What a nice start…

Well it’s been a while since I have written anything on the blog. I doubt anyone is reading it anymore – I know I wouldn’t after this long a hiatus.

This has been a busy week for me. I started off driving to Savannah on Sunday and working there for two days then drove home Tuesday night. Today I am traveling to the west coast on the scenic route. I am on my flight right now from Myrtle Beach to LaGuardia airport – the first of three flights today.

It’s really strange what a business traveler will do to keep the price down and get where they are going on a preferred airline. It was cheaper to fly to New York then back south and then west. And funny enough it’s only taking about 2 hours longer.

The airplane I’m on today seats 90 and there are only 21 passengers and I’m the only person in the first class cabin. I hope the rest of the flights are like this you don’t have to fight to put your bags in the overhead bins.

This week I saw (or should I say noticed) the first honeysuckles blooming along the side of the road. And the first Magnolia Tree in bloom. It’s hard to believe it’s already May and almost Mothers Day again. I got the card in the mail just under the wire this week to get to mom in time. This year I found the funniest card to send her. It had a little kid with crayons and drawings on every piece of furniture, wall, floor and door. The mom was standing in the door with this look of defeat on her face. The caption above the kid was “Someday we will look back on this and laugh”. For some reason this struck me as so funny. So I wrote on the inside “So can we laugh yet?” Mom will surely get a kick out of that.

I get to meet up with some friends out in the San Francisco area on Friday night before I head home on Saturday. Then next week it’s off to Wilmington, NC on Monday and back to Savannah on Wednesday night. Good thing I enjoy my frequent flyer miles and motel points right.

Hope everyone is doing well…

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

I’ve written notes with this title before. Yesterday was one of those days where I hit all those forms of transportation. It was more like Automobiles, Planes, Trains and Automobiles.

This week’s destination is a place where I really wish I had a few extra days (San Francisco Bay Area). We are in a little town named Walnut Creek just northeast of Oakland. I am traveling with a co-worker that I am lucky enough to travel with quite a bit. It’s a good thing he is a great traveling companion.

Yesterday Ed missed his connection in Charlotte and his flight was 3.5 hours later than planned. Of course he had rented the car and he just knew I’d be stranded at the airport. I had scoped out our destination and knew that BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) had a train that left the airport and dropped me within two blocks of the Marriott where we are staying.

So I proceeded to head out on my little adventure. The BART train took me through San Francisco then under the bay to Oakland and then northeast to Walnut Creek. The train ride was a few minutes over an hour ride. The girl that sat in the seat next to me did not speak much English but was enough to know we were going to the same stop.

I always find it strange how things work out. Another guy that sat in the row in front us found out we were heading to his stop. This guy was about 20-21 and lives in the area. We struck up a conversation and I learned a lot about him on our trip. It’s funny how much people will tell you about their lives. His story was interesting enough to listen to.

His parents met in the Peace Corps; his father was from Costa Rica and his mother was from California. Neither spoke the same language when they first met but they still fell for each other. He spent most of his life growing up in Costa Rica. Then they moved him to the states to get a higher education. He is going to school to get a degree in Engineering. He and his friends are starting a Reggae Band. When he graduates he wants to join the Peace Corps and eventually he wants to sail around the world.

It’s so refreshing to listen to someone young who has all these lofty dreams. I don’t even know this kid and I so hope he can fulfill them. When we got off the train he helped the girl in the seat next to me with her suitcases. We had to navigate a long escalator and he made sure she got down with her bags and helped direct her to where she needed to go.

I was so glad that we found him on the train ride. It reminded me of my trip to Paris France in 1997. This girl was in a strange country; spoke broken English and this nice gentleman helped her get where she needed to go. I was so pleased to know that in a big city there are still young men that know how to be a gentleman.

I have lofty goals for the rest of this week… Tonight I have dinner plans with a friend I worked with in Charlotte over 10 years back. Then the next night I am hoping Ed will take the train with me into San Francisco and catch a cable car down to find some place to eat. He has never been to this area and I’d like to show him what little I know about the area.

I’ll try to get pictures this week. Tonight will not be the night since there is a huge storm blowing in today. They are projecting 2-4 inches of rain in the valleys and 5-7 inches in the hills. We are expecting winds in the 40-60 MPH range and in canyons gusts up to 70 MPH. You would know I’d be here when you have tropical force winds and rain. At least it’s only one day of bad weather.

