The last several years of my job had travel built in to it. My job was to go to companies that supplied stuff to mine, and make sure it wasn't somebody's brother-in-law's garage, or their union wasn't about to strike, or their manufacturing processes were not something like a garage sale.
The reason for my job: If you have two hundred-plus companies all over the world making parts (steel casings, wire/plugs, light bulbs, switches, memory boards, circuits, speakers, etc.) required to put personal computers together... and ONE company (the wire/plug company, for instinks) goes tits up for some reason that could easily have been spotted by a visit there...
...Guess how many computers you can make and sell? Zerio.
So I went to the Pacific Rim (Taipei, Japan, etc.) and Europe (Scotland, Germany, France, Holland, etc.) I got to fly First Class, and stayed in the best hotels.
And after a while, it got so fargin stale!! Actually asked my new partner sitting next to me on the plane: "Where are we going?"
He got pissed, thinking I was pulling the long bow on him. A month later, we were boarding a plane and he asked me, "Where are we going?" <-- Yes, I pointed out his reaction back when he was new.
Many mornings, I woke up with no fargin idea of where I was. Had to look at my itenerary to figure it out.
But I sure got to see the whole world (minus Antarctica). Wanna know the best place there is? Am
My international travel was primarily to learn or teach technical things when working for corporate America, and I flew coach for US travel and business class for international. They were short visits and we stayed in nice hotels as well as ate good food, usually being wined and dined.
As CEO of Innovative Project Management, Inc, I flew first class locally but still flew business class internationally. I stayed longer term some nicer hotels and ate good to exotic food, often being entertained and introduced to new fare.
I also bought a Winnebago for projects in state where I needed to manage critical facility shutdown installations/modifications around the clock until they were back in production.
In those cases, I was managing equipment and facility installations which took longer. My internal clocks over multiple time zones usually took up to five days to acclimate going and a couple days returning, during which time I was a little fumble headed at times too.
Traveling internationally with Grayfox for ***** and giggles, we flew coach or cruised in a medium-priced cabin, stayed in good hotels, and ate good food. Some tastier that others. Compare airline food to a cruise ship 24hr buffet or the cuisine of the "City of Love", versus the "City of Light" for instance.
Hee, hee, hee, sometimes less exotic! We were being introduced to the taste treats of Tokyo over a two-week period and one day our hosts were especially secretive, giggling between themselves, and after parking and walking a circuitous route, we arrived at the newest hip Tokyo restaurant, a McDonalds.
time for a second cup o coffee and then it’s off to the salt mines
we sure like the looks of this sea hag
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I am enamored of sail, and have read several books and novels about sailing. Being pushed about by, and manipulating the power of the wind is an amazing and romantic concept. I can only imagine what early human sailing days were like. They surely took intellect and courage.