London Loves Leggings

…But that’s a whole other entry. I sat in seat 1A, my favorite seat on a plane looking out the window, dreaming about sleeping in my bed and trying to determine which country we were flying over. I remembered the first time I was ever on a plane. I was 14, a freshman in high school and on my way to Orlando, FL for a family trip to Disneyland. I recall looking out the window (I was in the window seat with my grandmother sitting next to me) and thinking I could do this for work. At the time it was a random thought and I’m not sure why that was in my 14-year old train of thoughts and daydreams. Today I looked out the window and recalled that moment as I was flying for business and in fact in business class. I felt so naive and happy at the same time I regretted the fact that I’ve only had 10 hours of sleep in 3 days. I realized then that while it is work, I have a really great opportunity in front of me to travel Europe. I guess this holds a bit more excitement for an American as it does to a European. I’ve found that Europeans find FL and CA and NYC much more glamorous than Paris or Spain or London. Reflecting on my journey, my job and my future in this under slept state left me to realize my internal optimism. I think I will never be that over-the-top, happy every second of every day kind of girl but I believe I will also never be a miserable person and that in itself makes me happy. I also remember a good friend once saying to me that I don’t carry baggage, this is true in life and in flight. I don’t see the point of holding feelings inside and I am an amazing packer when it comes to luggage. I do have a terrible job packing when it comes to moving out of an apartment or to another country. So, I’ve been thinking about my upcoming work-related travel ventures lately. In June I have Brussels, Frankfurt, Rome and Paris. The thing is I am literally in Brussels for one day, the day of the event and I’ve already been to both Rome and Paris so I guess I am most excited for Frankfurt since I’m traveling by train and can possibly add a few hours to my day for exploring the city and maybe I’ll even convince Patrick to come along . Rome actually scares me a bit, not because of the city at all but the event is in about 3 weeks and the agenda is being finalized tomorrow afternoon so registration will only be open for about 2 weeks and this will be my first event without a partner and to top it all off, my boss is most likely going to be in South Africa at the time AND the big boss happens to be in Rome so she’s going to come to the event so it all comes down to nerves here. I do have a friend in Florence and the event is on Tuesday so it may be possible that I fly in over the weekend and hang out with her before the event. I guess it really depends how prepared I am going into the event. I was told once I get through June I’ll have survived and the job gets easier from there and I believe it. There’s that whole learning curve thing but also I still playing catch up from my predecessor. She should have had most of the Rome event planned when I took over but she had done nothing so it feel into my lap under time pressure. Travel lesson of the day: Trains will always be delayed, even if you are in Germany but more so in London. Planes too, even if you board the plane on time, as a rule, you will sit on the plane for 20 minutes or more, anticipate extra waiting time if flying into or out of a major airport like Heathrow, Miami or Frankfurt. Don’t complain, all of these delays are out of your control, anticipate them ahead of time and prepare accordingly. Be pleasant and smile and thank all of the employees you meet, it is not their fault. P.S. I’m pretty sure I saw a Russian mail order bride being returned to Russia via sleeper train today. It was great! (though not for her) P.P.S This is my 100th entry!