Well, coming to the end of the road as a business traveler, at least as an employee! I will be retiring July 5th, 2013. Next Tuesday, May 28th, I will head out to Temecula, CA, for the last time as an employee. May not be my last business trip, but will most likely be my last business trip as an employee.
I have been traveling for business for 30 years, first as a Sales Representative in New England, and later throughout my career in Publishing as a Marketing Manager, Editor, and Sr. Manager/VP. Overall, have really enjoyed seeing the country, both from the air, automobile, cabs and limos, an occasional train, and even a ferry or two! Nothing better than traveling and getting paid for it! Have gotten to see places and things I never would have, and have met so many really good people all over the country. Some folks who have hosted me in restaurants and hotels as service employees have become good friends, and I hope to maintain those friendships after retirement, even if only at a distance.
Now, there have been many misadventures, and usual travel disruptions/challenges. However, more funny and fun stories than horror stories.
So, maybe this coming week, as I have time, I will update y'all on my last week of official business travel as an employee.
Friday, May 24, 2013
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
There is Blanton's Bourbon in Temecula!
Last November I complained about there being no Blanton's Bourbon in Temecula, CA. Well, a few months ago, one of my colleagues, who is always looking out for me, found a restaurant/bar smart enough to have The Greatest Single Barrel Bourbon in the World behind the bar. Gourmet Italia Restaurant serves great Italian food, wine, and Blanton's Bourbon. Alex, the founder/owner, is a great host, always making you to feel welcome and at home. If you ever find yourself here in Temecula, CA, make sure to look up Alex, have a great dinner, along with some Blanton's after dinner if you like great bourbon.
THERE IS BLANTON'S BOURBON IN TEMECULA, CALIFORNIA!
THERE IS BLANTON'S BOURBON IN TEMECULA, CALIFORNIA!
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Skiing in Keystone, Colorado
My son and I stayed in Keystone, Colorado, February 20th through February 23rd. We skied at Keystone Monday and Wednesday, and at Beaver Creek Tuesday. Weather was great, ski conditions perfect, and spending time with my son was the best.
David planned the entire trip. All I had to do was show up (well, and write a check). He reserved a great condo in the Ski Tip/Ski Ranch community at Keystone (www.Keystone.com). One of his criteria was that the condo have a newer television. The TV in the living room was a 47" LG, very much like the TVs at my house. Each bedroom also had smaller flat panel TVs--very nice. The other key criteria for the condo was to not have to carry our luggage and other stuff too far. The condo had an attached garage so it was like being home. Very nice!
We arrived Sunday night, checked in, unpacked, went to our favorite Mexican restaurant in Keystone, Dos Locos (www.doslocoskeystone.com), played a little Wi golf (Pebble Beach, David beat me by two strokes though I did have a hole-in-one), and went to bed. Monday morning, we got up, ate some breakfast, and hit the slopes.
Oh yeah, have to give a shout out to Virgin Islands Ski and Snowboard Rental in Silverthorne, Colorado (http://virginislandsski.com). It is a great ski rental shop, filled with employees/skiers who provide very efficient service. The best part is they are all real characters. We have seen and been served by many of the same employees for years. Is always like seeing old friends when we stop by.
Really, the next three days were very similar. Dave and I ski from the top of lifts to the bottom, without much stopping in between. So, the pattern was, ride the lift, ski a blue or black run to the bottom of the next lift, ride up to the top of the next mountain, repeat, repeat, repeat. This pattern works very well if when you are in good enough shape to do this over and over all day and there aren't too many other people skiing so you don't have to stand in lift lines very long. Skiing the week before a major vacation like President's Day week keeps the lift lines to nothing. Regular time on the treadmill, bicycle, active exercise gets your body ready for the constant skiing.
So, it was a great three days. Keystone and Beaver Creek are both large ski areas with a good variety of slopes. Conditions, as I said earlier, were perfect though a bit of new snow would have made them a bit better.
