Business Toad
Returned the following archive
Business Toad
A big turn off
The seasoned business traveller can cope with anything from delayed flights to dodgy hotel food – just don’t try and switch anything off – says Stuart White
Business Toad
An ode to Pan Am
One doesn’t like to speak ill of the dead, but there’s always room for an exception in Pan-Am’s case, says Stuart White
Business Toad
Stuart White gets the economy class blues
Stuart White takes his annual pilgrimage with the common people – and finds a veritable feast of griping at his table
Business Toad
Costume dramas
Dress codes around the world have gone awry. Stuart White laments at the demise of the dinner suit
Business Toad
Sending the wrong signal
There are some things about hotels that never fail to push all the wrong buttons, says Stuart White
Business Toad
Insult to injury
Stuart White faces fractures in Frankfurt, appendicitis in Albania and hives in Hong Kong
Business Toad
A false economy
Beg, steal or borrow for an upgrade? You’re better off slumming it, says Stuart White
Business Toad
An easy lunch
Jetlag, nausea and prolonged snoring, there’s hidden peril in the foreign business lunch, says Stuart White
Business Toad
A stiff upper lip
How do you solve a problem like Eyjafjallajökull? Cork it with the bodies of the bitching Brits, says Stuart White
Business Toad
Remember your loved ones
Tired, lonely and on the job; Stuart White navigates the dangerous minefield of meeting women on the road
Business Toad
At home with Wordsworth
He’s grumbled in Greece and bitched from Bangkok, but for Stuart White there’s just no place like home
Business Toad
Airport dictators
What links a certain infamous Irish airline, a Stansted airport hotel and a long-dead Italian dictator? With this triple-rant, Stuart White starts the year as he means to go on
Business Toad
Oh, for an airline departure lounge
Hosanna for Heathrow. Stuart White travels by ferry and wonders whether he has been too draconian a critic of check-in desks, departure lounges and duty free
Business Toad
Beyond boarding
For sheer brazen, bare-faced Pinocchio-style whoppers, the travel business is the undisputed champion. Stuart White looks for some truth in an industry of lies
Business Toad
Communication breakdown, it’s always the same
Stuart White files his report after six sweltering hours in a non air-conditioned Athens hotel room, sitting by a phone as unresponsive as a statue of Buddha, waiting for a call to London to be connected
Business Toad
Balancing the books
Filling in expense sheets – the most tiresome administrative task – is nothing if not troublesome and tedious
Business Toad
Reward points; what’s the point?
Getting rid of air miles and reward points is a tricky endeavour, and invariably thankless, says Stuart White
Business Toad
The travesty of business travel
Don’t choke on the chilled champagne and canapés as you relax in your Business Class seat, or gag on room service at your Hyatt Regency, Intercon or Mandarin, but I’m about to argue for a severe curtailment of these trips
Business Toad
Risking detention
It was all going so well; champagne, Mozart, a plane seat with a significant recline, and then came the role play – as our intrepid traveller gets put back in pre-school
Business Toad
Family folly
It’s not all high-class luxury in the world of business travel. Sometimes you have to take a holiday, and that’s where the work really starts. As Stuart White can attest
Business Toad
On a wing, without a prayer
Is there any clearer encapsulation of the angst of our globalised age than being stuck in a metal container at 30,000 ft in a seat next to someone with smelly feet? Stuart White doesn’t seem to think so
Business Toad
Frosty hellos
Stuart White recounts his suffering at the hands of Mr. Frosty the hotel receptionist
Business Toad
Tipping point
Stuart White warns us to beware the business lunch, as tip-hungry tray handlers may just ruin your day