If only I could sing

If only I could sing I could probably write a few more songs about the airline industry. This guy has really put United Airlines on the spot with his issues. When you have 4 minutes if you have not see this it's worth the watch.

I need to get a guitar and learn to sing.



The following was sent to me in an e-mail about the video. There are some good articles about this guy's experience. I don't think United expected him to be able to reach over 3 million people in less than a month.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
The story of a Canadian musician whose guitar was allegedly damaged by United baggage handlers at Chicago O'Hare has become one of the most-talked-about aviation stories on the Web this week. Now, after going viral online, the story also has gone mainstream. The Chicago Tribune, U.S. national TV networks and a bevy of Canadian papers are among those to pick up the story during the past day.

The move shows just how quickly the Internet can help a disgruntled customer can turn the tables on a company and its effort to manage its public image.

As for the Tribune's take, United's hometown newspaper writes "Canadian musician Dave Carroll could have sung the blues after United Airlines workers at O'Hare International Airport smashed his guitar and the carrier refused to pick up the $1,200 cost to repair it.

Instead, he turned the experience into a witty ditty, 'United Breaks Guitars,' and scored an instant hit on YouTube, his first in a 16-year career." The Tribune adds that Carroll "spent hours reasoning with United agents in Chicago, New York and India" over a nine-month period, all to "no avail."

Carroll posted his United-themed song and video on YouTube early on Monday. As of this morning, it had been viewed nearly half-a-million times. The Ottawa Citizen notes "the song documents Carroll's woes and frustration with the airline's refusal to compensate him for his loss." Carroll performs the song on the video with his Nova Scotia-based band, the Sons of Maxwell. The Citizen adds Carroll -- via notes on his YouTube post -- "promised the last person to finally say no to compensation … that I would write and produce three songs about my experience with United Airlines and make videos for each to be viewed online by anyone in the world."

As for the other two songs, they're still coming, Carroll says. Still, the buzz generated by the first song is remarkable, even earning him a mention on CNN's "The Situation Room" yesterday. "Any day you’re on Wolf Blitzer’s screen in 'The Situation Room,' it’s a big day," Carroll is quoted as saying by the Los Angeles Times.

United, on the other hand, "is facing a PR nightmare after failing to resolve the issue," Benet Wilson writes on her Things With Wings commercial aviation blog. But, she adds "to its credit, United Airlines saw the error of its ways and is now trying to resolve the situation. And @UnitedAirlines was on Twitter explaining to its 15,603 followers on what it's doing for the guitarist and offering an apology." Damage control in an era of new media ...

And, Carroll's video could even lead to a better experience for other United customers, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. "While we mutually agree this should have been fixed much sooner, Dave's excellent video provides us with something we can use for training purposes to ensure that all customers receive better service for us," United spokeswoman Robin Urbanski says to the Sun-Times.

Things I see in a week

I've been horrible about writing for some time now. I keep telling myself I'll get better but I guess the summer heat has got to me.

The past 7 days I've been gone. I flew to Houston and drove from there to my mom's house in South Arkansas (about 6 hours). I spent the weekend with her then went to work in Lufkin, TX about 1.5-2 hours north of Houston. Mom came with me and spent the week so it was nice to spend time with her.

When I first got to the Houston Bush Intercontinental Airport this statue was in the main lobby of the airport. Being Houston has NASA and Texas is known for cow I guess it's not a huge stretch to come up with this one.

Mom and I stopped to see the courthouse that is being restored in Marshall, TX. We were hoping it was ready for tours but it was not. The building is over 100 years old and they are restoring it to the way it was back then. To the extent of using art brushes to touch up painting, gold leaf. We peeked through the windows but figure it will be ready by Christmas.
The statue below is at the Marshall County Courthouse as well.

Now you've heard about all the Texas travel so you would think the picture below would have been takend in Texas. That's where you are wrong - it was at the Myrtle Beach airport when I got home. Who knew we drove around old Caddies with Horns. There are a lot of things I saw I didn't get pictures of. I'll try to do better in the future.

Trip last week

I’m not sure how all you folks write so often from home. I always get preoccupied and don’t ever sit down to write anything. You must be much more disciplined than me.