My son and daughter learned to ski at Keystone in the early 1990's. I highly recommend Keystone to families, and skiers of all skill levels. There are very good beginning "bunny" slopes, great ski schools/instructors, and all the steep slopes most better skiers can handle. And, there is a wide variety of rental properties, from hotel rooms to ski in-ski-out condos, all connected to a very convenient community bus system.
Now, David and I are already looking forward to next year, and hope my wife Kathy, daughter/sister Nina, and David's wife Carley decide to join us.
David planned the entire trip. All I had to do was show up (well, and write a check). He reserved a great condo in the Ski Tip/Ski Ranch community at Keystone (www.Keystone.com). One of his criteria was that the condo have a newer television. The TV in the living room was a 47" LG, very much like the TVs at my house. Each bedroom also had smaller flat panel TVs--very nice. The other key criteria for the condo was to not have to carry our luggage and other stuff too far. The condo had an attached garage so it was like being home. Very nice!
We arrived Sunday night, checked in, unpacked, went to our favorite Mexican restaurant in Keystone, Dos Locos (www.doslocoskeystone.com), played a little Wi golf (Pebble Beach, David beat me by two strokes though I did have a hole-in-one), and went to bed. Monday morning, we got up, ate some breakfast, and hit the slopes.
Oh yeah, have to give a shout out to Virgin Islands Ski and Snowboard Rental in Silverthorne, Colorado (http://virginislandsski.com). It is a great ski rental shop, filled with employees/skiers who provide very efficient service. The best part is they are all real characters. We have seen and been served by many of the same employees for years. Is always like seeing old friends when we stop by.
Really, the next three days were very similar. Dave and I ski from the top of lifts to the bottom, without much stopping in between. So, the pattern was, ride the lift, ski a blue or black run to the bottom of the next lift, ride up to the top of the next mountain, repeat, repeat, repeat. This pattern works very well if when you are in good enough shape to do this over and over all day and there aren't too many other people skiing so you don't have to stand in lift lines very long. Skiing the week before a major vacation like President's Day week keeps the lift lines to nothing. Regular time on the treadmill, bicycle, active exercise gets your body ready for the constant skiing.
So, it was a great three days. Keystone and Beaver Creek are both large ski areas with a good variety of slopes. Conditions, as I said earlier, were perfect though a bit of new snow would have made them a bit better.
My son and daughter learned to ski at Keystone in the early 1990's. I highly recommend Keystone to families, and skiers of all skill levels. There are very good beginning "bunny" slopes, great ski schools/instructors, and all the steep slopes most better skiers can handle. And, there is a wide variety of rental properties, from hotel rooms to ski in-ski-out condos, all connected to a very convenient community bus system.
Now, David and I are already looking forward to next year, and hope my wife Kathy, daughter/sister Nina, and David's wife Carley decide to join us.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
So, I'm In Temecula, CA, on a Wednesday Night in Early November
My new boss runs a business based in Temecula, CA, and I'm here for a few days. Flew out from Cincinnati, OH, Monday morning, spent Monday in the office I manage in Culver City, CA, then drove down here Tuesday morning. For those few of you who haven't made it to beautiful Temecula, it is an old desert city, probably 60-70 miles west of Palm Springs, 80 miles or so southeast of Los Angeles, and about 50 miles northeast of San Diego. Hard-pressed against I-15, Temecula has all the popular big-box stores, national restaurant chains, and an Indian (think American Indian, not Bollywood Indian) Casino. There is an old town, which is kind of cute, and some wineries near by (won't see any of them and am suspect of California wineries in the middle of the desert). Temecula boomed in the early and mid-2000's as the California/American dream of home ownership spread, and people were willing to pay $400-$700K for houses here so they could own one and drive an hour or two to their jobs in San Diego, Los Angeles, etc. Now the houses are worth about half, and the chance you can sell one is slim. Nice weather though, mostly sunny, hot in the summer, but nice most of the rest of the year.
