When you are on the road...

Well I thought I would join the "blogging" craze and start putting my thoughts into words for all the world (at least those with nothing better to do) to see.

I traveled over 60,000 miles last year. It got to the point that I was taking a regular flight to New York City and the flight attendants began to know me by name. When you are on the road for work it is much different than traveling for pleasure in 2 ways.

1) Price. When I am on the go for The Company price is not a priority. I book flights when ever (on demand) which means I could get the same flight to the west coast for tuppins two weeks before or spend the Gross National Product of Guam on airfare the same day due to poor planning by the client. I stay in nice hotels and am rather picky. Don't hear me wrong. I don't try and screw the client, but I am away from my family (I will get to that a bit later) and therefore should be compensated for it a little. Besides, they normally have a corporate rate wherever and there are penny-pinchers watching my every move as though I were Al Qaeda. If I tried to pull the wool over the eyes, I would probably get busted and be on the next episode of Oz as the new fresh meat on the cell block. When I am on my own time, I plan a little more. Do a little more deal shopping. I am not cheap by any means, but there is a little more concern when its my own buck.

2) Packing. When I travel for work all I want to do is carry-on. I am typically in a hurry and don't want to have to wait for the 2 midgets, 3 dwarves, and token elf to decide that my bag is now important enough to drag through the mud, over hot coals, and through a bed of razor blades (Honestly, what do those people do to give your luggage that fresh "Beat to hell" look?) in route to the conveyor belt that must be 46 miles long (I swear it takes longer to get bags after checking them than it does to make the flight). When I am on the go for work, I want a rolling suit case that I can stuff into a paper thin space but can hold enough clothes to provide an entire Filipino village with chic attire for the year, shaving gear, and any other toiletries not found in your run-of-the-mill hotel chain. If packing were an art, I would be Michelangelo (ok, maybe Jackson Pollack)! Essentially everything has to be "Travel Size". "Travel Size" tooth paste. "Travel Size" mouth wash. "Travel Size" razors. "Travel Size" nose hair clippers (don't ask).

My Bride-To-Be's (The family I mentioned earlier) sister is a very cool chick. She is 5'11'' while my Future Better Half is approximately 5'2''. It is quite the stark contrast seeing them together. Well The Sister has an ongoing joke with The Better Half (Future) that any time she is coming to see her that she needs to get her "Travel Size" butt to the designated location (It is usually said with great excitement and not in a demanding tone that can't be conveyed in type). We were talking at some point (The Better Half (Future) and I) and came to the realization that everything in my life is "Travel Size". Even my soon-to-be-Bride. Well, everything except me! I am 6'2'' and weigh about 220 (Which will be dropping soon with what we call HM Training. That's another story for another time). This blog will be a chronicle of what I call "My Travel Size Life" and will hopefully provide some humor as well as a ongoing history of my life with The Travel Size Bride (to-be). You see the more and more I get to know The Travel Size Bride, the more I realize that one thing that is not Travel Size is her heart. She loves me more than anyone has ever loved me without being related via blood line. She was talking to me the other day and said she never knew she could love someone so much. It really is the little things that make me realize just how huge her heart and it makes me wonder how God can put such a big heart in a, well lets be honest, Travel Size Body!

That's all for now. You guessed it... I have to pack for Chicago. Can't let The Airline miss me!