I am off, right now at this early hour, on a long weekend to Zaragoza in Spain with some friends and ex-colleagues. I have no doubt it will be a very friendly and social event, and I plan to enjoy the break (and hopefully the weather) as much as I can. I will be trying to post pictures from my travels to the mobile Flickr feed, so look out for them. Hopefully, I will remain sober enough to point the camera in the right direction while I am there. Now I have to brush up on my Spanish on my way to the airport.

On this day…

Strangely, I always seem to be travelling to similar places at the same time of year. This time two years ago I was sitting in an airport heading to Oslo, tonight I am heading home from Helsinki. I never get fed up with airports.

On this day…

I’ve just come back from a couple of days in Oslo. The meeting was good, and I spent the afternoon on the waterfront, drinking beer, and proofing some new documentation. Good way to spend a Friday!

On this day…

2004: I Had Visions Of A Robotic Dog
2004: Bloglines Top Links

I was a student in Stirling and regularly spent time in both Glasgow and Edinburgh. I find it hard to be one of those people who can firmly sit on one side of Central Region and declare undying loyalty to one city or the other. During the time I spent in Scotland, Glasgow was City of Culture and was a vibrant place to be. On the other hand, Edinburgh has always appeared to be the calmer brother, perhaps a little aloof until you go to know him. My own brother lives in Edinburgh which perhaps explains why, when I do head back to Scotland, I’ve only ever been back to Edinburgh (and one, short weekend in Stirling).

It’s been with much joy that I have spent most of yesterday and today in Edinburgh on business (actually, I was in Dundee this morning but it still counts). As soon as I stepped of the train I felt like I was home on familiar turf. A few moments and memories started flooding back. Edinburgh of my memory, however, doesn’t have any Starbucks and had a big branch of C&A right at the top of Princess Street by the station. Now it has Starbucks and no C&A but it still felt right (and slightly chilly). It continues to have sensible licensing laws that allow me to drink later without tempting me to stay up all night (although, frankly, I am not sure you can call licensing laws sensible when you get the hangover I had).

On this day…

2003: Bye Bye Brookside
2003: More PDA and Phone Nonsense

Traveling again. It’s not that much fun but at least today I am heading off to Oslo, Norway, at a reasonable hour. I decided to take the Heathrow Express for once – it’s more expensive but it is fast to the airport. The whole procedure today was quick and I have arrived at a hotel I have never been to before and, right now, it’s very noisy outside. I hope they shut up before the night is out.

UPDATE 24th August: No, they didn’t shut up all night and the noise outside the hotel went on until about 4 in the morning so I am not very happy today!

On this day…

2002: Blog Silence
2002: 3am Eternal

Milan is home to our Italian office. I have been there several times, and I am about to head off again. If I can think of something new to write while I am there, I guess I will! In the meantime, why not read about the last trip?

On this day…

It’s worth pointing out that if you are travelling from London’s Heathrow Airport to Spain using Iberia and travelling Economy, they are now charging for in-flight food and drink. I guess the range is better than you would have previously received, but it comes as something of a shock when you are used to receiving an in-flight snack for free. Since I started travelling for business, the quantity of food (and in some cases the quality) has decreased considerably. Nonetheless, paying for it on a national airline was something I had not expected. Remember to take enough cash.

On this day…

The strangest thing about Madrid was my unwavering belief that I had never been there before. I arrived and spent a day with one of our customers. Apart from the rather long lunch break that was taken quite late in the day, the visit was like many visits to our customers: useful, interesting, but I may as well have been in an office block in central London. The travelling just means I have less time to do what I need. While I was waiting at the airport for my return flight, I decided to go to the café bar and get myself a drink. As I walked, I took my tray from the pile of slightly damp cafeteria-style trays I had the strangest feeling of déjà vu. As I took my 330ml of French beer to a table, I began to realise that I had sat at this café before. Eventually, after searching my diary (thank goodness for the wonders of Palm), I discovered that I had travelled through Madrid on my way back from Spain in Christmas 2002. Funny, the tricks memory plays.

On this day…