Boston: Day 0
I'm spending most of this week in Boston for a vendor conference. Today was all about traveling. I arrived at work just before 7am to meet my shuttle there and got to my hotel room at 8:30pm. Ah, the fun of traveling east.
The shuttle actually beat me to work by a little bit but it worked out fine. I still got to the airport with two hours before my plane even started boarding, leaving lots of time to sit and enjoy a smoothie. The first leg of the trip was to Phoenix. I barely got settled before it was time to descend. I had a half-hour between disembarking and boarding my connecting flight but the connecting gate was literally next door. I should have used that time to get something to eat on the plane. They were selling meals but were out of everything interesting by the time they got to the back of the plane. We did land in Boston a half-hour early, at least.
The hotel I'm staying at is right on the wharf. I'm sure it'll have a beautiful view in the morning. It's not bad at night, either. There's a few dozen Italian restaurants within walking distance, too. I'm not even kidding about that. I'm not sure I passed anything BUT Italian (or Italian-esque) restaurants when I was out walking. I ended up in this one purely because while I was admiring the menu advertising "hand made lasagna and gnocchi" an older, large Italian man (clearly the owner) walked out and said in a thick Italian accent, "Hey, you hungry? Get in here." It sounded more friendly than it reads. He added, "personal invitation" as he seated me by the window. The food WAS really good, although I wish I'd known the entrees were a la carte so I could have gotten a salad as well. But I made up for it by ordering tartufo for dessert; mostly because they were out of spumone. What really made it for me was the family gathering that collected behind me. The owner, his dad and apparently every relative (blood or otherwise) in the vicinity showed up to hang out or called. It was kinda cool to be near it. The grandfather kept asking me how I was enjoying my meal as he'd pass.
Now to pretend I'm tired since it's still 10pm in my world view; at least until I need to be at the convention center at 4am (my time)...
EDIT: I really need to add "check for pillows that will kill me" to my room-arrival checklist instead of finding out when I'm actually ready for bed.
The shuttle actually beat me to work by a little bit but it worked out fine. I still got to the airport with two hours before my plane even started boarding, leaving lots of time to sit and enjoy a smoothie. The first leg of the trip was to Phoenix. I barely got settled before it was time to descend. I had a half-hour between disembarking and boarding my connecting flight but the connecting gate was literally next door. I should have used that time to get something to eat on the plane. They were selling meals but were out of everything interesting by the time they got to the back of the plane. We did land in Boston a half-hour early, at least.
The hotel I'm staying at is right on the wharf. I'm sure it'll have a beautiful view in the morning. It's not bad at night, either. There's a few dozen Italian restaurants within walking distance, too. I'm not even kidding about that. I'm not sure I passed anything BUT Italian (or Italian-esque) restaurants when I was out walking. I ended up in this one purely because while I was admiring the menu advertising "hand made lasagna and gnocchi" an older, large Italian man (clearly the owner) walked out and said in a thick Italian accent, "Hey, you hungry? Get in here." It sounded more friendly than it reads. He added, "personal invitation" as he seated me by the window. The food WAS really good, although I wish I'd known the entrees were a la carte so I could have gotten a salad as well. But I made up for it by ordering tartufo for dessert; mostly because they were out of spumone. What really made it for me was the family gathering that collected behind me. The owner, his dad and apparently every relative (blood or otherwise) in the vicinity showed up to hang out or called. It was kinda cool to be near it. The grandfather kept asking me how I was enjoying my meal as he'd pass.
Now to pretend I'm tired since it's still 10pm in my world view; at least until I need to be at the convention center at 4am (my time)...
EDIT: I really need to add "check for pillows that will kill me" to my room-arrival checklist instead of finding out when I'm actually ready for bed.