The Road Warrior Recovers . . .

I was looking back at the last time I took a vacation, and it seems that it was a little over two years ago. Coincidentally, the last real vacation that I took in 2006 also revolved around my best friends. I guess history does repeat itself, only this time I had a bit of an expanded version of the vacation.

First, my friend Jon got married halfway across the world in Shanghai. That was an event that I wasn't about to miss, so I got an extra few days off from work, even at the end of the fiscal year. Last vacation in 2006, I think Jon and I went in search of hot dogs at a shopping mall in Buffalo. Unquestionably, this vacation (well, it was a vacation for me, at least) was one of the best adventures that I've been on in quite a while. I got to play best man for the first time, and managed to look decent in a tuxedo. Who could ask for anything more, right? Shanghai was a great adventure, especially the taxi rides which reminded me of a cross between demolition derby and the Indy 500.

To top things off, my young friend James graduated from high school, and it was time to take him on a tour of the USA -- a day after I returned from Shanghai. We managed to tackle Dallas, Worcester, New Haven, Redmond, and Atlanta in less than ten days. We even returned to the same hotel in Redmond from two years ago. I knew we would return there someday. I think I even mentioned that in my post from 2006. It was a lot of fun, and I can still keep up with a teenager, which was surprising to even me. We both really, really, really needed a vacation. That was our tagline. I think it was just what we both needed before he goes off to college.

In both cases, it really wasn't the destination that mattered. What mattered most was the fact that I got to catch up with my friends. So, now it's time to return to the perils of the day job, and start planning the next set of travels. I have some time in Orlando next month, and perhaps a few more adventures before that. I also know that I'm not going to let another two years pass without scheduling some time with my friends. Again, I've been listening to too many movies lately, but I remember someone saying that if something is important, you need to make the time.

Later.

Ultimate Road Warrior

I've been neglecting this blog for a bit, so I'll need to relate some of the adventures at a later time. Right now, I'm in the middle of an "ultimate road warrior" challenge. I've managed to keep up with a teenager for the last week, and we've had quite an adventure so far. Based upon past history, this is probably the last time we'll be able to do this type of trip to this extent. So, I'm enjoying the moment for now. I'm sleepless in Seattle at the moment, on the way to Dallas and Atlanta when day breaks again. Later.

Surfing The Hubs

I've been absent from this column for a little too long, so I just wanted to mention that I haven't faded into the background -- at least not just yet. I spent some time in Huntington, WV, earlier this month. Due to aircraft maintenance issues, they had to call in some mechanical help from Charleston, which is over an hour away from the Tri-State Airport in Huntington. Needless to say, I missed my connection in Cincinnati, and I did have to double-connect in Atlanta, and again in Salt Lake City in order to get home. I've gotten to the point where I expect the delays, and I just plan an extra "lost" day due to the missed connections. It's a really good policy, because perfect flight schedules are as unattainable as that mirage of water in the desert. The days on the road are starting to lessen, but I'm not getting off the field completely. There are still a few more stories out there. Later.

In The District

These field reports are starting to get a bit rare. I'm reporting from within the beltway. Yes, I'm actually staying in the District. You know, Washington, DC. That's right. I'm back to my old habits. I've probably overextended myself again, and am living on that miracle drug, Dayquil. I decided to try to get back in training again, and overdid it before I got on the plane. I always seem to have that bad habit of forgetting that I'm not eighteen any more. Anyhow, I'm here until Wednesday morning, and back for a couple of days at home before I leave again for Hawaii. I am one of many people in my group from San Diego at this conference in DC. It was strange that we all seemed to take different routes to get here, and we all seem to have different disaster stories of how we all got here. One person connected in Los Angeles, another in Atlanta, someone else in Chicago, yet another in Cincinnati, and someone went through Phoenix. Just about everyone experienced some sort of flight delay. I connected in Dallas without any flight delay, but getting out of the airport was an adventure. Let's just say it involves a minivan and step ladder... Anyhow, this is a long update, so I'd better get some rest. After all, I should probably sleep this cold away. Later.

The Marathon Begins

I've started one of those crazy trips that even I can't believe. I'm reporting from the Boston area tonight. I spent the greater part of the day trying to get here. For the first leg of the journey, I've decided not to drive anywhere. For Boston and Houston, I'm catching taxis. Assuming the weather holds out, my journey continues tomorrow in Houston, assuming I don't get stuck in Atlanta for the evening. I'll be home for a few hours, assuming I don't get stuck in Dallas on the way. Then, it's off to Raleigh-Durham, Los Angeles, Honolulu, and Milwaukee, in that order. A standard marathon is a little more than 26 miles. I'm logging a little more than 26,000 miles over the next 10 days. It may seem twisted, but even though I still have the vocal chord problem, I'm kind of enjoying the journey. I'm going to slow down a bit this year, at least on my travels. After all, I have a department to run, and a few other responsibilities these days. Later.

