Congratulations to Sean, Charles, and Matt, yesterday’s Office-Mas winners. Today we have a special treat, something to titillate the senses, to encourage elation in the elderly and the youthfully vibrant alike, and to cause cats to purr and mewl contentedly in empty rooms.
Today is laptop day and we have on offer a Defcon CL security cable, a MagicJack (basically a free calling service), a portable Microsoft Media Center remote which will also work for presentations, and a Microsoft Mobile Mouse 3000. I’ll also throw in a 17-inch Targus laptop cozy for your traveling pleasure. What do you have to do to get such a great deal? Do you have to send photographs of your dog? Do you have to record yourself dancing a jig in the heart of Wellington-on-Shropshire? Do you have to wear one of those weird sickness suits like that guy in Dune? No, no, and no! And no!
You have to leave a comment describing your ultimate business getaway. Is it a Holiday Inn conference center in Akron? A cheap hotel in Stockholm? A client visit that ends up being in a house full of guinea pigs (true story!)? Tell us.
sitting at a dockside bar in the east end Grand Caymans, sipping the local brew
easy holi-dome! a holiday inn, with a putt put course, pool/hot tub and arcade all under a big dome at the center of the hotel. Some go to Disney…but why travel so far when the holidome is right down the road…bonus points for room facing pool/arcade.
Business getaway? hmmm…
I’m going to keep it simple and just say CES. That’s my dream.
It wasn’t actually a business trip, but I took a vacation with the wife to a secluded cottage. It had broadband internet, and while she was sleeping I got more done in a few hours than I could normally do in a few days. It’s amazing how much you can accomplish when people can’t find you!
ultimate business trip would be to leave the home office and work all day on the kitchen counter.
Luckily for me I have this already figured out.
A week at the Sea Island resort in south Georgia, completely paid for by my company, and just sitting in my private villa, having strawberry milkshakes brought to me and watching the ocean. After that I would go watch The Prestige at their local theater, and then I’d finally get around to meeting my client, but instead of working, he will see that I’ve got GTA4 sitting on top of my xbox, and he will have the undeniable urge to skip the meeting and just play GTA4 with me all the rest of the day.
Perfect business getaway. Note the business part that I put in that some others are leaving out
Hope I win :)
Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas baby… I’ve dreamed for years for the chance to go. Days at CES checking out all the new tech, evenings at the Wynn living it up at the tables…
A holiday-inn express, cause then i could do open heart surgery or other stuff like that……
… I hope those commercial didn’t lie to me, I get my feelings hurt all to often from the lies of advertising.
I really enjoy it when I get to go to Vegas for NAB National Associations of Broadcasters convention. Of all the places I’ve stayed, probably Hara’s was the best.
The last summer I had to travel to Athens, spend 3 days there, play one night in a club and come back.
I got to the airport, traveled to the city, got a heatstroke (+116ºF) and spend my three bussiness/holiday days into the hotel room, eating rice and drinking galons of water.
I was able to play at the club, but everybody in town had gone to the islands escaping from the first high heat week of the year, so I played for myself and 30 other dudes without a weekend plan. Really nice.
Definitively I have to come back someday, it seems to be a nice city.
My best business trips were to England, in the late 90s and early 2000s. I would be there two or three weeks, and stayed at a Hilton. It really was a great place to stay, with really great personalized service. I liked being remembered being there even when it was 6 months since my previous visit.
I’ve been wanting to go to CES for a while now and get a firsthand look at the incredible technology.
Well, I just spent the night at a Wickliffe, Ohio, Ramada Inn for business. Considering the “activity” I heard from the room next to me at 2:30 in the morning, I think I earned this prize package already.
Ive got a nice little house up at the north pole, but once a year I have to go on this massive buisness trip, around the world.
Ohh, and Cleveland has a great Best Western.
An ultimate business trip would be being setup in a nice beach house in Hawaii finishing all of my work on the plane before arriving. Because who wants to work on a business trip?!
