[ COMPLETED ]
[ 2021 WATTY'S SHORTLIST ]
❝ You've never been loved like this? ❞
Twenty-nine year old Monique Harper is a senior VP travel advisor. Great at her job, she is sent to Valencia, Spain to vet a chain of hotels owned by billionaire Matteo...
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Another day, another dollar. Of course, that's an overused saying but that's basically how my life has been for the last eight years.
I started working at Luxury Travels right out of college and found myself moving on up in the world without problems. Most of my earlier years consisted of desk work and attending mixers that my employers considered rut work for the junior workers — hence, me.
Turns out their lazy streak ended up as a positive for me. One trusty night of an open bar and loose inhibitions left me with fourteen new clients and a steep step up on the social ladder. Fast forward eight years and I am about as senior as they come.
For the past two years, I've been assigned to help publicize hotels and restaurants — usually together — and I collect a fat commission with it. My job is mainly to pitch new clients, familiarize myself with properties I represent, represent said properties and clients, take journalists on press trips or to participate in travel trade shows and conferences.
Eight years of this.
Of course, I'm proud of myself for getting this far in my career at such a young age — who wouldn't be? But the process, after a while, gets tedious. Sometimes I wish I could just... let loose.
At this point, my best friend is my grey 'personal massager' which often travels with me. Pretty much the only thing I trust. Not that I don't have any other friends — I just travel too much for the cat-and-mouse game of:
"Hey, we should catch up sometime when you get back from some foreign country I've never heard of."
"Oh yeah, definitely." Not.
It's annoying.
Even now, entering my place of work, I'm immediately thrown by just how many people I work with. It's disgusting.
Despite the multitude of people running all over the place, it's not hard to see that the building is absolutely beautiful — both on the outside and the inside. Well, scratch that.
On the outside, it's a regular ol' skyscraper that blends in with its brothers and sisters. Inside is a different story. It's teeming with life and energy in here, people excited to do their jobs which isn't something that anybody ever really sees anymore.
The reception desk is just steps away from the entrance, a large mirror like desk allowing clients to catch a view of themselves before they take the elevator up to the fifth floor where the travel agents will assist them.