Went out to dinner tonight with a 10-12 colleagues, restaurant was named Harry's Pacific Grill. Nice place, large, next to a very big mall here in Temecula. Walked up to the bar, bartender asks me what I'd like, I ask what kind of boubon they have, he says what do you like/want, I say Blanton's, he says never heard of it, I say how about Woodford Reserve, again a blank stare, so I say what do you have and he says Maker's, at which point I want to say you don't have any bourbon, but I order a gin and tonic instead. Don't act like you know something when you don't!
Later, the waitress takes my order, I order a steak, she asks what sides I'd like (2 come with the dinner), I say I'll have a caesar salad, she says is it okay if the salad comes with the dinner or else she will have to charge me extra. I said no, don't bother bringing me the salad! How stupid is that! Classless, shows they don't really have a clue.
Food was fine, wine was good, but will never go back there on my own!
Wanted/needed a decent bourbon before going to bed so went to "Old Town" Temecula. A bar named "The Edge" was recommended by the young lady at the front desk. Pretty cool place, but we repeated the bourbon quest there. Nice, attractive bar tender had no clue about real bourbon but the did have Gentleman Jack, a fancy Jack Daniels, so drank that. Didn't know the bar was also a comedy club, but found out after listening to a couple of the "comics" that it really wasn't! Pretty pathetic.
So, one more day night here, then heading home Friday out of San Diego. At least there is some real bourbon waiting for me at home in Loveland, OH.
Dave
Went out to dinner tonight with a 10-12 colleagues, restaurant was named Harry's Pacific Grill. Nice place, large, next to a very big mall here in Temecula. Walked up to the bar, bartender asks me what I'd like, I ask what kind of boubon they have, he says what do you like/want, I say Blanton's, he says never heard of it, I say how about Woodford Reserve, again a blank stare, so I say what do you have and he says Maker's, at which point I want to say you don't have any bourbon, but I order a gin and tonic instead. Don't act like you know something when you don't!
Later, the waitress takes my order, I order a steak, she asks what sides I'd like (2 come with the dinner), I say I'll have a caesar salad, she says is it okay if the salad comes with the dinner or else she will have to charge me extra. I said no, don't bother bringing me the salad! How stupid is that! Classless, shows they don't really have a clue.
Food was fine, wine was good, but will never go back there on my own!
Wanted/needed a decent bourbon before going to bed so went to "Old Town" Temecula. A bar named "The Edge" was recommended by the young lady at the front desk. Pretty cool place, but we repeated the bourbon quest there. Nice, attractive bar tender had no clue about real bourbon but the did have Gentleman Jack, a fancy Jack Daniels, so drank that. Didn't know the bar was also a comedy club, but found out after listening to a couple of the "comics" that it really wasn't! Pretty pathetic.
So, one more day night here, then heading home Friday out of San Diego. At least there is some real bourbon waiting for me at home in Loveland, OH.
Dave
Friday, October 8, 2010
On My Way Home From Los Angeles This Friday Afternoon
So, I'm flying home from Los Angeles today. At this moment the plane is 35,000 feet or so above Missouri, as far as I can tell. Flight was delayed at LAX for an hour this morning (after boarding) due to an electrical problem on plane. Apparently it was one of those "non-essential" lighting issues. After doing a "CTRL-ALT-DELETE" on the 77 on-board computer systems this Airbus 320 has, everything was okay for a minute but not for good. We had to wait for paperwork saying the plane isn't functioning perfectly but good enough to get us to Cincinnati. Seems as though all is well so far!
Interesting that this Airbus has 77 computers but no entertainment system of any kind on it. Suppose there are music channels (I'm listening to the shuffle of Dave Shaut's iPod) but no video, no movie, no live, satellite TV, nada, zip, nothing! Clearly it is a plane designed for long hauls. Amazing, 2010, I want my live TV when I fly coast-to-coast (actually anywhere).
