Unlike most people, Alastair isn’t put off by the prospect of spending two days on a plane to get five days on the ground. It’s all about making the most of the time you have, according to the 21-year-old.
Meet Alastair Esser, Manager at Flight Centre Business Travel in Brisbane.
Just 21-years-old, Alastair is a prime example of a travel agent making the most out of the travel industry and doing everything he can to see the world.
Earlier this year, Alastair travelled to Europe to attend a soccer match in Italy. But get this: he only had a week off, and had to spend two days travelling in the air and just five days on the ground.
For many people, such a high flying-time to time on the ground ratio would put them off. But not Alastair.
Having gone to Berlin the year before for the championships and having had a great time, Alastair decided to do it again this year and attend the Champions League Final over in Milan. He already had some mates over in Europe anyway…
“I flew into Bologna, and then went across to Florence. Had a couple of nights there and then up through Cinque Terre and Santa Margherita up to Milan. Enjoyed the festivities up in Milan, was in town for the game and then flew home.”
Talk about a whirlwind trip! Ah, the things you do for travel…
All in all Alastair was on the ground for five of the seven days, and he only took one week of leave to make the trip. Luckily, he managed to bag one of those sweet early bird Emirates fares to Europe, so it didn’t work out too expensive for him.
For Alastair, working as a travel agent for Flight Centre gives him the opportunity to see the world. Before starting with the travel retail group, he hadn’t really done much travelling.
“I’m taking advantage of the perks of the industry and trying to do as much travel as possible whilst I’m young… I get the same amount of leave as everybody else, but I’m happy to go on short trips, even though it might not be cost-effective… Of course we get one week of educational leave which definitely helps!”
So what brought Alastair to the red side?
“I wanted to work for a big company. I wanted to start in a position where I could move up as far as I wanted… I have relatively lofty ambitions.”
Indeed, Alastair would one day like to be the Managing Director of a region; the MD of Canada for example.
But until he gets there, no doubt he’ll keep doing what he’s been doing for the last 18 months: selling travel, satisfying customers, and, of course, travelling the world.
In addition to visiting Milan earlier this year, since joining Flight Centre he has already ticked quite a few destinations off his travel bucket list, including Amsterdam, Berlin, Hong Kong, NYC, Fiji, and the Cook Islands.
He already has plans to visit Auckland, Singapore, Queenstown, Greece and Turkey before the year is up. And that’s just his plans for now!