bring.

An since I do not manage to hit any new spots in work any longer the pleasure trips bring in the new ones and the new BKK where I just landed was #149 on my slightly obscure list that some poeple might believe that I am a slave under. Not the case but still a fun talking point!!

A week full of impressions - in life's school of lessons

2009-02-21T20:48:00.002+01:00

Mid February used to be THE wintersport week. Not so much for me these days, not that I have sold my skis, the opposite, I have bought both slalom and cross country skis. But the our industry have decided to run the major event of the year this week every year.

In order to save money and improve perception we had gathered all activities in one place, and since we do a lot of things we ended up with the lion part of a small hall. Great for all visitors, that could enyoj the place ath their pace and preferences. Personally it was an event that I enyojed so much that I never left our "booth". It is rate that you stand out but this time it even triggered my word smithing genes ;)

Why do you want to have a stand in a shared hall - when you can rent it all and have a ball
Who loves a meeting room at 40 degrees - when you can chat in a sofa and rest your knees
Why a 30min queue for a piece of bread - when you can get an immediate lunch instead
A fair is about who stand-s out - and something that people afterwards talk about

Well it is over for this year and lots of credits to the people that had the courage to define a new concept, implement it, and create a success in these days for gloomy picture.

Before leaving for the fair my e-purchaisng fingers did a tour to my friends at Lonely Plant, that delivered as always, and now it is time to start reading a bit about the land of airport #149 and #150. Could not resist to secure that #150 was a pleasure destination, and not a new business location. Will reward myself with a week+ winter vacation for the first time in ages. Nothing booked, nothing planned, just my green backpack as a fellow, a few good books and relax mode.

But before vacation another shift in the my dream creation place. Today I have for the first time in a while felt productive. All thanks to the paintable wallpaper that I have used in styling the rooms. A gift to mankind since it is of a type that does not require detailed putty work. And in addition you put the glue on the wall instead of on the paper. Thanks to these nice features I managed to set 100cm wide pieces on the wall without any problems !!! One room ready to be painted before being ready.

An last but not lease a drink recipie for Filesharing geeks, Captain Morgans Parrot Bay rum, not banned yet, and it is not even illegal .....

On the great day of heart - I hope you have had a good start

2009-02-14T09:41:00.004+01:00

So after a period with little blog inspiration I am getting back into the mood. So what about some thoughts about feel good things on Valentines day.

Since last year I have been able to experience how social network sites have allowed me to re-connect with friends that I have not had contact with in a long time, and connected with other parts of the persons I know very well. Quite interesting and very rewarding. Finding the small things in life that others add to your life, is way greater than you can pursue on your own. And this year has been full of the small contacts that make me smile big. And despite financial crisis, global warming and a hactic society, life is good after all and it is up to each of us to value all small things.

This year I have decided to pursue a dream, a dream might make me sound like a pure materialist, but it is not the goal of remodelled small house that keep me thrilled. It is the thought process of getting there and the desire to enyoj it afterwards, especially the parts I have planned and done myself. I am amazed by how stimulating this is. It is actually very relaxing to paint, put in electricity tubes, add wood floor etc. Works like a perfact brain cleaner after a week in the office. I have no come to the point where I have a firm plan in place for what I would like to do, no it is down to the famous execution, and to do it with a decent ambition level to not create an opportunity for the "Angry carpenter" to come in in a second phase.

I have also been amazed how much I value my horses. I enyoj them every day, both in the morning and in the evening. They take me where ever I want. They are responsive for my desire to move fast from time to time. The thought of leaving them behind made me freak-out mpore then I expected. Other horses could be less demanding on the amount of inputs required but less interested in tagging along at my pace. Is this really important, well I did not think so, but I have found out the opposite. And after all life is about fulfilling big and small dreams, and I think the biggest favour you can do to yourself, is to reward yourself where it matters to you, reward your firends and family where it matters to them, and hope to get rewarded by others as a great bonus in life. But first take the responsibility to get my feel good platform in place.

Ten trips that did not go according to plan - all where special but not all where fun

2009-01-09T04:41:00.002+01:00

Dear Blog reader,

I have not come up with any good new year promises - yet! But one of the projects I plan to blog about is my ten most special trips. Below is a draft list that will be open for voting in January, and the real stories behind them will come later

January 1991 - 6 train changes in 60 minutes through Europe- 3 days after the guld war brooke out

May 1995 - Snowchaos in Sweden in May - resulting in 4 stop trip from ARN to SFO during 28 hours

July 1996 - Filling up a bus the peruvian way - leaving no feeeling of security to go with it.

November 1997 - Safari camping without the fence - with lions close by

September 2001 - First day of air travel to the US after 9/11 - spooky

December 2002 - Flying to Acapulco - in the cabin of a regular 727 flight

April 2003 - SARS in Taipei - was I affected or just a regular cold?

August 2004 - Around the world to 8 destinations in 12 days - perfect drug dealer travel pattern

January 2006 - a 5 hour transit in caracas - from the Airport to dwontown when THE bridge was damaged

June 2006 - Plane struck by lightning - a light experience

February 2007 - 1 400 km by car in 28 hours - for a cancelled Downhill race

Stories will be written in order of popularity so cast your vote!

At a stunning 104cm over the ground – a lively 4 year old can be found

2009-01-06T05:20:00.002+01:00

Dear readers of http://www.noroadworries.com/ first of all a Happy new year and welcome back to this my first full year of blogging. I have a number of blog ideas that soon will be up for voting, but first a a few trip blogs as I am on the road currently.

Right now I am in the middle of the annual winter trip to one of the major inspiration sources for this blog. She just turned four and has been on her first vacation trip with her father which represents a big step in the development of our relationship.

The destination of choice was Acapulco’s Diamante coast, that did not exist 15 years ago, except for the Princess hotel where we almost broke our next when body surfing at our first visit, and now has developed into a city of its own. Being guest in a family of 12 people, out of which I knew one before turned out to be a fantastic experience. Sharing apartments as if it was my own family! Taking part in breakfasts, lunches and dinners with shared responsibility for cooking, washing and funding like in the old ski vacation days in French apartments. And last but not least a great understanding for the challenges that face a father traveling with his daughter for the first time, even with support from a sister and a grandmother is an experience of special nature.

Developing confidence in a relationship with a four year old that you meet twice a year is demanding. What are the right moves to make? At what pace should you introduce new steps? What is the right balance between firmness in guiding and acceptance for own wills and ideas? Well way more questions than I found answers for during this trip. But great progress was made. One night sleep together came after a looong walk when enough confidence was created as a foundation for a good night sleep. Enough confidence created to enable playing in the pool with the new toys. Enough confidence gained for ordering pina coladas, with the defining cherry, for relaxing moments by the pool.

All relations need confidence, some more than others, in order to develop. The journey of winning confidence is not possible to control, as pace and the steps on the journey varies. Going forward I need to live with the challenges of further developing confidence at a pace that I can not and will not be able to define. But with time, I am confident that it will come and come in big enough chunks that can take this relation to desired heights.

Taking my daughter for her first vacation trip - we will go by plane to the beach and avoid ship

2008-12-27T01:19:00.002+01:00

Here we are four years after my daughter was born, and it is time for our first vacation trip together. The selected destination is ACA, a place i visited first in 1993 and have returned a number of times since then.

I remember how nervous I was about this trip three yeras ago. How would I manage, manage alone, and with a low level of trust from the main stakeholders. I think I have overcome thta and have hopefully decreased tension areound as weel. The recipe is as follows
* Travel with her older sister, that came up with the great idea in the first place
* Travel with a children specialist, that have raised two children and have been working in a day care center her whole professional life
* Stay in an apartment that is familiar to my daughter
* Top-up a pre-paid card for easy access back to base
* An last but not leats a father that have had time to rest before the trip, and not stumbling in as a stressed out workoholic, and is ready to protect the eight wonder from all kinds of threats.

Tomorrow we take of for MTY through ORD and the day after the one week trip will start. Just looking forward to offload a good 3/4 of my luggage in form of delayed christmas presents when we arrive in MTY. An then I hope we will get a week of real fun and the starting point for regular video calls.

And what is in the luggage this time
* Marabou Amigo Milk Chocolate
* Tequila "Polkagrisar", even though it salys lemon and salt licorice
* Kalles Kaviar - the only exemption from the SweMex cross-over candies

Stay tuned

Getting back to my working experience roots - And running around in coats and boots

2008-12-23T16:40:00.002+01:00

It is a great feeling to check out from regular work for three weeks and juts do other things. After a hectic week and come X-mas shopping I left the city behind for some country life.
But before starting I took a detour to my cottage to do some final measurements. Good part is that more and more of my ideas is comming into place, Bad news is that it looks like I will touch more and more things during my renovation project. So let's hunt for new ideas and material.

The stock system for 1200 pallets of ceramic tiles that i did put in place 17 yeras ago is stilll in operation. Great to see that the restructuring ideas turned out to work in reality. Going through the whole display area a large number of new ideas was born
* Birch floor, with a lot of branch holes that is giving extra "life" to the floor. Decision made for the floor covering for kitchen and bed-room.
* The decoration stone that just had arrived in black colur, and was put up as I entered. This was immediately translated into the imaginated wall in the living room.
* Different variants of black tiles for the bathroom, more than one to choise froom. Will be hard to make a choice. But black is the olour
* Bubble bath or shower, the choice did not become easier with the Assymetric tub that could fit perfect.
* Washing machine was almost excluded from my future plans when I found a 33cm deep one, that could be hidden without consuming an enormous amount of space.
* Washbasins, do not come in one shape anymore!!! Round for corners, rectangular to be placed on a table. Not to mention the "Water mixer"
* A tile wall for the "Fond" wall in the bedroom is emerging as an attractive option. Could be shaped really nice.
* New types of electric switches that do not require wiring!!!!

After a lot of consultations, the plan need to be revised in some areas:
* My choice of electricity cables was ruled out as inadequate.
* Most likely getting back to square one and the need for pulling wire tubes.
* The installation of new floor require a complete removal of the lower part of the kitchen furniture. Uuuughhh!!

But the best part of this season, beyond cottage planning, is clearly the hanm sandwiches, with strong mustard and the Julmust that is a must to drink.

Too all of you that have taken the effort to find min blog, and further have chosen to return back when something more or less meaningful is typed down, I would like to whish you a Merry Christmas and a pleasant time together with friends and family.

This is an attempt of a 2008 Summary - Over things that I managed to do and see

2008-12-14T20:14:00.003+01:00

A fun exercise that I normally do arouynd new year each year is to make a summary of the year that has passed. It often suprise med how much you have accomplished when you just take some time and reflect of things that have brought joy and well being to your life.

