Flights and hotels are booked, and I’m finally starting to move past the stress of planning and into the calm before the storm. Here’s how the itinerary stacks up so far.
- 18 JAN 11:00 – Depart ATL
- 19 JAN 14:00 – Arive Tokyo, bus an hour to the hotel, check-in, then straight to meet our sales partner for dinner. I’ve got to get some sleep on the plane!
- 20-22 JAN – Tradeshow at the Tokyo Big Sight
- 23 JAN – Play tourist in the morning, with an 18:00 flight out to Hong Kong…where I’ll spend the night
- 24 JAN – Cross the border onto the mainland, and take noon-ish flight from Shenzhen up to Wuhan for dinner
- 25 JAN – Meetings in Wuhan, then evening flight back to Shenzhen
- 26 JAN – Meetings in Shenzhen, then red-eye flight to Seoul
- 27 JAN – Arrive in Seoul at 05:00, hour bus ride to hotel, clean-up (and hopefully nap), then visit customers in the afternoon.
- 28-29 JAN – Meetings in Seoul
- 30 JAN – Head home. Seoul to Tokyo to Honolulu (11 hour layover! woot!) to Atlanta
- 31 JAN – Arrive in Atlanta at 07:00, drive home, hugs all around, then CRASH
The packing has begun, and for the first time in this job…I’m going to be checking a bag on an international trip. I’ve always managed to cram everything I needed (regardless of the weather) into my roll-aboard and brief case. But on this trip it’s going to be very cold in Seoul, not so cold in Shenzhen, and I’ll be gone for 14 days. My longest previous trip was supposed to be 6 days, but turned into 9 unexpectedly. I had to do some laundry to make it through that one. I like to think I’m rather proficient in packing, but I’m going to need more space for 14 days. Plus, the sales guy says he always checks a bag, so I may as well.
I’m always nervously excited about long trips, and this will be one for the record books. 14 days, 8 flights (20,000+ miles), 3 foreign countries, 6 cities…and hopefully lots of great photos to share.