Know thy Route

I hope you remember me mentioning in my last topic on this series about how we as a family get excited about road trips. Having said that, planning to drive during a vacation comes with its own share of huge responsibilities. If you have booked a tour operator, you will have nothing to worry about the planning. But the moment you decide to take the wheel yourself, there are a whole lot of aspects involved that need to be considered.

It all starts with a simple decision of what is the origin and destination of your road trip. Where would you like to start the drive where do you want to end it. Everything else in between are just pit stops, some short ones and others longer. We call this route planning. We usually avoid driving through cities, if feasible, and plan the trip through more scenic routes to enjoy the best what nature has to offer us.

Let us not forget the fact that while on a vacation, especially to a location you had never been before, everything is new for you. Every single bit is an experience. The question that begs to be answered is what is important for you or your family to include in the route you planned.

Obviously, there will be numerous choices, and it is easy to get lost. Here is where you apply the delicate balancing act of considering the wishes of each one of the family members so that you don’t end up disappointing someone. One of the recent road trips we did from London to Scotland, we combined a mix of beautiful villages which Ruby and I adored along with castles and other attractions, many of which were shooting locations for Harry Potter movies. Kids went wild with that!

You can start with making a list of well-known attractions on your route. It is so easy these days with tonnes of information available on internet. Travel blogs, websites such as Trip Advisor and various other sources give you lot of details and make it easy for you to come up with an initial list. The challenge will be to short list the attractions and align it as closely as possible to the route you planned. Else you will end up in too much of deviations costing you time and money.

Just make sure that you take the advice from various sources with a pinch of salt, since people usually write based on their personal experiences which may or may not apply to you. Some of the best examples are hotel reviews where what could be a perfect experience for you may be totally unacceptable for another traveller. Hence your decisions based on another person’s experience may not always be correct. The value attributed to attractions are another classic case. What could be an out-of-the-world experience for you could just be another tick in the box for someone. Choose wisely.

Remember to have a Plan B ready to respond to any changes while you are on the trip. Anything can go wrong in an unplanned trip. Weather changes, road closures, incorrect understanding of the information you obtained, accidental route deviations and what not? During our last trip in Scotland, we planned to reach the beautiful Isle of Skye by crossing a bridge from the mainland but were stupefied as we drove into a small port town of Mallaig which was the dead-end. The only option was to take a ferry to the island from the port which unfortunately we could not, since the ferry was full by the time our turn reached. We got the amount refunded, but Plan A did not work out that day. Instead, we explored the lovely town of Mallaig where we could even experience ‘The Jacobite Steam Train’ better known as Hogwarts Express!

 

Vacations should be all about fun. There will always be unknowns. All what we need to remind ourselves is not to fret if something goes wrong, instead be prepared and adapt accordingly.

 

The elf has many more stories to tell you. Until next time, drive safe and have fun!

 

Why do I write?

I have been asked this question a few times. Occasionally the question changes to how do I get time to write? Usually, I just smile and attribute that as the blessing from Above. Today I decided to give it a thought. Without much burning of my grey matter, I reached an answer. Here you go, the much-awaited revelation!

Picture this.

My mobile starts to sound at 4 AM on the assigned day of the week. A specific alarm goes off which I had kept as a reminder. I reach for my phone and the text on the alarm reads, 'Time for the next story'. I head to my favourite corner in the house taking the laptop and specs with me.

I pull the chair and get settled. The coffee cup, my constant companion for all my writings is promptly present on the desk. I then take out a lengthy list of topics and select a random one to write for the day.

The writing process begins and exactly after thirty minutes and thirty seconds, a story is ready with its title. One round of proof reading, followed by selecting an appropriate picture from my collection and as magical as it could get, the article is ready for posting in the relevant social media!

Hope you enjoyed the above fiction? Now let us talk reality.

Most often, a thought comes to me at the least of the probable locations. In the middle of washing dishes or waiting at a red signal or picking up the usual list of groceries, what not? There is nothing fancy to the inception of the idea though I would not say the same to the evolution of the thread. It is literally like formation of a new life. Sometimes the idea grows and flourishes within my brain. Then there are other times when it dies down.

The thought that was lucky enough to bloom inside me, will soon reach a stage when it needs to be given birth. That is when, somehow, I find the time to quickly put that down on my laptop. The only thing common from the fiction above and reality, is the selection of the picture from my clicks that suits the write-up.

Writing, is a passion. I do not find time for it. It finds me. I will continue to pursue this as long as Providence smiles at me.

Hope each one you experience something passionate that drives you beyond the usual grind of life and enjoy while it lasts...

 

Mother Hen Managers

If you were lucky enough to grow up in an environment where you saw how a hen raised her chicks, I shall say you had been privy to one of the greatest lessons you could ever learn from mother nature. Do not be surprised, if I say, the learning from this experience applies to all managers across the corporate world and, closer home, to all parents as well, irrespective of your gender.

