Fashion, Mercure, and a Great Nights Sleep

I’m back in Cape Town after an exhausting few days at International Fashion Week at Gallagher estate in JHB. The interest in eSquared was phenomenal (LOL -see Vin – I pronounced it correctly for once…)

A couple of interesting points:

1. Kulula has their own airport – the flight was quicker than the ride on the bus from the plane to the terminal. People started bonding over how LONG the ride was. The kulula plane was next to the international planes!!

2. The response to eSquared was incredible – people loved our clothing, and we nearly sold out of ALL the stock we took to the fashion show. Even better is that we had quite a few enquiries from people interested in opening eSquared’s in JHB. Look out Joey’s – eSquared is launching soon…

3. I had booked online for the Accor Mecure hotel which is the closest one to Gallagher estate. When I went to check in, they had no record of the booking. My outlook had frozen, and the internet through my 3G card, was giving me problems. So it took me 20 minutes to get the email booking through to them. Did I get an apology? Not a chance. No free breakfast, no upgrade to a better room, not even a sorry. The internet rate was better than the check in rate, and i could see they felt they were doing me a favour giving me the rate i had already booked!!!! This is NOT the way ecommerce is meant to work. If I book a hotel on the Internet, AND receive an email confirmation, I expect the booking to be COMPLETE. You might have 4000 hotels Accor, but I’m NOT IMPRESSED!

4. I got caught in the RAIN DOWNPOUR on friday afternoon. I had to get from the Hotel to the fashion hall, and thought a 10 minute walk would do me good. The rain was intense and every time the lightening struck, I dived to the floor!!

5. I woke up at 5am on Monday morning, and realised that the only way I could sort out the currency issue for my business partners was to get back to Cape Town (long story!!!!). So booked on Mango at 5.30 (at the cheapest rate of nearly R800 for a ONE WAY FLIGHT, i learnt that forward planning is the way to go!), and by 8:30 am I was on my first mango flight from JHB to CT. it wasn’t bad, except for the piece of plane that was loose on the side of my chair. The airhostess told me it wasn’t a big deal – it was just a piece of the decor that had come loose, and apparently it happened on a regular basis. Anyway, after 3 hours sleep, I didn’t stay awake for too long on the flight.

6. I got the currency, and Monday night had one of the best sleeps I’ve had in a LONG time! i was finished!!!!