Monday, April 7, 2008

Travel Log - Star date 20080405

Plane, train or automobile: An airplane (or 4 if you want to get specific) and a rental Camcord (Camry / Accord). This was actually the Toyota version - a decent ride.

What a day on Friday!

Original plan - leave JAX at 6:10 pm, stop in Atlanta, arrive ROA at 9:30 pm.

Actual events - board plane in JAX at 7:20 pm. This group of guys in their early 20s is seated behind me and the one guy in the group that has traveled before is trying to impress his companions with his knowledge. He is going on about how we are on an Airbus, when one of the guys asks "Then why is the safety card for a Boeing 757?" He was much quieter after that.

There is a ground delay in Atlanta, but our pilot pushes away from the gate so that we can be first in line to leave when the ground delay is lifted. We sit for about an hour when we are informed that the delay might go until 9:30 pm. The pilot informs us that we are going to head back to the gate if people need to make other plans. This seems to be taking a while when the captain comes back on to tell us that the tug the pulls the plane in broke, so we have to wait for another tug to come over. We get back to the gate about 9 pm, at which time the ground delay is lifted, so we taxi out and are wheels up about 9:15 pm.

We get to Atlanta about 10:30 and I check the Delta flight schedules on the Raspberry. My flight to ROA is delayed until 11:45 - I will still get home tonight! Several delays and gate changes later, it is 11:41 pm. The information board at the gate shows a new departure time of 12:25 am with an arrival time of 11:40 pm. (I'll let that sink in...) The woman next to me sees the new departure time, sighs, then notices that something is not right with the departure time. I lean over and say "The good news is that we arrive one minute ago." She quickly moves to another seat.

We finally leave @ 1 am, and are wheels down in ROA at 2:05 am.

Mission: Leadership Skills training for 40 people.

Number of human interactions: Upwards of 50

State(s) visited: Florida ("Long have I yearned to return to the land of my birth...")

City visited: Jacksonville. This is one of my favorite places to visit.



Great climate.


Pro Football Team.


Great Regional Operations Team.


The hotel that I typically stay at is a new Hampton Inn and Suites with a gazillion restaurants within walking distance. I actually ate at Kokopellis two nights and Moe's only once - same type of food, only more veggies at Kokopellis.

Interesting fact about this city: Hosted
Super Bowl XXXIX

Halpert says: My first time on a plane! I love the bag of peanuts - just the right size for me!

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2007 Travel Destinations