There were flights to book, taxis to arrange, hotels to reserve, money to exchange, passports, visas, luggage… And then there were meetings to arrange too. No problem for a logistician, right? Well all went swimmingly initially. The flights were on time, the hotels were nice and the itinerary was all tickety boo. And then there was that one meeting… 

Now, as a freight forwarder, as you’d expect, I’ve got friends all over the world. And when I travel to their neck of the woods, I like to catch up with them. My buddy Captain, lives in China. So we arranged to meet up while I was in Vietnam. Plans were made to meet ay 6pm at the Continental. 

So I get comfortably seated in the Continental Hotel bar and wait for my friend to arrive. 6pm comes and goes and there’s no sign of him. Then my phone rings… “Where are you?” Captain asks. “I’m in the bar at the Continental” I reply. After a few back and forths, we determine that while I’m at the Continental Hotel, he’s at the Inter Continental, 20 minutes across town! “Stay Put!” I say… and I hop in a taxi across town to the Inter Continental. 

The thing is, bad signals and foreign languages don’t make for good communication. So while I was in the taxi heading to meet him… He’d jumped in a taxi to come and meet me! 20 minutes later we find ourselves in the exact same position – on the phone, in different hotels, trying to find each other!  I kid you not… It was like some kind of slapstick comedy show… Eventually, we make it to the same hotel at the same time. But it really did make us laugh. 

You see, not only am I a seasoned logistician with over 30 years in the industry, but he served in the Taiwanese Navy as a Captain, so he also know’s how to navigate himself around! Goes to show that even the best of us can get it wrong sometimes! Perhaps we should have cargo tracked each other! 

Just a little light hearted fun for you this week, but I’d love to hear your slapstick stories too. Got any funny logistical nightmares to share?