Packing Up, Heading Home

I am heading home today after a very successful Amazon Web Services evangelism tour through Vienna, Berlin, London, Slough, and Edinburgh. I left my home on the morning of September 10th and I’ll be back at home tonight.

People who don’t do much business travel seem to think that it is a lot of fun, like an all-expenses-paid vacation. Granted, I get to do a lot of good work and to meet a whole lot of interesting people, but life on the road is grueling, not to mention the fact that I’m away from my family for extended periods of time.

Evenings are usually spent working on email and planning the next day — figuring out where I need to go, which tube (subway) lines and trains I will take, and so forth. Due to the time difference between London and Seattle, my colleagues at the home office are just starting to flood my inbox when my working day here should be winding down. That makes for some really long days.

Just for fun, I recorded a number of interesting facts about my current trip:

• 1 canal boat ride
• 3 private car rides
• 3 hotels
• 3 buses
• 7 taxi segments
• 9 meals eaten sitting in front of the computer
• 10 plane rides
• 50 train or tube rides

When I get back I need to spend some quality time with my family, file a massive expense report, and get ready for my next trip or two — some short excursions to Silicon Valley.

I’m all packed up and will be heading to the airport in a couple of hours!