Last week on the drive from Arkansas to South Carolina I took a few pictures to share with everyone. One of those was in Birmingham, AL. We were on the loop around town and I saw this replica of the Statue of Liberty. It was so beautiful I had to share it with everyone.
On my post last week I told you I felt we had it made when we crossed the Mississippi River. On the way home I noticed that we saw the Kudzu again once we were on the East side of the river. They have it west of the Mississippi but not like we have in the east. This vine crawls all over everything and grows up to a foot a day. I don’t have pictures of it but someday I’ll have to get a picture and post it.

The girls were both very good on the trip. The cat “Pez” hates to get packed up and travel. Once we get her in the car she is really pretty good. She’s the only one with a bathroom on the road. Sheeot (the dog) is just as happy as can be if you put her near an AC vent. She spent a lot of her time sleeping in my lap and when she was not there she was between the seats with her head on my travel pillow.

I hope everyone is having a good week. I hope to get inspired to write more in the next few days.

Are We There Yet?

I'm sure that's what Pez had on her mind as she watched the scenery go by.

Crawdads, Crayfish – Mudbugs and Southern Living

I have had a nice welcome back to the country this week. When I was a young boy we lived out on this very farm with my grandparents. My grandmother was very sick so we moved a trailer next to the house and that was home for about three years from my 4th to 7th grade years.

I had a great time on this farm as a kid. Fishing in the pond; riding mini-bikes; and just being a kid in general. I remember the lighting bugs in the evenings and seining for crawdads (crayfish) to use as bait for bigger fish.

This week the crawdads (aka – crayfish / mudbugs) were building the towers they built when I was a kid. It’s something I have not seen in years and I am sure some of you may have never seen if you are not from the south. These mud towers show up all over the place this time of year.


I guess that’s why they are having the “Mudbug Madness http://mudbugmadness.com/ ” in Shreveport this weekend. Stefan wanted to be sure I reminded people that these are the same crayfish we eat in the south. For some reason he thinks that’s weird?

Sheeot and Pez have both had a good time this week. Sheeot has been able to run in the fields and be a farm dog. Pez even took a trip outside and under the house today which is unusual for her. They are adjusted just in time to head home.

The week is nearly over and we start our trek back to the east coast this weekend. We are going to stop in Atlanta and spend the night and have a shorter drive the last day on to South Carolina. Funny how quick the time has went. We arrived here a week ago today and it just doesn’t seem like we have been here that long.

Here are a few pictures of where we have called home this week.

The Big Event - Magnolia Blossom Festival - Part 2

OK, OK. I’ve been lazy and have not written about the second half of the Magnolia Blossom Festival / World Championship Steak Cook Off.

We went back to the square about 5:45 PM and stood in line to get our steaks. I heard there were 5000 steaks cooked and served. They let people enter from all four corners of the square and in less than an hour all the steaks are served and gone. The tickets are $15 and you get a salad, drink, baked potato, steak and desert. The steaks are 16 oz Ribeye’s.

Mom, Stefan my Aunt Jeanette and I all got our steaks and found a table. Jeanette’s twin JoAnn came to join us and we split up the food and she ended up with quite a meal too.

After the meal we went and found our spot for the announcements of the winners of the cook-off, parade and all that jazz. Then the concert started with Aaron Tippin. He was pretty big in country music in the Mid-90’s. He has since faded from the spotlight. He has his own recording label now and has a new album of trucker songs with some of the old trucking songs. He is a high energy concert to watch and it was a good show.

I’ve been playing lazy and not doing much on the computer. Yesterday we started working on getting mom ready for the Digital TV Switch over on June 12. It’s not as simple as they make it sound. I’ll write about that later.

The Big Event - Magnolia Blossom Festival - Part 1

Well today’s the big day in Magnolia. The Blossom Festival is Friday and Saturday with most of the events taking place on Saturday. The festival started years ago as the “Arts Festival”. 20 years ago they added the “World Championship Steak Cook-off” which now takes up most of the festival.

We started off the day watching the parade of cookers going down Main Street. These are our chef’s for the big event this evening. They limit the number of cookers to 65 each year due to limited space on the square. They always have to turn teams away. So I guess that’s good.

The courthouse square (downtown) is where all the cookers are parked. The square fills up with the smoke and smells of the cookers. The art show is on the Courthouse Lawn and all the shops on the square are having a busy day with all the tourists. There were 4000 steak tickets sold at $15 each.

In addition to the parade there are car shows, dog shows, bike shows and all sorts of events. Below are some pictures of the parade and the car show. Later tonight we will go back for the steaks and the concert.

This cooker is a rocket, and as you can tell I didn't have a wide enough camera to get the whole thing.