So here is the monthly overview
* January - Annual winter visit to see my daughter, how just has started to speak english at the age of 3. Anazing how quick kids learn.
* February - Completed the Vasaloppet cross-country race. A great feeling to enter the finishing straight and get a winners-wreath around your neck. Wow feeling.
* March - All paper work finally in place, after passing MEX 5 times in 8 days. And strating to sort out what I want to do next.
* April - Skiing with my nephew, and driving a snowmobile for the first time. Enyojing the speed of life.
* May - Enjoying the great apple with great company. A Starbucks breakfast is a great start of a day.
* June - Completed the Vätternrundan, 300km bikerace in the Swedish summernight. Great feeling to pass go a max pace with the fast riders just before finish and reaching the finsihing line after 12 hours. And celebration in style in Veghas afterwards. There is still a bit young left...
* July - Completed the Vansbrosimmet, styled in a 20+ years old surfing wetsuit, in the chilly waves of the Vanån river. A little revenge on all my previous swimming and diving teachers.
August - Wining down to the slow pace of the Seychelles life, with a home prepapred dinner with locals as a highlight. Alaways fun to compare notes on life stories.
September - Finally reaching this years major goal, the Swedish Classic, after 30km of riunning in the woods of Lidingö. But the best part was all preparation runs around Djurgården on the Saturdays and Sundays leading up to the event.
* October - Two small sketches in a pub, where artists managed to capture a bit of my character, without even talking to me.
* November - Taking over a small place that I have enyojed for the first 42 years of my life. And a great feeling to dream with sketches and ideas of what you can do with your hands.
* December - The little wonder turning 4 years, with the best part yet to come ...

But as easy as it is to remeber the big moments, as easy it is to forget the small joyfull moments
* The decision to start to blog - you get to know other people better by reading their blogs, and friends pick some of the thoughts you dare to express.
* The side effects of facebook - I have re-established more 20 year old contacts than I have done any year before, and quite fun to track and be tracked.
* Birthday celebrations - did this year come as postcard, sms, phonecalls, fb wall-messages, mails and hugs.
* C&tail parties - easy to host, and great for socializing.
* Portrait photography course - There is a rembrant triangle living within all of us, and it pops up with some softbox light.
* Carpenter pants - make you feel a bit serious with the saw and happer, and a great way of cleaning out stress and pressure from your mind.

This year we have one of these wonderful years with Xmas eve on a Wednesday and plenty of time to releax with few days of vacation. Why don't allow yourself to dream, big and small, and add a bit of courage through support from freinds and family to realize something in 2009 that you long for. You deserve more than you think, and it can be realised as long as you let your dreams stay alive.

How extensive are the choices about a Sauna - Options are like a big book about Flora and Fauna

2008-12-09T19:01:00.004+01:00

Today you will get an idea about my most recent project challenges and right now I am most occupied with Wood and Cabling concerns.

The wood challenges comes in a couple of different shapes
* How to fill a hole in the ceiling with the right piece of wood, that looks nice, and do not force me to replace the whole kitchen roof?
* What does a Sauna look like these days? I think I want to keep one, i.e re-build after making a re-vamp in the bath room
* What is the optimal choice of wood for the floors? and what is the name for different types of wood in English, Pine is Fine but what is the name for "box"???
* And last but not least how should I be able to put in the woodfloor in the kitchen without removing all wall mounted furniture? I Do not want to remove and replace that.

After entering the Sauna web-site I figured out that the options are enormous, the only one that could be ruled out immediately was the one with an integrated Bar!!! Tylö Vital Vision sounds like great Fun. All jokes aside I think I have dreamt away to a small one, with star ligthing in the ceiling, door twisted sideways, Glass door. Ooops budget swept away.

The floor panel is leaning towards Birch or anbother light material, Hopefully lively pattern, need to see it in reality, and will be fun to see how a 7mm thick wood floor should be able to replace a 3mm cork dito, and make sure that the dish washer will get leak proof in the process. Hard to understand what I mean, do not worry it is even harder for me and I have seen it!!!

Two good news this week as that the municipality finally have placed the contract for bringing in water and sewage, as an alternative to my own well and dito sewage. Seems like a possibility that it will happen next year. An the tax deduction for refurbishments to trigger the Swedish economy, and take some of the renovation burden off my back, aslo came in handy.

Last but not least, I have found gods gift to mankind, Cable-Trim, the little wood detail where floor and wall meet that is that your normally fix the last thing you do, not seldom a couple of years after moving in. The new innovation allow you to bury the cables in the wood trim, without any needs for drilling in the walls for plastic tubes. Power cables, Etherent cables and Audio cables here you can hide!!!

Soon you will hear more about how complex Broadband network modernizations could be made as simble as modernizing a kitchen in my cottage. And it was not my own idea.

With white colour you get a great start - Finding the others is of mind-boggling art

2008-11-30T22:19:00.004+01:00

Right now a lot of my mind is occupied with finding the right colours for my different rooms. A journey that I mentally travel as I tear down wall paper, remove old floor coverings and remove old lists.

I think i am about to settled around a few main ideas
* Stick to three main colours per room
* Use Black & White as the common denominator for all rooms
* Add a third colour that stand for the uniqueness in each room
* Just add the colour to one wall, and keep the others white
* Exploit grey granite as the colour in the living room
* Exploit terracotta in the kitchen to make it really warm
* Exploit Turquoise in the bathroom, but perhaps keep it to accessoires and let black dominate.
* The bedroom colour is up in their air....

It is quite interesting how important it is to let this process take time, to let new ideas blend with the one that are settled before as feel good ideas.

I have also realized how poor your imagination gets when you have seen a room with a certain structure and you want to turn it into something else. That's when you need professional visionaries, called architects, that manage to see the potential of a given space. I am very thrilled by the 8 sketches that I got from my favourite architect, and that have started to triggered my mind, and started to get the concept of "thinking outside and inside the walls"

Stay tuned and start voting for the right colours for the bedroom

What is the secret behind a good portrait - Add a flash with a softbox and illuminate

2008-11-13T22:00:00.003+01:00

Tonight I have learnt the secrets behind taking good portrait pictures. Before event starting we learnt that the recipe for the last 300+ years has been referred to as the "Rembrandt triangle". The little tringle of light that you get the shade side of your face when it is illuminated from the side.

Said and done we strated by putting up a light on the left hand side of the model, in the western world where we read from left to right, you iluminate the left side (right when seen from the model) and in countries where you read from right to left you tend to illuminate models from the right hand side. Peculiar detail.

In front of the flash you added a "Soft Box" to spread the light gently. The flsah was less than 1m from the model in order to make the light as soft as possible. On the other side of the model we used a reflector (White for soft reflection or silver for strong relektion) to get the shade side illuminated.

We learnt that a black background was easiest to get black when the wall was a bit away. However when switching to white we have to get close to avoid that the white should turn grey by being to far away from the flash.

Final step, illumibation of the hair from behind with a honeycomb filter. No I am curious to try my new skills and turn great analog friends into digital protraits, with a Rembrant triangle in the right location. But leave the bling-bling behind, it reflects the light in non-desired directions and was beyond the scope of our class today.

Playing carpenter and use a crowbar to eliminate a door - in order put in a wall and a wooden floor

2008-11-10T21:42:00.005+01:00

Having started the journey of tuning up an old house, you are up for a journey with a lot of variety. I just completed the list of must to do things before the summer, and one day into teh project I have already started to add things to make the list even longer.

Nevertheless, the first day in office is completed and I started to tear down and old door, with the plan to fill the whole with a wall. Not as complicated whan supported by a crowbar and a saw. The floor that I had planned to keep soon got replaced in my imagination for other alternatives. Wood coverings from the company where I did some consulting 17 years ago wrt optimization of the production line, could come in handy. But far from the pencil drawboard I have found new design tools for how to pre-decorate the rooms, in order to figure out how my dreams play out in reality. http://www.room328.com/ seems like a good starting point for my virtual realizations.

So what are the decisions that are up for decision in the near future
* Housing style - Multi-cultural crossover or single style across the cottage.
* Location of the "discrete home office" - Behind the chimney in the livingroom or beside the fridge in the kitchen.
* Type of wood covering in bedroom and kitchen - Birch or White pine or Oak
* Broom Cupboard - really needed or something that just could be eliminated from the floor plan

Clearly challenging for my mind, and refreshing breaks from the day-to-day office work. And I am getting more and more into the mindset, that half of value when the tuning is done, will come from the fact that my hands has been in the middle of the pie.....

When you want to give your interior design dreams air - You must be able to through away a jacaranda table and chair

2008-11-03T19:19:00.003+01:00

During the last week I have been preaching the mantra that "Materia in the wrong place is to be considered as rubbish" as a mean to substantially reduce the degrees of freedom that could be carried over between generations. I have gained the insight that the "Best for the future" is not equal to the "Best of the past"

First time you move away from home, wheater you are alone or in a relationship, is often about applying a "Best of the past" principle with regards to Interior design. Grandmothers chairs, your uncle's spare kitchen table, Billy bookshelves from Ingvar' store with a nice topping of curtains, carptes and paintings that never were meant to live be together. The drawbacks of this initial phase were widely surpassed by its advantages, interior design money available for clothes and fun nights out, and no disaster occuring for the inevitable scratches and accidents in your lower twenties..

When you have come to the point in life where you have a lot of ideas of how you would like to do it, you are also often in a position where ideas area shared with someone that you love, but not necessarily share your interior designs dreams with. You get your Kitchen furniture in, and have to adopt to your partners sofa. The memorabilia from your pre-relationship trips end up in the attic, one box for you equally traded for a box of your partners stuff. Some things go away and after all "The best of the present" often turn out to be the two best halves, that at least in theory is greater than one.

So what do you do when you get total freedom to shape a few rooms completely on your own. Do you go down the route of pleasing relatives that have so many inexpensive advices, read well used and/or well stored attic stuff, that you just must enjoy, even if they never did? Or is there another route of realising your dreams, even if it means throwing away a dark brown jacaranda table, and having it replaced with a white chipboard table if it fits better with your ideas? I think that the latter could represent a "Best for the future" approach, shaped by your dreams, tuned by your imagination and quite friendly to your wallet as long as you avoid the fanciest stores and material that was the norm in the 1950's and 60's.

This approach is in bright contrast to the values and norms of the previous generations. But it is worth a few fights and a leap of fait into the land of imagination:
* Which PURPOSES should a given room support
* Which FEELINGS should each room represent for someone entering
* Where do I take INSPIRATION from in the outlining the details of the interiors
* Which COLOURS will make the ideas come across, not only for me but for my future visitors
* And last but not least, how do I LIGHT the place to provide joy on a dark gloomy autumn evening.

I am thrilled by the amount of imagination that a set of keys could provide you with. And dreaming is not only a pleasant event, it is a pre-requisite for living your life to its full potential, and you might have to sacrifice some jacaranda along the road.

