AAdvantage me!

In the name of social media, I thought I'd share...

American Airlines' AAdvantage frequent flyer program just sent me the following email:

From the American Airlines AAdvantage® Program

Dear Jessica Willey,

We know you have a choice when it comes to air travel and we appreciate the business you have given us over the years. Today, we'd like to extend a special thanks to you as you celebrate your 10th AAdvantage® Anniversary.

Since we launched the world's first frequent flyer program in 1981, we have worked hard to provide great value whether you earn your miles by flying or through products and services offered by the wide range of companies participating in the AAdvantage program. And now, your miles are redeemable for award travel on more than 20 participating airlines to over 700 destinations worldwide.

Thank you again for your business. We look forward to seeing you on an American Airlines flight soon!

Rob Friedman
President
AAdvantage Marketing Programs

To which I replied:

Dear AA Customer Relations,

I'm writing in response to an email I received, titled 'Happy Anniversary!' and notifying me that I have been an AAdvantage member for 10 years.

As a Marketing professional, I am disappointed that American Airlines fell so short here with such a self-serving campaign. If you really want to thank a customer, you should consider offering a gesture of goodwill, something of value - the obvious in this case would be 10k bonus miles for 10 years.

As a customer, I am annoyed that AA populated my inbox with email that offered me no value - be it useful information or an offer of some sort. Annoyed enough that I decided to send you this note.

Thank you for the refresher lesson in CRM. I do know I have a choice of airlines, and while American is usually in the top 2 or 3 of my list, my esteem for it has slipped slightly.

Kind regards,
Jessica

Into Africa

We're nearing the end of the first quarter of 2010, and alarmingly we've only done one weekend away so far this year! We deliberately didn't plan anything for end Feb / early March, which has lived up to expectations of being a very crazy time at work. But now, we're overdue for a vacation! Thankfully we've got a trip to the States coming up - including a nice 5 1/2 day break over the Easter weekend holiday that we booked within days of our return after Christmas.

When we did manage to get out of dodge, we ventured south to Tunisia - our first trip to Africa. For those who have as little idea of where Tunisia was as I did before booking the trip, it is on the north coast of Africa, nestled between Algeria & Libya, and on googlemaps appears to be a stone's throw from Sicily & Sardinia. Known as one of the most moderate Muslim countries, there is little to no English spoken (Arabic & French), and for these westerners it was definitely one of the most 'foreign' places we've traveled. (Notably, it's also where Star Wars was filmed, but we didn't make it to the deserts in the middle of the country.)

We chose Tunisia because it promised to be warmer than London at the end of January, and because I won a beach vacation in a bet with Jason, having beaten him in our Fantasy Football league finals (the wager was: loser has to take me on a beach vacation). Jason thinks this counted - see evidence below:

From Tunis - January '10

The picture above was on our day trip out to the resort town of Sidi Bou Said and Carthage, where we walked amongst Roman ruins from the area's hey-day. Please note that, while the view was beautiful, I was not dressed in anything close to a bathing suit.

Back where we stayed in Tunis, the capital, there were a few things we found particularly notable:

• While we found plenty of interesting things to look at (mosaics, mosques, market stalls), Jason appeared to be the most interesting thing for the locals to look at.
• As definitive 'outsiders', we found that when we did have the opportunity to interact with the locals, we found them to be warm & welcoming -- and even more so when they found out we are American.
• It's not a place that gets many tourists (hence the 2 first points) - but that was very nice. Unlike Istanbul (where we've visited) or Marrakech (where we haven't), we didn't feel like someone was out to rip us off at every turn. We encountered some entrepreneurial sorts, but very little pushiness or swindling to be found.
• It is nearly impossible to find a place to sit and have a beer or other drink. We did manage to find a hotel's rooftop bar, 'Bar Jamaica', and ended up going multiple times. It is possible to find restaurants serving beer or wine, but never in view of the public (in fact, one place we went had the windows papered over).
• Women and men socialise in different circles, which was brought home to us when we went for dinner on our first night, and I was the only female in the busy, rather large restaurant ... for the entire evening. This also made it seem a little strange that I was the only one to speak directly with servers during our trip, given French was required. I should note, though, that I encountered absolutely no hostility.
• So as not to appear out of touch or offensive, we kept PDA to a minimum (even more so than normal) - meaning not even any hand-holding while walking down the street. This proved remarkably, surprisingly difficult.

