I used to travel a lot, for work, school, and pleasure. However, this year has been a bit of quieter year. In 2006 I clocked over 175k miles and in 2007 I traveled about 125k miles. This year I am probably just shy of 30k, which means a few things.

First, it means I am a lot healthier because I am not putting my body through the stress of being in a pressurized cabin at 40,000 feet. I have noticed this year *touches wood* I haven’t been sick nearly as much as I normally am, which has been really nice.

Second, it means I am going to lose status on American Airlines (boo) and will drop down to Platinum if I can squeeze some transatlantic flights in before the year ends. I was really pleased that I had racked up Executive Platinum for three straight years, and now I am going to lose it in 2008. Oh well, I guess my health has a price.

Third, I am saving a fair chunk of change with the lack of flying. Now that airlines are charging you per a piece of luggage, per a carryon, for picking an aisle seat, it seems that not traveling is easier and less stressful than dealing with the nickle and diming that the airline industry has been doing lately. Not to mention the cost of fuel nowadays.

Oh well, I guess I will have to wave goodbye to my airline and hotel statuses. *sigh*

When I was in London I lived in Swiss Cottage and commuted to Charing Cross (the Strand) every day. Everyday, I would get up and wait or the tube to pick me up, and I would crowd into the train and be crammed until I got to my stop. During the summer the train could get sweltering and be extremely uncomfortable. I have seen people pass out on the train due to the heat.

Fast forward to now. I live in Virginia and commute into Washington DC every day on the Metro. Ironically the Metro can be just as packed as the tube back in London. In fact, the past two days I have been crammed in the train, wedged in against a wall or against a railing. People on the Metro must have thought I was crazy because every time that happens I can’t help but smile as I remember my underground commutes.

There is one major difference between the Metro and the Underground. The Underground gets a nice breeze blowing through the cars (they have windows at each end), while the Metro is a contained car without air ventilation at each end. The reason for this is because “normally” there is air conditioning in the trains. However, tonight my train’s air conditioning was not functioning…so it had a nice funky sweat mixed with body order smell. To make it worse, it was humid and steamy on the train. You could literally feel the dampness in the air. Pleasant it was not.

So when I left the UK a few months ago I exited using IRIS, which by the way is a clever acronym Iris Recognition Immigration System (IRIS). Actually I sometimes wonder who comes up with these clever acronyms. Does someone sitting in a room say, we need to come up with a meaning for the acronym ULTIMATE. Sorry that was a bit of a tangent.

Anyway, I exited a few months ago and enrolled in IRIS, which for some of you who are privacy fanatics the thought of providing your iris biometric scan is probably horrifying. For me however, I have worked on numerous biometrics projects in my career and at one time was considered a biometrics SME (Subject Matter Expert for those who were wondering). So in my case, my biometrics are probably stored in many different government databases, so one more is not an issue.

When I returned to London on Tuesday, I had the opportunity to use it. The way it works is you walk into a booth that is closed on both ends (the end you entered and the end you exit). You present your iris and follow the audio prompts, “too close” and “too far” and if you are recognized the doors open and you can leave the booth.

I must say I am a fan now, because I whizzed through immigration in about 20 - 30 seconds. I was so incredulous when I got through I just stood there a second and asked the Home Office official, if they wanted my landing card or if they wanted to stamp my passport. And he just said, “No, you are all done you can go.”

Wow, that’s fast…that’s painless…I am a TOTAL fan of the program and I hope they keep it.

I am heading back to London this week.  I know a lot of people are wondering why do I go back even though I finished up my degree in July of last year.  I have found two things to be true.  One, I have lots of “stuff” still in London, whether that is clothes, books, binders from school, etc. etc. that all need to migrate home to San Diego at some point.  Two, the cost of migrating said “stuff” is going to run me about $3,000 to ship it all back. 

So I have just figured out it is easier to migrate stuff slowly.  It is easier to migrate 100 pounds a trip back to the US at the cost of $600 - 700 round trip, than to pay $3,000 for shipping back 300+ pounds of stuff.  Not to mention I can catch up with classmates, and friends in London for a short vacation while I am over.

