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Spain / Egypt Visa 1982 - Exit from Barcelona / Trouble in LA / Frequent Flyer

Spain / Egypt Visa 1982 - Exit from Barcelona / Trouble in LA / Frequent Flyer

            Was supposed to end the 5 week trip in Paris, not Barcelona, but could not get a hotel reservation in Paris. Plan B was to take the train from Florence, Italy to Barcelona (where I by then had a hotel reservation) and fly back from Barcelona (or take a train to Paris and leave from there). The train trip from Florence, Italy to the Spanish border was a total disaster - no food, no water, and major delays due to a wildcat strike. The train from the border at Port Bou to Barcelona was held for 8 hours for the passengers arriveing from France and Italy. Bought a guide book and map at the station and was ready to go sight seeing. Only problem in Barcelona was lack of time. 

The serious problems began the next day on returning to the office. A key person had been fired (for good reason) while I was gone and his friend quit in sympathy. As a result I "inherited" their hopelessly bungled project. After 8 months of 16 hours a day 7 days a week useless effort I intentionally did something "bad enough" to get me replaced. The next replacement and the one following developed serious "substance abuse" problems  from the unrelenting pressure before the project was cancelled. 

My employer had a strict policy of getting rid of employees before they reached retirement age - more left because of stress induced heart attack or suicide. One coworker was taken away in a straight jacket, never to be seen again. The very few that made it to "full retirement" at age 65 were so burned out that they died (on average) within 16 months. I was "lucky enough" to have been forced into an "induced retirement" at age 55 - within a year I was back as a "consultant" at twice the pay. Instead of "mandatory voluntary unpaid overtime" I was finally being paid for actual hours worked.

Only good point of the "more than full time" job was the massive accumulation of "frequent flyer miles" from over 20 years of more than weekly business travel. I made my own travel arrangements, using indirect routings, to maximize the miles. For example, within a month of returning from the 1982 England / Egypt / Italy / Spain vacation had qualified for another free first class round trip to Egypt.

Taken in: España / Catalunya (show map)

Taken on: September 8, 1982

Tags:

passport

visa

1990s

spain

Barcelona

Catalonia

frequent

flier

miles

Eurailpass

train

trip

disaster « less

Sets appears in: • Among My Souvenirs

Stats: 1,540 views

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