The crowds were going wild. I'm sure this lady would appreciate her picture being on the internet.

Stefan found the car he want's to drive home.
This old Model A had the instruction manual and tools with it.

Well enough for now... Time for that nap. We have a long night ahead of us.

Greetings from LA - (Lower Arkansas)

Well we have our 1,000 miles of driving behind us. The first night we drove from Myrtle Beach to Oxford, Alabama (about half way between Atlanta and Birmingham). We spent the night there and made the remainder of the trip yesterday. We took I-20 all the way to Minden, LA and then headed north from there.

Both the girls (Pez and Sheott) did well on the trip. Of course we had plenty of potty breaks along the way and treats were handed out. As you can see from the picture of Sheeot she was just fine with the trip. This picture was taken at the Welcome Center in Mississippi.

I’m not sure which travel is the hardest (business or personal). It was a chore getting the whole family ready to roll – generally I only worry about myself. I can tell you it was a nice change to travel by car instead of fighting my way through the airports. You get to see so many things on the ground along the way.

I always feel like I’ve made it when I cross the Mississippi river. We are still a long way from mom but after 800 miles a couple hundred more miles seems minimal. The river was up this trip I guess from all the rains up north. I’ve seen this river up to the tops of the levies before and it was not that bad but it was touching both levies and was plenty full.

Tomorrow is the big Blossom Festival in Magnolia. We will go watch the parade of cookers in the morning, then go see the art show. Later in the evening we will go have our Steaks at the World Champion Steak Cookoff. After that there is a concert with Aaron Tippin. That will be the kick-off to my week long vacation. We don’t have any huge plans other than to NOT WORK.

The next travel destination

I am home office this week but I head out on vacation at the end of the week. I will be going to see mom in Magnolia Arkansas and going to the Magnolia Blossom Festival. This festival started as an art show years ago and my mom used to display some of her paintings there.

Through the years they have added the World Championship Steak Cook-off and many other events (concerts, dog shows, car shows, etc.). Last year we went back to this festival. It was the first time I had been there in 20+ years. Funny I’ll get to see two years back to back.

What people think I do on the road

A few weeks back while watching TV the Residence Inn commercial came on. I asked Stefan if this was what he thought my life on the road was like. He told me he was certain this is what life on the road is like.

I can tell you it’s not quite like this. First off there is not a curtain rod made out there that could hold me. And I’m pretty sure there is not a Residence Inn with ceilings that high. I guess I might need to change brands and give this a shot sometime.

And Beck - Thanks for the instructions on how to post "Youtube" links on my Blog. I guess you can tell they made sense to me.

It’s Cheaper to Bribe Housekeeping

I wrote earlier this week about how much I loved the shampoo that the Embassy Suites leaves in the room. I also stated I could not find it to purchase anywhere. Of course I was told to GOOGLE-IT and given a post where I could buy it.

Once I saw the price of $24.95 plus $7.95 for shipping making the 16 oz bottle cost $32.90 or $2 per ounce. I decided it was cheaper to bribe the housekeeping staff.

So each day I left a few dollars as a tip. I wrote a note thanking the housekeeper for the extra shampoo and asking if they would please leave more. Positive notes and saying Thank You can open a lot of doors and get you a lot of things.

The haul this week was pretty good…

20 Shampoos
15 Bars of Soap
9 Hand Lotions
7 Conditioners
7 Extra Coffee Packets
6 Extra Bottles of water

Now mind you I only asked for Shampoo. So all the other stuff is “BONUS”.

Not only did I score with my BONUS - my room was in perfect shape every day. Not a speck of dust, no streaks on the mirrors, etc. I mean my room was sparkling clean from top to bottom. I always had fresh towels and every detail in the room was covered.

And for roughly $10 I have quite a haul to take home. Oh and the shipping and handling is free since I am Platinum on Delta and I can check my bag for free. Mind you I never check a bag but since I have so much liquid I’m going to have to today.

Here’s a quick peek at my haul this week. Those who know me well know I don’t pass up a freebie. So you can get a good laugh at my haul.

Like they say.. Once a Ho, always a Ho.

Who’s in the seat next to you?

I have found through the years I’m not as social as I used to be. In the past when I traveled I was the little jabbery kid in the seat next to you. I would introduce myself and visit with you (if you’d let me). Through the years I have become the grumpy old business traveler who finds his seat and minds his own business. Actually I guess I would make a good kid now "don’t speak unless you are spoken to."