I know it may seem irrational, and it probably is.  But heck, what can you do, right?

Many people haven’t heard the latest news on what happened at Heathrow Airport today in London at approximately 1pm GMT (5am PST). Funny, news like this doesn’t really pop up on the American News Media as noteworthy. However, when I was in the UK I always found I get some of the best international news coverage. Anyway, as an “occasional” commuter to London via Heathrow…I found this piece of news a bit concerning.

A British Airways 777 landed slightly short of the runway. Luckily nobody was seriously injured (at least not by the latest reports) and the pilots are pretty much heroes in my book for landing a 777 without power at all. These planes are not really made to glide long distances (from what I read 60 miles is about average with complete power failure). The Boeing 777 has a Ram Air Turbine (RAT) that deploys when both engines are lost to generate power for hydraulics and power. This allows the pilot some control and maneuverability to get the plane down in a forced landing.

Now why should that all matter to me? Well I almost always fly Boeing 777s on American Airlines, so at least now I know that in the event we ever lose power on a plane that there are safety mechanisms in place to help the pilot glide the plane down…assuming we are close enough to an area to put the plane down safely.

As one of my coworkers pointed out, “I’d hate to have been a passenger on that flight.”

Details: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7194086.stm

Wow this weekend was a whirlwind of action and fun. I flew to Chicago on Saturday to spend time with a few friends, and I swear it was a weekend of chilling, eating, and of course drinking a few “adult” beverages. All in all, it was a pretty mellow weekend. Had a chance to relax from the pressures of work and really enjoy myself in my second favorite city in the US.

Interesting it was snowing a lot while I was there. It really snowed on New Years Eve and I have some great photos, that I may post later this week to share. It was a good way to end 2007.

I hope everyone had a Happy New Years.  I celebrated last night in Chicago, nearly froze myself to death.  My apologizes if anyone received any drunken text messages.  That was never my intention (who am I kidding! haha).

I am flying back to San Diego this afternoon where it is much, MUCH warmer at the  moment.  This weekend has been a whirlwind of laughs and such.  Oh and it has been snowing on and off.  Last night we spent our New Years Eve partying at the Hard Rock cafe.  I learned a mile walking home in the snow is a LONG walk.  And, I learned that if you wear a dark suit and a dark dress shirt…people think you work there.  We at the Hard Rock Cafe wish you a Happy New Years.

I am so excited, this New Years Eve I am flying to Chicago for a little Rest and Relaxation (R&R).  Gonna party with some friends in the windy city and celebrate the exodus of 2007 and the entry of 2008.  Let us see how the weekend turns out, I can’t believe it has really snuck up on me.  Talk about crazy! 

The holidays and New Years were here before I even knew it.  Is it me or does it seem like it is just creeping closer and closer every day.

So my flatmate and I talked the other week and I have to get some of my stuff.  Over the past two years of going to London Business School I have managed to transport a TON of stuff to the flat.  And he kind of wants part of the room I have been using back.  I have taken over the entire closets and sprawled out into the room by buying a wardrobe shelve thing.

And to make it more of a no brainer the cost of the ticket is only $480 round trip.  Sure I will miss out on Thanksgiving, but that is ok.  I get a chance to return to the UK for a week and that should be fun.  I hope I don’t get sick this week…I seem to always be sick lately.

So I am off on a much needed vacation to the Bay Area.  I am planning on:

(1) Seeing my brother if time permits and schedules coincide

(2) Seeing a few alumni buddies from London Business School

(3) Visiting a few of the chapters in the Bay Area of the organization I am Executive Vice President for

(4) Speaking at an MBA Information Session for London Business School in San Francisco

(5) Popping into the San Francisco office of my company to network quickly and meet a few people

It should be an action packed four days.  I am especially excited about visiting with San Jose State University, Santa Clara University, and Stanford.  It should be a great weekend.