You can realise small and big dreams with paint - and do it yourself to avoid to faint

2008-10-21T21:37:00.003+02:00

I have just started a new interesting journey, accompanied by an old friend that see the daylight in 1960's. It is not a she or he a, but a small red house that I know pretty well and that I have now agreed to take care of to realise on of my big dreams. At that age a facelift could come in handy.

Having spent a number of summers dealing with carpets, tiles and wood floor, I am looking forward to bring forward some old skills, that I otherwise would have been forced to outsource with hefty bills in return. As long as I stick to the basics with wallcover, floor covering and painting, it is just a long list of actions.

But who could initiate a body job in 2008 without thinking about new trends like
* How should the heating be arranged in order not to generate outragoeus electricity bills
* Does a green house require a solar panel for heating the warm water
* Should I deploy CAT6 or Plastic Fiber for the in-home wiring
* How should I arrange remote surveillance
* How should the lightning be arranged

Well before even starting to plan, I had 73 items on my to do list. I will be interesting if my egfforts will result in making the lixt shorter or if new things will pop up to secure that it is always will be some classic wooden trim left before completion. I have decided to give it a couple of weekends over the winter to do some basic tuning and look forward to relaxing when the spings is brought to the new neighbourhood.

After having spent a part of the Sunday with an investigate of the sewer system, I am quite convinced that I will welcome the new installations to be provided within shortly. That smelles like good news to me.....

A meeting between three girls and a boy - that meet after four years to enjoy

2008-10-12T13:26:00.003+02:00

In August 2002 various circumstances in life brought together four children in a class room. They came from Mexico, Iraq and former Yugoslavia to starts first grade of school in another country where there only common denominator was a language that they yet had to pick up. ter They were fortunate enought to start school in a special class for children from different countries that were given extra support to learn the new language during their initial three years. This was done in a small class with 12 children and a fantastic teacher that truned the children into a tight group. And amazingly enough, after three months they were communicating and playing, in their new language.

Other circumstances brought them apart after two years, all had to move to new schools, one had to move back to her home country. They were a bit too small to maintain contact through mail, calls and messenges from start and I have always been interested in understanding if the friendship that they developped would stay over time.

This week the small group had the opportunity to meet again. After more than four years the children had turned into teenagers and had grown up substantially. Since their road in life got separated they had picked up a third language, English, that turned into their new communication platform. They gathered to eat and chat about old memories, they showed the presents they exchanged 5 years ago that they have kept in their drawers, and they shared their visions for the future. I had the opportunity to observe the group and was completely amazed by the strength of their friendship and the joy they expressed about seeing each other again. They just had two nights to meet, their parents allowed them to skip homeworks to stay out longer than normal, and I am convinced that they soon will meet again and that the first chats and mail exchanges already has taken place.

At their age my generation was still four years away from being able to ge their first Interail pass, and ten years away from our first e-mail adress. I had the opportunity to get to know these children, when their group was formed, and the affection they now showed to me as part of this process, make me think back to one of the finest sentences ever written.

"The important things in life is not how much money you earn, what kind of car you drive, nor the house youy live in, instead it is about to be important to a child". I certainly had a big pay day last week when I understood the role that I had played for one of these children.

Reach a major goal in 24 hour - make you energized and full of power

2008-09-28T19:24:00.005+02:00

Yesterday I reached one of my major goals for 2008. The completion of the Swedish Classic. The challenge consists of four events; Vasaloppet (90km of cross country skiing), Vätternrundan (300km of cycling), Vansbrosimmet (3km of swimming in a river) and Lidingöloppet (30km trail running). Sitting on the bus from the final event yesterday I realized that all challengers have a lot of thier own stories to tell, almost like when we did the military services.

The first question from friends that have completed the event is which one is the toughest and which one is the easiest. I would ranke them as follows:
Hardest - Vasaloppet
Harder - Lidingöloppet
Hard - Vätternrundan
Cold - Vansbrosimmet

Vasaloppet require technique and solid strength in legs, back and arms, and the moments when you can rest are at the break and a few downhill slopes, otherwise you are active all the time. But is also the most beautiful nature experience.

Lidingöloppet is an exercize for your legs and feet, no other parts really into play. The last 10km is a lot tougher than the two first 10km stints. Yo can make it with a few 20km runs before, but is perhaps the hardest if you carry a few extra kilos.

Vätternrundan is the longest one, and is the one where the static pain i butt, back and neck is the hard to deal with. As long as you stick to the group it doable but it is a long exercize.

Vansbrosimmet is hardest before, all your concerns about how to protect you against the cold, wetsuit and/or vaselin and/or wool-grease.

I did take on the challenge with inspiration from a very good friend, determination to improve my physical shape and to have a major goal to focus my exercizes towards. During the journey I have visited many small villages for cross country skiing and enyojed the difference between a chunk of meat and a HälsingeStintan style Entrecote. I have enyojed bycicling around the neighbourhoods of greater Stockholm, a town with bike trails everywhere, and realised that you see a lot more at 30km/h on a bike than in 90km/h in a car. An I have found a beatutiful running trail around the island of Djurgården that is fantastic for early weekend morniung runs.

But an even better take-away from this challenge is that I this year could go on vacation with a lot of phisical energy without any need to recover for 4-5 days with 12-14 hours of sleeeping time.

As the figure nerd I am I would like to share my times 7:44:27 for Vasaloppet, Vätternrundan 11:51:00, Vansbrosimmet 1:21:42 and Lidingöloppet 3:00:24 (Including a 1km detour in the start due to a blunder by the organizers). Or if you sum it up 23 hours, 57 minutes and 33 seconds. I never had this as a goal but I was very happy to realize that I was on the right side of the bottom line even though missing yesterday's goal with 24 seconds. But as long as you complete the big ones, some scratches in the small ones is OK. Time for setting up new goals in life

Asking questions how hard can it be - quite a bit when the options are three

2008-09-22T21:29:00.003+02:00

Sometimes it is possible to get lost in your own problems, and even worse, your own solutions to others problems, without really knowing what the problem is or even if it need to be addressed at all. It might be the case that you also sometimes feel that you nned a pair of new glasses with a new perspective on things, and not just continuing the same old proven paths.

One thing that I have reflected on quite a bit is the art of how to ask questions. Asking them in a way that move focus from your own thoughts and viewpoints to that the ones of the other person. Why do we often stick to our own perspective, that we have access to every day, when each new person we meet is an opprtunity to get different insights. I think I am getting to the conslusion that we tend to ask questions to other people in three different ways.

1. The scared approach when you primarily seek confirmations of what you already know, or what the other party believes you know and understand. Even thought it might be coming from sincere and honest interest from your side, is appearing a bit plump by most people.
* How well are your kids doing?
* What did you spend your scarce time this weekend?
* How was your short vacation this summer work out?
* It was really hard to get through it, wasn't it?
* It was real bargain or what do you think?
* How many new clothes on the sale last week?
* When will you come by an visit?
* Do you want to play Golf this weekend?

2. The approach where you seek answers to what you want to know about the other person. Paying more attention to the other person, but still a bit centered on your own needs.
* How have been feeling today?
* What made you laugh at taht story?
* How was the party last Friday?
* Would you like to come and visit?

3. The approach where you help the other person asking themself the important question, and where your awareness about the actual answer is secondary to you but crucial to the other person. Wordings need to get refined but you might get the idea.
* Could you describe the small things that make you feel happy even on a Monday?
* What are the dreams you have not allowed yourself to fulfill yet?
* What does well being mean to you, and what do you do to realize it?
* What is a home, job, family after all if you do not allow yourself to live the life according to your potential?

I have realized that I am spending way too much of my life in the wrong territory and I am lokking forward to broaden my perspective into new territories. Less travelled but more rewarding! When you matter to others personal well-being, it is a good recipt that you have a sound base from which other can pick up the energy that all of us need from people around us.

Some poetry for you to reflect - and avoid to stress around an neglect

2008-09-18T22:04:00.002+02:00

Recently I had the opportunity to visit the mobel museum, and watch all the signs with phrases well worth to reflact upon:

"Born originals, how come it to pass, that we die copies" People is a great source of inspiration, special people even more so. I truly enyoj meeting persons that have decided to fulfill a dream, no matter how big or how small it is. They have the best stories to tell, and they stay out of copy-cat territory.

"Every great scientific truth goes through three stages. First people say it conflicts with the bible. Next they say it has been discovered before. Last they say they always believed it" So let's stay firm in the belief of our ideas and go for the opportunity of realising them when possible.

"The mere formulation of a problem is often far more essential than the solution, which may be merely a matter of mathematical or experimental skill. To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle requires creative imagination and marks real advances in science" Could not agree more, one of my largest sources of inspiration actually tell me most things about muyself by asking questions. Facinating!!!

"The purpose of our lives is to be happy" Too many follow the mantra that hardship is purifying and rather than the more attractive work hard play hard. I ma responsible for putyting the basics in place for my happiness, and let others add spices to make it perfect. Many perfect days make a perfect life.

"There is more to life than increasing its speed" Yes, since the 80/20 rule could be assumed to be applicable in most places, we can assume that 20% of the pace is generating 80% of the rewards. And an 80% life enyojed is better than a 100% destroyed.

I already feel more relaxed than before these few lines. Enyoj the opportunities of tomorrow to have great memories carried into the day after.

Some governments want their children well - others encourage their fathers to go to ...

2008-09-16T22:58:00.008+02:00

Just as I thought the Latin American authorities had the most weird view of fathers and their potential role in the childhood of a young citizen, they are surpassed with light years by the government policies in my home country.

After having been harassed for almost 4 years with cute letters announcing that I was entitled to 450 days of paid parental leave, to take an active part in the childhood and education of my daughter, I decided this summer that it was time to act. Even I did get the message in the daily debate in the news that I was a bad father that have not even used a single one of my parental days to date. After all 15 months with full salary without any work obligations is money even for single fathers with their children abroad.

Said and done, contacts initiated with the same authorities that send out the cute letters. Phone calls in June, as expected not anyone of the first three ones could give me an answer an they all ended the conversations with the convincing - "Don't call us we call you". Got sort of tired and started to send e-mails instead, one a week for the last three weeks without any response. Apparently the organization resides outside of the reach of the Internet, the 1.1billion fixed phone lines and the 3.3billion mobile ones, but today I was stunned by suprise when someone of the Ghostbusters apparently had sneaked out the coffea room and found a phone booth from which they could give a call and explain that I am an outlaw without any rights whatsover to any kind of financial support in supporting my childs growth.

So what have my daughter and I done wrong
1. We are both citizens of the same country
2. I have been working full time and paid taxes in that country, my home country, since she was born. Tax, VAT, Congestiontaxes etc.
3. The authorities do on paper encourage fathers to use parts of the parental days,and are in the process of mandating fathers to carry their share of the responsibilities.
4. My daugthers mother and I have decided to split apart - and have shared custody of our daughter. A decisions to signal that we both care, even though we are an atlantic ocean apart.
5. My daughter is living in another country, that do not allow fathers to take their children abroad for the first 9 years of their life.
6. My daughter has been given the opportunity to attend an english speaking day care center, paid for solely by her father. Schools to follow.

