Events, Events, Events!!!

Well, I’m not one to rant really but I have to tell you that you wouldn’t believe the comedy of errors that all fell together during my 31 hours of travel from my house in Redmond, WA to the hotel in the Babin Kuk area of Dubrovnik, Croatia. My original itinerary was SEA (Seattle) to IAD (WA DC) to VIE (Vienna, Austria) to DBV (Dubrovnik)… it really wasn’t too bad but the connections weren’t great with 3-4 hours in each city. I was to arrive Sunday afternoon around 3pm. I figured I’d jump in the Adriatic to wake up, have dinner and go to bed…. However, the travel gods had other plans.


I originally booked my ticket to ONLY Amsterdam but later ammended it for the extra week to jet down to Croatia (fyi – it’s absolutely beautiful here – I never would have chosen it on my own but I have to admit I hope to come back here again and again – I’ve added a few pictures that I took this year as well as some I took last year…. it’s truly a spectacular treasure).


TheOldTown.jpg (126.29 KB) – view from a road side tourist spot where many pictures are taken!
TheWater.jpg (180.29 KB) – as a diver I really appreciate blue water! This is an amazingly clear shot of the beautiful blue waters off the rocky coast. Sunset.jpg (17.82 KB) – this was taken two days ago – from my deck… Sunset, June 22….. this made all of the travel nightmares seem worth it!


Speaking of those… I’m not in the mood to write all of the details… now that I just looked at the picture again it just doesn’t seem to matter :). But – I’ll just tell you the route I ended up taking… SEA to IAD to LHR to CDG to DBV and – just to add to that – my bags took another route…. They got here Monday.


So – when all is said and done business travel isn’t always that much fun. I met some great people along the way (a young couple going to Paris for the first time on the LHR-CDG flight) and a gentleman from Istanbul who’s working on his pHD in CA… and some very helpful United counter agents (yes, I spent 5 hours at United counters on this trip and yes they were in fact, pleasant and helpful!). Anyway, not sure how I kept a smile on my face on this trip and I was shattered when I got here BUT – it is a truly delightful destination. In fact, I ran into a couple of locals Tuesday night (people I had met last year) and we’re planning to go out after tonight’s dinner party…. Pretty amazing that I just ran into them on the main strada in the Old Town…..


OK – so need to run but wanted to tell you that the party invites are already coming in for Amsterdam. If you’re going to be there make sure you go to the SQL Server 2005 party on Wednesday, June 30th. The party runs from 8 to 1am and you need to get a ticket from the ATE booth on Tuesday or Wednesday. In fact, make sure to bother Darren Green (the infamous www.SQLDTS.com guy – and a good friend of mine :) at the ATE. He’s awesome!


Speaking of people – can’t wait for Tech Ed Amsterdam…. tons of fun people all converging on a great city – for a great week…….


To get more details about the party check out Matt Nunn’s blog… (it’s in my blogroll)

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