The Mobile World Congress held annually in Barcelona, Spain, is without doubt ‘the’ must go event for any and every one in the mobile telecommunication business. This is the time when the most advanced technology, application, devices and etc are being recognized by the industry and a time for showcasing the latest stuff in the market. The who’s who of the telecoms industry all get together to debate issues and opportunities. This time around, it came as no surprise that all keynote conferences in one way or another touched the topic of the global financial crisis and its impact on the telecoms industry.
This is my second time attending this event, the first time being two years ago. My flight to Barcelona was via the ever hectic Heathrow where I had to endure 3 additional hours of transit time, ending up in Barcelona past 1am local time. With less than 5 hours of sleep, I rushed to my company’s hospitality suite located at the Poble Espanyol, 10 minutes walk from the trade show venue at Fira, 30 minutes away from my hotel. Our suite, a huge outdoor tent, was tastefully injected with Arabic style decor, creating a cool ambience.
On the first nite of the event, my company organized a Gala Dinner for the 100 over delegates from the whole Group companies, while no external guests were allowed. The venue was a restaurant called Mirabe, located up on a hill with amazing view of the city. Networking cocktails were at the outdoor patio in freezing cold weather, followed by dinner indoor. The 3-course dinner consisted of smoked salmon for starters, steak for the main course and ice cream and mousse for sweets. I gobbled everything clean as I didn’t have any time to even grab a quick bite during the day, rushing from one meeting to another. We were also entertained by Spanish live music and flamenco performance throughout the dinner. This was actually the first time I get to sit in the same room and took a close look at the company Chairman and Vice Chairman.
On the second day, I met up my old friend and ex-colleague for lunch. She was one of the first friends I made when I was working in that other company as we had travelled together for an overseas assignment for a couple of weeks right after I joined that company. She was the opposite of the others in that office who were generally a cold and pretentious lot. Imagine my excitement when I found out that she was in Barcelona too, thanks to FB. So we bitched on the office politics over our little lunch of Spanish omelette and tuna steak.
By the third day of the event, my feet were aching from the back and forth walk through 8 halls of exhibits, conference rooms and hospitality suites. As soon as the day was over, I collapsed onto my hotel bed and dialled room service. The dinner invite at Hesperia Tower was kindly declined, as I had no energy to paste a smile on my face for a few hours of networking. After dinner, it dawned on me that this was my last nite here so hmm, why not check out that shopping mall just a couple of blocks down the road? So well, off I went and managed to get some stuff for the kids over the short hour spent.
The last day ended very quick. Three hours at the show, lunch with an old associate and dropped by La Ramblas on the way back to hotel to grab some souvenirs and the mandatory drop at Hard Rock Cafe. Arrived at the airport on time but was pissed that the business lounge was full and had to sit at the gate and wait. Due to a slight delay, the transit in Frankfurt was cut short, and the long walk between terminals and passport controls didn’t allow time for souvenir shopping at the airport at all. Well at least this was better than waiting. Frankfurt was forecasted to snow that night but didn’t - I was partly disappointed not to have seen it but partly relieved as this could have delayed the flight further.
Reached Doha home sweet home on time. After tapau-ing roti telur and nasi lemak at Taste of Asia on the way home from the airport, I headed home and was happy to be greeted by the familiar and much missed screaming and jumping of the little loved ones.