The company I work for is a worldwide company and we have employees all over the place. A few weeks back I sat in my seat and shy of Hello I flew from Atlanta to Orange Counta. Just before landing the lady in the seat next to me started visiting with me. Come to find out she worksfor the same company and works for one of my old bosses I had 10 years back in Chicago. Talk about a small world. If only we had started talking sooner I might have some dirt on someone.

The next week the lady in the seat right behind me saw me reading material from work. After I was done reading and putting things away she asked me which division of the company I worked for. Come to find out there is another person on a flight with me cross country from the same company.

I’m not above visiting with a person in the seat next to me if they speak first. I think that’s the way most business travelers are these days. We are heading to our destinations; we are busy and just try to mind our own business.

You can really meet some neat people on airplanes. On my trip to Portland I sat next to a gentleman who had a great accent. I asked him where the accent was from. He was from the Netherlands. He was a salesman that sells flower bulbs from Holland to distributors. He lives in the US now and has started his new life. I find it amazing when a person can pick-up and move to another country and start a new life. It takes a strong person to do this and I have known quite a few in my life that have done it.

On my way home from Portland I sat next to a lady who's 85. She was from Prague. We talked about her life in Czech Republic and how she ended up in the US. Her story was one worth hearing. She had moved from Prague to Chicago and a few weeks after that her home country was taken over and became a Communist state. Can you imagine leaving your country and having the government overthrown like that? Czech Republic was under communist rule for 40 years until the 80’s. This lady was going home to meet friends of hers she had not seen in years.

This lady’s story only begins here. She showed me a picture that was taken the week before where she had been snow skiing on Mount Hood. She had her first and only child when she was 40 years old. Her Husband lived to 96. During their life together she had lived in Central, South and North America. We chatted off and on for the entire trip from Portland to Atlanta. If I can be as healthy as this lady at 85 I have no problems living that long.

I probably seemed to be a very smart person to her because I had just watched a travel channel special about Prague so I knew much more about her country than most people know. It was just dumb luck on my part that I'm like to watch TV.

The next week I sat next to a man from Toronto who was returning from Cancun. We didn’t speak much until we were almost to Toronto. I mentioned we were over Lake Erie and about to fly over Niagara Falls. From there on we had a conversation just to find out we are in the same industry. Him in Canada and me in the USA. Geez how many healthcare software consultants can there be out there?

This week I was right back to my grumpy old self and didn’t talk to the person in the seat next to me. So instead I spent that energy on my co-workers and playing once I was on the ground.

South Beach

What a busy week in South Florida.

To start off I am traveling with co-workers I have never worked with before. I knew the names of two of the people but had never worked with them. To be quite honest I could not have told you what they looked like before our trip this week. The other was someone I had never met at all but have spoken on the phone with. Funny one of the people I met for the first time is our new Director.

Tuesday we started off having lunch together so we would know what each other looked like before we went on-site to the client. It’s funny but when you work remote and travel all the time it’s not uncommon that you work with people for years and never know what they look like.

At the end of the day they asked me if I wanted to go with them to South Beach which is about an hour south of where we are. It’s really nice when your in a group you tend to see more things. I didn’t take my camera because I had been to South Beach before and I didn’t want to look like the tourist. That was a HUGE mistake.

One of the co-workers had a friend that owns a condo on South Beach and I didn’t know we were going to look at the condo. It was about 20 stories up overlooking the ocean. The view was so wonderful. The condo had Italian marble and was decorated just perfect. I felt bad about walking on the floors because the whole condo had less dust in it than my laptop bag.

From there we walked South Beach and had dinner at a very nice dinner at Caffe Milano. It was nice to sit and get to know everyone on the team.

Then tonight I had dinner with a co-worker I had not seen in about 5 years. We worked on the implementation team several years before I left and came back to the company. She lives here in Boca Raton and I could not pass through without having dinner with her one night.

Tomorrow night I’m having dinner with a co-worker from last job. I have not seen her in over a year and I’m looking forward to just sitting back and catching up.

As you can tell the South Florida trip has been jam packed with stuff to do. Too bad I’m expected to work full days down here. Who has time for that when there are so many people to visit?

Weeks like this remind me why I enjoy working on the road. There are times we get beat down on the road and cop an attitude about how tough it is. But there are very few people who work the 9-5 jobs that get to see and do what I do. This week has been one of those rare treats on the road. I wish I had pictures to share with everyone.

