Auckland, New Zealand — February 2023
My next trip was also the longest way from home: Auckland, New Zealand. As usual, I planned to arrive a few days early, both to give myself a chance to acclimate to the time zone and to play tourist.
Category Archives: Travel
Should you check your bag?
My travel advice used to be to pack using a carry-on size bag, but then check it so you don’t have to deal with it at the airport or have to worry about space in the overhead bins on the plane. I’ve had to fine-tune this advice.
Athens, Greece — November 2022
In November I headed to Athens, Greece, for client meetings. The meetings were shortened after I’d already bought my plane ticket, so I made plans to spend that extra time in central Athens as a tourist.
London — October 2022
For my first international trip since the Covid shutdown, I was heading to the Netherlands for a few days of meetings. I decided to extend the trip a bit by taking a two-day detour on the way to visit my daughter, Laura, in London.
Airport gate greetings, actually
Back in the olden days, the NYC skyline featured the two towers and 9/11 was simply an obnoxious fraction and not the source of so much fear and dismay. Many things in our world changed as a result of 9/11, and one of them was the erasure of airport gate greetings.
Boston, Massachusetts — August 2022
My first time back on a plane since the coronavirus travel hiatus was my November 2021 trip to a St. Louis trade show. However, it is this trip to Boston that marks my true return to the business-travel way of life.
Post-travel Covid safety measures
We have always lived in a world in which being around other people involves risk of catching something: a cold, the flu. But now that Covid is in the world, the chances of catching something are higher and the ramifications are potentially worse.
St. Louis, Missouri – November 2021
Another November, another Supercomputing show. Over the last 12 years, always in the week prior to Thankgiving, I’d worked at this show rotating between a small number of cities each year: Dallas, New Orleans, Seattle, Denver, and a few other US cities. Last year the show was entirely virtual due to Covid concerns, but this year — for… Read More »
Dallas, Texas – February 2020
it didn’t take much effort to find things to impress in Dallas. From now on, when asked what I think of Dallas, I’ll talk about the wonderful art and theater scene there rather than how nice it was to rent a car and drive away.
International Travel
I am very lucky to have had many opportunities to travel internationally. This post is a complete list of my international travels, listed with the most recent trip first, with links to blog posts about the trip, usually with lots of photos.
I am a Glass Head
Back in the 70s, there was a band of merry Grateful Dead fans who traveled the world following their favorite band. These were the devoted Dead Heads. I am a Glass Head.
Lisbon – December 2019
Following five days in New York City with my brother and then my sister, it was time for me to start the next leg of my trip: a week in Lisbon for client meetings. This was my first time to Portugal and I was looking forward to seeing it.
New York City & Akhnaten – December 2019
Early in 2019 I purchased tickets for me and my brother, Tim, to attend Philip Glass’ Akhnaten in New York in December. I saw this opera a few years earlier in Los Angeles, but it was the last of Philip Glass’ Trilogy that Tim still needed to see, so of course I had to see it again.
Traveling with a pillow
In the film Up in the Air, George Clooney’s character teaches Anna Kendrick’s newbie character how to travel, and he puts her travel neck pillow and the full-size bed pillow she’s brought with her into a nearby trash bin. But I say there are three valid reasons why you might need your pillow.
Denver, Colorado – November 2019
I travel to a US city every November to set up and manage a booth for one or more of my clients at the Supercomputing trade show. This huge show, which I have been going to since 2008, is held in the week prior to the week of [US] Thanksgiving every year, moving between a small handful of… Read More »