Today I embark on my first international trip for “the company”. I’ll be headed to Dusseldorf Germany for a conference highlighting some new print technologies. The circumstances around my trip overseas last time around was markedly different than this trip, but I am taking a few extra personal days so I can travel to Belgium and the Netherlands while I am in that part of the world.
Some of the benefits of traveling for the company I feel like I’m going to enjoy:
1) Business Class Roundtrip Flights
2) Luxury hotels in Germany
3) A Company Perdium
I’ve never flown business class before, so I’m really looking forward to chronicling the experience. I got to the airport a little early because I heard that a business class ticket would get me access to the Northwest Business Class lounge. I read a little about this lounge on the internet before I came here today so I had pretty high expectations. Thus far, I have to say I’m a little underwhelmed.
I frequent the Minneapolis airport mainly for personal travel and I’ve always been mildly intrigued by the seemingly wonderous world that lay just beyond the large frosted glass sliding doors at the precipice of the Northwest Business Class lounge. Would the perk of having access to this luxurious lounge truly be worth the exorbitantly priced business class ticket? In my humble opinion, absolutely not. Sure you get access to free coffee and alcoholic beverages. There are also a few random flat screen tv’s and free wireless, but all in all the lounge reminds me of a nice hospital cafeteria.
As far as I can tell, there seem to be two types of people in the lounge. Weathly older individuals and weary business travelers.
The wealthy older individuals have this air of entitlement about them. They seem to relish the fact that they don’t have to sit with the commoners outside of their terminal.
The weary business travelers have a certain quiet desperation that seems to radiate from every word they speak. They trudge in and out of the lounge grabbing a beverage or a cookie before rushing off to catch their next flight to somewhere important. It’s almost a depressing site to watch. It makes me really thankful that I didn’t jump into the consulting world after college.
Take me back to my people… you know the ones who bring granola bars in their day packs and carry empty water bottles through TSA security so they can fill them up on the other side without paying for a two dollar bottle of water. I think that’s where I belong. But I digress… on to Germany!