What’s in the iPod? – Here you come again…

OK, OK… I’m not really listening to this right now but it is somewhere on my iPod. I think the Canadian Immigrations should be singing this to me when I show up next week. I found out late last night that I am heading back to Ontario, Canada. A different place but I’ll be using the Toronto airport again. This trip I’ll be in a city at the end of the lake… Hamilton, Ontario.

Pray that I have good weather… No Snow, No Snow, Please No Snow.

You would know that I did a good job and spent all my Canadian money last trip. So I’ll have to stop and get cash again. I guess next time I should just keep it instead of trying to spend it all.

Rotten Reservation Week…

As much as I travel I am lucky that I rarely have issues with my travel reservations. I find when I have troubles traveling it’s all or nothing that week. Last week was one of those weeks.

My trip took me from Myrtle Beach, SC to Santa Ana, CA. The week was a shorter week than normal with me flying home on Thursday. My site visit was 50 miles northeast of the airport I arrived at. To prevent any traffic related issues I stayed in Riverside at the Marriott the first two nights then the last night returned to Santa Ana to spend the night at the Hilton next to the airport.

Sounds simple right?
- A flight
- A car rental
- Two motel reservations

This should not be too complicated for a frequent traveler to pull off. I guess this was not my week. It was my turn to have the travel week that falls apart at the seams.

I got to the Marriott and my reservation was not in the system. So I dig out my confirmation number and they look it up. For some reason it was in the master Marriott system but not at the local facility. So about 20 minutes later they got me checked in to a room. Generally it takes just a few minutes to check in. It also happened to two other co-workers of mine that checked in after me. So I write it off to the local hotel.

I move down to the Hilton Irvine/Orange County Airport to find my reservation is not in the system. Again I pull out my confirmation number to find out my reservation was for the 04/06/09 instead of 04/09/09. They are sold out and have no rooms. They forced the system to get me a “conference room” that had a fold out couch. Least to say the room was huge with a table that seated eight people, a kitchen and bar area. The TV was a flat panel about 50” and I had two bathrooms.

If you don’t show up for your reservation you get hit with a charge for a “no-show”. All the years I’ve traveled I don’t think I’ve ever had a “no-show” charge. At least not one that was caused by me… I’ve had times when my flight did not get me to my destination and I’d call and cancel. But to never let the hotel chain know is just out of character for me.

So I do the best thing I can and handwrite a note to the Hotel Manager begging forgiveness and asking them to bend the rules and credit me the no-show charge. In my note I plead my case and noted that I would call her when I get home and find out the result.

I got home and the next day I was called by the manager who told me that they would not waive the no-show charge for me. I was really surprised with as much business as I give the Hilton chain that they would be so harsh in the reply. She explained that I cost them revenue by not showing up. I find it highly unlikely that they left that room vacant after a certain time but I don’t have any way to confirm that suspicion.

Considering the no-show charge was $175 I just couldn’t let go that easily. I really felt they could have worked with me to negotiate a lower rate or something. I decided to call the Hilton corporate line and ask them. I didn’t hide the fact that I had tried to take it up with the local facility when I was explaining the situation to them. The lady I spoke to was very helpful and told me the local facility is who makes these decisions and that she would write the District Manager on my behalf and ask them to re-consider the charge based on my 10 year history with the Hilton chain.

Over the weekend I get a call from the same lady at the local facility telling me the same thing. Not going to happen, I cost them money.

So I replied back to the corporate office and explained the reply I got from the local facility. The corporate office told me they will make the one time exception and with proof of payment for the room they will send me a check for the $175.

I have to say I was not impressed with the local facility and will not stay there again unless it’s the very last option. Hilton corporate certainly made me feel good about how they handled the situation. They very well could have lost a good customer, but they did the right thing.

I’m glad I got my bad travel week out of the way. The last one I had that was all out of sorts was about 2 years back going to Reno, NV. That trip must have had the build-up of several years for all the things that went wrong on that trip. I’ll write about it sometime.

Good thing I’m home this week… Maybe I should double check my reservations for next while I’m home. You can bet I’ll add a new check to be sure I don’t transpose my dates in the future.

My Last Full Day in Toronto

I ended up working much later than I planned today so I didn’t make it to downtown before the sun was going down. But I forced myself to go even though I knew it would be getting dark when I got there.

