Notes from the States – Day 8 & 9: It's good to be home

Yesterday I made it home to bonnie (cold) Scotland. It’s good to be home, I had a great time in Austin but it’s great to see Mandy again.

The trip back on Friday was super smooth, but still a little nerve wracking as between my flight from Austin and Houston I had 40 mins scheduled between arrival and departure, and in Newark I had only 35 mins between arrival and departure for Edinburgh.

Arrived in Houston a few minutes early at a gate only a little way from my next departure gate, waited about ten minutes before we started to board. Things were looking good, I thought we’d be off on time. However, what I didn’t factor in was that nearly everyone on the plane decided to take on board a huge bag, so that there was absolute chaos as it was impossible to get all the bags on the plane, some had no chance of fitting overhead, even if there was no-one else on board! Why do people show so little common sense and consideration for others in this way?

This of course meant that we took off a good hour late, leaving me a little concerned about getting my next flight. But I shouldn’t have worried, we got in only a few minutes late, and when I arrived at the gate I sailed straight on as my row number had already been called.

And so I arrived back in Edinburgh (at about 8am) in a lot shorter time than it took to get to Austin, not having 12 hours of waiting between flights will do that for you.

Not long after getting home I had a great sleep, even though it was early morning, I slept for about 5 hours before Mandy made me get up or else I wouldn’t sleep at night. No problem with that though, even though I did have an hour or so early morning where I woke up and couldn’t get to sleep, once I did I didn’t get up until midday. I guess I was a little tired after my trip!

And so ends my trip to REAL World 2006. I had a great time in Austin, Texas. I met some great people while there, and learnt a lot of cool stuff and experienced many new things. Sure, it cost me (my company rather) a lot, but I feel it was more than worth it.

Thanks to everyone at REAL Software that worked so hard to make the event happen, with any luck my business will take off this year and I’ll be able to afford to go again next year.

No comments.

  1. Nice travelogue Ian. I enjoyed reading about balmy Austin while the snow fell.

  2. Hehe, it was a bit of a shock coming back to a freezing cold, snow covered Dunfermline after the summer climate in Austin.

    It’s amazing to think that winter/spring in Austin is as warm as it ever gets at home in summer, or at least that’s how it felt to me!