In a few hours when this column is posted online I will be flying to London for the Institute of Directors (IOD) 2022 Annual London Global Convention on Corporate Governance and Sustainability, where our company, Tristar, will receive the Golden Peacock Award on Sustainability. I attended the same event in November 2019 with our Group CEO.
This brings me to my column in the defunct Kabayan Weekly in February 2018 about ‘Jet setting across the Middle East’.
I had travelled so many times across the Middle East due to work and personal matters. The infamous Kish Island was my first Middle East trip – exactly 90 days after first arriving in Dubai – to exit and come back with another three-month visit visa. The second trip to Kish was in late 2001, this time for my employment visa. My wife and son also went to Kish for their residence visa a few weeks after. Back then in the early 2000s to the late 2000s Filipinos are labeled as ‘true-blooded’ Dubai/UAE residents if they had gone to the island which is part of Iran.
My third trip in the region was to Qatar in mid-2002. I was interviewed by Qatar Airways for a possible Qatar Airport marketing promotions position. I flew in the morning and returned in the evening. I did not get the job, but I got to travel for free and tour Doha for a few hours.
I went back to Qatar in the first quarter of 2004 when I was with the UAE-based dealer of The Filipino Channel (TFC) called Mediacom. Yes, Mediacom which is now the famous karaoke brand. I was tasked to follow up on our application with Q-Tel to offer the Kapamilya Channel to our kababayans (compatriots). We got the permit through a third party, which has a license to operate satellite TV subscriptions. My wife and I flew to Doha twice in late 2016 and in early 2017, both trips related to our CFC community.
My first visit to Bahrain was CFC community-related in the last quarter of 2003. I went there with my wife and a number of couples and single men and women for the annual Middle East Conference (MEC). We returned to Bahrain during the 2005 and 2008 MEC editions, the latter with our son who attended a kids activity.
In 2004, I went to Jeddah, Riyadh and Al Khobar to introduce the Mediacom karaoke machine with potential dealers like Skyfreight and the staff of ABS-CBN Middle East. When I went back to the Kingdom in mid-2005 I was already the senior manager for sales and marketing of ABS-CBN Middle East in charge of promoting TFC subscriptions.
I first travelled to Kuwait in June 2005. It was a timely trip because the Filipino community there had a big event connected with the celebration of Philippine Independence Day (PID). The following week I flew to Oman for another PID event. I went back to Kuwait in early 2006 for a consumer survey with a 3rd party after coming from Qatar and Bahrain. I covered these three countries in seven days.
I also tried to set up a dealership in Beirut in mid-2005, which eventually was formalized in 2008 with one of the contacts I had established. I saw Beirut again in late 2016 when we had a planning conference with our CFC community together with leaders from the entire Middle East region and the Philippines.
One of my favorite trips is the Jeddah-Riyadh-Al Khobar-Bahrain route. I start my sales and marketing work in Jeddah where the famous Al Baik broasted chicken is only found at that time. Then I fly to Riyadh and always visit the ‘Divisoria’ called ‘Batha’ and the Philippine Embassy in the Diplomatic Quarter. I take the bus or ride in a car going to the Eastern Province comprising the tri-city of Al Khobar, Dammam and Dhahran and meet the Filipino community leaders. Finally, I proceed to Bahrain via the famous 25-kilometer long King Fahd Causeway where in the middle of the sea is the immigration border between Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. So many Filipinos in the Eastern Province take their weekends and holidays like the Eid in Bahrain for entertainment and ‘Crispy Pata’.
In my whole 10 years with Tristar, I travelled to Kenya and Oman several times and once to South Sudan and South Korea. I also flew to Riyadh in April 2019 and was amazed with the big changes there in terms of buildings and culture.
Travelling is good as you have more time for yourself while at the airport and on the plane. It also gives you a broader perspective of life as you contemplate on your future while 25,000 to 35,000 feet up in the air.