Chris Saul's Blog

Sunday October 26, 2008

Pump it yourself

Some interesting views in this article on Dubai's new self service petrol stations.

Based on comments from colleagues who've used them, I'm in no hurry to pump my own petrol myself, for several reasons.

1. The current payment system is in its early stages and awaits streamlining - you get out of your car, go to the counter, pay for the petrol you think you might need, go back and fill your tank. If you don't use all your credit, you go back to the counter and queue to get a refund. This is all a bit time consuming - if there were an automated payment system, I'd be more willing to use it.

2. It gets hot in Dubai. Standing in your suit in 45C heat and 90% humidity, surrounded by jostling SUVs and pickups is not fun. Getting in and out of your car and spending longer with the AC off is also going to heat up your fellow passengers. 'What about the poor pump attendants then?' I hear you cry. Well, that is their job - a job they'll no longer have if the new system becomes widespread.

3. I don't like pumping my own petrol. Given the option of sitting in your car and having someone else do it, whatever the weather, is a fantastic Dubai luxury. In line with most people, I don't want to give up luxuries I'm used to!

Articles in the press on the subject have often mentioned that the new approach is not being implemented to lower costs. I expect there will be some clarifications in future that will explain the motivation behind the move.

Travelling amateur

Today's trip made me feel like a complete business travel amateur.

First off, the taxi I'd reserved didn't turn up. I managed to find one near the hotel around the corner from us, which then got stuck in traffic leaving our development and which then took me to the wrong terminal. Dubai now has three terminals. Terminal 1, the 'old' terminal for general travellers, Terminal 2 for cargo and esoteric airlines and the glitzy new Terminal 3.

Somehow my request to go to the 'old' terminal got lost in translation, which meant that the high speed dash Mr Babu subjected me to ended up at Terminal 2. I should have noticed we were going the wrong way, but I was too busy fiddling with my phone. Silly me. Another high speed dash took me to Terminal 1, where I checked in for my Dubai - Vienna Emirates flight and proceeded to the lounge I can get in to with my Amex card. A quick bite to eat and I was off to the gate, only to realise that whilst I had checked into the right terminal, Terminal 1, my flight was actually leaving from a gate in Terminal 3, the new terminal. This involved a speedy walk for what seemed like several miles, getting slightly lost amongst the plethora of cafes and seating areas in Emirates' wondrous new dedicated launching pad.

We arrived slightly early in Vienna, which meant I had the chance to get an earlier flight to Sarajevo and avoid a seven hour layover. When I went to try to change my flight, I was told that I actually didn't have a Sarajevo booking to change - despite double checking with my travel agent on Thursday that everything was fine, all I had in Austrian Airlines' system was an unused ticket to Zagreb. Ouch. I had to pay 950 Euros to buy a new ticket or cancel the whole trip, let everyone down and fly back to Dubai.

Fortunately, I made the earlier flight. I felt like a complete amateur - wrong terminals, misjudged walking time to the gate, no confirmed flights. Thanks goodness my hotel booking was all in order...

What a considerate husband

Whilst my colleagues are all off to Honolulu for a week, I have just arrived in Sarajevo and checked into the rather prison-like Holiday Inn.

I could have been in Hawaii too, for Sun's annual sales 'reward party', but as Mrs Saul couldn't get the time off school and I am away so much anyway, I decided that a short trip to Europe would be a little fairer than 7 days away in the Pacific Ocean. Mrs Saul did grant permission for me to venture to Hawaii alone, but I decided to stock up on brownie points instead.

This is my first trip to Sarajevo. Mrs Saul and I visited Mostar during our honeymoon, so this is my second visit to Bosnia. First impressions are that it looks a bit more Soviet than the other former Yugoslavian cities I've been to - Llubjana and Zagreb, respectively.

One of the things I've enjoyed about this job is the chance to visit places that I only know about from watching the news when I was younger. I'd never have guessed, when listening to Kate Adie in the early nineties, that I'd be coming here a few years later to talk about desktop computing.

I'm really looking forward to the next two days. I now have a guy working with me, based out of Greece, who will be focused on exactly the same product set as me. This means that this part of the world, which is showing real potential for my product set, will get a lot more desktop computing related care and attention. We have partner and customer meetings tomorrow and a sales event on Tuesday. If I'm lucky, I'll get to see a bit of the city. Should be good.