So now to the fundamental question why do the two of us have to be considered as outlaws, with all rights revoked, and revoked forcefully at both ends. The top-line end where paid parental leave and paid child allowance has been turned into zero. The bottom line where the possibilities for tax breaks for education abroad has been turned into zero. The whole world is full of fathers that do not want to take an active role in their childrens life, but why do we have to make it so difficult for the ones that care.

Well you might think I am jealous as:
1. Foreign children that come to my home country and are given the opportunity to study in special classes with half the amount of students the first three years, so they can pick up the new language. Free of charge.
2. Foreign citizens are entitled to all the benefits in my home country wrt parental leave and child allowance.
3. The authorities have no problem of providing a nuclear family going to a beach for 3 months with all the benefits without questions asked.
4. The authorities are happy to gradefully extend the 450 days with a Value Added Benefits (VAB) package to be used whenever a cough could destroy the bio climate at the day care center.

Not really, all of the above is in place for good reasons, and I am doing my best to support the implementation through a handsome contribution to the worldleading Tax and VAT tariffs. I soon celebrate 204 straight working months without a single hour in sick leave! I have just paid off my loans for my studies, without a single penny missing!! I work for the company whose success is fundmental to moct pension funds in my home country. And I have 104 days in my vacation bank and can still fly 18 hours to reach my daughter.

So authorities come one!!! Of course you can raise the bar of harrasment a bit further, or get back to the drawing board with a sharp pencil and get some basics in place !!!

What kind of stress can make you freak – and create a substantial energy leak

2008-09-14T00:02:00.001+02:00

Stress and burn-out syndromes seem to plague our generation, in ways that were unknown to our parents. We have invented new phrases that we sometimes refer to as personal goals, like “Managing the life puzzle”, “Proactive stress management”, “Finding job balance” “Getting the hamster out of your life” etc.

Everyday stress elements might be related to our job, the conflict between job/family/own interests. We have learnt that stress triggers often come as large changes in life; Move to a new town, changes in relationship status, get kids, changeo f jobs, near and dear passing away etc. This might be the obvious ones and the ones we plan for, but I have attended two courses and identified other major elements that provoke stress in ways I did not realize before.

Communication, Clarity and Predictability are key ingredients in stable, safe and encouraging environment. But what about the opposites.

Silence, Unclear and Insecure have the opposite impact. With 40+ years of life experience you through you have learnt most of them. Not true! Being silent when you want to talk and silence when you want to listen, are stressful one at a time and both in combination are very destructive. Sometimes you wonder what 40+ years of life meant. Dear blog, I will revert on this topic. Lack of clarity makes us spend efforts on the wrong things, and come back depressed due to results falling below expectations. Not good at all. And finally, an insecure environment where borderlines wrt norms, roles, language, human interactions etc. can carry you away from reality.
A lot of deep thoughts but a key insight from this week’s school of life, ask a question when you want to tell something. And you can avoid “over-speaking”, "over problemizing" and "over solving" the situation with the risk of destroying substantial values in the process.

Among all the perks and awards - what really make me thrilled about going on board

2008-09-06T19:45:00.004+02:00

When your travel has been on the gold, executive, esmerald etc. level for a long time you might start asking yourself what the top things are that you really appreciate with your frequent flyer card and the status associated with it. I think I have consluded that the following are among my essential priorities:

1. RECOGNITION, without a decent frequent flyer card these days, the service you seem to get in interactions with airlines is downgraded to a bare minimum. Long gone is the times when "Coach Rocks" was comment that made sense, now we are down to cockroach level in the back of the planes. My most recent experience of this was an airline that claimed $150 to give me airmiles back for an incorrect booking. Do not expect AAA service from an AA airline if you just have been thier gold and platinum customer for 5 years and are back to silver status due to cut-backs on the routes that are meaningful to your travel.

2. THE LOUNGE, has become fundamental as a survival total for hazzle free travel in times of frequenet delays. At my last flight we were delayed 2 hours at the airport for feparture. Needless to say, the connection was long before gone, and even a busy friday afternoon, the alternative options were a 4 hour unplanned stop. Without colleagues and access to the lounge, these non-volunatary stop overs get awful on intercontintal flights with short last leg. How would we survive without them.

3. SECURITY CLEARANCE is a mystery. Oil prices goes up, Air travelling goes down, Security clerarance measures are increasing but nevertheless the hazzle at passing security is just increasing. It seems like the basic principles of clear role descriptions and optimised ways-of-working are considered as science fiction in this part of the industry. Luckily enough, my favoruite card allow me to take a separate que and zoom straight through after having taking off my shoes, belt, suitjacket, the 1 liter plastic bag and after pulling out the notebook into a separate bin.

Am I alone, not at all, here are some more views that might allow you to avoid common pitfalls, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25971832/

How do I keep motivation in place - to secure that my body is up to the pace

2008-08-31T13:29:00.002+02:00

During a stress seminar this week I learnt that the single most important factor protecting you against it, is to stay in good physical shape. Well the ideas came in handy as I had a stressful situation to deal with and have used this week to train exceptionally much to see what the result would be.

I have had a difficult time in finding the motivation/time to get a in a few exercises a week in my calendar. With thd Swedish Classic as a goal it has gone weel, but I also need a sparring partner, that I can push and by pushed by. I think I have conlcuded that it is OK to train alone sometimes but not all sessions. So the help this time came froma set of friends and an excellent social networking tool for sporty people, www.funbeat.se. It allow you to log your own training, but the great part is all the running tracks that people have added that you can use, and you can follow the sessions your friends are doing. I have just found a excellent run, close to home, that follows water the whole round and with a forgiving surface. Perfect for longer morning runs. Great as you run into a lot of people walking, runing and cycling.

During the last two weekends a number of heroes has been visible in the area. Stockholm Triathlon last week and Ladies 10km this week. I am not alone in putting up an event as a target for geeting the training done. And I realize that an important side effect of this is that a lot of people have taken a large leap forward towards reducing their stress levels and increase resistance against burn-out tendencies. I hope that I can keep it at current levels, since it is clearly helping me to get through tough moments.

When everything is clear the window of opportunity is gone - but how to deal with risk for the biggies when you are alone

2008-08-26T21:25:00.001+02:00

We all face major and minor decisions in life, some of which we pay more attention to than others. Tons of analogies and "advice" is available in written and oral form whenever the decision point is approaching, most of us feel quite alone in dealing with the risk we are prepared to take, even though we have many "advisors" around us.

When every things is clear, the window of opportunity is gone! Well formulated, easy to understand, in most cases true, but a fact that is hard to deal with as our big opportuinities/decisions in life tend to be asscoiated with the largest perceived risks. Why do things we really want have to be asssociated with the largets risks. Does it really have to be like jumping from a plane in parachute for the first time? What can I do to turn these situations from a pure horror into the positive emotion that refelect the true value of the opportunity at hand? Well let's see what we can learn from the parachutist

First rule is about the preparations. Always make sure that you have a main parachute, always make sure you have a back-up parachute and always make sure that they both work. Without any parachute you dare to jump from 2m, without a back-up it is roughly the same, and with both working your opportuntites is extended to 2000m. When approaching majoir decisions make sure that you have a clear view of your back-up plan, so that you dare to go for your really large opportunities in life

Second rule is that If you can not take a No (Back-up parchute), then do not push for a Yes (Main Parachute). You must be able to accept both options as your best and second best options in life, not a good one and a bad one. Your ability to realize this is fundamental to reach powerful decisions that involve other people, in way that both your and their objectives and feelings are reached. And stay away from the decision unless you can live with both and their respective risks

Third rule is that their is always slim chance even if both fail. You should never ever plan for it, but you should let the power of your mind stay possitive during the cruel process to improve your odds of getting through the hard impact, not on your feet, not without break legs, but with a maintained brain, heart and soul. These are the three main components required to succesfully take you through any major failure.

Most of us do not need to apply the third rule in our lifes. But for the ones that have been forced into this unattractive territory, questions about how it should have been avoided dominate in the post accident thoughts over the way more important how do I recover as far as possible. If the impact do not take out your brain, your heart and your soul you can still make miracles happen in live. An strange enough larger miracles than the ones you could create before. An trust that the ones really close to you will be there when you need them! And you as a close one you can take away your concern that the parachute will be put on again, since the best parts goiung forward will be found close to earth! Not necessarily less rewarding and worth to explore as a small decision / low risk option.

Maximum security in the air - required if we should continue to dare

2008-08-21T21:50:00.004+02:00

Yesterday was a sad day for aviation, with the accident that this time affected the Spanair MD-82 at Barajas. As terrible as it is for the ones, and their families and freinds, involved in an accident, as easy it is for the rest of us to start questioning the risks with flying. After having been grounded 4 days after September 11 I started to reflect on the risks associated with flying and the feelings of entering a plane again after a recent accident. If you have a flight coming up in the near future it might help to turn to http://www.airsafe.com/ for some facts on the risk that you are exposed to that could balance your concerns.

Contrary to my own thoughts there are quite a large number of major airlines that never have experienced an accident with fatal outcome out of which some are listed here:
EUROPE: AerLingus (Ireland), Austrian Airlines, EasyJet (UK), Finnair, IcelandAir, SN Brussels, Virgin Atlantic
ASIA: EVA Air (Taiwan), Quantas (Australia)
US & CANADA: American Trans Air, Hawaiaan Airlines, Jet Blue, Southwest
LATIN AMERICA : Air Jamaica, Allegro Airlines,
AFRICA & MIDDLE EAST: Emirates, Tunis air

The plane in the world that has done the larghest number of flights worldwide is Boeing 737. Since it was taken into service, 127 million flights has been completed and resulted in an average of 0.37 fatal accidents per 1 million flights made. The most widely used commercial jest all show figues below 1 fatal accidents per million flights. This applies both to very small planes like SAAB 340 (0.19) as well as large ones like Boeing 747 (0.79)

After having gone through the statistics I was encourged to find out that:
* My most frequently used airlines, SAS & Lufthansa, are amoing the safer ones.
* The MD-82, common on national routes, is not an especially affected airplane type
* There are three major plane models that never have been involved in a fatal accident: Boeing 777, Airbus A330 and Airbus 340
* There is no direct correlation between an airlines average flight age and their accident rates, i.e. no point of avoiding airlines with an old fleet like Northwest.

So I'll call the travel agency tomorrow and book my upcoming flights to Bonn and Amsterdam, and hope that the oil prices continue down. I am keen to see that the airlines soon will get some financial relief, so that they can focus/invest in maintaining maximum security rather than just sending big road-warrior driven checks straight to oil producers, with the Airlines primarily acting as a money transaction centeral.

