I really don’t like having to travel far on business and luckily for me my trips are few and far between. On a recent business trip to America I think I made almost every mistake in the book.

Things started to go wrong when I arrived at Gatwick airport in my car only to find that there were no more available airport parking spaces close to my terminal. I had to pay a premium price for a parking space that was miles from the airport.

I was already late and this only made the situation worse. The people at the check in desk were none too pleased telling me that I should have arrived at least an hour sooner. I was also told that I could have printed my boarding pass and checked in online before leaving home. Well you live and learn I suppose.

The early start had meant that I left home without having any breakfast so I immediately headed for one of the many airport restaurants. I couldn’t believe what they were charging for a full English breakfast and if I wasn’t travelling on expenses I wouldn’t have been too happy at paying the extortionate airport prices.

I arrived in Atlanta and immediately headed for one of the car hire providers. It turned out that there were a whole load of conferences in town and most of their more comfortable models had already been hired out. I had to accept a big old Chevrolet pickup for the duration of my stay. If I’d sensibly booked in advance I would have saved my employers some cash and maybe got myself a nice car.

When I came back to Atlanta airport I had forgotten to take my keys out of my pocket and I was wearing a new belt witha big American eagle metal buckle. My ovsersights resulted in me going through the body scanner no less than three times before I passed the security check.

Then, when I boarded my flight, I reallised that I had somehow lost my PDA. Maybe it was stolen, but the chances are that I had simply left it in the airport bar where I’d enjoyed a beer before my flight. Unfortunately my travel insurance didn’t cover me for lost or stolen items like this.

It’s pretty obvious that I am a little out of practice when it comes to air travel these days. I think I should simply stay put here in the UK.