May 31 2013 Away we go

Well, we're out of the gate, as they say in horse racing. An uneventful trip to the airport (thanks for taking us Matt). Mom (Sylvia) got a full pat down through security. Aunt Rene called and her flight from Kansas City was delayed by two hours. Good thing she had a five hour layover in NYC.

Mom is in her seat playing video poker. Robyn just finished some home work.

Italy here we come!

Last day in Stockholm

Heading home tomorrow (leave for the airport at 4:45 a.m.). Here are a couple last pictures. The first is the King's palace (the main residence). The second is a view of the street from our office balcony. The third is my lastest hotel room -- very small with a twin bed!

I met with the marketing people all day, then we went to the local employee's house for a great Swedish dinner.

One VERY funny story....

Viktoria, the local Swedish employee was telling me a story about "a sheep." As she explained, "a very famous sheep. Acutally, famous because it was the sheep that sings. You've probably heard of it?" I'm sure I looked puzzeled. "No, I haven't heard of it."

"Yes, very famous this sheep. It singed. It is down here about a block from here."

My mind is racing and still clueless. A singing sheep? She explained one more time, "yes the ship singed." At which it dawned on me. She wasn't saying, "A sheep that sings." She was saying "A ship that sank." Ah, I get it! One of the funniest cultural moments I've every had in my life. :-)

Home tomorrow! I can't wait!!!!

Stockholm

Two meetings this morning in the UK. Arrived in Stockholm about 5:30 pm. Staying a very cool old hotel. Went to dinner with the marketing team. Stockholm is beautiful. It's about 11:30 pm so I'm off to bed, but wanted to post some pictures for you.

Crazy London

London is a bit crazy. You've probably seen all the rioting. Nothing near me, but stores closed early and I didn't go out anywhere tonight. The news is full of coverage and the police are out in force. Sounds like it is just a bunch of thugs looking for reasons to loot stores. Hopefully it all stops soon.

By travel standards, my day was boring. Just an all day meeting with an analyst, which went well. I'll post one picture...the inside of our offices, since that is all I saw today. :-)

Tomorrow I leave for Stockholm just before noon. I'll go to the office in the morning, then to the airport. Have a great day everybody!

Safe in London

For all of you who still think business travel is glamorous, here is the short version of my trip here: Left Jacksonville late, circled Atlanta forever, ran low on fuel, diverted to Columbia South Carolina, took off ten minutes before the flight crew would time out, landed in Atlanta, missed my connection, ran to the back up flight from B12 to E6, made it and landed eight hours later in London.

Now the good news is that I did get to fly business class, so I slept for about five hours. Got to the hotel and worked on email for a bit. Then walked the fifteen minutes to the office for a meeting. I then came back, showered, and went to Windsor all by my lonesome for some dinner.

Funny story to show how strong jet lag can be: After dinner I took the train from Windsor back to Slough (it's only about 10 minutes). I got on the train, fell asleep and woke up to the doors closing as the train left Slough headed back to Windsor. So I got to do an extra roundtrip :-)

Tomorrow is an all-day meeting with an analyst. I better get to bed.

Here are a few pictures.

Coming into to London from the air:

Robyn, I found our house! A cute cottage not far from Windor. Rent is only about $6000 a month!

I actually wore sunglasses (I was the only one) on this nice sunny day (Slough train station) -- blue sky!

The flag shows that the queen is in residence at Windsor Castle. I knocked on the door, but nobody answered. It's a big place, maybe they didn't hear me.

The castle is massive. Much bigger than Buckingham Palace. This is just one of the entrances.

This is in Windsor. It is called "the long walk." You can see why.

I took this one just outside the Windsor train station at sunset.

I love you all!

Love,

Dad

Not coming out of the gate too well...

Well, this trip (New Zealand and Australia) didn't start out very well. Robyn took me to the airport for my 9 pm flight through LA. The flight left late and even with an hour and twenty minutes for the connection, I missed my connection (different terminal, delayed bus, closed Qantas ticket counter). So instead of the beautiful ocean surrounding Auckland, this is my view (ah, the Courtyard at LAX):

Next problem...running to catch the plane, my backpack zipper opens and the camera hits the ground. Lens rolling around. Shattered glass. Thank goodness for UV lens filters.

So the next flight leaves in 24 hours. So I'm all caught up on email just hanging out. Not much to do, then....I think, "It's Wednesday. Baseball teams play on Wednesday afternoon." I check online and the Angels are in town! But...the game started over an hour ago. If I left now, I could get there in time to see all the fans exiting the stadium. Sooooo..... not off to a good start, but appreciative for plenty of other things. I just need to keep thinking of those other things.

Keep watching the blog and I'll try to post more, hopefully with some good stuff.

Hong Kong -- Final Day

I'm at the airport with about an hour before I board the flight for home. Today was a good, but busy day. Lot's of meetings. Nothing too exciting.

I picked up the pants that I had made. I like them. Then I went and picked up Robyn's present that the shop owner had to order from another location.

Tonight just before I left for the airport I watched a laser light show over Hong Kong harbor. It was really cool. All the buildings light up and several shot lasers and spotlights into the night sky. They do it every night. It last about ten minutes.

So, I guess I'm a fan of Hong Kong. I'd like to come back again sometime. It is a fast paced city. Lots to do. Very interesting.

I'm glad to be headed home though. Of all the places I've been in the world, home is definitely my favorite. See you all soon.