Find The Boots

Rantings from a few corporate types about life, technology, travel, guns, politics, and everything good in the world.

If You Want a Great Meal

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

From a comment over on FlyerTalk:

If you want a great meal, try a restaurant. If you want to get there fast, try an airplane.

Alas, the two never seem to go together.

Which I why I've been honing the following trick: Eat before the flight.

Most airports have a good place to eat nearby. If you're flying international on an overnight across the pond, get to the airport 2 hours early, check-in, and then take a cab (or a car service if you have a black belt in boot hiding) to a nearby restaurant. Most airports seem to have a very good steakhouse nearby.

Have a nice meal and a few glasses of wine, then back to the airport to clear security as you glance at the giant line at the international ticket counter. Get on the plane, have a few drinks, and drift off into blissful slumber (not an an AA Business Class seat!) while your fellow passengers are "enjoying" their in-flight meal. This adds at least two hours to your sleep time. Just get the window seat so the Flight Attendant isn't passing stuff over you.

The only question for you, dear bootster, is whether you'd rather have a great meal on the expense account, or a "free" meal on the plane.

2 Comments:

At 6:41 PM, Anonymous said…

That's a good plan, IF YOUR EMPLOYER ISN'T CHEAP, UNREASONABLE OR UNREALISTIC. A certain employer - a rapidly growing, wants-to-go-public Chicago-based consulting firm - DOESN'T PAY FOR "LOCAL" MEALS (i.e., meals eaten in Chicago), REGARDLESS OF ARRIVAL OR DEPARTURE TIME. So, what to do? 1) Follow the writer's advice, but check in online, leave the client an hour or two earlier and eat before hitting the airport (and jip the employer out of an hour or two of billing [na, na, na, na, na, na] - overall the best option, but not as good an option if the employer pays the employee for overtime) or 2) Take a flight an hour or two earlier to the client's city and eat immediately after landing (not so good an option for morning flights) or 3) Take a flight an hour or two later from the client's city, check in online and eat before hitting the airport (also not so good if the employee has "a life" back home). All this for a meal that should, by all rights, be (and, in fact, USED TO BE [before management changes]), a regular part of everyday business.
At 4:21 AM, Unknown said…

You're clearly not turning in the "right" receipt...

I worked for a company like that once. I'm glad to say I don't work there anymore.

Find The Boots

An executive goes on a business trip. When he arrives, it's raining cats and dogs. To avoid ruining his shoes, he purchases a pair of galoshes for $15, which he expenses under "Misc." on his expense report. A week later, the accounting department rejects his expense report, with a post-it note that says that the company does not reimburse for items of clothing. The next trip, the executive turns in an expense report without the galoshes, but with a post-it note that says "FIND THE BOOTS!".