The map on the overhead plasma monitor indicates our plane is coasting towards Athens. We are heading south from Milan. Since my last entry I have once again been a travelling fool. My trip back to the US was busy but fun. I visited with family and friends as well as former co-workers. The reason for my short trip was to attend a mentoring meeting sponsored by my company. I was honoured to be asked to mentor a wonderful girl, Christie Edwards, who works as a sales analyst for one of the Executive Sales Vice President’s. She works and lives in Colorado and is a single mother of two young kids. We get along very well and I expect to benefit from the experience as much as she. Anyway, that was a one day deal and then I was able to visit our offices in Sunnyvale and Scotts Valley, networking and meeting face to face with many of the people I speak to on a regular basis on the phone… Good meeting, good visit… I was there for a week and then back to Marlow for a week of meetings, including meeting and entertaining some of our executives and customers. Busy times… The following week, my son Joe came to visit. We took a trip into London, explored the British Museum, took in a dinner and a show… saw “Spam-a-lot,” I took a few vacation days and we decided to visit Dublin…
Dublin was loads of fun. Luckily I checked with others to find out where we should stay. Our hotel was situated in the “Temple Bar” district. This is the tourist area of the city where lots of the bars and restaurants are located. One Irish bar after another, touting …live music, pub food, good fun…all true! We know, we went into all of them! We did a whisky tasting and had more Guinness than I have had in my lifetime.. Funny travelling, mother and son…it didn’t seem to matter. Joe was still a magnet for girls… He sweetly let me go back to my room by midnight and then he went out to explore the bars more! (see pictures of Joe’s trip on my Kodak site)… We got on the hop on hop off bus and toured the Guinness Factory, the Dublin Zoo and the National Museum. We saw a lot! It was very fun to just be on vacation, not working.
Joe left on Saturday and then on Monday I flew off for a week of site surveys, looking for a venue for our next big customer event in the September time frame. Venice was our first stop. ( I am travelling with the owner of our event company, who is also a good friend and lots of fun.) OMG! I had no idea! Venice is wonderful. As a friend of mine once said of Venice, “Who knew?” I love Venice and would proudly were a hat that says so (all though you wouldn’t while you are there!) The canals, the shops, the people, the food, the shops, the ambiance… you truly can’t put it in words… (see my pics on Kodak) It is expensive. I hope we are able to negotiate a reasonable rate with the San Clemente Palace Hotel… located on it’s own island in the lagoon surrounding Venice… Yes, you have to take boat to get there. Not just any boat, one of those wood designed speed boats with the little cabins. I really felt like I was in thee rich and famous world! After Venice we flew to Barcelona where we stayed one night. The weather was terrible so we stayed close to our hotel and did not venture too far. I have been to Barcelona before and know that you need lots of time and good weather to really get around. After Barcelona we headed for Athens. This plane trip made a stop in Milan and then on to Greece. The Milan airport was interesting… yes, I spent more money… finding a nice little jewellery shop where I purchased a ring and bracelet… my travelling is never dull! Anyway, once we got to Athens, it was dark. We had an appointment for dinner with our agent there. The hotel we stayed in was located just below the Parthenon. I took a picture from the balcony of my room!. The weather was mild so we took a nice walk to the restaurant, passing many people starting out their evening. Happy people, strolling below the ruins of the old city, oblivious of the history. We had a wonderful dinner at a trendy place. The following day we visited two potential hotels, one “city center” hotel and the other out on a peninsula about 30 miles outside of Athens…neither hotel really suited our needs but it was a good day. We flew out from Athens directly to Heathrow Airport, lucky for us, the second day the infamous terminal five opened. Luckily we had carry on luggage as they had major luggage handling problems and not enough staff on duty in customs… it was a mess! Lucky me, I was able to get through fairly quickly.
One day at home, then on Sunday I headed to Paris again, on the train. The train is a great way to go. It only takes 2.5 hours and is a pleasant ride. You can get up and walk around, you don’t have to wear a seat belt…you leave one world and end up in another! I had two meetings to attend there. One was my staff meeting and the other with my peers. Champagne, nice meals, good people. Good Times!
Dublin was loads of fun. Luckily I checked with others to find out where we should stay. Our hotel was situated in the “Temple Bar” district. This is the tourist area of the city where lots of the bars and restaurants are located. One Irish bar after another, touting …live music, pub food, good fun…all true! We know, we went into all of them! We did a whisky tasting and had more Guinness than I have had in my lifetime.. Funny travelling, mother and son…it didn’t seem to matter. Joe was still a magnet for girls… He sweetly let me go back to my room by midnight and then he went out to explore the bars more! (see pictures of Joe’s trip on my Kodak site)… We got on the hop on hop off bus and toured the Guinness Factory, the Dublin Zoo and the National Museum. We saw a lot! It was very fun to just be on vacation, not working.
Joe left on Saturday and then on Monday I flew off for a week of site surveys, looking for a venue for our next big customer event in the September time frame. Venice was our first stop. ( I am travelling with the owner of our event company, who is also a good friend and lots of fun.) OMG! I had no idea! Venice is wonderful. As a friend of mine once said of Venice, “Who knew?” I love Venice and would proudly were a hat that says so (all though you wouldn’t while you are there!) The canals, the shops, the people, the food, the shops, the ambiance… you truly can’t put it in words… (see my pics on Kodak) It is expensive. I hope we are able to negotiate a reasonable rate with the San Clemente Palace Hotel… located on it’s own island in the lagoon surrounding Venice… Yes, you have to take boat to get there. Not just any boat, one of those wood designed speed boats with the little cabins. I really felt like I was in thee rich and famous world! After Venice we flew to Barcelona where we stayed one night. The weather was terrible so we stayed close to our hotel and did not venture too far. I have been to Barcelona before and know that you need lots of time and good weather to really get around. After Barcelona we headed for Athens. This plane trip made a stop in Milan and then on to Greece. The Milan airport was interesting… yes, I spent more money… finding a nice little jewellery shop where I purchased a ring and bracelet… my travelling is never dull! Anyway, once we got to Athens, it was dark. We had an appointment for dinner with our agent there. The hotel we stayed in was located just below the Parthenon. I took a picture from the balcony of my room!. The weather was mild so we took a nice walk to the restaurant, passing many people starting out their evening. Happy people, strolling below the ruins of the old city, oblivious of the history. We had a wonderful dinner at a trendy place. The following day we visited two potential hotels, one “city center” hotel and the other out on a peninsula about 30 miles outside of Athens…neither hotel really suited our needs but it was a good day. We flew out from Athens directly to Heathrow Airport, lucky for us, the second day the infamous terminal five opened. Luckily we had carry on luggage as they had major luggage handling problems and not enough staff on duty in customs… it was a mess! Lucky me, I was able to get through fairly quickly.
One day at home, then on Sunday I headed to Paris again, on the train. The train is a great way to go. It only takes 2.5 hours and is a pleasant ride. You can get up and walk around, you don’t have to wear a seat belt…you leave one world and end up in another! I had two meetings to attend there. One was my staff meeting and the other with my peers. Champagne, nice meals, good people. Good Times!