Soon after the eggs hatch, the mother hen takes the chicks along with her and searches for food and feeds them with what she finds. The process continues for a while until a day arrives when you will see a significant behavioural change in mother hen. Instead of keeping the chicks closer to her, finding and feeding them with food she searched for, she now appears to mercilessly drive them away. The action is not to be considered as a lack of love, instead one that is intended to make the chicks self sufficient so that they can find food and feed themselves. That is the only way they will survive the big bad world out there.

Now let me take you to the corporate world we are in. We see two kinds of managers exhibiting behaviours you read in the above statements. There are those who constantly feed aka nurture the people who report to them. These are the managers who feel it is easier if they get things done for their team so that it is helpful for the team to finish the pieces of work. This is a behaviour, that is expressed, at times, due to fear of incompletion and other times from an obsessively compulsive nature which do not let these managers delegate their work. Then there are others who constantly challenge their direct reports to go above and beyond their capabilities so that one day they become equal or even better than the managers themselves.

I have been fortunate in my career to have worked with both kinds of managers. While the first ones may appear quite regressive, in the initial years of your career, getting a manager like that helps you as a shield from the wrath of some of the senior executives, when you make mistakes. But as you grow into senior positions, you may want this shield to be broken and learn to fend for yourself, in which case, a manager of the latter kind is better.

Interesting enough, closer to our families, these behaviours resonate well with each of us as parents or children. Parents who help their children with everything always, may think they are helping them survive. But the fact remains that the parents who are like the mother hen who wanted the children to be self-sufficient will be doing a great deal more of a service to their children in the long run.

We all don the roles of either the children or parents. Like it or not, these roles are inadvertently laced with our corporate personas. On this Mother’s Day, when we celebrate mothers, what else can be a good reminder than the mother hen and her strategy to empower those who work with us.

Happy Mother’s Day to all managers out there, irrespective of your gender, who learned from this simple yet powerful lesson from mother hen!

ULD on Rails – An Underground Airport Magic!

One of the most exciting news from the aviation world last week related to the expansion of Al Maktoum International Airport (DWC) in Dubai was the announcement of a plan to have an underground railway network for transporting passengers across Terminals. This will enable high speed movement of passengers at the airport thereby saving precious travel time and facilitate on-time departure better.

Many times, changes such as these get limited to what a passenger see at the forefront. Operations behind the scenes get omitted or parked for future which may or may not become a reality.

Being in Airport Operations in the current assignment, news of underground train for passengers, got my colleagues and I thinking on a parallel business case for ground handling. If an extremely complex operations such as passenger movement can be facilitated underground, what is stopping an airport planned at the scale of DWC from thinking of ULD transportation in a similar manner to take bags, cargo and other products across the length and breadth of the airport?

DWC is already speaking of passenger volumes of 260 million making it 2.5 times more than the busiest airport in the entire world at present, the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. When you operate at such high volumes, you need to have an automated and extremely agile design for both passengers and rest of the products that need transportation at an airport.  

Unit Load Device (ULD) refers to the container in which a ground handler carries bags, cargo and other products such as courier, aircraft spares etc. for an airline and delivered to the aircraft awaiting departure and vice versa. Most of the airports as we know today have this operation handled as an activity above the ground. There are certain exceptions such as Dubai International Airport (DXB) where bags are transported underground through a high-speed baggage handling system which is a smart and intelligent automated installation which takes the bags to its right destination.

Like the automated baggage movement, the idea is to have ULDs filled with these bags or cargo or other products travel below the ground, programmed to reach the destination intended. If it is for a departing flight, the ULDs reach the bay just in time where an aircraft is parked and injected up to the ground level so that these units can be loaded safely.

What could be even better is if the automation can be extended to have these ULDs loaded without the help of manual intervention. The concept of Robotics as we speak has developed enough to make this a reality. The reverse feed applies to an arrival aircraft where the ULDs are automatically unloaded and injected down to an unmanned programmed transport mechanism whereby it heads to the intended baggage carrousels or cargo warehouse depending on the product loaded in the units.

The whole idea may sound colossal but is something we could think only at the time an initial design of an airport is getting sketched. Nothing suits the bill better than DWC which aspires to be the most automated airport in the world. The benefits are numerous. The busiest airports in the world today itself require hundreds of equipment operators driving tractors across the airport to transport bags and cargo to and from the aircrafts. Imagine taking this entire traffic below the ground sans the drivers and tractors. It is a benefit straight away to decongest the otherwise busy operations on ground in a highly optimized manner with zero dependency on people thereby eliminating manual intervention.

An airport being a finite area with clearly defined boundaries and locations for bays and other operational areas, designing this should really be feasible. Combine this with automated underground passenger transport, we are looking at efficiencies reaching heights never before seen, making large scale airport operations seemingly simple.

Here is an earnest wish from a passionate aviation enthusiast, bestowing full power to the airports of the future where people will happily hang out doing what they love and spending to their heart’s content instead of wondering when they will move forward while waiting in the queue!

Tale of Two Knights

The war was on. King summoned both his Knights. They had pledged their allegiance to the kingdom in their blood. Off they went, two powerful Knights heading East and West since the attack was from both sides. 

K1, the first Knight waged an epic battle against a mighty enemy. He applied all techniques of war learned over time and came out victorious with not even a single scratch on any of his men. It was a flawless display of brilliant strategy and skill. History named it, the Battle of Usual.