Temporary Insanity

I keep telling myself that this is only temporary. You see, things usually pick up at the end of year and end of fiscal year due to requirements in my particular segment of the market. Translated, that means I've been on the road again like crazy, alongside the craziness of the holiday travelers. Standard road warriors and holiday travelers mix like oil and water. There are some things that the holiday traveler just doesn't appreciate about those of us that have to do this year round.

Anyhow, I just got back from Atlanta, a relatively uneventful (but long) trip. Before that, I had a quick trip to Portland and Houston. Unfortunately, I had a cancellation in Houston, so I had to make a u-turn in Dallas. There were many strange adventures along the way. I had sushi at the Portland airport, and it still shocks me that you can get sushi at an airport. There was a series of incidents with many of those holiday travelers in the last couple of week, ranging from stepped on toes to hecklers in the ticket line. It annoys me that some of these travelers have developed attitude problems, and just don't display common courtesy any more. So much for the holiday spirit. This road warrior has one more trip left this year. Let's see how it goes...

Later.

Consistency In The Universe

I took a quick trip to Atlanta and Philadelphia this week. I think time has started to catch up with me, as I can no longer adapt to the time zones as well as I could. For the first time in quite a while, the sleep factor (or lack thereof) actually caught up with me. I actually was way too tired to drive on the freeways of Philadelphia. The other problem was the fact that I seem to have gotten a bit dependent upon those GPS devices. This was one the the few times within the last year that I couldn't get one of those devices in my rental car. For those long-time readers of mine, you know what happened next. Yes, I got lost in New Jersey and Philadelphia quite hopelessly. At least there is some consistency within the universe. Later.

The Adventure Continues

I had lost my site for a few weeks, but I have returned. I'm currently trapped in Atlanta for the night, and I owe it all to an annoying gate agent/witch at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta airport. It was a short seven hour ride in from Philadelphia, in which we were trapped on the airplane on the ground for an hour while my flight to San Diego took off. Normally, that wouldn't bother me too much, because I can always find a way home. I found the way, since the Los Angeles flight had some room. However, the gate agent had a vendetta against me for some reason. The agents on the phone instructed me to get to the Los Angeles flight, but the gate agent pretty much destroyed all hopes of my return home. Hey, the ranting continues on and on and on . . . It's good to be back.

Boycott Continental. (And I'm not too crazy about Delta after this incident, either)

Later.

Sleepless In Seattle Again

I'm back in Seattle, after a wild ride to Savannah, Detroit, Lexington, and Louisville last week. Showtime begins at six in the morning, and setup starts at four, so I will truly be sleepless in Seattle once more. I'm playing technical advisor to a client that's visiting Seattle for a conference, and we just got through a dry run of the presentation tomorrow. It's been a bad set of travel weeks, thanks to some really bad adventures on Delta and America West. When you don't have top tier status on an airline, they really have a license to treat you like crap. It was nothing out of the ordinary -- late flights, early connections, giving away your seat even though you landed late and are on the other side of the terminal in Phoenix... You know, the usual stuff. I'd rant some more here, but I've got some work to do, so I'll catch you later.

Boycott Continental! I'm serious.

Later.

Gearing Up

I've been a bit dormant lately. Desk duty is nice for a little while, but it's nice to have it intertwined with a little travel here and there. My attitude toward some of the travel has changed a little since I stopped the full-time road warrior adventure. I did a couple of quick day trips to Yuma and Solvang over the last few weeks for pleasure. I'm acutally traveling for pleasure, and I've noticed the stress level seems to be a lot lower.

Anyhow, I'm gearing up for my next adventure on Wednesday which will take me back to the eastern time zone once again. I'm off to Savannah, GA, to speak at a conference, and then onward to Detroit to speak at yet another conference. Then I have some sales calls to make in Kentucky. By the way, this is all one big trip which spans a little more than a week. Yes, when I travel, I do it right.

Boycott Continental! It's the right thing to do.

Later.

Suddenly, Eight Years Later. . .

I've been told that I'm still in the "honeymoon" phase of the new job. But, I still think it's true... You really don't realize how bad you've had it, until you decide to leave and get another job. I'm ramping up to get myself more useful in the field for my new job, so I'll be back in the saddle again very soon. Until then, I think I'm going to enjoy being temporarily grounded. It's kind of fun being able to talk to people in the office, and go to various meetings. The novelty will wear off, I'm sure. I've still got to move, because this drive from Los Angeles to San Diego is a bit ridiculous. The traffic in San Diego seems a bit worse than Los Angeles or Atlanta. No kidding.

Boycott Continental. No joke.

Later.

Moon Over Parma, Yet Again

From what I've heard, Cleveland rocks. One of these days, I'll figure out what the big deal is about this. Yes, I'm back in Cleveland again. I've got to stop coming here in the winter. Anyway, I almost never see anyone I know at the airport, but this time, I unexpectedly met up with one of our VP's from North Carolina, so we rode over to the hotel together in my rental car. It's a good thing she was here, because I would have gotten lost trying to find our new office in Cleveland. I almost never visit our corporate offices these days, so finding them is a challenge. Anyhow, Delta redeemed itself today. I was really late for the flight out of LAX, and, in addition, I had a 20-minute connection in Atlanta. My luggage actually made it with me. Kudos to Delta on this one. I don't know how they were able to pull this one off. By the way, Boycott Continental Airlines. They suck. Yes, my holy war with Continental continues. Later.