From Maine lobster to German sauerkraut – is that what road-warrior life is all about

2008-08-15T20:06:00.001+02:00

One of the special opportunities with traveling extensively is the opportunity to try out the local cuisine, at the destination and en route. Both the fantastic experience enjoying the local specials with some friends and/or colleagues and the less attractive option of finishing of a three course dinner in solitude….

This week I have had the opportunity to visit Boston, which brought me down the delicious dinner route of New England Clamchowder and stuffed Maine Lobster. Did I enjoy it? Yes! Not only did I get lobster, I did get it two nights in a row, and both times in great company. It was a great end to two intensive days when we after a large team effort from 10+ people had been completing two great presentation programs, most of us coming straight from vacation and jumping into to our business travel shoes straight from flip-flops.

So where is the catch this time? Well the starter yesterday could have caused me major problems, I found a piece of glass in my clamchowder, the size of a large diamond in a wedding ring, that was hard to chew. Called the waitress, that called the manager, who called the chef, all apologizing for the major inconvenience. I am happy that I did not get it down my throat, but even more that I managed to not destroy the dinner atmosphere by moving into a lawsuit conversation with the restaurant, that could have been a highly rewarding exercise…

Well we are not done by that, the luggage loading truck at the airport bumped into the airplane when loading the last bags. The plane walls are not that thick, and a misformation could result in a bigger hole mid air so a 2 hour investigation involving the service crews at the home airport got involved. Do not know exactly what happened by we are safely approaching FRA. It is clear that we miss the connection and have a 4 hour stay at the airport, Just to get a break in the global sea foot diet, where we get an interim sauerkraut stop in between Lobster and the annual crayfish parties…

If you are a real flight nerd – make your tick seen and heard

2008-08-13T01:00:00.000+02:00

What do road-warriors do in the air these days? Beyond reading, scanning the mail boxes and having ultra light meals, certain sections of the airline magazines and brochures capture my attention. This time it was one gadget and one website that were in the road-warriors bulls-eye.

Women can always enjoy the fun of tuning their appearance by choosing different types of jewelery but men are restricted to sticking to the watch and picking a nice pair off cufflinks. MSJ has designed a nice pair of airplane cufflinks that score high of the road-warrior point scale and are sold through the web at www.saswebshop.com. Why would anyone buy them? Well signaling your road-warrior lifestyle could be a good reason. I guess they would trigger questions from those who see them, about your reason for buying them. We will see if they get my wallets vote as a necessity for noroadworries essentials in life ….

The site that could my attention was www.flightmemory.com. A site where you can log all your flights you have done, travel time spent, and airports you have visited. Finally some has figured out the hazzle of using Excel to track down your flight details. Just waiting for Internet access to try it out. And as perfectly captured in the promotion article, the fun begins when you begin showing off all those impressive travel stats to your friends. Travelers as well as non-travelers.

If you still feel that you travel profile come across in a strong enough way, you can always turn into a three letter acronym label clothes. And stuff by the New York designer Jason Solarek. Who does not want to dress up in a LHR shirt, zip coffee in a JFK cup before grapping your SYD bag and hitting the road for another great day in life. Stop dreaming, now coming to reality at www.airweardesigns.com

All for now, size the day – today’s is the first day of realizing the dreams you have about the future, and with the right attributes attached.

Living without dreaming could take you anywhere - Living by dreaming can take you everywhere

2008-08-09T19:06:00.007+02:00

This years vacation is rapidly coming to an end. Having fulfilled one dream, visiting the Seychelles, and with plenty of time to reflect on life, a number of new dreams that I am keen on realizing has surfaced. So this blog is about bigger dreams that take several years to realize and smaller ones that can be implemented in daily life. Large or small, what is important is to dare to dream and to desire to turn dreams into reality.

Smaller dreams - 10 lifestyle tuning tricks for the coming year
1. Quarterly vacation - one trip per quarter, small or big to explore new places.
2. One social night per week - too many movies, theater plays, sports events, and coffea places exist without me exploiting them together with friends
3. Private relaxation time - half an hour for books etc that can make a real difference
4. Displace my glasses with one month contact lenses, first pair tested and works really well.
5. Serious dating - life is to great to be spent alone
6. Exploit one new dinner recipe per week - preferrably fast, easy to cook and few ingredients.
7. Prepare a €1 dinner every week - to assure that the taste of better cooking/ingredients always can be appreciated.
8. Fruit for breakfast, great start of the day that so far has been left on the table ...
9. Exploit the power of vitamins - to offset to poor nutrition content in average food. Starting by testing Friway flow. http://www.friway.nu/
10. Step 2 and 3 in the Bartender course - time to get beyond pre dinner drinks and into cocktails

Larger dreams - 10 things to do in my lifetime
1. ..............................
2. Create my personal relaxation oasis - and a second "home" for the little great wonder
3. Drive a formula one car - watching black beauty triggered my desire to be behind the wheel
4. Travel the Transsiberian railway to Ulan Bator - time for some serious experiences of the east.
5. Visit Cuba while the Castro style is still there - Rum and Cigar zipping by the end of the day
6. Angkor Wat - old, facinating and a place to see before your die
7. Visit the Pyramis of Giza in Egypt - seeing the from a plane at 10 000 meters is not enough
8. Bicycle around Toscana - beauatiful area to enyoj in slow pace and with great food.
9. Marrakech demystified - what is the feeling really all about
10. Watch Indy 500 - curious about the Brickyard experience shared by 300 000 people

Dreaming high is a pre-requisite for living life at its full potential. Challenge your mind and your life will be rewarded accordingly.

Is the Seychelles a tropical paradise - or just a place that is nice at a hefty price

2008-08-02T05:52:00.008+02:00

It is time to summarize the trip to the Seychelles and highlight the points that could make your trip to the same location a NoRoadWorries experience, independant if you travel alone, as a couple or as part of a bigger group.

TEN GREAT THINGS ABOUT THE SEYCHELLES
1. The relaxing atmosphere - if you can not find yourself a relaxing time, especially on La Digue, you need to search for a doctor at home ASAP
2. The non-crowded beaches - plenty of 2-3km long beaches with coral sand and turquiose water, without a lot of people as the total number of hotel rooms on the island group is restricted to 5 000. Do not miss Beau Vallon and Port Launay (Mahe), Anse Volbert and Anse Lazio (Praslin) and and Anse Severe (La Digue). Great for morning walks when the tide is low.
3. Small family run hotels - from 3 to 8 rooms, friendly staff, easy to get to know both staff and guests, and of course the the tropical fruit part of the breakfast.
4. A secure place - the governements investment in education for kids (96% literacy) is paying off with no criminality, you can leave your bike without a lock. Expect most people to say hi to you in the streets, locals as well as adapted tourists.
5. Bicycle around - the way to move on La Digue and also a good option on Praslin. OK to very good mouantin bikes for rent inexpensively. Watch out for the hills on Praslin, and skip the bike and walk upto Belle Vue on La Digue.
6. Buses - the excellent route system on Mahe and the frequent schedule make bussing around at 25 eurocent per trip a great way to see the island. Rent a car one day a stick to buses for the rest.
7. Fish Dishes - Stick to a Tuna and Red Snapper diet, with the additions of the creole sauce and papaya/mango chutney (made out of not yet ripe fruits). Fish bought by the fishermens on the beach or on the creole restaurants (La Perle Noire and Al Mare in Beau Vallon are great picks).
8. Pizza - with the strong italian influence there are plenty of pizza places, go for a smoked fish pizza at Baobab and you will not be disappointed. And even better Pizza is coming at the expense of McDonald's, that do not exists in the Seychelles!
9. CoCo de Mer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coco_de_mer - The fantastic coco fruits found in Valle De Mai is well worth a visit, just logging on to the website will not give you the full or even right story http://www.coco-de-mer.com/our_philosophy
10. Jo Nesbö books - Great company in Norway as well as on the Seychelles beaches

TEN NOT SO GOOD THINGS THAT YOU SHOULD BE AWARE OF
1. Euro cash - Even though the Seychelles have a local currency, the rupee, you are asked to pay hotels, food, boat trips etc in Euro, and the official exchange rate (12:1) vs the frequent black market rate (18:1) and limited penetration of credit card readers (taxis, national parks) make it necessary to plan for bringing plenty of Euro cash, so 20th century ...
2. Marine Charter Association - or rather Marine Cheat-You Association, a tour operator that take any chance to take you on a €80 snokeling trip to the St.Anne Marine National Park, even when the visibility in the water is zero and the weather do not permit snorkling. Logic please ?
3. Beers & drink culture - the only two international beers locally produced are Guiness (on a beach??) and EKU (not a curerency!!), who did come up with that choice?? You will have to work hard to find a bar that can provide such advanced drinks as a Dry-Martini! SeyBrew, the local beer brand that you can find everywhere and is worth trying out.
4. Inter island catamaran boats - the ocean between the main islands is quite bumby and the 25 knot trip on the fast catamarans is a roller coaster experience, do not eat 6 hour prior to your trip, or you will have to get assisted by the crew with their paperbags.
5. Air Seychelles short flights - they provide a 40km (15min) flight between Mahe and Praslin for €78 one way!!! Sufficient to take you on a 4h round trip flight with Ryan Air anywhere in Europe.
6. Raw material for cooking food - the hilly islands do not leave much room for agriculture businesses and as a consequence most food is imported, limited to global brands at hefty prices.
7. July weather - Mostly cloudy, a bit rainy and the windy seasons should be avoided since it stir up the fine sand bottom in the ocean and erase visibility and hence snorkeling and diving experiences. It was difficult to get a clear and cohesive answer on when it is best to travel but April and October seem to be the safest bets.
8. Even family run hotels with Backpacker standard are difficult to find below €70 per double room and the day trips to islands are €80 and upwards per person. But since there are only five star hotels built, the only way prices can go is up, so sooner rather than later is the best advice if you are keen on getting to know this special part of the world.
9. Anse Source D'argent - Suggested as one of the best beach, turned into a national park with a €4 cash only entrance fee. Highly overrated as a bech since it is too narrow at high tide unless you like to stay in the bush.
10. La Dark!- there are only two street lights on the whole La Digue island, so bringing a torch /flashlight, or a SonyEricsson K850i with built in flashlight, is a necessity to find your way to the resaturants in the evening.

Too conclude, a bit pricy but worth exploring before Five star only Hotels and Super-Yacht marinas on man-made islands, like eden island http://www.edenisland.sc/ becomes the norm.

