Way back when, in my former life as a lawyer, I had to take work trips. Regularly enough that I was temporarily upgraded to silver frequent flyer status. Aside from a free pass into the Qantas lounge, I wasn't there long enough to work out the difference from bronze! But I digress...work trips...
For the case I was working on at the time, they generally involved domestic flights between Canberra and Brisbane, sometimes Sydney, and on the one occasion a flight to Dubbo to collect a car and drive as far as Warren. For those unfamiliar with Australian geography or who are familiar with Australian geography but wonder what and where the f*ck Warren is, it's a small country town in western New South Wales whose population increased 25% the night my colleague and I stayed there!
The accommodation budget during said work trips depended on your position so you could well end up in a different hotel to a more senior colleague or even the client and you were awarded an allowance for out of pocket expenses, measured on how many hours/days/meals you were away for. To avoid unnecessary cost and time out of the office some work trips meant getting the first flight out of a morning and returning on the last. And your time out of the office was spent working. Every 6 minutes had to be justified and of course, billed back to the client. Some of the more exciting moments I recall on work trips were driving through a locust storm (on the way to Warren!), playing a game of Scrabble with the mother of the barrister we had engaged on a particular matter when we were on a trip near his home town and a highlight was probably the night I snuck my then-girlfriend into my hotel room in Melbourne on the final night of a law conference! Exciting stuff!
As a travel agent, I've already had a couple of 'edjos' as they're known in the biz (short for educationals) - Uluru in May and Rotorua last year, but my recent trip to Fiji was like no work trip I have ever taken.
A reward for making my targets back when I was a newie, I joined 10 colleagues and one of the state managers (for want of a better description) for a 3 day all expenses paid trip to Fiji. And when I say all expenses paid, I mean it! I didn't even change any money into Fijian dollars but somehow managed to enjoy cocktails by in the pool, the most 'heavenly' bed ever*, lovely meals, a beginner scuba dive and enough alcohol to fuel NASA's next rocket launch (apparently I accounted for 19 or the 23 or so vodkas ordered during the final night's festivities... In my defence, others were drinking different spirits in similar numbers...).
I can only but thank Sal (representative of the powers that be) profusely for her generosity over the course of the trip. There was no expense spared and certainly no separation based on rank. In fact, I think Sal got the worst room of the bunch, with little water pressure and she had to make do with a garden view rather than this....
Again, you're probably just think 'fine, Steff's just rubbing it in. Why is this here if she didn't spend any money?' so here are the purchases made in anticipation of the trip (and the couple made while in Fiji!):
BUY:
$9.08 - Travacalm tablets (cos I get seasick!)
$18.17 - Nasal spray (cos flying really dries you out)
$23.22 - book called "Don't look back" by Karin Fossum (for the flight of course)
$149.93 - a pair of cotton slacks to wear on the plane (cos when you're travelling on agent tickets you're not allowed to wear jeans and that's pretty much all I own). Well, it was 2 pairs cos I got the second pair at 50% off and I know they will get worn regularly...
$10 - train ticket from airport to home
$30.39 - bottle of 42 below Vodka duty-free (cos I didn't have enough while I was away!)
FJD$19.95 - pair of thongs (as mentioned in earlier post)
FJD$38.67 - little shell bracelets and pencils as Fijian souvenirs for my work mates
*We stayed at the Westin in Denarau. The 'Heavenly' bed is a signature feature of Westin resorts around the world and is so popular you can purchase the bed, linen or pillows to take home! Rumour was the bed is made with 14 sheets over the mattress which is why it is so comfy but I'm not sure if this is fact or fiction. What I can say as a fact is that I have never slept in a better bed.
