The best part of traveling is returning home. What a difference between last year's trip to New Orleans for the tax forum and this year's - and not really in a good way. Bits and pieces that may or may not be blogged more fully later:
- Two people killed and fourteen others wounded in gunfights overnight the night before the conference started - the worst of the incidents happening in the heart of the French Quarter (it's telling to note that the first ten google results on a search for this yield reports on the incidents from papers other than those in NOLA-this type of thing is a huge problem for the tourism industry for the city).
- A cab driver who didn't know where the restaurant to which I needed to go was located, resulting in a bit of an unexpected tour through the French Quarter. The night after all the shootings.
- A hotel with no wireless in the rooms, lousy wireless in the public areas and overall hotel services that were uneven and not exactly conducive to having a good stay.
- Airports. 'Nuff said.
- Delta, which gave me great service on six different flights last year with no issues, deciding to mess with me in a very annoying way this year, on much simpler flights.
On the plus side, I met a slew of interesting people (introvert's trick: get other people to talk about themselves. They will carry the rest of the conversational ball effortlessly), including people from Honduras, Ethiopia and Iran. The Iranian (a cab driver in my own city, who has been here 35 years) said that as a result of the way previous presidential administrations have branded Iranians, he is actually a "barbarian (Reagan) axis of evil (Bush) terrorist (Muslim - the second Bush), Frankly, he had a point (and was actually a nice guy).
Because I can, I'm going back to bed for a while. There is a tube of cinnamon rolls in the frig for later, cafe du monde chicory coffee on the counter and a bit of patio work to do on a sunny, but brisk day. Unpacking, cleaning, puttering - it's good to be home.
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