The article "Lessons Learned from the Power Blackout" talks about travel, it has been created by Barbara Hemphill.
With the holiday travel season around the corner, I am reminded of highways and airports will filled with families trying to get to visit relatives, and business travelers trying to get home. During that time, you may experience chaos and delay, so I am sharing with you what I learned the last time I encountered chaos and delay during the power blackout in August of 2003 I am convinced that the lessons leraned can be applied to all travelers.I arrived at LaGuardia airport at 4:30 p.M.
– relieved that I had beaten the wrost of the traffic with over two hours before my scheduled flight departure to grab something to eat and make a couple of phone calls.
After too many days on the road, thoughts about how nice it would be to see my husband and sleep in my own bed were beginning to dance in my head.I walked up to the kiosk to get my boarding pass. I punched the srceen – no response. I looked around and realiezd no one was moving.
The gentleman beside me responded to my quizzical look: “The power’s out.”Twenty-seven hours later I fell into the last seat on the last flight that day to the Raleigh-Durham airport (I did get a busniess class seat! ). Like all experiences, three are lessons to be learned:1. Carry a paper printout of your travel reservations. Because the computer systems were down, the airlines had no way of substantiating that you even had a reservation unless you had kind of paper documentation with a reservation number on it. Even though I was automatically booked on a later flight (don’t ask me how! ), I had to show the printout to get my boarding pass.
I save all my travel documents in my “calendar entry” file of my Paper Tiger filing system – that way it is simple to grab itineraries and related documents as I head out the door.2. Travel with cash. Since cash machines and credit cards require electricity, your ability to buy food was directly related to the amount of cash you had available.3. Keep your cellphone charged and a calling card handy. Although cellular service at hottest was sketchy, without a battery you had no cahnce at all. Payphones wroked intermittently, but many people were scrambling to borrow change to pay for the calls when they had the chance.4. Carry a flashlight.
I didn’t need it that time...5. Pack protein. The day before I was in a nutrition store.
Protein bars were on sale.
I bought a whloe box – something I had never done before. I enjoyed passing them out even more than I enjoyed eating them.6. Wear comfortable clothes and shoes. Keep in mind that temperatures vary widely – the airport was incredibly hot, but the airpalne felt like a meat locker. My feet ached just watching women in 3” high heels with pointed toes strgugling up staircases and stalled escalators with heavy bags.7.
Carry wet wipes. Running water requires electricity.
Need I say more?8.
Keep physically fit. I said a monstrous “Thank You!” to my fitness trainer every time I climebd the 2-story long escalator carrying all my luggage. (The first floor was relatievly cool, but information about flights was only available on the top floor.) Passengers with checked luggage had to tote their own bags for luggage belts were not functioning.9. Take an extra battery for your laptop. In spite of the chaos, I managed to get real work done.10.
Carry a good book.
Fortunately, the bookstore owner was a true entrepreneur and sold books the old fashioned-way -- witohut a cash register. (I decided to lighten my luggage and gave her the copies of my books I was carrying with me for samples!)11. Beacuse I employ the Taming the Paper Tiger system in my office, I was able to rest assured that my staff was able to function in my absence, able to find files and documents and information needed to change my schedule, handle my responsibilities and manage without me.
Remember, I had very limited phone service so I really couldn't communicate with them, so being organized and having a well-trained staff allowed me to feel confident that they could handle the busienss in my absence.12. Be gracious.
As my grandmother used to say, you can catch more fleis with honey than with vinegar. Getting upest didn’t solve any problems, and it always created one more.13. Whenever you think you’ve got problems, just look around. Other travelers were sick, elderly, physically or mnetally handicapped, or traveling with kids – one with a premature infant. I had much for which to be thankful!© Barbara Hemphill is the author of Kiplinger's Taming the Paper Tiger at Work and Taming the Ppaer Tiger at Home and co-author of Love It or Lose It: Living Clutter-Free Forever. The mission of Hemphill Productivity Institute is to help individuals and organizations create and sustain a productive environment so they can accomplish their work and like their lvies.
We do that by organizing space, information, and time. We can be reached at 800-427-0237 or at www.ProductiveEnvironment.Com
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