Went down to Melbourne for a day trip. The return plane ticket via Qantas costs about A$600+. Considering the cheap airfares being advertised by Virgin Blue and JetStar, I'm shocked it's costing the company this much. If I changed my schedule a bit, the fare can go down as low as about A$300+, but that's about it. No wonder our company is losing money.
People say time flies when you're having fun. Others say time flies when you're not doing anything. I say time flies. Period. I settled comfortably in my seat. Picked up the inflight magazine and read the more interesting articles. I put on the headsets and listened to a couple of pieces and songs - flipping through the magazine, trying to identify which channel is classical, which is pop. Then thud, touchdown.
We could've easily taken a cab to Sunshine, but the Project Manager decided to rent a car. I thought he knew what he was doing, but apparently he didn't even know where we are going. It's a bad idea to sit in the front passenger side because that automatically made me the navigator. He handed me a map of Melbourne, and off we go.
They say Melbourne is Europe and Sydney is US. They could be right. I don't think the streets of Europe are also arranged in a neat grid formation, but there's enough old buildings and Old World charm to warrant the comment. My camera didn't see much action, because we were always stuck in a car (going to the customer site, looking for a good place to eat in the city, rushing back to the airport half an hour before it flies).
The project manager and our client were duly impressed with my map-reading skills that they actually commented on it. The PM reasoned that's because I'm a male. I told him he's being a (male) chauvinist, but I'm thinking he could be right, you know. My sister's map-reading could be further improved. (That's putting it nicely, as she might be reading this.) Now, this is the PM talking about his wife-navigator. "She has a hard time orienting the car with the map, so left becomes right and vice versa. She usually gives directions one or two streets late. Instead of giving the street name or counting off the intersecting streets, she would simply say, "Turn right NOW!"" They would argue in the car, which usually ends with the wife handing (putting it nicely) the map to the PM.
I know how you feel, mate.
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
Albert Goes to Melbourne
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2 comments:
This is extremely funny esp. the quote of the PM about his wife 'coz I myself am an extremely lousy map reader. Ask Allan about it when we were in US. Allan is the driver while I am the map reader. My! Good thing Allan has an extremely long patience. You know how bad I am, every time I stepped out of our building elevator. I have to check first whether to go left or right for our entry door. And I have been in this bldg. for more than 4 yrs. already. A lot more funny experiences of mine being lost in Makati with my foreigner bosses leading me out of the maze with their matching funny smiles. Very embarassing indeed!
Ana
Eto pa, Albert, I missed to tell you this one awhile ago. When we were in downtown Manhattan last year, the driving there is very similar to MNL, the typical city driving wherein no one will give way and the streets & avenues were mostly numbered. So, the orientation is kind of new to me. One has to be familiar with w/c is one-way, w/c is 2-way though they are all noted in Allan's map. But it is so difficult for me to guide Allan. I reached the point that I was about to tell Allan why not I drive, you [Allan] read the map instead. But at the end, we end up having Allan as the driver and the map navigator at the same time. Well, I just end up with my simple role of being the simple passenger sitting coolly there rather than confusing our brother-driver with my misguided directions. Good for me. Me terrible map reader. I have no more words to say about that.
Ana
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