ICIS Blogs : business travel

Swine flu stalks the ACC conference

ICIS Chemicals Confidential — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 09:40:10 GMT

ICIS Houston managing editor Stephen Burns survived the ACC conference, and sends this tale and video ... The American Chemistry Council ( ACC ) has revealed that an attendee at its annual meeting in Colorado Springs earlier this month had contracted...(read more)

"I'm on the plane" - calling and texting in the air

ICIS Chemicals Confidential — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 09:04:05 GMT

The massed switching on of mobile phones as the plane lands may soon be a thing of the past. Travellers on Vodafone and Orange mobiles will be able to use them on aircraft within weeks, according to this article today. O2 and T-Mobile are already using...(read more)

Gold bars with your German chemicals

ICIS Chemicals Confidential — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 18:54:17 GMT

The next time I pass through Frankfurt airport on the way to the German chemical heartland , I will be sure to stop off at the new Gold To Go vending machine which was unveiled yesterday. A German company has launched a new type of automat which dispenses...(read more)

Expat lifestyle - homesick in Riyadh

ICIS Chemicals Confidential — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 17:13:05 GMT

One of our expat friends working for a couple of months in Saudi Arabia phones on his Skype phone from his flat in Riyadh to say that he is homesick and finding that there is absolutely nothing to do there. He says that where he is living there are a...(read more)

25 years of Virgin Atlantic

ICIS Chemicals Confidential — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 16:43:27 GMT

Sir Richard Branson of the Virgin Group is doing a guest editor stint today at ICIS' sister publication Flight, and he tells us that Virgin Atlantic's popular 25th anniversary ad is going to make a return to UK TV screens this week. The retrospective...(read more)

No ashtray, no flight

ICIS Chemicals Confidential — Wed, 20 May 2009 17:06:48 GMT

A story in today's Times amusingly titled " No smoke without ire ," about a flight from Heathrow delayed in take-off due to a missing ashtray, reminded me of my own infuriating " Diary of a Flight to Amsterdam ." I bet the "unspecified...(read more)

Packing our golf bags for Seaview

ICIS Chemicals Confidential — Wed, 20 May 2009 17:00:22 GMT

What everyone loves about the Northeast Chems Association ( NECA) Sports Outing is that it is usually three days out of the office playing golf in the sunshine on the glorious rolling greens of the luxury Seaview Marriott hotel at Absecon on the New Jersey...(read more)

Floggers: high spirits despite downturn and health scare

ICIS Chemicals Confidential — Fri, 01 May 2009 14:07:25 GMT

It may turn out that the timing of Floggers was fortunate, because although everyone was joking about swine flu, they were still hugging and (social) kissing with abandon, and no-one had yet started to think about avoiding mass gatherings . Particularly...(read more)

Business travel - just when it couldn't get any worse

ICIS Chemicals Confidential — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 13:03:47 GMT

Just when it looked like a bad year for business travel couldn't get any worse, along comes swine flu, and even the most determined of travellers is going to think again. Chemical conference and exhibition organisers must be quaking in their shoes...(read more)

Summer EPL set for Madrid

ICIS Chemicals Confidential — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 09:35:16 GMT

The next EPL ( European Petrochemical Luncheon ) is scheduled for 25 June 2009 at the Westin Palace Hotel in Madrid. The cocktail party will be sponsored by Tricon Energy . Registration will close on 19 June. The guest speaker will be the American comedian...(read more)

Raffles Hotel For Sale

ICIS Chemicals Confidential — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 09:33:38 GMT

Raffles Hotel in Singapore is up for sale, the Blog reads in this morning's Times. The article claims that the Saudi prince owning Fairmont Raffles Hotels International is in need of funds after his fortune declined from $21bn to $13bn over the last...(read more)

Top 10 Most Dangerous Places to Work

ICIS Chemicals Confidential — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 12:38:19 GMT

The London-based risk consultancy, Control Risks , has devised a list of the Top 10 most dangerous places in the world to work , as measured by the number of times the company's registered clients requested each country's page on its Forecast...(read more)

Scottish golf event hard to resist

ICIS Chemicals Confidential — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 12:08:19 GMT

SAN ANTONIO (Chemicals Confidential)--The Blog hears that some guests being invited to a petchems industry golfing event to be held at the prestigious Scottish course of Gleneagles this summer are reluctantly having to decline the invitation due to new...(read more)

On-line conferencing - you can't beat the real thing

ICIS Chemicals Confidential — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 17:16:43 GMT

SAN ANTONIO (Chemicals Confidential)--When times are hard and travel budgets are cut, conferences struggle to get the delegates. So consultant Dewitts moved its pre-NPRA Houston conference online , and our own Peter Taffe switched his booking from "the...(read more)

The bars of San Antonio

ICIS Chemicals Confidential — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 11:21:53 GMT

The ICIS technical crew has been building all day Saturday - they are the advance guard moving into a city ahead of a petchem conference and turning an unpromising empty room into a wonderland of ICIS technology. They know the petchem cities of the world...(read more)