My journey to Seattle, USA

I've not been good at posting to my blog for sometime. Partially because I've been incredibly busy and not had the time and partly because I've not really been anywhere interesting. Work and home have been so busy I've not had time to casually post content here. Anyway - being away from home for a week with a lot on, its time to post some content again...

I'm in Seattle in the state of Washington, USA. I'm here for a few days at the Organic Exchange annual conference (http://organicexchange.org/globalconference.php) to present a couple of workshops on our traceability system. We're now probably the biggest provider of traceability anywhere in the world and most of the biggest companies in the world use our services in one form or another and are gradually using them more and more. As a consequence my company is increasing in size and spread and its been a hectic and fun time.

I started my journey here at 4.30am on Sunday 18th October and got to my room at around 7.30pm Sunday 18th October. Doesn't sound like a huge journey. But with the 8 hour time difference and the flight going via Houston, Texas it was something of a marathon, taking 23 hours in total (if I've worked out the time differences and flight times correctly).

Here are a few pictures from the journey and the story so far.

The day started at 1.30am when I left Paul's 50th Birthday party. Liz and the Cheesehouse Band were playing a gig there and it was a late night. Too late for my age! I got into bed at 2am and had to be up at 4am. At best I reckon I slept an hour, constantly conscious that I may oversleep and not hear the taxi arrive.



It seemed like hours between 2am and 4am as I tossed and turned waiting for the alarm. Sneaking out of bed at 4am I readied my bag and waited a few mins before the Taxi arrived dead on 4.30. By 5.45 I was in the airport at Heathrow Terminal 4. While checking in, I thought I saw someone I recognised but dismissed it as one of those odd coincidences. I was wrong this time and it really was Richard Acreman who I last saw 8 years ago when he worked for me at eZoka. Small world.



We sat together and chatted about who we'd seen and what we'd been doing since while waiting to board the same plane to Houston. He was off to Mexico on holiday with a friend. Lucky chaps...

The flight to Houston was a long one, over nine and half hours! But the seat was comfy and there was enough leg room. However the lady in front fully reclined and I could barely even open my book to read let alone do any work on my computer which I had hoped I'd manage to do. I watched 3 films and read a bit. American Graffiti, the new Dan Brown film (can't remember its name) and Bullet (Steve McQueen).

We were served lunch at around 9am which seemed very odd. I didn't fancy it at all. It was some sort of soggy chicken with a sauce. It smelt stale and the salad it came with was limp. Not good. In fact I think the worst food on any journey to date. NOTE To Self: Continental Airlines don't do good food. This was the taste of everything to come. Complete shite food for the whole journey and poor choice of juices to drink.

We arrived at Houston slightly ahead of schedule and everything was fine. My bags had arrived and I checked in for the next flight to Seattle with 2 clear hours to spare. Houston has a lovely new clean airport. One of the nicest I've been to I think. Good clear views of the runways from the waiting areas and lots of shops and food outlets.



I felt small in Houston. I'm a large fella in England. Clearly Texans are big! Very BIG.



I found a small bar and bought a local beer. Shiner Bock beer. It was a lager and cold and hit the spot.

The next flight from Houston to Seattle was absolutely packed. I was in a middle seat between 2 large Texan ladies of indeterminate age. I was smaller than them and squeezed into Seat B. No leg room, no arm room. Horrible. Its a 4 hour flight from Houston to Seattle, though the ticket made it look less due to the time differences. First time in a while I really hated flying. That was a long long 4 hours. Half way through they brought out cheese burgers (a sandwich) for us. I have never seen or smelled such revolting food. I couldn't eat it. The beef looked like it had never been near a cow and the cheese was like some sort of sticky paste. At least the salad had a good strong dressing with it and was crisp.

Eventually we arrived at Seattle. Flying over the city it looks fantastic. My bags were there and before long I was in a CNG powered taxi heading to the hotel.

Checking in I discovered my credit card wouldn't work... need to transfer more funds to its balance! :-( However that hurdle over I headed for my room and crashed out after a quick shower for a good sleep. I awoke this morning to see the view below from my room. Very pleasant. Had a good American sized brekky and now to work...