Sunday, November 7, 2010

Arriving on a Red Eye in Atlanta... The first 45 minutes

Have you ever taken a Red Eye flight? It's a flight from a western US city that leaves late at night/early morning and gets to an east coast city in the Pre dawn hours. It's a great way to maximize time at a west coast destination (like Disneyland) and use the plane as a flying hotel room. It gets is name from the sensation and look of your eyes after trying to sleep on board.

Normally Atlanta is my final destination, so I just get in my car and roll home to bed. Today, I continue to Newark NJ to see my girlfriend for lunch before proceeding to Scranton PA for an insure visit Monday AM. With this in mind, I discovered that there are two tips to share with my fellow Atlanta airport travelers:

One- there are good benches to sleep on between gates B4 and B6. They are isolated from the rest of the seating areas AND there is a power outlet too :-). Only downfall, it's next to the window. Jacket required on cold mornings.

Two- there are no restaurants or concession stands open before 6am. If you slept through meal service on your flight (like I did) or didn't eat before take off, be prepared to be fasting until they open. I'm rumbling as I type this.

Feel free to comment on your travel or red eye experiences... I love this flight schedule as I am all about making the most of my travel times. Night night!

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Fun, food, and history on the Midway

Last night my colleagues and I were invited to a dinner event and costume ball on the USS Midway, here in San Diego. While I didn't participate in the costuming, it was amazing to be on this grand old ship during the after hours.

During the day, you can tour the aircraft carrier and I totally recommend it. www.midway.org You don't realize how amazing it is to see the length (and I mean short!) of the landing area and imagine pilots landing planes there. Also there are other great Navy exhibits on board including aircraft, cockpits, ejector seats, and more. I took some pictures while exploring, mingling, and enjoying some tasty beverages ;-).

I travel with work a ton, and this is my way of taking a playbook from Ferris Bueller's way of seeing the world. Only a few more hours here before the red eye later. How do you fellow travelers make your work trips somewhat easier to take?

Enjoy... A little something from the work trip.

Steven

Friday, November 5, 2010

Take a moment, look at the views

Today was a long day of travel. I was starting to feel the waves of travel fails coming right for me.

It started out with a McDonald's fail at the Atlanta airport, then no wifi on my flight. BUT- McDonald's saw my tweet and DM'ed me asking for more info and offered a voucher, then the flight's seat back movies were free and I watched 'Salt' and 'Knight and Day'. Fails became better!

Then upon landing, Delta's baggage services folks took over an hour and fifteen minutes to gets bags to the carousel. During the drive from LAX to San Diego, I took a few moments to stop and take in the coastal views. Turned that frustration into something good.

Finally, upon arrival at the hotel, I found out my presentation was moved up by almost two hours. But my need for a room accelerated me into a room with an incredible view of San Diego. The city directly ahead, the cruise terminal to the right, and a great view of the airport to the left.

Simply put... Don't let a few fails spoil the views!

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Moving to Posterous... Easier, better, more often :)

One of my biggest challenges in doing a blog is: "time and accessibility" to post when I am on the road with work so much.  Blogger was a good starting point, but I think Posterous will be better.  Better mobile client which means more postings and more opportunities to interact.

Come join me at the new place... WDWSteveB Onderland Blog

See you real soon!
Steven

Random stories from the road will be shared. Right Here.

Here it is... The next 30 or so days will have me on the road for business and pleasure (of the next 32 days, 20 will be spent away from Winnie and Sandler).  I will be in San Diego, Northern NJ, Scranton PA, Raleigh NC,  Houston/Galveston TX, and many places in between.

I think we all agree that Twitter is a great way to stream consciousness and thought as it happens, right? I want to try and make this blog as relevant and fresh as possible (yeah, me relevant). Ok, Todd P @tperlmutter kind of guilted, I mean motivated me, into doing something productive.

So, challenge to self: post something, anything about what happens where I am.  It may be brief, or have a full story involved but it is some of the "it happened today" types of things.  I hope you'll join me in reading about (and commenting about) what happens.