Prelude To A Trip

It's another Sunday night before I fly out once again. This is going to be yet another flight of insanity, which will take me into Dallas, Cleveland, Chicago, St. Louis, back to Dallas, onward to Houston, back to Dallas again, then onward to Chicago, and back to Dallas before returning home. You see, in order to take a trip into the fiery depths of hell, you have to connect in either Dallas or Chicago, even if hell has frozen over. Sometimes, it will take a double connection with Atlanta or St. Louis thrown into the mix. It's true -- hell froze over last week, and it hasn't thawed out yet. I'm on my way to Cleveland, and I think the following movie moment expresses exactly how I feel:

Movie moment:
Delirious (1990)

John Candy: "What're you doing here? I sent you to Cleveland."
Robert Wagner: "I ought to kill you for just that."

Later.

Baltimore, Once More

I'm back in Baltimore, yet again. I'm stuck here until Friday, so I've holed up in a nearby airport hotel. I had the strangest experience on the way up. I came through Atlanta, and we naturally arrived late for the connecting flight. As I exited the aircraft in Atlanta, preparing for my long sprint across multiple terminals for a flight that was supposed to leave in ten minutes, I noticed that the gate was in the same concourse. Not only in the same concourse, but the same gate, as well. In all my years, I don't think that's ever happened to me before. I was actually using the same aircraft for a different flight. That was just incredible. Even though I arrived after midnight, and had to settle for take out food, the journey has been worth it. Time to pound the pavement again tomorrow, but until then, I'm enjoying the fact that I'm in the same hotel room for three whole days. After all these years, it just doesn't get any better than this. For every thing, there is a first time. I know, I know. It's not over yet. But, if only every trip started this way. . . Later.

The Great Luggage Race

My luggage and I raced home today. My luggage won, and I came in a distant second. The airline decided to bump me onto a different routing, thanks to a flight delay which would have caused me to get stuck in Atlanta. I guess they realized that I didn't like getting stuck in Atlanta more than ten times in a year. At any rate, my luggage actually made all the appropriate connections, but I didn't. I got back to LAX a little while ago, and for the first time in many moons, my luggage was actually waiting for me. Now, things like that just don't happen to people like me. Hey, I also got a travel voucher out of the whole experience, too. Amazing, isn't it? And just what I needed. *sarcastic grin* Traveling for vacation? What a concept! I need that as much as I need another hole in my head. ;-) Later.

Elbow Man Returns

Welcome back, my faithful readers. I continued on the journey of the long road home last night. I eventually got here just before the sun came up, but on the way, I ran into Elbow Man once again. If you don't want to follow the link, I'll refresh your memory. Elbow Man is the guy in the center seat that really doesn't want to be there. Since he already has that bad attitude he takes it out on the people who are around him. I had a rather large fellow sitting next to me in the center seat. He was quite unhappy that he had to get up to let me get to the window seat. After that, he decided to place his elbow in my gut and his other elbow into the gut of the guy in the aisle seat. He read his newspaper and bothered the guy in front of him too. What a jerk. Fortunately, I only had to put up with him for a little more than an hour when I connected in the fiery depths of --- umm, I mean the Atlanta airport on my long journey home. There's more to tell, but I'll save that story for another time. Later.

I Have My Connections

Once again, it would have been kinder to shoot me instead of having to actually go through this horrible travel week. I'm never, ever, ever, ever, ever going to consider doing a day trip again. I got up at 4 this morning to catch a quick flight to Hartford. For those of you who don't know me by now, I am NOT a morning person. I go to bed at 4 am. I usually reserve that time for sleeping. After a long, tortuous presentation, I headed back to the airport. Because of the cheapskates in my company, I was not allowed to return on a direct flight back to RDU, so I could get more than three consecutive hours of sleep at any point in time this week. Instead of returning at dinnertime, I just now got back to my hotel in Durham. Connecting in Baltimore, and being forced to fly Southwest is cruel and unusual punishment indeed. I'm getting too old for this . . . Tomorrow night, after a long day at the office, I have the journey into the depths of hell on the way to the long road home. Yes, I'm connecting in Atlanta in a non-upgradable fare. Onward to Los Angeles! Later.

Luggage Lunacy In Atlanta

This week is not shaping up to be one of my more shining moments. After spending Sunday night in the Emergency Room with a bad medicine reaction, and Monday in Long Beach at a job (one hour after discharge from the ER), I got on yet another plane to Urbana, IL. Got lost for the 203rd time, and almost didn't make it. Well, I got out of Urbana, through Chicago on multiple airline carriers, so they lost my luggage. Not a good thing, since I changed into some casual travel clothing before I left Urbana to get to my overnight stop in Atlanta. Well, I've got to get a few hours of sleep before my early morning flight to Meridian, MS. Later.