2 Minutes with Stephen Smith, Vice-President of Marketing and Communications

How much do you travel? About six times a year, on average. Photo Stephen

Where was your ever first flight? Toronto to Winnipeg – for Christmas!

What’s your favourite airport? Vancouver, specifically the arrivals area because I love being in Vancouver.

Aisle or window? Aisle, always.

Favourite city? Paris, partly because I love the language.

Any preferred apps?  Our own app, Vision Assure. I really like travelling without paper documents.

How do you stay fit when you travel? I walk everywhere I can.

How do you cope with jetlag? Get onto the local time zone immediately.  I can deal with a lack of sleep and – lucky me –  I fall asleep on a plane before takeoff.

What do you do with your downtime when you are on the road? Typically – if not catching up on work – I go explore.

If you could sit next to anyone on a long haul flight, who would it be? Dave Matthews of the Dave Matthews band.  I find him a fascinating guy.

Your must-have travel accessory? Noise-cancelling headphones.

How do you spend your frequent flyer points? Flying my in-laws in from Florida to babysit!

Favourite vacation destination? Anywhere in Europe.

What do you think the biggest challenge will be for corporate travel in the next 12 months? Adapting to quickly changing technology. Younger business travellers’ expectation of technology is completely different.  Many think, for example, that email is old technology.

Favourite travel tip? Manage your time as much as possible so that you aren’t sitting around.