Best business trip ever…..
Customer called with a problem with his equipment in New Orleans, I explained how a local company could make the necessary repairs, but to no chance, customer required me to fly there and look for myself. Customer booked room had his secretary pick me up from the airport (My god was she cute) take me to their location and 30 min. later problem was diagnosed.
Located the part locally and explained to the customer what needed to be done and offered to advise a local company on installation. Part was going to take 2 days to get, customer refused local companies involvement and requested me stay additional days, when asked what was I going to do he said the company car and his secretary would be at my disposal (Little did I know she used to be a tour guide for New Orleans) she and I ended up spending about 12hrs. a day together LOL. So 4 days of great food (paid for by the customer), good looking company, chauffeur service, and $2000 a day.
p.s. I forgot to mention the best part Customer paid for Bourbon Street booze…….
Without a doubt the best business trip ever is one where I’m just showered with free stuff while chilling in a penthouse sweet suite in Vegas. I’m not gonna bother writing a novel about it, that’s just it.
The best business best trip is flying business class, staring blue sky, listen to cindy lauper — “time after time”, and hug my grandmother. Tears come off my eyes; I haven’t seen her for 25 years. She’s 93 years old and makes 25 dollars a day selling fruits.
I hug her. It’s greatest feeling I ever had.
Easy. The Ritz in Hawaii. Doing business in the sun? Doesn’t get much better.
The four seasons in Philadelphia for a dinner and casino night – great times!
I once spent 2 weeks in a suite in downtown Seattle with a huge glass view of the ferries coming and going. For the price of a small normal room.
When I arrived the hotel had been overbooked due to a world conference where Dick Chenney and other people were due to speak. Other travelers were verbally abusive to the desk staff. When it was my turn, I told the girl behind the desk that I was sorry that she had to go through all that, and I would take whatever they could give me, even if it was a referral to another hotel. She said, “you’re the first person that has been nice to me all evening. Hold on a second.” She typed on the computer and then handed me a key for a suite at the top of the hotel.
It pays to be the good guy!!
Defiantly going to Hawaii with some down time on the beach.
Go to the best golf course.
hitting up bend, oregon, so that i can mix some offsite work w/ some snowboarding.
going to bend, oregon, and mixing some work w/ some snowboarding.
Ultimate business getaway…
I’d have to say it would be when I was at a cabin up north in British Columbia, my employer gave me an EVDO card, surprisingly there was reception, I turned off my phone, and just worked. I got so much done, my boss was quite surprised and best of all it didn’t cost me any vacation days.
Mine would be attending any sort of conference such as Affiliate Summit or CES because of the locations and the experience.
Thanks for your interest, and of course the great give-away.
My worst business trip ever was when all my stuff got lost/taken on a trip to darkest Africa. I had no phone, no laptop, no nothing. No communication with my office in California.
It was a disaster. I was lost and frustrated. Boy I could have made use of your giveaway…!
My best trip was when everything just shined down on me. It was as if I was special. Wherever I went, whatever I said, to whomever…all was perfect. This is what it must be like to be a rock star celeb!
It was a small town in Alabama…Aviston
I thank you in advanced for showering me with your goodies. May you have a great Christmas too!
All the best on your travels…
Ian
on a beach with an evdo card
Mine is coming true pretty soon. Flying 1st class to LA, getting in my friend’s RV and driving down to a trade show in San Diego, hitting nearly every skateboard park from point a to point b. Once I get to the show, I am just going to shmooze with people and maybe talk a little business over drinks.
Just getting to head to to Vegas, handle a little business, and then head to and do some gambling of course.
A bottle of kristal in the penthouse of the Waldorf-Astoria after a recent venture gets gobbled up by a private equity firm.
What?? A man can dream can’t he?
