Plan, Plan, Plan Some More, Then Do What You Need to I worked on planning my 2003 World Creativity Tour for several months.
I wrote emails daily.
...sent faxes.
...wrote letters ...sent packages ...made phone calls ...used a professional air broker for country to country airplane tickets ...made Excell charts of all actions to keep track of them ...sent copies of my schedules to many people at each location to verify that no conflicts were going to occur ...made lists of all phone numbers, addresses, email addresses I could ...created a file of all email and mail from each country ...changed all my bills to direct check withdrawals where possible or pre-wrote and send checks before I left and tested my ATM cards (personal and business)
All that would make you think you were all prepared.
I had no more than arrived at the Marriott in downtown Philly at my first stop and my credit card was refused because of the unusual spending over the past two weeks. Their computer "red-flagged" my account.
Through some patient, lip and cheek biting, discussions over the phone it was cleared up. Over the next 3 days I double and tripled checked to make sure that Visa had taken care of it. I did not want to have happen in Osaka what had happened in Philadelphia for many reasons.
A few days later I left Philadelphia to fly to Chicago and then non-stop to Tokyo and then onto Osaka.
My host in Osaka had advised me of how to take a bus from the airport to my hotel once I had cleared customs. The Osaka airport I was arriving in is several miles from downtown Osaka and my hosts live in Kyoto many miles in another direction.
Customs went smoothly. Once I got out in the ground transportation area, at least it looked like one, none of the signs were in English. I asked and reasked person after person until I found the best bus to get me into downtown Osaka near the main train station because I knew my hotel was located only 6 minutes away from the station, according to their website and emails from my contacts there.
All the way into Osaka in the dark, it was after 10:00
pm, I started to get concerned that I might have gotten on the wrong bus. The two salesmen behind were speaking in English. Once I got off the bus in downtown Osaka I could not see any evidence of the train station. I quickly found one of the American salesmen and asked him if he would help me by asking the bus employee at the stop where my hotel was.
In a couple minutes the two of them came back and both gestured beyond a cluster of high rise buildings behind us both saying in their respective languages "it is over there on the other side of those buildings."
Off I went with my backpack on with name, address, phone numbers and email address of the hotel in hand using my physical directional skills to work my way through a 3-level multi-zoned complex.
After many left and right turns and sets of stairs I saw a name that was similar to my hotel's but not exactly the same. I went towards the registration desk and was stopped by a bellman who spoke in very clear English "can I help you?" I showed him the name of my hotel. He immediately guided me outside onto the street again and pointed down a narrow backstreet and said you are at the "Annex".
Within a few minutes I was walking into my hotel's, Shinto Hanku Annex, lobby. As I turned towards the check in counter I heard my name called out. I turned and there stood 2 Japanese gentlemen both rising to their feet and smiling very widely. They were my hosts, Miyoshi and Mr. Miro.
It turns out that they had gone to the airport to make sure I got on the right bus but we had missed each other because I had come out a different door. When they could not find me with several announcements at the airport they drove all the way into Osaka to my hotel, totally out of their way, to be sure that I got there safely.
Plan, Plan and plan some more and still you will have to work out problems that arise.
Robert Alan Black, Ph.D., CSP Cre8ng People, Places & Possibilities www.cre8ng.com
alan_cre8ng@yahoo.com
alan@cre8ng.com
706-353-3387 POB 5805 Athens, Georgia 30604
To learn more about this author, visit Robert Black's Website.
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