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The media pundit's pundit. Written by NYC insider Jeff Jarvis, BuzzMachine covers news, media, journalism, and politics.

Travelin’ man

4 comments on Travelin’ man

Travelin’ man

: Won’t be on the air much today because I’ll be in the air and then going to an all-afternoon untrendy trend seminar without wi-fi.

I’m not meant to travel anymore. Got up too damned early this morning and checked my Continental flight status because, hey, I’m an online wonk and I can. Uh-oh: “Mandatory crew delay.” Arrives at Newark too late for untrendy trends. Try to use airline sites to reserve new flight; can’t because it’s too close to flight time; rush out of room and throw the key at the desk; rush from airport hotel to airport hoping for 6a flight to Laguardia (worry about car at Newark later); American sold out until 8a; grab it; slink back to hotel to get room back; get back online; write this dumb post.

Man, I’m not meant to do this anymore. Make my travels virtual.

4 responses to “Travelin’ man”

  1. Jackie D Avatar
    Jackie D

    A survey by Barclaycard (credit card division of Barclays Bank) found that a quarter of all business travellers travelled less in 2003 than in 2002 — not because they or their companies couldn’t afford to send them off, but because technology made travel less necessary.

  2. Andy Avatar
    Andy

    Technology makes most business travel irrelevant, except for the human conditions of doing a deal. We can negotiate, share, communicate, present etc. without leaving home. However, we are unlikely to do “real” business until we meet the people. We need the visceral, instinctive, confirmation of trustworthiness.
    I have also learned not to book my travels so that the Airline Gods are less likely to play havoc at my expense. I have the “Ulysses Experience” of being blown off course and struggling to find my way home.

  3. Jackie D Avatar
    Jackie D

    Technology makes most business travel irrelevant, except for the human conditions of doing a deal. We can negotiate, share, communicate, present etc. without leaving home. However, we are unlikely to do “real” business until we meet the people. We need the visceral, instinctive, confirmation of trustworthiness.
    Absolutely. But this applies not just to business travel, but to people sitting ten feet away from someone in an office and choosing to email them something that they could have handled better and more efficiently by getting up and moseying on over to their colleague’s desk. In certain situations, email is great for getting a paper(less) trail of who said what, but nine times out of ten, the benefits of doing things in person outweigh the ease of email. The value of face-to-face interaction is underestimated in most offices.

  4. Jake Avatar
    Jake

    In my job, I do a great deal over the net. But in the cases where I meet the people I’m talking to before we start working together, and at intervals in between, the quality of the entire relationship is vastly superior.