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.
Category Archives: Travel
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 »
Welcome to PDX
If you are traveling to NW Oregon or SW Washington, you’ll be flying into the Portland International Airport: PDX. It has frequently been voted the “best US airport,” and whenever I travel, I always plan on at least one extra hour just to hang out at the airport — it’s that nice. The carpet Portlanders are *fiercely*… Read More »
The Hague – September 2019
I spent a week in The Hague in mid-September for client meetings. This was such an enjoyable trip. I was at a hotel next to the main train station (Den Haag Centraal), by the edge of Koekamp park, and a not-too-long walk from the heart of the historic city with many beautiful things to see.