K2, the second Knight had to face the fiercest attack in his whole life. He lost hundreds of men and suffered severe damage to the troops. It was a total bloodbath. Nevertheless, fight he did, a battle that went down in the history of the kingdom as the one that was fought by the bravest Knight ever. Victory finally was with him, while the chroniclers turned a blind eye towards the lives lost. History named it the Battle of Extraordinary.

Centuries went by. History students still learn and speak high of the Battle of Extraordinary while the chapter on Battle of Usual was forgotten and eventually removed from the annals of History. The reason: Usual brilliance was underrated than extraordinary mediocrity. 

The Wooden Throne

Imagine you are a VP in an organization managing operations at one of the Latin American countries. One day, you get a call from the headquarters in Europe to join an urgent meeting with the rest of the VPs. 

Before even you knew it, you are appointed as the CEO of the parent company. The position comes with a unique authority which is absolutely unquestionable. That was not all. You are to lead an enterprise that has its nerve centre in a country for which you are even the Head of the State! 

Now let us talk about the geographical spread of the firm. There are probably only a handful of countries in the world where you do not have your offices and operations established. Needless to say, the revenue generated and assets owned by all these entities are quite formidable. It is worth mentioning the numerous priceless historical artefacts the firm owns by virtue of being a vital part of world history for more than two thousand years. 

You can stop imagining now. Let us talk reality. What I pictured above is just a glimpse of what Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio went through on 13 March 2013 when he was proclaimed Pope, the Head of Catholic Church, as 266th successor of St Peter.

One word to define him: Reformer!

Enough had already been spoken about him. I would love to share just one personal experience that deeply influenced me. Soon after he was elected, in one of the initial public addressing, Pope Francis made a small change which created a significant and lasting impact on people across the world. He discarded the traditional grand papal throne and replaced it with a simple white wooden chair. A message that was loud and clear. Far better than a million words put together to convey the need for simplicity and change. 

Leaders such as these come rarely. Probably once a century. But the legacy they leave lasts forever!

Papa, may your soul rest in eternal peace 🙏🏼

Gas Trouble!

If you ask us as a family, the road trips we had in our vacations till date, are one of the best experiences we cherish other than the holiday itself. I am pretty sure this will remain for all our future trips as well, since nothing can beat the spontaneity and the thrill of driving down and appreciating what the road ahead has in store for us, literally.

Having said that, I have no intention to belittle those who enjoy the comfort of an arranged bus tour and follow an itinerary charted by someone else for you. At the end of the day, it is all about personal choices and what really matter is that you should create memories that last a lifetime.

The most important aspect of having a peaceful road trip is to ensure that you have a good vehicle that provides you the required comfort and takes good care of you during the planned road trip in the vacation. I will probably give more tips later about planning for the vehicle and some of the tricks we apply in our journey. Today I want to touch upon another baffling experience while we were on our road trip in Scotland.

As many of you are aware, unlike in Middle East or India, the fuel / gas stations are primarily self-serviced in Europe and Western world in general. There are places where you can fill fuel and pay at the counter of a shop attached to the station. Then there are others where you first pay for the fuel at the counter and return to your car to fill up. The former was quite common in Scotland, and we went about with no surprises whatsoever.

One of the evenings, we were nearing a town we had planned to stay that night. The fuel in the car was getting closer to minimum level and we thought it would be better to get the car topped up before it is too late. The clock was inching closer to six in the evening. Though the sun was working extra time being summer, the rain gods started to do their bit. We spotted a fuel station with a sign board stating, ‘Next one after 75 kilometres.’ A sign to be respected indeed!

As I pulled the car into the station, I could not help but notice how deserted the station looked. There was a store next to it, but unfortunately it was locked. Luckily, we found out that the fuel pump had a card reader attached to it which we could use to make payment. Thus, we found out a third variant of fuel stations in Europe. The unmanned station. What a way to share the joy of discoverers across the world!

I tried making the payment for GBP 50. The machine asked me twice to tap the card which I found a bit strange. Nevertheless, since we were in dire need for fuel I made the payment, filled the fuel and got a receipt for GBP 50. Shortly we reached our destination, but just before we hit the sack, I was casually looking at our bank account and saw a charge for GBP 100 against the fuel we filled earlier in the evening. It was a shocker to say the least! Since it was quite late in the evening, we decided to call the bank the next day morning and figure out the details of the double charge.

Morning came and before we made the call to the bank, we stopped at another fuel station to buy something. While being there, I shared my experience from the previous day with the staff at the store. That was when the guy told me, certain unmanned fuel stations have this feature where they charge you double the amount of actual fuel consumed. This was to ensure the validity of the card and apparently, they will revert the additional amount in 24 hours. It all sounded a bit too strange for us. Nevertheless, we decided to wait for another day and check the bank account again.

Obviously the first thing we checked the next day morning was our bank account. To our relief and much joy, we saw the additional amount reverted by the bank. This was a brand-new experience altogether in our trips till date.

No wonder it is said that there is no better teacher than travel!