Managing travel risks for a London vacation

Dream Vacation

Although a true dream vacation would be longer than five days, I do understand that I am on a tight schedule. If I only budget for five calendar days, including the day I leave home and the day I return, I can still make it to London, England and back. There are frequent flights to London, and with my frequent flyer miles on Air Canada, I can offset some of the costs and retain most of my budget of $2,000. Furthermore, I have an aunt in London with whom I can stay. If I take public transportation while I am there and eat fish and chips and grilled cheese at the Borough Market, then my total expenditures will be small and I can afford to go out at night.

After checking the Government of Canada Traveller's Checklist, I have determined that all I need is a passport and I will be ready to leave on my short but fun-filled dream vacation. There are no nationwide advisory effects for the United Kingdom, and Canadian citizens are urged to "exercise normal security precautions," which means do not be stupid and leave my laptop sitting on the table while I go take a pee, or going to bed with a total stranger without using a condom. However, there are some risks involved with any travel, even to a country as relatively risk-free as Great Britain.

Risk Management

The Government of Canada Traveller's Checklist indicates that "vehicle theft and theft from parked vehicles also occurs, particularly in tourist areas and roadside stops," but I will be taking public transportation the entire time. In fact, I will not be taking taxis at all, but only using the Underground. The Government of Canada Traveller's Checklist does tell me that I should take the normal precautions that I would at home because "petty crime, such as pickpocketing and purse snatching occurs in tourist areas and airports, restaurants, pubs and bars and underground pedestrian walkways, and on public transportation." Thus, to prevent this risk, I will not leave my belongings unattended, I will be wary of my surroundings at all times, and I will not wear my fancy jewelry so as to attract too much attention in case I stay out late at night. I am going to rate the risk of my being a victim of petty theft as MEDIUM, with a MEDIUM impact.

Because I do like to go out at night, I have determined that my risk factors may rise if I decide to have a few drinks. In this case, my risk will still remain at MEDIUM, unless I get completely trashed, in which case the risk would be MEDIUM-HIGH. The Government of Canada Traveller's Checklist says, "Be wary of accepting snacks, beverages, gum or cigarettes from new acquaintances, as these items may contain drugs that could put you at risk of sexual assault and robbery." Duly noted, I will not accept drinks from strangers no matter how attractive they may be. I will rate my risk for this at MEDIUM, because if I do get drunk, I would be more likely to accept a drink from an attractive stranger. I like drinking, so it will be difficult to avoid this risk, but I can mitigate it by trying to remain within my limits and retain my wits at all possible times.

The Government of Canada also warns me to be on the lookout for fraudulent ABMs/ATMs, and to only use them in brightly lit areas and preferably from established banks. This is a risk I will label as LOW, because I do not use ABMs that I do not trust, but the impact of this event would be MEDIUM. I can always borrow money from my aunt if my bank card gets compromised. To avoid this risk, I will continue to use only real banks and not the third party machines, and to make sure no one is watching me.

Unfortunately, there are terrorism threats in the United Kingdom. There is nothing I can do about this, as terrorism is not something I can necessarily prevent against given that "attacks could occur at any time and could target areas frequented by expatriates and foreign travellers, such as tourist attractions, restaurants, bars, coffee shops, shopping centres, markets, hotels, schools, places of worship and airports and other transportation hubs." Unless I want to stay home, I will be at some degree of risk even when I am home asleep at my aunt's house. I am going to rate the risk of me being anywhere near a terrorist attack as LOW, but the impact of a potential attack would be HIGH.

Risk Event

Likelihood

Impact

Detection Difficulty

Risk Value

When

Petty theft/pickpocketed

LOW-MEDIUM

LOW-MEDIUM

MEDIUM-HIGH

LOW

Anytime I am out

Drink Spiked

LOW-MEDIUM

MEDIUM

LOW

MEDIUM

When I am drunk.

Terrorist Attack

LOW

HIGH

LOW

MEDIUM

Anytime

Leadership

I should tell my client that the current status of the Dream Vacation project is "It's a Go!" However, I would also tell my client that he or she is unwelcome on my dream vacation. I am not going to impose upon my aunt to house a total stranger, and besides, I do not think we would get along very well. If I were leading someone else's vacation, I would hope that they could enjoy the same things I do when I am on vacation.

Managing Project Teams

Orchestrating the decision-making process involves several options and methods including information gathering and information analysis. According to Coscarelli (1983), there are four characteristic methods of gathering information including reacting to events, committing to new ideas, thinking patterns, and goal orientation. I would use a different approach to making every decision I make while on my dream vacation. For example, I would decide on which flight to take based on which ones were available as award miles flights. Second, I would only decide on my dates of travel based on my aunt's availability. Third, I would only decide on where to go out at night after researching my options and seeing if there were any interesting bands playing. Fourth, I would make my dining decisions carefully, based on Yelp and other online reviews.

Project Manager

The hardest thing about being a project manager is staying organized. Actually, the hardest thing about being a project manager is other people. As the project manager of my dream vacation, I have had to contend with other people the entire time. From the moment I called Air Canada to determine how many miles I had and what kind of ticket I could purchase, I had to coordinate my schedule around other people. I cannot do whatever I want, such as take two weeks instead of five days. My schedule will also depend on the opening times and hours of the places I want to go. For example, if I want to hit up the Tate Modern gallery, I need to know if they are closed on Monday. I need to know what days my favourite bands are playing, and work my schedule around that, too. I would not want to be a travel agent for other people, because being a travel agent is like being a project manager for someone else's dream vacation and their idea of a good time will be completely different from mine.

Therefore, a project manager always needs to think about other people's visions and preferences. This is what relates to the technical and sociocultural aspects of project management: project management requires some degree of vision and organization but also a willingness to work with other people. We are responsible for understanding what the person wants out of their dream vacation, why they have chosen a particular place, how much money they have to spend, what they like to do with their time, and what their priorities may be. As a project manager, we also need to know about the person's tolerance of risk and ability to mitigate risks using common sense.