BUSINESS TRAVELLER
Name: Paul Terrington Position: Regional Chair of PwC in NI and chair of Institute of Directors in NI What’s your favourite App for passing the time? I am not a great user of entertainment Apps. I tend to use travel time to catch up on emails and review documents. The lifting of the ban on using iPads during take-off/landing is a plus in that respect. Have you ever unexpectedly run into someone you know from home in a far flung destination? Regularly, but too often for it to be unexpected. PwC is a big organisation so I’m always bumping into colleagues at airports, stations and hotels, all over the world. What do you enjoy most about working internationally? Coming home to my family. Don’t kid yourself, working internationally is still working, so don’t confuse it with tourism.
How often do you travel and why? I travel every week, usually to London, less frequently to other UK cities and throughout Europe and 4/5 times a year further afield. I am normally 2-3 days per week in London, which is much easier if they are consecutive days. Last year I made a return flight between Belfast and London every day for a week – first flight out, last flight home... that’s an experience I don’t intend to repeat. Much of PwC business growth is outside Northern Ireland so I travel to lead efforts in networking, developing opportunities, prospecting for leads and selling – you can’t do that sitting in an office in Belfast. Other than your phone, what are the three things you couldn’t do without when travelling for work? Leg room on the plane! A bag that fits in the overhead locker and my Spurs season tickets, in case I have the chance to get to a game. Have you found a good way to work while you are on the move? No easy answer to this. I have an iPhone, an iPad and a 4G receiver so I’m always connected. My highly organised and telepathic PA is equally important. However I’m always open to suggestions. What would be your top tips for anyone embarking on a job that involves a lot of travel? A measure of effectiveness for the airline commuter is how little time you actually spend in airports. You have to endeavour to let travel interfere only minimally with your work pattern. That means cutting connections and travel very fine, which does result in occasional missed flights, but that’s not something to get stressed about.
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What’s your favourite city/country in the world and where has disappointed you? I love London as a city to visit for work or recreation. More far flung would be Hong Kong – a really interesting fusion of East and West and New York – like being on a permanent movie set. Jerusalem is the most interesting city I have visited, while my most disappointing city was Bangkok... grubby and impossible to walk around. What do you look for in a good hotel? Someone else does that for me. PwC has a list of hotels around the world that meet our standards of quality and convenience to offices and airports, so I don’t really mind where I stay. What’s the best airline you’ve flown with and the best hotel you’ve stayed in? I fly regularly with BA and Aer Lingus, both of which are fine. Hotels when working are all about convenience. For pleasure, my favourites would have to be the Merrion in Dublin and Mandarin Oriental in Hyde Park. Have you worked out a way to avoid jetlag? No secret formula. On short stay/long haul trips, I try to stay in UK time as best I can. Thankfully I don’t need much sleep. Do you speak any languages and if so, have they been of use on business trips? I speak some German and I can understand a few other languages better than I can speak them.