I went to the top of the CN Tower. The first level of the tower is 114 stories where there are three levels. The bottom level has a glass floor in a section where you can see all the way to the ground. I really wasn’t sure if I could walk on it, but I was actually able to do it. Considering I can’t climb a ladder or walk on a roof without freaking out I thought I did quite well.

I took the extra elevator up to the Sky Pod which is 1465 feet or 147 stories up. This is much higher than the Sears Tower where they take you to the 103 floor. And it’s higher than the World Trade Towers were in NYC. I’ve been to the top of both of those and neither were quite this high. Too bad I didn’t get there before the sun went down. They say you can see the curvature of the earth from up there. All I saw was a city that went on and on in the distance.

I took several pictures of the downtown area from the top of the tower. The one below is the best of what I got. Maybe someday I'll learn how to take good pictures after dark.

Once I got out of the tower I headed back to where I am staying up in the Richmond Hill area and had a nice dinner. I’ll write more about the trip over the weekend or next week. I have had several ideas of things to write about from up here and just have not had time to write them.

This Weeks Daily Drive…

I am still in the Toronto area and I have not made it downtown to the CN Tower yet. I doubt I’ll make it tonight since I’m tired. Last night I worked until 9:30 PM and started again this morning at 7:30 AM. I hope to get downtown tomorrow and see this building. I hear they have a glass floor at the top and you can see to the ground. Not sure I could handle walking on that floor with my fear of heights. But I am able to fly, stand on the edge of the Grand Canyon and take a Hot Air Balloon ride. So maybe I can.

I don’t have anything really interesting to tell everyone. So I decided I’d take a picture of a Cathedral that I pass everyday on my way to work. It’s called “Cathedral Town” and it’s located on the 404 North between Richmond Hill and New Market Ontario.



This building is quite imressive to see on the side of the road. And to think this is NEW construction that has not opened yet.

Welcome to Toronto!

Well my last trip to Toronto is what started my writing of the blog. It was my experience with the Mini-Cooper, Hertz and Cold, Cold weather. It was one of the posts I enjoyed writing the most. And once I was able to look back and laugh I was really glad I wrote it down.

This trip has had some similarities and many differences.

The differences…
1) I got a SUV (GMC Envoy) instead of a roller-skate (Mini-Cooper)
2) I could see the ground (NO SNOW)

The similarities…
1) The Immigration process is still nerve wracking. I entered and some familiar questions are asked…

a) What’s the purpose of your trip? Business
b) What company do you work for?
c) Who are you working with?
d) Do you have work papers?
e) Are you here as a consultant? NO
f) What are you here doing? Supporting a go-live

For those not familiar with going back and forth between the US and Canada for work. It’s frowned upon to use the word Consultant. He tried to trick me this week into saying that’s what I was here for and I knew better. I was so grateful I made it through without any hassle. Again, it’s one of my worst fears traveling on business – Immigrations. It never bothers me for pleasure.

2) I sail through customs since I have nothing to declare.

3) Hertz still has no cars ready when I get here. I have to wait for them to bring me a car. What a pain – they never have enough cars at Hertz in Toronto. If you travel to this area consider this a warning, if you don’t want to wait choose another rental car agency.

4) Traffic - Very Heavy Traffic...

My drive takes me out of the Toronto Pearson Airport on 409 East to 401 East to 404 North. If you have ever been to this area you know how big these interstates are. If you are not from the area these roads are HUGE and CONGESTED.

They have what they call collectors and express lanes. Every three exits there is an entrance and exit from the express lanes. There are signs that tell you if the collector or express lanes are moving good or slow. The answer today in Five O'Clock traffic was... Slow, Very Slow.

I am always amazed at how much traffic there is here. Where the 401 and 400 cross there were 8 lanes going both directions. It reminds me of Atlanta where I-75 & I-85 join to go downtown.

I thought with all this traffic I’d look-up some statistics about Toronto and post them.

Toronto Stats:

Greater Toronto Area – 5,555,912 (2006)

Toronto is part of what they call the “Golden Horseshoe” which wraps around the end of Lake Ontario. This area has an inner and outer ring, but the population in this surrounding area is 8.1 million people roughly 25% of the population of Canada.

Toronto is the 5th most populous municipality in North America.

The diversity of the people is shown with 49% of the population being born outside Canada.

I hope I get time this week to get out and get some pictures. I really want to go downtown and see the CN tower.