On the Road

I’m about to leave for a week. I go on the SQL in the City tour for my company, Red Gate Software. We’ve done this the last two years, but this is going to be my longest time away, even though it’s not the longest tour.

In 2011, we did a day in London and a day in LA. Two events, two short trips for me. Last year we were more ambitious. Two days in London, which was fine. I was out on Wed, back on Sun. Then we did a 6 city tour in the US, but broken up into a 5 city/2 week tour and a day before another conference. The flow last year was good: NY, Austin, SF, Chicago, Boston, and it allowed me to come home for weekends and between the Austin and SF trips. All in all, while it was a busy 12 days, it wasn’t bad.

This time I’m gone for 8 days. I hit LA tomorrow, with an early flight for rehearsals. I get in early, so I’m thinking to take 30 min at the beach before I get to Pasadena otherwise I might not make it. I speak Wed and then have a red-eye to Atlanta. No good flights to get me home Wed night, and I’d need to leave relatively early to get to Atlanta, so no go.

I would have come home over the weekend, but I have an event in Charleston on Saturday. I haven’t made any of their events over the last 5 years and this timing works well, so I leave Atlanta Fri night and head to Charleston for that even, before going on to Charlotte on Sunday.

Our big conference in SQL is next week, and I’m skipping it. After speaking Mon, I’m taking most of Tues to see some people and then I’m coming home. Two weeks on the road would be too much.