Expect the unexpected

Have it ever happen to you when things don’t go the way you planned it? This is one Saturday of such nature. I called it an adventure because so many unplanned things happen. There is the earlier rescheduling of the product training on Friday 3.30 pm which supposedly to be on the following Monday.  5 managers from Sabah will be attending together with my team in Labuan. Their attendance is on ad hoc basis. However I always look forward to meeting up with them as they are fun bunch of lots. We have been through many ups and downs together. Like any close knitted family we sometimes bicker about little things but that is normal and healthy.

My weekend plan

Earlier I have planned to travel down to KK on early Saturday morning with my wife Liza so we can have the weekend to ourselves at the same time attending my good friend Richard son’s wedding reception. Yep… no kids involve just the two of us. Unfortunately things don’t always go the way you plan. Now I am writing this post on the express ferry to Kota Kinabalu, a 3 hours ride in the open sea after fulfilling my entire work obligation.  I wonder why it is call the express ferry since it is a 3 hours journey.

 

Route options

The other alternative route would be to take a 20 mins speed boat from the same terminal to Menumbok (a small town in the western coastline of Sabah), followed by a 2 hour taxi drive to KK.

One way is to drive over in the sturdy car ferry carrier which is about 1.5 hours to Menumbok then 2 hours drive to K.K.

Third option is to fly to Kota Kinabalu however for a 25 minutes journey; it will cost me RM490 for the return flight. It is expensive, considering I could purchase a return air ticket to KL on Air Asia (low cost carrier).

The setback

It has always been my pleasure to make sure my guest and visitors are taken care off in Labuan. After picking up all the outstation managers on Friday morning, I received a call from the trainer that his flight is delayed until further notice. After following up and not able to get a fix confirmation of his departure, I thought it was best to postpone the training to Saturday morning.

Sometimes when things go awfully wrong, we need to make the best of things. Though we could have proceeded with the training at late evening but I made the decision to hold it the next morning due to few factors. Firstly I was sure the audience was not in the right frame of mind for the training due to uncertainty of the trainer’s flight. Another factor is that the trainer is most likely frustrated over the long delay and probably worn out from the whole ordeal. Third factor, better spend the evening in more productive time in having an open session with all the managers in a friendly social environment. No agenda, no planning but just talk. Many heavy and emotional burdens have been unloaded during this session. Not only that, I observe that more ideas are born and many things also get done. I guess just chilling out at the bar, opens up everyone.

The training went well this morning and after ensuring all the managers flew off without any hiccups in the flight schedule, I was free to continue my journey to KK in the afternoon with my lovely wife.

So, I conclude that “always expect the unexpected” then you will be far more likely not to flip out if things don’t go the way you planned it. Oh dear……..it is starting to rain.