Just because life is going in a pace so slow - does not mean that your reward is low

2008-07-23T14:17:00.002+02:00

Just about to come to an end of my first 10 days without any plans in a friendly family hotel in the Seychelles. The idyllic island across the ocean in front of my hotell, called Silhouette, has been just a silhouette since we have had a bit of clouds almost everyday. Recently the wind has been picking up and the wind converted yesterday's snorkeltrip to a marine park into a trip, since all the fine sand in the water was stirred up by the wind and visibility turned into zero. Happily enough I did not let rain ruin my day, I just changed plans and bought spices at the market instead

The waterscooter, the windsurfingbaord, the kayak, the diving tubes are all standing on the beach when I pass on my morning walk and I am quite pleased with myself that they are all standing there even after I have passed. Not having to test a new thing is part of my first 10 relaxing days where reading books under a tree on the beach has been a great joy. The only new thing I should have tested was the new sun tanning lotion, and done it already on the first day. I am still facinated by my own idea that a lit bit of sun can not make you suntanned. I guess I will be leaving the Mahe island on Friday with most of the skin I came in, remaining in my bed ....

I am staring to become the "oldtimer" at the small hotel and have seen many new guest come and go. The fun part of staying at an 8 room hotel, with an included 8-9am breakfast, is that you almost get to know all guest by name. Last night we had a beer and chat evening at the veranda about all kinds of things. We you have the opportunity to German drink beer with a South African, working for a Candian mine company in Mauretania you certainly pick up a few new things in life. Give me a week or two and I might be able to put both Mocambique and Bhotwsana in the right place on a map, and spell them right....

But that is a task for when I get back to home , no it is time to do a few activities around Mahe, and a few days of Island hopping to Praslin (slower) and La Digue (slooooowest) before heading back. I even avoided the temptation to put Praslin as #149 with some good assitance from the Air Sechelles airfares for domestic 15min hops.

Seycehlles in July, R U crazy - Not at all just wanting to relax and be lazy

2008-07-19T13:01:00.003+02:00

Seychelles in July, their winter, does not sound like a good option for a sunny summer vacation at first glance, but it is not as bad as it sounds. This is the dry season, and the wind from the south could be avoided at south facing beaches. In the summer Seychelles get as much rain in a month as the UK get in a year, and we all know that it rains quite a bit in the UK, so going their in July is not that bad after all.

The Seychelles is the worlds smallest country with an international airline, Air Seychelles. Funny fleet of aircrafts, 767s to Europe, Asia and South Africa, and Dash-8 for the 15 minute hop from the capital Mahe on Victoria to the seond biggest island, Praslin. Enough about the planes and the airport, that turned out to be the #148 on my list of visited airports. The reason for me ending up here were a recommnedation in #Thousand places yous should see before you die" and some spare airmiles.

Starting of at Mahe, the principal island, in a small small place, Georginas Cottage at the Beau Vallon beach is a great place. 50m from the beach make you go to sleep with the waves coming in, at a pace of around 10 waves per minute, and perfect tempreature for sleeping with an open window. Waking up to the same waves and the noice of the first bus passing by to town. The staff is offering a brekfast, with a view over the bay, at least you can se the ocean through the palms :) My first days has been as lazy as I hoped they would be, reading books on the beach or in the armchair just outside my room. So far Mons Kallentoft, Karin Alvtegen and Kajsa Ingemarsson hass been standing for the entertainment.

The daily problems for people in the Seychelles are oppsoite to mine, at least if the stores are right. They sell Schampoo in 750ml packages and Body lotion in 100ml dito. I am quite convinced that my skin has a bigger problem than my hair, which does not seem to be mainstream here. At least my bodylotion smells better than my neighbour who in a desperate move at the airport, bought a 100ml alcohol bottle, did drink the content, and poured in his sun tanning oil. I am noy quite sure that his skin will be feeling good after a treatment with that mixture.

Coming to the challenging part of travelling alone, who do I eat with and/or how, where, if shall I eat had a pleasant surprise for me yesterday. An italian couple next door asked me to join when we run into each other outside the local Pizzeria/Kebab house. A loal pizza speciality with smoked fish caught my attention and was a bargain at 4 Euro. The evening was finished off at the "Al Mare" restaurant , sitting directly on the beach, with a double espresso. I got a lot of inspiration and ideas for exploring new places in Italy going forward. I was also very fascinated that the Italian couple decided to share their evening with a Swede, especially as they were on their honey-moon. A truly enyojable evening.

Key take-aways so far from Mahe. As long as there is a pizzeria/kebab place, you can find joy all the way from Mahe in the Seychelles to Grangarde in Sweden, as long as you dare to enyoj all the great people around you, both best friends and the ones you just have been given the opportunity to get to know. Now back to books and and some relaxing time in the shade.

Finishing the swedish half classic in style - and celebrating with champagne a long while

2008-07-14T08:38:00.009+02:00

Accomplishing goals and rewarding yourself afterward is perhaps one of the greatest feelings of all. Last year one of my greatest inspiration sources in life explained the idea of having the "Swedish Classic" as a training target for the year. I did not buy into the idea from the beginning but felt that a 15km run in the woods of Lidingö would be doable. The great feeling of crossing the finishing line, and knowing that I had a "sparring partner" close by made me re-think. I set up as a goal to complete the "Half Classic" a goal that I accomplished yesterday.

The last event was the Vansbrosimningen. The one I was most concerned about. 3km in 17.8 degree water created all kind of negative feelings before. Lodging was a bit tricky to find but we ended up with together with 8 swimmers renting rooms in an old lady's house in the small village Skamhed. Yes we stayed next to the famous Gunde Svan. Saturday morning was spent on finding out the optimal "grease" to use as a complement to the wetsuit for insulation. We skipped the "Wool Grease" idea and went for more a simpler approach, both in terms of getting on and getting off. My sparring partner did an excellent effort in the Ladies Swim on the Saturday and came out of the water with the words "The cold is not an issue" and my self esteem got a big big boost.

The big day was characterized by strange weather, everything from heavy rain to sunshine. Walked along an old railroad to the starting line, putting on the short-leg/short-arm wetsuit and filling in with grease. 15 minutes ahead of start your were allowed to enter the starting zone. At the startsignal, which by the way was a "Good luck", we walked into the water and started to swim. The first feeling is I am standing still, since you tend to look at hundreds of swimcaps around you that also move, so I started to take references sideways of the river. 1km passed approx. 8 minutes faster than I have done in a 50m pool! Yes the current is with you in the beginning.

Not as cold as I had expected, nice cruice the first 2150 meters, until you make the turn and enter the slightly colder river and with the current against you. Two funny guys in a boat asking everybody if they needed coffea and/or sugar!!! while we were swimming. Bigger "waves" splashing into your face, sticking close to the landing stage (brygga) were the current is weakest. Starting to get tougher but with visibility of the goal. A little bit of cramp in one arm with 500 meter to go. Recieveing a loud cheer close to the finishing line, and the finally the hand in the wall signalling goal reached. Almost impossible to move from swimming to walking due to poor response from my legs. A bit cold, but really happy to have reached the goal. The entire journey of the "Swedish Classic" is a journey for, with and against yourself. Physically demanding, but perhaps even more so mentally demanding, and getting used to a lot of sportsgear and techniques you havbe not used at all or not in a long time.

But I was the happiest of all participants because I had the best friend you can think of to share these events, and training before them, as well as all memories with. Staying at odd locations, eating att peculiar road-restaurants, training on badly preparied skis etc. etc. Reaching the fifth goal, the Swedish Classic dinner last night, is a strong a beautiful memory that I will carry the rest of my life. Put the icing on the cake have never felt more appropriate to use. Our accomplishments never get greater than the ones we can share them with, and I am really greateful to have been given a friend that take me on new journeys in life, encourage me to fulfill my goals and stay with me to the end for the celebration. Do I feel spoiled? Do I feel lucky? You bet!!!

Now I just look forward to reach my stretched goal, the Full Classic, which require some additional 30km of running in September ....

By plane 3km is a 12 second show - But put yourself in a river and you will be really slow

2008-07-09T21:23:00.006+02:00

The two extremes of transportation pace in life, flying and swimming, is the topic for todyas blog. We are just a few days shy of the swedish swimming classic "Vansbrosimmet" and I am gearing up for the final event of the four event sport challenge started last year.

Last week I etsted the wetsuit/s in a lake. The answer to the short sleeve or long sleeve question, is likely to be both. I have gotten a lot of funny comments. "Can you really swim?". "I should go there just to see what you look like when you reach the goal". I guess it was well deserved commenst, since I used life a life west for swimming classes in first and second grade, was the only one that hardly could swim when I applied for Snorkel diving in 7:th grade, and was freezing in 24 degree water when I took my scuba license.

Nevertheless, here I am 3km away from the goal. 2km downstream in one river, turing into 1km upstream in another river, plenty of people. Everyone a winner in his/her own race against our set ambitions to reach their own golad, and where the primary competitor is the 16.8 degrees that is going to surround you. Sounds like the "Ulster grease" is going to be a necessity, and you can look forward to the stories on how you remove it afterwards. I have heard that you need a bit more than soap and hot water.

I have also realised that swimming is the absolutely slowest transporation method for mankind, crusing at a stunning 2km/h in Bretrahstroke make biking feeling like going with the Space shuttle. The only thing that I am 100% sure about is that a wetsuitstyled champagne cooler have never been better suited for celebrating things, so the old widdow have a job to do .......

Why go on vacation to Rome - When you can enyoj the summer in Stockhome

2008-07-05T18:27:00.004+02:00

Summer has arrived to Stockholm in great style. Warm weather, great outdoor restaurants and bars, and water temperature gradually heating up.

Last night was enjoyed with bar hopping and with an exercize to come up with suitable drink names for a Olympic game inspired party. The results so far are:
* Zola Buddweiser - a beer that you will run your shoes of.
* Susanna Kahlua - after swedish coffea drink that take you over all obstacles
* Ragnar Skanåker - a well directed shoot of the swedish Ragnar drink
* Sex on the Beach-Volleyball - details to be defined
* Donovan Bailyes - the fastest drink you can get

The sun did today lure out all city citizens and all tourists to anyoy the swedish summer. In the preparation for the upcoming swimming event I did 2000m in the olympic pool to get a feeling for the pace I can keep. At the exit I checked with the guards for about what teh temperature was. Turned out to be at 27-28 degrees. A quick consultation on the Vansbro home page made it clear that my wetsuit/s arrangements need to close the 10!!! degree gap between 28 & 18. Tomorrow is the big wetsuit testing day .....

When you think that life is hard - turn to a small box with a possitive card

2008-07-01T22:31:00.006+02:00

In Småland, the swedish entrepreneurial heart of Sweden, a small company called PrincessPe has been started by Alexandra and Ulrika, who I do not know. Their tag line "Every girl deserves to be treated like a princess" made me curious and I have just received one of their first products in my hand.

