Berlin!!!... CEO Duties... an SATC experience!!!

The almighty Alma! Appreciate!

'God has a sense of Humour...' #Just Saying...

I'd spent the whole day negotiating terms with suppliers, planning, directing and advising my team... no one had been kind enough to warn me of the tumultuous yet stimulating life an MD/CEO lived. It was painful!... I sat at my desk, as I slowly ensured that my tasks for the day were definitely completed, after all I was still an employee... one with an extremely demanding job!

Emotionally spent and clearly drained, I subconsciously or maybe even consciously glanced at the Gucci timepiece that dominated my left wrist. Oh wow! it was 18:39, where had my day gone? My ride to Frankfurt airport was due to arrive in just over twenty minutes. 
 The last two e mails I sent were done in a rush, a quick glance over and the hope that they satisfied the intended recipients was about all I could muster before I grabbed my laptop bag and Amarante Louis Vuitton Alma MM (I had to! blush!! it is gorgeous, a work of art!hehe! in Vernis leather!) and rode the elevator 16 floors down to reception. 

I dutifully handed my black Jasper Conran wheelie to my driver and got in the car. A staggering breath of air escaped me as I took the back seat, a clear sigh of relief. I had an hour to myself but before I laid my head to rest there was a call I needed to return... (that tale...is for another day :)).

A very accurate 60 minutes later, I walked into Frankfurt airport, wheelie in hand, dropped my bags off with the smiley ground staff  at the Lufthansa desk and headed to my gate... a quick detour at Meyer Feinkost, perhaps a tall glass of German Riesling would calm this inaudible, escalating churn my stomach had engaged in... You see, I am a bit of a 'nervous-flyer',(don't ask!) I don't enjoy flying at all, weird I know! for someone who flies pretty much every week.

Frankfurt Airport!

 A few announcements, changed gates and small conversations later, I was firmly tucked into the signatory Grey Lufthansa seats. As a 'nervous-flyer', I am mandated to advise airline staff, check weather conditions et all, they in turn are mandated to monitor me throughout the flight, give advance warning of heavy clouds, weird sounds and  pretty much as much information as they possibly can of any potential issues. God forbid full blown hysterics on a flight... I have had that before, not pretty at all!

I patiently waited for the plane to fill, not quite ten minutes later a tall, dark haired metro-sexual took the aisle seat beside me, only issue was he had a Lufthansa badge peaking every so slightly from under his shirt.

The observer in me very quickly picked up on that; the naij woman in me whispered 'Ehn Ehn o, who is this one now, abeg!' Gosh! sometimes I wish she'd just shut up and behave! haha!... he looked too butch to be an air host and too young and too pretty to be a pilot or engineer so really! only other option was a secret agent... 
I rarely assume so I asked; 'hi! going home?'... we talked all the way to our destination, turns out he WAS INDEED a pilot, a first officer, cute as hell and awesomely gay!
Josef or Joe was tres-fantastique, he explained every sound, jerk and movement and kept assuring me that everything was fine. 
We talked about my business, he talked about his even cuter boyfriend (ooh! saw a picture, that dude was pretty hatttt!), how he'd just flown in from Shanghai that morning and only flew 4 times a month, I was green with envy, pilots had the best work/life balance ever, no doubt!... he offered to model for me, I looked him over, niceee! could definitely use you, I quietly thought! 

Joe and Ade in my iPad Photo booth! Forgive us it was midnight!

 It was such an awesome flight, I hugged heaven, God ALWAYS had me covered! what a treat! my babysitter was an actual pilot! my spirit cried out victoriously in sweet sweet joy! ... We disembarked a few minutes short of midnight, I walked out of Tegel airport, said my 'Tschuses' to Josef after exchanging e mail addresses, the familiar Euphoric feel of being in a Big city hit me, it smelt and felt like New York.
Josef had sarcastically retorted 'Yeah Ade! New York in the 80s'... when I'd told him I'd heard Berlin was a huge, retro city, my gorgeously huge eyes had lit up as I'd followed my statement with 'like New York?' (uh huh you say! well! that's what I could relate with:), I luv'd the Big apple! lol!).

crazy taxi queue

My smile froze as I saw the taxi queue... Berlin indeed did not sleep... an hour and a half later, finally at my hotel and tucked into the lush queen-sized bed, I put the phone down and smiled... I was already firmly in love with Berlin... She made me smile...
 Gosh! I'm such a big city girl... truly cosmopolitan...  

Definitely cosmopolitan!The morning after! :)

I shall tell all about the Bread n Butter trade-show  I attended on behalf of veniviici... :), awesome  SATC moments and a conversation I had with my direct reports after the trade show. But! Now! I am extremely aware that I have just one more sleep in this fabulous city and I need need need to go into town... 

TSCHUS!! :)

*'Tschus - Bye (German)