Got me a 1st class (free upgrade) window seat. Love the window seat flying out of LA, or any West Coast city. Scenery is beautiful, first out over the Pacific Ocean--and it was pacific today--very calm, then as we take the left hand turn, Southern California is before and below. The coast line, then Palm Springs, then the huge expanse of the desert. About an hour into the flight, Las Vegas, Arizona, The Grand Canyon--all very nice. Saw the snow-capped mountain near Flagstaff today. The southern desert of Nevada and Utah is adorned in red rocks and canyons--very pretty, spectacular actually. This flight crosses southern Colorado/Northern New Mexico. There was some snow on the mountains but not as much as normal.
Once you leave Colorado, the Great Plains extend almost all the way to Ohio! Flatland, dotted with green fields, some of them round due to the circular irrigation systems. Not as dramatic as the far West, but amazing for the scale. It is where we all get a lot of our food from, so there is that!
Have flown this route many times, hundreds in the last twenty plus years. Still enjoy a window seat to take in our great country. If you haven't had a chance, do it sometime, fly coast-to-coast in a window seat on a sunny day. Worth the price of admission!
Hope y'all have a good weekend!
Dave
Interesting that this Airbus has 77 computers but no entertainment system of any kind on it. Suppose there are music channels (I'm listening to the shuffle of Dave Shaut's iPod) but no video, no movie, no live, satellite TV, nada, zip, nothing! Clearly it is a plane designed for long hauls. Amazing, 2010, I want my live TV when I fly coast-to-coast (actually anywhere).
Got me a 1st class (free upgrade) window seat. Love the window seat flying out of LA, or any West Coast city. Scenery is beautiful, first out over the Pacific Ocean--and it was pacific today--very calm, then as we take the left hand turn, Southern California is before and below. The coast line, then Palm Springs, then the huge expanse of the desert. About an hour into the flight, Las Vegas, Arizona, The Grand Canyon--all very nice. Saw the snow-capped mountain near Flagstaff today. The southern desert of Nevada and Utah is adorned in red rocks and canyons--very pretty, spectacular actually. This flight crosses southern Colorado/Northern New Mexico. There was some snow on the mountains but not as much as normal.
Once you leave Colorado, the Great Plains extend almost all the way to Ohio! Flatland, dotted with green fields, some of them round due to the circular irrigation systems. Not as dramatic as the far West, but amazing for the scale. It is where we all get a lot of our food from, so there is that!
Have flown this route many times, hundreds in the last twenty plus years. Still enjoy a window seat to take in our great country. If you haven't had a chance, do it sometime, fly coast-to-coast in a window seat on a sunny day. Worth the price of admission!
Hope y'all have a good weekend!
Dave
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Paris, Beaune, Megeve, and Chamonix, France, and Courmayeur, Italy
Kathy and I traveled to Paris, France, and a few other cities there in late August and early September. Despite all the domestic travel Kathy and I have done over the years, we had never been overseas (sounds like an old-fashioned term) before this year. We have been to Hawaii, the Carribean, Canada, and Mexico, but never to Europe. One of my friends lives part of the year in Megeve, France, about an hour from Geneva, Switzerland, and has invited us to visit him and his wife for years. We decided 2010 was the year to go.
We left Cincinnati Wednesday, August 25th. Direct flight to Paris, about 8 hours. Good flight, had a good meal an hour or so after take off, all the red (or white) wine we wanted, a couple of Benadryl, goodnight for a few hours! We arrived around 6:30 in the morning Paris time. Made our way through customs, got our bags, got a train from the airport downtown, we were on our way. Pissed off my first Parisian by not putting my bag on the overhead rack on the train, even though there were plenty of seats. Young lady gave me a dirty look! Oh well, old, ugly American! Got to the main train station, switched to the Metro (subway), got to our station, walked up to the Champs Elysee, two blocks to the Marriott, and checked into our room around 9:00 AM. All good so far!
