Sitting in the British Airways lounge once again, on another business trip, alone. I looked around to see many other individuals all on laptops or mobiles and all looking about as interested in what they were doing as I was. Sure, there's work to do and this was as good a time as any to do it, but I knew there would be plenty more time over the next few days. On the flight, in the evenings in the hotel, in between meetings at customer sites and then the return trip in another lounge, in this case it would be Schiphol, Amsterdams, the Netherlands main international airport.


I shuffled on the plane with others, found my allotted seat and took out my laptop, as did the person next to me. And not a word was spoken between us. When I arrived at Amsterdam I took the train to the hotel, once again surrounded by fellow travelers, and once again not a word was said.

That evening I ate in the hotel, a typical hotel with many other businessmen and women, all sitting at their individual tables, texting, reading and of course eating. I then sat in the bar and had a drink, again surrounded by many of the same people I had seen in the restaurant just thirty minutes previous. And guess what happened before I took the lift up to my room? You've got it...not a word was spoken between us.



It can be a lonely and rather dull time on these trips. Of course they have their perks, you sometimes go out to dinner with a customer or colleagues, you may even have time for a bit of sightseeing, but some of us just like to have a conversation in places such as these with fellow travelers in a similar situation. Not many of us can just strike up a conversation, certainly not any on this business trip or on many others I'd been on previously. There are also some people who simply don't want a conversation, so how do you know who is as sociable as you?

Sociocean.com tries to address this issue and make business trips more enjoyable for all. It's free to join and simply put, it's an offline social network and you recognise others by looking for the logo. This might be on a badge or pin, bag or wallet or someone sporting a polo shirt or jacket. It seemed a strange concept at first, would anyone wear it? But the more I talked about it with others, the more of a good idea it seemed. Rerunning my business trip, I envisioned seeing the logo in the BA lounge, on the plane, the tram, the hotel and the hotel bar. And what does the logo mean? It's an exclusive club, for those in the know. Spot it and it means you've found another sociable individual who would be happy to have a conversation and maybe a coffee or beer.

We're in startup phase right now and will soon be launching a crowdfunding campaign. Please support us by joining (did I mention it's free), at sociocean.com.