Europe Recap

Since I've been asked about it, I'll do my best to re-cap my latest European adventure.

It was a short trip this time, only 10 days, so I figured it would be a pretty good time. I left on the Friday (March 23rd), and got into Heathrow at 6AM on Saturday. After stumbling through security and customs, I wandered off to find a cab to the hotel. $100 later, I was checking in, preparing to be told that my room wasn't ready and to come back at 3 or something. By some miracle, though, my room was ready, and it was off for a quick nap.

Having been to London before, I figured I might be a bit pressed for things to do, so I asked a friend for advice, and was in turn sent to talk someone who actually lives there. I was pointed in the direction of a bunch of markets, and had a wonderful time checking out all the stalls, and looking for a good bargin. I ended up with a nice shirt for myself, and a head massager for Jenn.

Monday rolled around, and it's time for work. We ended up meeting with an editor for a magazine, where I gave a brief presentation on my company, and what we do, then did the same thing for the resellers/distributors that we recently hired in the UK. I had a good time, got to know them and their business a bit better, and then it was "see you tomorrow" and off for dinner. Some good food at the pub, and a good night sleep, preparing for the trip the next day.

It was an early morning Tuesday, as I had to catch a train out to Reading/Twyford for a web presentation from Peter's home. Unfortunately there were some technical difficulties on the prospects end (web server was having trouble, phones were out, and the cellphone he was on was dying), so the presentation was a bit short, but they seemed very interested. A quick bite to eat for lunch, and off to Heathrow (again) to catch a flight to Glasgow, Scotland, where I was to do some training for a customer of ours.

In Glasgow, we had some beautiful weather (no rain, sunny skies) which is almost unheard of. Unfortnately, I spent most of the trip in an office, so it was wasted on me. The training went smoothly, except for a bout of the flu which saw me leaving my breakfast in the hall at our customer. Not fun. Oh, and we took in a match at a local pub, getting to see Scotland be dominated by Italy. We only had 2 nights in town, so as I said, I didn't see much.

On Thursday, it was back to Heathrow, drive back out to Reading, another hotel, and another early morning (6am) for the drive out to Southampton, where we were to meet another prospect on Friday morning. Again, a good meeting, but it was cut a bit short (only an hour and a half) due to prior engagements by our prospect. I think it was well worth the visit, though, as we seemed to have convinced him that our product is a good fit. Now it's on to the technical evaluation by their engineers. We finished up at the customer, took a quick bite to eat, Peter showed me his boat (it was near by and actually work related), then back up to London.

Saturday saw me at Heathrow again (4th time, for those keeping score) for my flight to Paris to see another distributor. I decided to go over on Saturday so I could see some of the sights, as I'd never been to Paris. Saturday ended up being a wash, as I only had time to check into the hotel (outside of Paris, it turns out), and wander around trying to find dinner, which was harder than expected.

On Sunday, though, I did manage to grab a train into Paris, and check it out, if briefly. I think I saw all the major sights, but didn't have much time for anything else (no museum tours, no going up the Eiffel Tower, etc), but I did manage to grab a little something for Jenn.

Monday was another presentation, more training, and little else. Tuesday was more relaxed at the reseller (I had nothing to do, really), but we did meet a new customer that afternoon, and then Julien took me around Paris. Great time, and I really enjoyed myself. Julien was an awesome host, and I can't thank him enough.

Wednesday was back to the airport, flight to London, switching terminals, kicking back for a few hours, then off to Ottawa. I even managed to use my upgrade certificates and was in first class on the way back. Man, it's the only way to fly. If only I could afford it more often.

And yes, I'll post pictures soon...