This year I focused on “Customer Adoption” of our product at IBM. Besides the collateral I created while working in Rochester (Facebook page, YouTube movies), I traveled.
A lot.
To illustrate, here is a pin-map of the locations I visited. Want more? Visit my “World Tour Photo Album”
Here’s another way to look at it: By the numbers.
Days Traveled: 65
Tough on the family and personally, but not one regret – read why
Miles Flown: 77,280
Yes, I got to keep the frequent flyer miles and am now treated like all humans should but few are at Delta :-)
Bags Packed: 1
Yep, one small carry-on plus backpack that carried my laptop and other electronics. I stuffed 2 shirts, 2 show pants, lots of under garments, and toiletries. All of them rolled to maximize space and lasted up to two weeks. Oh, and one awesome pair of shoes I could wear as dress, casual, even with shorts.
Times I needed to do laundry: 1
But not for poor packing. In Bangkok the cab we took was filled with bugs. I had a choice: Burn the clothes and buy new ones (potentially filled with more bugs) or dry-clean the whole mess. I chose dry-clean. Thank you Finance Dudes for approving the laundry expense!
Gallons of Jet Fuel Used: 386,400
I know. I didn’t fly alone on the 757’s. Although I did have a great time in coach on all those international flights!
Hours of longest single flight: 15
This was to Sydney. Tip: take 2 Benadryl. I slept 7 hours. ‘course that left 8 more hours to eat and watch 4 movies
Hours of longest travel day: 31
9am Thursday – 4:00pm Friday (all CT) from Johannesburg South Africa to home (through London Heathrow). Crazy thing: 5 days later I flew from home to Singapore…another 23 hour travel day.
Continents Visited: 5
North America, Australia, Europe, Africa, Asia. Now to figure out how to get to South America. Or, I could honor my internationally educated peers who only recognize “America” as one continent, not two and I will only have one very hard-to-reach continent left to get to: Antarctica
Countries Visited: 8
USA, Canada, Australia, Great Britain, Hungary, South Africa, Singapore, Thailand
Cities Visited: 16
Ottawa, Calgary , Palisades, Washington DC, Toronto, New York, San Mateo, Sydney, London, Warwick, Budapest, Johannesburg, Singapore, Bangkok, Dallas, Las Vegas
Oceans and Rivers Touched: 7
Pacific Ocean (San Mateo), Atlantic Ocean (New York), South China Sea (Singapore), Coral Sea (Sydney), Thames River (London), Danube River (Budapest), Chao Phraya River (Bangkok)
Hours Taught: 150
This does not count the 49 hours of web conference education I gave this year to customers through the Internet.
IBM $$$ spent: $25,993.28
Not bad for the potential sales revenue! Although, this only includes my travel expenses, not the catering costs. Catered food costs a lot!
Customers Educated: 730
Some of the best customers in the world.
Meals Eaten: 195
One awesome perk I cannot deny. I tasted many, many new things and all were yummy! Of course many on-the-go breakfasts (favorite was flat-white coffee and egg sandwich in Sydney). Many lunches were just-OK catering. But the dinners. Ah the dinners. Sushi, seafood, steaks, curry, Thai, kangaroo, alligator, all you can imagine…
Days sick from local food and drink: 0
Someone was watching out for me.
Kids I grew to love even more: 4
It seemed that when I was on the other side of the world we could communicate more often…thank you Skype
Amazing Wife who ran the castle: 1
I don’t know how to repay her, but all of my free tickets are going towards her adventures. (like our recent trip to Phoenix for a tequila festival and RCPM show)
As I look back, I can’t believe where I’ve been. It’s been quite a year. I am truly blessed with this job (thank you IBM), these opportunities, my travel companions, my family. The world has become much smaller to me. God gave me the urge to travel the world when I was young, and has provided the means as well.
Amazing.
I think I’m going to take a long nap now.
