When I was a kid, all of our vacations required traveling by car, er van (that's what it takes when you have a big family). Preparing for a trip didn't just mean getting packed and putting the house in order ('I don't want to come home to a messy house and sink full of dishes') - it also meant getting the vehicle prepared as well.

So early this week, I had the oil changed and a minor repair made to my 2-piece front bumper.  Every day this week that I drove the car (which was a lot for me since I work from home) I made sure to clean something out of the car.  Today I treated myself to the 'elite' services at the local car wash (vacuuming, waxing, etc.) and that means my girl is ready to help me hit the road on another adventure!

I'd like to say it is for fun, but like most of my trips - it is for work and hey, I do prefer to drive over flying, so I'm kinda looking forward to this jaunt despite the fact that Nick won't be along this time - he has been on every one of the work trips over the last year and it won't be the same without him!  However, I'll have a co-worker & friend with me who, besides being a multi-time road trip companion, also just happens to be a professional photographer, so I may actually get some awesome photos to post here for a change!  (keeping the fingers crossed!).

I have thought about making the traditional road mix, but she and I usually end up talking so much that we never really get to listen to the mix so and I have Kara Cooney's new book about Hatshepsut on my audible, so..... anyway, I have a few hours to think about it!

Anyway - Nick - the posts on this trip are dedicated to you!  We will miss your looking out for us, the conversations we have while you smoke cigars in front of the hotel, the laughter & hard work and the kind little things you did to help us feel not so far away from home while traveling for work.  Thank you for everything!

I recently visited San Diego on business.  I would love to say it was for pleasure because there is something about the Mission Bay area that I find very appealing and it would be lovely to see more.  But, unfortunately time and circumstances just don't permit exploration.

Technically it really isn't a road trip either, but there was a car and driving involved, so I'm going to say it counts. Even if I didn't do any of the driving.  

The weather really was beautiful - windy and cool in the evening and sunny and warm during the day.  

Our hotel overlooked Sea World and in the summertime, Sea World has fireworks every night at 9:52pm which I think rocks because I love fireworks.  I tried getting some photos - they aren't spectacular but they are a good first try!

The thing about business travel is this - it isn't glamorous or exciting - sure you may or may not get to fly on an airplane(s) and you get to stay in hotels and the company pays for it - but - because you ARE traveling for the company and because THEY are paying for it - one has to expect to be available at all times during the trip. That makes perfect sense to me,  I plan accordingly and have no gripe about it. Its folks on the outside looking in telling me how exciting and wonderful it is that wears me down.  I actually had someone tell me that it 'sucked' that I couldn't do anything 'fun' on my trip. What? I'm not there on vacation and I'm not paying for it so why would I expect to be able to do anything fun? I don't and it would be an extremely unprofessional expectation. For me - the fun part of the business trip are free airplane sodas and watching Investigation Discovery on cable TV (if it's available)! Oh and a super plus bonus? Going to sleep in utter quiet instead of trying to go to sleep as I'm being serenaded by a yowling cat - now that's some serious luxury right there!

These trips are also tiring, too - one squeezes as much in as possible in the shortest time allowed, talking & interacting with people you know mostly via email or by phone, all while lugging around laptops & luggage and dashing from place to place. Yes at the end of the day it is all about catching your breath before the next day begins! 

And the funny part of all this (although it wasn't funny at the time) is that my co-worker and I (we travel together for these trips) always manage to be connected to things that are the furthest away possible - be it boarding gates, hotels rooms, elevators or just reaching the baggage claim!  When it happened on the first trip, I thought it was weird but when it was the same on the second trip - well.....  Luckily we didn't have any connecting flights on this trip like the last time!

When it is all over, what I ask myself is 'did we accomplish what we set out to do?' and when I can answer YES to that question and feel like we exceeded our to-do lists, then everything is worth it. And YES was the answer when we got home from this trip.

Honestly, for this trip I have to admit that the big bonus at the end of it was those 4 nights of beautiful fireworks! A lovely ending for a busy and productive day!

WHEN ITS A BUSINESS TRIP!

I'm not embarrassed to say that in my 30+ years of working, I have not taken many business trips.  I don't feel cheated or slighted in the least and in fact, on my last business trip out of the US (in 2010 to Toronto), I almost didn't get back into the USA! But that's a story for another time....

That said, last week I went with co-workers and a vendor representative to visit some facilities in the San Diego area and one in Las Vegas.  While I have visited Las Vegas before, I have never been to San Diego and in fact, the last time I was in California was in 1978. I kid you not.

While confidentiality prohibits me from going into detail about the trip, I can share some tidbits - first and foremost being I met some wonderful people - some I had interacted with by phone or email prior to the trip and some I met for the first time.   Meeting such great folks is what makes 7 days away from home (and the work we do) worth while.

The photo above is a shot from my room in San Diego - overlooking the marina at Mission Bay. It was so beautiful that first night! It was beautiful every night but let's face it - first impressions, right?

Here are some other photos from the area for you to enjoy.  On my last night in San Diego there was a full moon! I think I did OK capturing it with a cell phone camera!

We had some lovely dinners on the trip, too! Steak & Seafood, Italian and Mexican!  I even had Chinese delivered one evening when I wanted to eat by myself.  Unfortunately, where our hotel was located there wasn't anything within walking distance, so delivery was the only option baring the hotel restaurant, which I had already sampled.

Here are some fine examples of deliciousness! (Yes, that last photo is a salad...)

The last part of our trip was in Las Vegas (less then 24 hours) and while I don't have photos of the fabulous food, I do have a photo of the huge salt water aquarium in the hotel (with a small tiger shark in it) and a photo (albeit a sloppy one) of the Dolly Parton slot machine at the airport where I won $15 after spending $2.95.  You could even choose which Dolly songs you wanted to hear while you were pushing buttons and spending your money!

It was a successful and informative trip and other then the snuggly San Diego sweatshirt and the nasty cold I brought back with me, I am glad to say my suitcase was lighter (in a manner of speaking) on the return. 

Many thanks to everyone we met for their enthusiasm and to my co-workers and vendors for all their efforts.

Mission Bay, San Diego - go and visit - I highly recommend it!!