It is a small black box with a set of cards designed to work as a self motivator. The following one-liners were the ones that stuck in my mind
* I am boss over my own life
* In my own way, I am a genius
* When I start to believe in myself, others will do it as well
* The whole world is full of opportunities for me
* Life provides endless opportunities, and only I can capture them
* I am greatful for all the experiences that life give me
* I am happy that I have been given a life that is worth living
* I provide happiness to the people that I meet
* I have a goal in life, and I am taking small steps at a time to reach it.
* I am beautiful from the inside and out

Like the enterpreneurs that created ther princess business http://www.princesspe.se/ I think that both you and I deserve to be treated like a King or Queen and that the treatment is likely to start with our three strongest supporters; me myself and I. Sounds like promoting a large transformation campaign towards an ego world? Not really, but a taking a few steps in the direction towards rewarding ourselves for being the hero in our small and big daily challenges is not a bad thing to try out.

Peligro papa cocinando – Y yo lo estoy ayudando

2008-06-24T17:26:00.003+02:00

Or translated to English “Danger dad is cooking, and I am helping him” was the text on this years fathers’ days present (an apron) created at the pre-school where the great inspiration source to this website, a three and a half year old girl, goes to school. It was a great honor to receive apron as a present, with hand made prints of the small girls’ hands on the front. So nice that it can rarely be used and rather deserves a place on the kitchen wall.
But it also triggers some thoughts about how far equality between the woman and man has developed in Northern Europe. Here we argue and debate if we are equal or not if dad spends six out of the available fifteen paternity leave months at home and mom enjoys nine months of the same. Such a question could even trigger some political parties to start entertaining the idea to put in place further rules to secure that an absolute even distribution can be secured. A peculiar part of the debate is that most of the discussion seems to have an element about each of the parents right to not be away longer than necessary from their chosen career path.
This debate make sound way out of proportion when compared to some Latin American countries where parenthood for fathers seem to occur briefly nine months before the children are born and the take a break until the child come to life, when it is restarted in form of a financial biased responsibility. The idea that a father could be careful, eager to give love, capable of changing dipers, able to heat pre-cooked food, willing to pick up at pre-school are not within the general perception of the expected. But even worse is that the possibility seems to be so far beyond imagination that having seagulls flying to Mars is perceived closer to reality set.
As a consequence the legislation in place to secure fathers rights are created on a reversed human rights principle, namely since one father might step a way from his responsibilities end expected duties at some point in time, let us make sure that all rights for all fathers are relegated to the lowest possible to make sure that the few irresponsible ones are properly screened out. Common rules secure that fathers going through a divorce can not travel with their kids until they are four years of age within the country and not to other countries until they are nine. Is travel the main part of kids lives, definitively not. But an often missed point with regards to equality between the sexes is what fundamentals need to be in place to secure that the development potential for the child is secured. Having travelled this avenue for quite some time, I am suggesting the following to be important fundamentals:
1) The ability for both parents and their respective cultures/families to play a role in influencing and developing a child’s personality.
2) No parent has the right to make decisions on behalf of his/her child with regards to reducing the other parents potential to influence the child’s development.
3) A bi-directional trust when one parent is taking care of a child that whatever is done is in the best intentions of the child.
All fathers deserve the opportunity to be able to watch their children in their eyes when they turn twenty and describe how they have contributed to their lives, without society and mothers relegating the fatherhood rights just being associated with a “green pile of dough”. Fathers worldwide can cook better than that, way better. Now it is just about getting that onto the mind/imagination map in a number of countries, where mothers ironically enough outsource cooking!!!

Have you ever thought what it is like – to spend a whole night on a bike

2008-06-16T15:40:00.001+02:00

Starting Saturday morning at 00:24 I took on a major challenge, when starting the 300km long bicycle race around lake Vättern as part of my journey to accomplish the Swedish classic.
In all the information material sent out form the organizers the general suggestion was to cycle at least 1000km for not so serious riders and at least 2000km for serious riders prior to the race. There have been moments recently when my preparations did not feel up to proposed standards. My previous bike has had a flat tire for at least five years. During the winter training, the 12 intensive minutes during the spinning sessions was enough to make me really tired. I bought my race kit late April and just managed to accomplish 500km of training.
Friday afternoon and it was time to take off for the small town of Motala on the North Western shores of Vättern. Weather reports were signaling rains and cold weather. Uuuh! Started to think about what I would need in addition to my standard outfit - bought an extra cap, warm socks and extra strong lights.
The first experience was about how to ride on a bike in a group. Just behind another ones wheel, expected to understand all the small signs used for dangers and directions change, in darkness, and with a lot of read light around you, 60 new ones every 2 minutes to be specific enabling all 18 000 riders to start the race during the night. I missed the first food stop, since I did not want to loose the group that was running smoothly. Lost the chain ones when missing a gear and were forced to stop and then chase the group in an energy consuming effort.
The second experience was the cold. After having eaten Bananas, Blueberry soup and Sweet Scones (Swedish Bullar) on the food stop and done body stretching, it was time for the third stint to Jönköping. Really cold the whole journey and I was grateful for having bought the extra cap to have under my helmet. A lot of downhill slopes where we were going really fast. Imagine a small road, a slow trail of bikes to the right and faster ones just passing, and a really fast passing the semi-fast. Bikers occupying a complete lane, and when meeting trucks going the other way, you wanted to make sure you had margins to stay in your lane. Beautiful sunrise.
The third experience was the steep hills from Jönköping to Fagerhult, the highest point on the course.. That was when I figured out that the chain was playing games again, I had lost the two lowest gears, that I really needed, so I hand to compensate by standing up. Did then join a group that was going a bit too quick so the first real test for your mind about staying with the group and go fast or slow down and ride o your own. I stayed to the next stop.
The journey from Fagerhult through Hjo and up to Karlsborg was smooth. Heating up a bit and starting to see the road with own eyes, not only trusting the guy up front. I started to feel comfortable that my target of making the trip in 12 hours was within reach. Just fighting against the fourth experience, that is about having your mind to neglect the pain in butt and back. The butt pain is what everybody talks about, but the static position on the steering gear was starting be noticed. Best way to explain how to achieve it is to stand in front of your TV, with your knees and hands to the floor and “stand like that for a couple of hours.
The fifth experience was described at the lasagna break in Hjo, The race does not really start until after Karlsborg. That when the ups and downhill slopes start. I skipped a food stoop believing that I have had too much lasagne on the previous one. Wrong idea! At the turn on the top of the lake it started to get more windy, and with the wind against us. And the route was very much up and down, and still missing the two lowest gears each uphill gave me problems in sticking to the group. Started to run out of energy, and started to see the pace going down.
The sixth experience was after the food stop in Hammar, with 43km to go. I was on a tight schedule to reach the target and when leaving the station, had no one to follow. Finally I saw a jersey that I recognized from a previous group. I followed but did not have any energy to leave. 20km left and I decided to skip the last food stop and give it a good, joined a semi-fast group with a pace that almost could take me to my goal. Left main roads and continued on twisty narrow one lane roads. A fast three main trail approached, and I took the decision to join that group and give it a go to the finish. Full speed pedaling at top gear, and it was really hard just to follow. I managed for 8-9km before we turned out to the main road, 6km left and plenty of time to reach the goal and I continued to pedal at my own pace.
Approaching the finishing line I felt extremely happy and crossed the finishing line with a big smile, a tear in my eye and an arm in the air, and the closk stopped att 11.51!!! We all carry dreams and goals and make smaller or larger efforts in reaching them. For me this race was not so much about bicycling as it was about making a huge deposit in my self confidence account. Deposits where the value gets higher if the efforts are bigger. No I am more ready to take on new goals and challenges in life, and not fear the problems and pains that stand between me and accomplishing what I really want.

When someone loves Black & White - can they provide colour and light

2008-06-03T21:49:00.002+02:00

In our dreams, we do often project the most vibrant scenes full of colours. This might lead us to believe that the best moments in life are when all colours are in play, and that we should target a rainbow like life as our main objective
Nevertheless the most rewearding moments in life often come when you live your life in black & white. Not meaning that it should just be at the two extremes but how to get the most our of the grey shades in between that represent far more colours than the basic colours of the rainbow.
Having played around with photoshop and pushed the magic "Black & White" button, and new perspective from above opened up. When applied to your expectations of life, it is easier to enjoy life when your basic expectations are set in black and white.
When looking forward to a glass of white bubbles, a dark hand collecting white ashes, some dark wine enjoyed in a dark jacket sitting by a white table after sun set. Imagine the setting and then let the human interactions in the forms of small smiles, great comments, serious thoughts, a nice song, words of peotry and some cooking adding the colours to the picture.
Many great persons set their life expecations in colour and take the full spectrum of colours for granted as an everyday thing. The great ones set their expectations in black and white, love the black and white perspective on life and get rewarded when the human interactions is the spice that bring colour to an ordinary day.
And you should search for people in your neighbourhood that loves black and white, they are likely to be the strongest sources of light and coulour that possibly could be brought to your life.

How to get a fantastic life - with or without man & wife

2008-05-28T21:54:00.004+02:00

Most of us have, or have a friend that has, tried to create the perfect life. A life with a great wife/husband, kids, career, employyer, place to live, summer house, car and plenty of cash to do whatever you want. But have you ever reflected on that you actually have two choices, either search for the perfect life and hope for a lot of great days to come as a result, or to search for the perfect day, and let a great life come as a result.
When searching for a great life, the odds are against you, you have one shoot at finding the right one of all the parameters you decide to be relevant for your fantastic life, and every time one or several of them fails, a serious set-back have been put into your perfect journey, and a lot of bad days could follow. The odds are further worsened by the fact that all things you strive for are big in nature and hard to reach and tend to show up one at a time per year at best, often as a result of a multi-year journey.
Why not turning to something easier and more rewarding, why not search for the perfect day, every day, Mondays, Wednesdays as well as Thursdays. You have 7 chances every week, all 52 weeks of the year and all years of your life.
First do not restrict your options to just Fridays evenings, Saturdays and Sundays. Second find the small things in life that make you happy, things where one a day make the difference between a mediocre and a great day. Start by consulting your childhood memory for fun things, the small things you liked as a kid are most likely things that you would enyoj today. An effort to stay teenager by 75 might be a better option than grown up by 25.
Next try to interact daily with at least one person that constantly have a possitive impact on your energy level, a personal meeting, a phone call, a mail, an SMS, a chat or
a classical postcard is more rewarding that you might think, independently if you where the initiating party or not.
One of my best friends live after the slogan "do not die curious" adopt that by testing new things that you have not tried before. Typical bachelor party activities might spice up your life in between, or when all your friends are married. When did you last play curling, did fence, biked around or hosted a party or whatever you have thought about doing.
And last but not least, search for the small things in life that make can your day rewarding, one or two chapters in a book, a physical exercize, a new ingredient in your cooking for dinner, a new song from iTunes or simply completing a long overdue action that is bugging you.