Close to a perfect business trip was an interview I recently went on. Flew straight out of the local regional airport, had a car pick me up, take me to the Ritz-Carlton, which was attached to a high-end mall, then dinner out, and interview the next day. Staying at the Ritz certainly relaxed me for the interview. Only thing better would be if I had to do evaluations on the stores in the mall, on the company’s dime, and no returns.
staying an a la quinta inn in raliegh south carolina had to work way away from home (live in GA) to install office furniture for a cdc building.
Stuck inside a hotel room during a white out and racking up a huge pay-per-view bill on the company’s tab
Mariott Suite in San Diego. Only made that business trip once before I moved to a new company, but it was awesome.
I worked for a client that involved going on a Caribbean cruise that included Jamaica, Cozumel & Haiti. Diving in clear blue bathtub warm water on a client’s dime was sheer heaven. Not to mention raping a duty free shop of all the Blue Mountain coffee they had also on the client’s dime was fun.
Also went the next year to Alaska with the client and it was sooo much fun starting in Vancouver, then Alaska via cruise ship. There is nothing better than napping with the balcony door open and waking up watching the pine trees slowly pass by with the scent of pine wafting in.
My ultimate business getaway would be to Bangalore India (Minus the terrorism). I love the Indian culture, food, people and even the Bollywood movies! Got to love spontaneous song and dance!
Working from beachside, courtesy wifi and Citrix. Like now.
The mouse or remote.
Thanks.
Business meeting in Anaheim with a pass to disneyland greatest trip ever in disneyland hotel
Attending any conference where I’m supposed to learn from brilliant people. I heard Alvin Toffler speak last April at the NAB Convention in Vegas, it was really great.
Every year my company has a conference at the same Texas university campus (A&M) to celebrate the previous year and discuss the future of the company. This company hires from everywhere but the CEOs all seem to be graduates of the same “host” university (a university I did not attend).
My ultimate business getaway would simply to have the conference at a rival Texas university (UT, Tx Tech, heck even SMU!) just to have a change of scenery or to give others hope that they could become big-time CEOs for the company and not have to graduate from A&M.
BTW – Austin, TX is a MUCH more entertaining city than College Station, TX?! There’s nothing to do there but drink beer and cow tip.
The ultimate business getaway for me would be to Fotokina in Germany. Its the ultimate photography gear and photogeek getaway. Next year, I’m there, no matter what.
My best junket was a week and a half at the Four Seasons in Hollywood schmoozing a notoriously difficult agent to try and get his big name star to endorse our (now defunkt) online Casino. We ‘borrowed’ the house limo and blew a huge chunk of venture capital on our temporary hollywood lifestyle. My business partner even entertained a dancer in his room! – we sealed the deal and returned to Australia and dialysis. My kidneys hurt just thinking about it. Bring back the nineties – please.
Sometime next spring Im taking a trip to Cupertino to visit the mother ship. That will be my dream business trip. I cant wait!
I once closed a multi-million dollar deal on a golf weekend with a client. We were at Rocky Face near Dalton Georgia. We were on the 11th hole. I had about a 15 foot, up hill putt. The client told me if I made the putt, we had a deal. If not, we would have to wait another year to to present an alternate proposal. I sunk the putt. We signed the deal. And for my second best business getaway, the company I was working for sent me on an all-expense-paid cruise to the Bahamas for closing the deal a year before they thought they could.
Any beach, anywhere, above 70 degrees. Laptop, IM, email, cell phone and I’m set. Clients don’t mind the local either…
i would love to go to one of the education conferences they have, its always in a great city
I’d be at my own, personal E3. The room is full of booth babes and not a RROD in sight. PS3 has good games released for it, and the Wii is no longer gimmicky. Drops of dancing amber playfully descend to the ground as whiskey is shot out of the fire-suppression system, leading all of us to get drunk and play strip Mario Kart.
2 hours closing the deal and a long weekend celebrating and exploring with my wife in a cool non-touristy destination.