Day 2 (Sunday 6 May): My (HUGE) mission to get to Coolum and setup our stand

I literally nearly didn’t make it to Coolum for the convention. Here’s why…

Ok, to be fair first up, I did make a few mistakes. My mistakes:

1. The Australia cable for my adapter for my laptop was the incorrect one (”figure of eight” instead of the “Mickey Mouse” connection) - it was the cable I used for my Sony VIAO which was stolen. I assumed my new Acer would take the same one
2. I didn’t hire a car before I arrived - I thought hire cars would be plentiful in Brisbane
3. I hadn’t transferred enough cash onto my credit card before leaving

I didn’t realize that this was a long weekend in Aus and that everyone had decided to go on holiday. The guys at the airport told me that no hire cars were available in the city. This was a problem because I had to travel 150 k’s to Coolum the next day.

“That’s ok, I thought, I’ll just use the internet and sort it out in the morning.”
So I woke up in my (somewhat dodgy) motel (one of the dangers of booking inexpensive accommodation on the internet) after waking several times during the night with racing thoughts (gotta love that jetlag). My laptop power was depleted having used it in Singapore without power. “Thank goodness i brought the cable I thought”

This is when I discovered that my power cable was the wrong one. “That’s ok, I thought, I’ll just hire a car, go into town and buy one… &*%@ no cars!
I check the intern… &*%@ no power!”

Fortunately my friendly motel owner was able to hire me a car over the phone from Abel (who incidentally offer awesome service and really assisted me). Things were looking up. They even came to fetch me from my motel.

Everything is ready, car is fueled up, just need to pay. So I give ‘em my trusty business credit card. “Failed.” That’s embarrassing, try my personal one. “Failed.” Try my debit card. Failed. Four Standard Bank cards later and I’m starting to panic. No internet, no car, no money. &*%@!!

So the kind Abel guy lets me use the internet in their office to check my internet banking. “Phew! I am sure I can sort this out online.” So I login to Standard Bank Internet banking as I have hundreds of times before - “technical error - system temporarily unavailable - please try again later.” “No joking.” I have perhaps encountered this error three times ever and it lasts for a very short time generally, and I understand IT and live systems and needing to take systems offline sometimes and so on… but what a friggin lousy time for Standard Bank to go offline for me!

So I am starting to consider the scenario of actually not getting there. No one to call…

Fortunately for me the Abel guy (who at this point is a personal hero) works out a way to overdraw my personal credit card to force the payment through. “Wooohooo - now I can get that power cable… &*%@ no money! No way to transfer money!”

So I just get on the road and head for Coolum. It’s really surreal - I haven’t spoken to a RE/MAX person yet and I feel like I might be in some sort of bad dream. “Maybe this isn’t even the right weekend?” The journey is long, the names are weird (like “Maroochydore,” “Noosa” and “Yaroomba”), everyone obeys the speed limit… jeepers this place is weird. I begin to feel like I’m lost in the twilight zone - without any money.

I finally make it to Coolum and get to the beach front. I find an ATM and am able to draw $150 out of two separate accounts… thank God I finally have cash. I then get to the Hyatt Regency Coolum (awesome by the way) and see a… RE/MAX sign! Ok, this isn’t a bad dream, I am where I am meant to be. Things are looking up.

I finally find internet, am able to transfer cash, find my hotel, purchase a power plug… and it all comes together in the end.

Phew!