I’VE spent most of my career in the cosmetics industry, and now, as chief executive of Ahava North America, I’m doing many more business trips.
Q. How often do you fly for business?
A. Three to four times a month, mostly domestic, but international maybe once a month.
Q. What’s your least favorite airport?
A.
Q. Of all the places you’ve been, what’s the best?
A.
Q. What’s your secret airport vice?
A. I eat too much, always have a
Flying can be a hassle since I miss my family. I’m married and have three daughters, and I like to spend as much time with them as possible. But I think, too, that my family is proud of me and my job, so there are certainly lessons they can learn from mom traveling a lot for work, but still making them the priority.
My husband and I have a standing joke. Since I fly with United so often both domestically and internationally, I see their brand videos constantly and I feel like I know the president, Jeff Smisek, personally. So when I’m on an evening flight, I always send a text to my husband before takeoff and say, “Jeff Smisek says good night.”
I recently participated in a parent-teacher conference while I was in Paris. I was in an airline lounge on the phone with the teacher. You learn to make do. I am in a book club with other mothers and their daughters. I need to keep up with everyone, and I get the bulk of my reading done when I’m traveling. I miss my daughters a lot when I do have to go away. So even feeling that connection by reading the same books makes going away a little easier.
Since I’ve traveled so much, especially internationally, I’m absolutely maniacal about full disclosure on customs forms. I don’t want any hassle.
One of Ahava’s shareholders produces dates, and as a way to welcome me to the company when I started, the shareholder gave me a few boxes. I put them in my luggage and then totally forgot they were in there. So I didn’t disclose them on the customs forms at Newark.
It was very early in the morning, about 4:30 a.m., and I went to the luggage carousel to wait for my bags. I did see my bags, as well as several dogs and their handlers huddled around my luggage. I had to go through a second round of security, which was pretty embarrassing. I should have eaten those dates during my trip.
I try to maximize my time in flight. I usually go straight to sleep and actively avoid conversation. However, recently, on a business trip to Israel, this woman sat next to me and introduced herself, saying, “Hi, my name is Mary Alice. We’re going to be spending a lot of time together on this flight.” The first thing I thought was, “Oh no, a talker.” But she was very sweet, so I figured we could talk for a few minutes.
I learned that this was her first time flying internationally, and that she was an 80-year-old Catholic nun. Traveling to Israel was at the top of her bucket list, and her sister-in-law donated her own frequent flier miles to her. Then her community pitched in and gave her some money so her dream could come true.
I wound up talking to her almost the entire trip. I realized how jaded I was becoming about travel. I’m so much younger than she was, but she was like a child, just so eager to see and experience new things. I gave her a lot of tips and advice about Israel, and she was very grateful.
But it was really me who was grateful. She made me realize that all the traveling I do really is a gift, and maybe all of us who travel a lot need to open up to our seatmates once in a while. Like me, you might learn something wonderful.
Frequent Flier: Lessons From a Talkative Airplane Seatmate - Frequent Flier
This article
Frequent Flier: Lessons From a Talkative Airplane Seatmate - Frequent Flier
can be opened in url
https://energynewster.blogspot.com/2013/02/frequent-flier-lessons-from-talkative.html
Frequent Flier: Lessons From a Talkative Airplane Seatmate - Frequent Flier
