Just Can't Get Enough

In an unusual turn of events, I have returned to my old travel schedule for the last month. In an effort to maintain my status on one of the airlines, I decided to take a day off to visit a friend in Honolulu. However, I decided to take the trip via Newark. Yes, it is an interesting routing to go from California to New Jersey to get to Hawaii for a couple of days. However, it actually cost me a couple of hundred dollars less to go through New Jersey than it did to go on the regular routing through Los Angeles. After all these years, I am still baffled by airline fares.

I just got back from a quick business trip to Boston, and I think I now have enough to keep me as a top-tier traveler for one more year. This might actually be the last year I get to do this, unless I can find a travel job in the upcoming year. You never know. After all, I still wonder why I ever gave this up.

Later.

Unplugged

It's kind of nice being unplugged from the office for a few days. Though in this day and age, it's really hard to be totally disconnected from the rigors of the working world. I spent yesterday driving around New York, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, in search of a cheeseburger. I did reach the target objective in New Haven, CT, and dragged along a friend. An experience like this is something that is best shared. You really have to experience the burger to fully understand. It's that good. I could go on and on about different restaurants across the country, but that's not the point of today's post.

As I was mentioning earlier, being unplugged from the office has been a great thing. The hotel and airline experience seems a bit weird without the rigors and pressures of the office beating you down. It did give me some insight into the fact that travel has really gotten to be a horrible experience if you don't have the status (or even if you do, in some cases.) Airlines have turned into freight services, and passengers are looked upon as cattle. I do think that FedEx and UPS have a chance to break into the market. My packages seem to get there intact most of the time. I'm sure they couldn't do any worse with actual people. Hey, it could happen.

Later.

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.

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.

On The Homefront

I've spent the last week off the road, sort of. I had a company meeting in town at one of the local hotels. There was a lot of work that went into that meeting, and it turned out pretty well. I'm glad that it's finally over. Now I can actually get some work done, and plan to get back out into the field where I belong. I've got some interesting adventures coming up. In two weeks, we'll start in Indianapolis for a day, and then pop over to somewhere in West Virginia, and wind up the week in Cleveland. After a quick jaunt home to swap out my laundry, it's off to Boston and Chicago for me. Wow! I'm tired just thinking about it. Oddly enough, I kind of miss the airport. Now that's just sick.

Boycott Continental! When I hold a grudge, I do it right.

Later.

When Worlds Collide

I've started to finally settle in to my new career and I think I have managed to keep up with some semblance of my personal life. I spent the last couple of weeks in Little Rock, Boston, Orlando, and most recently Sonoma. I've been able to mix some personal travel into my schedule. After my trip to Orlando last week, I took some personal time in Napa Valley to attend my friend Kathy's wedding. Those of you who know me can find pictures on one of my other web sites. Yes, I have more than two. You can read all about my adventures and see all of the pictures at my other site. Anyhow, I seem to have been sliding in my editorial duties for the past couple of weeks. I've had a few distractions in the last couple of weeks, but I'm back, and there's no stopping me now!

Congratulations Kathy and Pat!!!

Boycott Continental! Yes, I'm serious.

Later.

Let It Snow . . . NOT!

A light snow was falling earlier this week in Youngstown, OH, and Kansas City, MO. I typically don't like to drive in snow, but these days, I really don't have much of a choice. I'm on my way to New York on Monday, and I've heard that they are expecting 18 inches of snow with no relief in sight until Tuesday. Not a good thing when you have to do the Los Angeles-Boston-New York-Boston-Los Angeles-Las Vegas-San Francisco-Los Angeles run within a four day span. Of course, at least I'm hitting major cities for the most part. My days in Hawaii and California (excuse me, Cah-LEE-forn-yah -- the new approved state pronounciation from our governator) have not really prepared me for any type of cold weather. In fact, driving in snow, looking at snow, being snowed on, or being within a 100-mile radius of snow, are things that I really try to avoid as much as possible. Get me back to my tropical island in the Pacific. . . Later.

Boston Flogging, At Least The Seafood Was Good

Well, I made it to Boston, which is my intermediate stop on the way to Portland. No, not Portland, Maine -- I mean Portland, Oregon. And yes, I just flew in from Phoenix. I had one of those travel days, complete with the usual flogging from the good old TSA. I think it's time to start writing yet another editorial about this. However, I'm really tired, and I have to be up in another few hours, so I guess I should get some sleep. Good night.

Ping Pong, Anyone?

...and the adventure continues from Phoenix, Arizona. After a quick stop at home, I hopped another plane to get here. After a brief flogging at the airport, it was a relatively rough flight without any major incident. At least this time, I had a nice dinner. That's something I might not be able to do during the rest of the week. I'm off to Boston later on Wednesday afternoon, so I'll sign off for now.