Unexpected business trip to Europe #3

Like Japan, the UK is an island nation, meaning that to reach other European countries, we have to cross the sea. Our final destination on this business trip was Prague in the Czech Republic, which, of course, is located on the European mainland.

Had we chosen to fly from Tokyo to Paris instead of London, we could still have travelled overland by train and car and arrived in time for the next day’s meeting at the customer site, even if the flight from Paris to Prague had been cancelled at short notice. 

Reflecting on my past experience, I remember how useful, helpful and essential land transport was in overcoming unforeseen circumstances during a business trip in Europe.

At the time, I was working as a consultant for both a Belgian and a Swedish company, and travelled to Europe for work with both of them. My itinerary for the first week involved supporting the Belgian company at an international trade fair in Bologna, Italy, followed by visits to their and the Swedish company’s headquarters.

All flights had already been booked in Japan, and everything seemed perfectly organized. Then, an unexpected situation arose.

The final day of the exhibition went well without a hitch. The following morning, while waiting for our flight to Belgium, I had breakfast with Belgian colleagues in the hotel restaurant near the Bologna exhibition center. A Belgian pilot who was seated nearby reading the newspaper and shared the latest information:

Suddenly, I became flustered. While the other Belgians were travelling within the EU with just hand luggage, I had a large suitcase. If I couldn’t take it with me, how would I manage on a three-week business trip? Would I even be able to take my suitcase back to Japan? Anxiety washed over me in waves.

Seeing how flustered I was, the cheerful Belgian company CEO smiled and reassured me.

Once the exhibition stand had been dismantled, we arranged for a large lorry to transport the equipment and product samples back to Belgium. My suitcase was included in the shipment, too.

As expected, land transport takes longer than air transport, so the shipment arrived about two days after me.

As the strike by the cargo company at Brussels Airport continued thereafter, the shipment from Belgium to Stockholm, Sweden, was also transported by land instead, arriving two or three days after me.

Having forgotten all about previous lessons and become accustomed to an insular mindset, I chose to fly to an island nation, surrounded by sea, without considering the potential risks.

It is both regrettable and shameful that someone in a position to advise corporate management should have made such an amateurish error and neglected risk management entirely. Whether this is an example of “What’s common sense in Japan is nonsense elsewhere” or “no common sense in the world” I’d rather say, the one-day delay in reaching our final destination triggered a cascade of problems. The result was a hectic and chaotic, yet an unforgettable, eventful journey with Sonora’s senior sales manager, Mr. K.

< to be continued…>