Everyone told us to not go to sleep--stay up, push through, etc. Well, we did. Unpacked, left hotel, walked toward Arc de Triomphe, had a little breakfast on a sidewalk cafe. Best part of Paris, watching the people walk by. Great people watching. Sidewalk cafes/restaurant chairs all face the street, so you can see and be seen. Really cool!
Okay, a confession, we walked to the Arc de Triomphe, looked around, went back to hotel and took a knap for a couple of hours! But, we got up, went to Notre Dame Cathedral, spent the rest of the day there, as well as walking around the neighborhoods nearby. Was really cool. Had a little rain, but nothing too bad. Went back to hotel, rested, changed, then went out to dinner.
More entries to come--I'll make this a serial.
Here are some links to pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/dshaut/BeauneFranceHeartOfBurgundyWineCentral?feat=email#
http://picasaweb.google.com/dshaut/ParisPicturesAugust2010?authkey=Gv1sRgCNj3zOuyvfDQjwE&feat=email#
http://picasaweb.google.com/dshaut/VersaillesFranceAugust2010?feat=email#
http://picasaweb.google.com/dshaut/MtBlancAndChamonixFrance?feat=email#
Dave
We left Cincinnati Wednesday, August 25th. Direct flight to Paris, about 8 hours. Good flight, had a good meal an hour or so after take off, all the red (or white) wine we wanted, a couple of Benadryl, goodnight for a few hours! We arrived around 6:30 in the morning Paris time. Made our way through customs, got our bags, got a train from the airport downtown, we were on our way. Pissed off my first Parisian by not putting my bag on the overhead rack on the train, even though there were plenty of seats. Young lady gave me a dirty look! Oh well, old, ugly American! Got to the main train station, switched to the Metro (subway), got to our station, walked up to the Champs Elysee, two blocks to the Marriott, and checked into our room around 9:00 AM. All good so far!
Everyone told us to not go to sleep--stay up, push through, etc. Well, we did. Unpacked, left hotel, walked toward Arc de Triomphe, had a little breakfast on a sidewalk cafe. Best part of Paris, watching the people walk by. Great people watching. Sidewalk cafes/restaurant chairs all face the street, so you can see and be seen. Really cool!
Okay, a confession, we walked to the Arc de Triomphe, looked around, went back to hotel and took a knap for a couple of hours! But, we got up, went to Notre Dame Cathedral, spent the rest of the day there, as well as walking around the neighborhoods nearby. Was really cool. Had a little rain, but nothing too bad. Went back to hotel, rested, changed, then went out to dinner.
More entries to come--I'll make this a serial.
Here are some links to pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/dshaut/BeauneFranceHeartOfBurgundyWineCentral?feat=email#
http://picasaweb.google.com/dshaut/ParisPicturesAugust2010?authkey=Gv1sRgCNj3zOuyvfDQjwE&feat=email#
http://picasaweb.google.com/dshaut/VersaillesFranceAugust2010?feat=email#
http://picasaweb.google.com/dshaut/MtBlancAndChamonixFrance?feat=email#
Dave
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Full Body Scanners--Really Efficient
Haven't been traveling much lately. Cincinnati International Airport has full body scanners. Pity the fool who gets to look at my body! Anyway, went through the line today, was so backed up that TSA sent me through the old fashioned metal detector, and I passed with flying colors! Witnessed someone in the full body scanner standing there for what seemed to be 45 seconds to a minute--guess the TSA person viewing the scan was enjoying what he/she saw! Very slow, not very efficient. Also saw a young man and woman who chose the pat down instead of the scan. The young woman was wearing a very skimpy sun dress--not sure what she was concerned about--not much left to the imagination. But, I feel so much safer now!
Since 911, feel like everyone should be wearing a speedo/bikini, get through security, then get dressed.
Let's see how Atlanta security/ goes Friday.
Since 911, feel like everyone should be wearing a speedo/bikini, get through security, then get dressed.
Let's see how Atlanta security/ goes Friday.
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