watch out SF we are here

Well the important things have been done - my first locally brewed beer from San Fran has been consumed - unfortunately it tasted just like a crownie, so a bit of an anticlimax - here it is before the first sip...

Tomorrow I visit AAA NCNU to meet the team I will be working with and to say hi to all those people that have helped me get to this point. I am a little nervous and excited at the same time. This is also because they give me the keys to a car tomorrow, which means I drive a left hand drive car for the first time, and my first journey will be through the centre of a very busy city.

I have to say first impressions of SF are great, really relaxed vibe, clean (at least where we are) and all the mod cons within a stones throw. We have also found the corner shop (which is basically a fully fledged supermarket, pharmacy, bottle shop in one) also sells a large range of gluten free, which is great as my 4 year old daughter is coeliac and so this is a big worry off our mind. When we were in Salt Lake City there was practically no other option than grilled chicken for her - so thats all she ate for lunch and dinner over four days - no complaints - she is a trooper.

I am still buzzing from the conference we had in Salt Lake City, there were so many relevations that came from it. Particular for roadside assistance. If all of the clubs could combine their strengths into a single package this market would be sewn up and would be amazingly profitable. The highlights were pricing discussions with British Columbia Automobile Association and the New Zealanders shone again with their rewards package - such a nice program. Another really good club to watch is AAA Mid-Atlantic, they have really tied together the marketing machine and the analytics/database marketing - I really hope we can continue to learn from them through the relationships created. I also like the way the AA in the UK thought, their private equity ownership allows them to think a little more clearly - particularly when it comes to financially viable propositions. The trick with all of these is to understand the uniqueness of each market. By the way, the conference actually gave me a huge amount of new insights from the other Australian clubs - we have to continue to work on our australian collaboration, it is seems a little silly that we need to fly to the other side of the world to learn from each other (and I am certain I was not the only one who thought this). It is fair to say however that the conference was a key reason for the level of sharing, it was structured well, had the right people in the room (really formidable knowledge about the clubs in one place), and everyone wanted to share openly - no baggage, which not always the case in the domestic setting. A huge thanks to the AAA for creating this environment.

Anyway time to sign off, I hope I get to give another post tomorrow night - if there isn't one, then assume my driving wasn't a success....