Overall, it was a delighful and eye-opening couple of days in a completely different culture, and we definitely recommend brushing up on you French (or Arabic) and checking out Tunisia! Meanwhile, be sure to check out our pictures!

Tax Season (File under: British Humour)

Based on the subject, this could be the driest post ever. I'll try to keep it short & colourful.

As you may be aware, the English like to do things in their own quirky way. Exhibit A: left-side driving; Exhibit B: warm beer.

Following tradition, the tax year here ends on April 5, naturally, and submission date is January 31. I will spare you all the details of the incompetencies of Ernst & Young (especially those hired by S&P; Unilever's were okay), but suffice it to say that Jason pretty much ended up doing our taxes even though the world's #1 tax firm were on the case.

But this is not about Ernst & Young; it is about the lovely people at HM Revenue & Customs, from whom Jason received this notice, dated 17 Feb 2010:

Dear Mr Willey

Thank you for your Tax Return for the year ended 5 April 2009 which we received on 28 January 2010.

I will treat the form for all purposes as though you sent it in response to a notice from us which required you to deliver it to us by the date we received it.

Yours sincerely,
S Watson, Revenue Assistant

WHAT!?!?!?! 10 points to the first person who can translate the above.* Personally I'm a little concerned that they haven't yet let me know if they'll treat my form in the same way. Or maybe I'm relieved. I'll never be sure.

*I will have no idea if you're correct.

Festive Season Parts II-VI

Before this gets to be too much more of a distant memory, I'm posting pictures and a few tidbits about the rest of the 2009 Festive Season, which kicked off with our Alentejo trip and continued straight up to and through New Years in California.

Festive Season Part II: We rounded up our friends (Jocelin & John) and made a proper Thanksgiving feast. Sure, it was the Saturday after the real turkey day, and sure, we didn't have any Ocean Spray canned cranberry sauce with those delicious ridges, but we did manage to stuff ourselves silly and play a solid Trivial Pursuit game. I will graciously say I can't remember who won.

From Festive Season 2009 - Nov-Dec '09

Festive Season, Part III: The following weekend, Jason & I headed off to Munich, Germany, to visit the Christmas Markets. We chose Munich for no reason other than flights to Munich were cheaper than any other Christmas market town we could find. We spent a glorious weekend eating and drinking our way through town, taking breaks from mulled wine and beer to enjoy various fried greasy breads or sausages. It certainly cemented my previously lacking Christmas spirit; I returned ready to face the rest of the Festive Season.

From Munich - December '09

From Munich - December '09

Festive Season Part IV: The weekend following our trip to Munich, 2 visitors from a wonderful land arrived on our doorstop: Carlo & Paola Marchi, my surrogate Italian parents, ready for their first-ever visit to England. They arrived with a seemingly sensible amount of luggage, only to reveal that one of their two baggagli was stuffed to the brim with food! In addition to fresh pasta, homemade pesto, tomato sauce, tartes, fresh cheeses, and breakfast biscotti, which you arguably might not find here, they had also packed garlic, chicken breasts, a packaged pouch of grated parm, bread, and dried spaghetti. England may not be known for its food, but these precautions seemed a little unnecessary. I told my Italian work friend Max about it. He wasn't at all surprised. We ate like kings during their 4-day stay, and slightly regretted already having plans one evening. With this bounty of food, the language barrier I was worried about disappeared.

During this weekend, I also carried on the tradition of personalized gingerbread folks, which went over very well down at the Unilever ranch.

From Festive Season 2009 - Nov-Dec '09

From Festive Season 2009 - Nov-Dec '09

Festive Season Part V: After the Marchi's departure, only 2 events remained before our trip back to the States. The first was the annual Unilever UK Christmas Party. Last year's was the famous 'Posh & Becks' Christmas' ... this year, 'Cirque Noel', complete with acrobats, jugglers on stilts, bumper cars, and a carnival ride which somehow defied the likelihood of being a very dangerous combination with the copious amounts of alcohol being consumed. Not quite as good as last year's, but a good time all the same.

And finally...

Festive Season Part VI: The first of many family events to come, we spent a snowy weekend in Colchester with Carole, keeping warm with a roast dinner and mulled wine, and exchanging the first of the gifts. A cozy end to the Festive Season!

From Festive Season 2009 - Nov-Dec '09