With these ideas I hope that you have founds some thoughts that could allow you to create a great life based on a large number of fantastic days, as an alternative the task of creating the perfect life, that is an overwhelming task for most of us humans.

How to find a seat - that is hard to beat

2008-05-28T00:45:00.004+02:00

How often have you been left with an unattarctive seat in the plane. Quite often I would assume. Most of us tend to prefer an isle or a window seat. Especially the emergency exit seats with extra leg room (mmmm) tend to be very attractive.
But how come that someone else is always lucky and get those seats and I get stuck in the middle of a five seat row on a 777 or just in front of a wall?
Fortunately your problem is quite easy to manage. First step is to always assure that you have a pre-assigned seat on the so called seat map, from that you can start working upwards, without you are in stand-by-ish mode and subject to suffer.
Second, when you know your number and the plane type, check-out where your assigned seat is located, and with the excellent support of http://www.seatguru.com/ (that you of course have bookmarked on your cellphone) your are off to a flying start.
Last but not least, the rest is just about big smiles and nice talking at the check-in desk, where a gold coloured card might come in handy. That is all for now.

Begining another year - without even a small fear

2008-05-24T00:49:00.002+02:00

30 years ago I was celebrated by my best friends in school when I celebrated my birthday. But since then techniology has changed Birtday celebration reality.

Today celerbration are likely to show up as SMSes, Mail, Phone calls, Fcaebook and other resources. Interesting this year is that teh URL ones is supassing the IRL (In real Life) ones. Having done a not so systematic innvestigation for my own celebrations yesterday I have concluded that water is a key area of research.

Another important reflection is how people appoach you on your birthday, direct por indirect, and in case direct with which toools. In order not to completely change the scope, new sections still be indluded in SvD as well as in TV.

An interesting observation is that Tier 2 Public services companies are slow of teh block and awaited the regional upgrade for these equipment anyway. The journey is not my arena is about to start talking about the journey itself.

I suggest that we today stand back a bit on our own merits for the ones that really make a difference to my life, physical or mental. For people really close to you ( that celebrate you in multiple ways) you are likely to pursue a special sign/s that people can relate to. Being celeberated by SMS, Phone call and Facebook makes you feel really good as well as creating a platform for growth as well as understanding where you have real friends

All the best for now

In order to get a Road-warrior medal - how far do I need to push the pedal

2008-05-22T16:58:00.002+02:00

As you all have figured out by now there is a Full membership category for Road-warriors that we after much research and hard real-life practice has developped. Below we are sharing quite a bit of details about how to get this respectful level and can carry your frequent flyer airline badges as war-medals for all travel done as a road-warrior

You know you have become a full road-warrior citizen when you:
1. have visited more than 100 airports
2. know your two passport numbers by heart
3. know the five most useful back-up routes for your inter-continental flight favorites
4. have done “the loop” in less than a week with just hand luggage
5. are always happy at arrival as you just travel with hand luggage and computer bag
6. only buy suits that are non-wrinkle and look nice after 24 hours in your hand luggage and express that as your primary buying criteria in up market clothing stores.
7. have a flat (lightweight) Ethernet cable in your laptop bag
8. eliminate in-flight noise with noise-cancellation ear-plugs
9. save time with back-to-back overnight/red-eye flights even if conducted in economy class
10. have done four (4) flight legs in a single day
11. know which row, in your most frequently travelled plane types, that is the first row in Economy without possibility to put your legs under the seat in front.
12. always feed yourself with a decent meal on airports before departing in Economy class.
13. get re-booked to the best possible option independent of alliance when delayed and flying Economy.

An last but not least, a fun game you can play with colleagues that you think could be Junior or Senior Road-warriors, Just ask them before a long flight how many airports they have visited. 9 out of 10 start to calculate and are either eager or shy of telling the result ......

I have often been abroad - Am I qualified as a warrior of the road

2008-05-21T07:55:00.005+02:00

The terminnology road-warrior was invented by frequent bsuiness travelllers, but to date there has been a lot of unclarities what it really takes to be considered a road-warrior. Many believe that i can be done by car and boat, but here is the first Global Road-warrior definition, on the entry level, sometimes called Road-Warrior Jr

1. have visited more than 80 airports in your life
2. have your passport number stored in your mobile phone and/or PDA
3. know the last daily inter-continental connections, east and west, out of your home hub
4. have done “the loop” on business trip or as a back-packer in your youth.
5. is sick of waiting for your bag at the conveyor belt and/or waiting to report lost luggage
6. buy suits that are likely to be politically correct in a large number of countries and does not wrinkle easily.
7. have an Ethernet cable in your Laptop bag for use in hotels
8. eliminate in-flight noise with a noise-cancellation head-set
9. hate back-to-back overnight/red-eye flights from own experiences.
10. are fed up with the poor food offered by airlines in economy class
11. understand what 3-4-3 and 2-3-2 stands for in airline-lingo and knows immediately what aisle seat to get in what configuration to minimize disturbance from fellow passengers with small bladders.
12. have done three (3) flight legs in a single day to reach your destination
13. get re-booked to a better option that the default, offered by the airline, when delayed

Serious fun - taking a bike run

2008-05-18T21:35:00.003+02:00

Greater Stockholm is well equipped with bike paths all across the city. This make the hunt for bike lanes way simpler than the hunt for snow this winter. My next journey is about realizing the bike ride around the lake Vättern, starting at 0.32 in the morning on June 14 and going on for some 300km along the lake.

This weekend I have learnt a lot of new things that I need to do as part of the preparation. I need to take a course or practize how to cycle in a group. Using the brakes is absolutely forbidden, just imagine could happen behind you. And I need to figure out what to do when you are first and how you do when you back off from the lead. Rumor says that the ones that do not follow the rules are penalised. Not looking forward to someone putting a bicyclepump in my wheel.
I need to find the apporiate air level in the tires, a little bit too much and it roll easy, but get a bit bumpier. I am Starting to get a feeling how to pedal both up and down.

Cyclling is also a great way to get to know new parts of the town that you never see, pass by car. The bike run goes on bike pavements, streets in single appartment house areas, many tunnels, and with signs in most locations. An finally I managed to get all the way to my destination without too many detours

Starting to look forward to the second of the four challenges in my "get back in shape" journey that started with the "Vasaloppet" earlier this year. A really good feeling to travel to route towards a "Swedish Classic" and the shape is geeting there.

A road-warrior DNA - defined by visted airport's TLA

2008-05-14T22:15:00.003+02:00

Road-warriors are, after golfers, a category of people that love to tell stories about their own travel experiences. One crazier than the other and horror storries about delayed flights, bad food, long connections etc. An they certainly do not mind adding juicy details that never did occured in reality but make your the effort sounding bigger than it really was. We will soon introduce you to how you can identify if yourself or someone in your neighbourhood is a road-warrior.

But before that we are happy to here announce some pretty groundbreaking reasearch where the DNA model for road-warrior has been established and help you to easily get an identity. It is done by simply identifying 10 favourite destinations and then putting together the Airport Three Letter Acronyms (TLA) into an information string in falling order of importance that is unique indentifier for all road-warriors

The road-warrior DNA for the author of this blog is articulated as follows

CUZ-MYY-ACA-JRO-CNS-ZNZ-ADZ-CUN-NCE-LIS

You can now easily develop your own Road-warrior DNA by combining any of the 9 480 Airports that have an airport code associated with it and that represent your 10 favourite locations in the world. If you remémber the city but have forgotten the code, just check out
http://www.world-airport-codes.com/

Pls. note that Road-warrior DNAs might change over time as you find new favourite locations in the world.

Manhattan is GR8 4 a walk - or just zipping coffea and talk

2008-05-12T23:17:00.006+02:00

Two friends decided to take some days off and fly to New York,
with the intention to visit SOHO and get some relax from work.
With a strategy to avoid narrow streets and stick to the Broad-way
they eventually crossed a bridge to Brooklyn as part of their stay
and finished the first day with a lunch on pasta and slices of pork.

On European time zone in Big Apple you always wake up as an early bird,
and when hanging outside the lobby some locals could take your for nerd.
But doing people spotting with a latte turned out to be a great start,
on days free from stress and enyojable in a number of small relaxing parts.
Instead of adopting the fast paced tempo and joining the NY morning herd.

With a cheap dollar it was hard to avoid shopping items from Converse
but we soon learnt that colours and choices were quite diverse.
In our eager to find the best deal at a really low price
we almost forgot the importance of finding the right shoe size
But the result was presents to people in our home part of Universe.

But the really rewarding part was a company that you could find only in a good wish
and that is many times better than champagne and Waldorf's famous sallad dish.
Giving you a perspective of life better than the view from the top of Empire state,
and superior insights about how to turn your life into something fantastic and great.
Allowing you to look forward to cruising the hardest oceans with the ease of a fish.

Flying by plane - does it have to be a pain

2008-05-11T05:05:00.002+02:00

As a starting point to get this blog off the ground, I have just been encouraged some of the one liners in recent Continental Airlines commercials as spotted recently in the New York area that capture the essence of how travel tie into life essentials.....

"Non-stop to most places worldwide - stopping is so ... bus" (Spotted on a bus of course)

"Great advice for choosing an restaurant - and an airline"

"Some of our colleagues cut back on the small things - like service"

"When you don't get a meal, everthing looks like food"

For further entertainment turn to http://www.continental.com/web/en-us/content/company/advertising/commercials.aspx

Is this blog for me - or should I let it be

2008-05-10T23:51:00.009+02:00

Journey's in life or on the road/rail//water/sky is getting increasingly cumbersome but this blog has the intention to provide you with Fun and/or useful insights about how you could turn your life into a pleasant journey.

If you recognize one or several of the hazzles below as beeing part of your daily life, you might consider bookmarking this blog for future access:

* Would like to turn your frequent "Road warrior" hazzles into an experience free of worries, i.e. the essence of the expansion of the Australian "No Worries" philosophy into NoRoadWorries.
* See the "life puzzle" as your daily challenge, and question if it really should represent the practical upper limit for your potential to enjoy life as much as possible.
* Do not manage to see your children on a daily basis when they are young without smaller or larger travel arrangements.
* Feel that the "digital natives" generation is pushing you from behind, and that they manage to experience more of the world/life that you did ever dare .
* Wonder why there is always one guy who gets on board ahead of you, and where your life/travel often seem to come with a "Stand-by" sticker attached to it.

The inspiration and the idea for this blog has come from numerous hours of zick-zacking in planes across the globe with especial recognition to three persons. 1. A great colleague of mine for the orginal crazy idea to start logging airports that we had visited. 2. A small girl that for most of the time will be a looong trip away from one of her parents. 3. A woman that was instrumental in taking me through a tunnel in life and that continuosly make me dream about new inspirational things with passion and trigger me to take own actions to realize these dreams whenever possible.