Rhode Island and Northern California

A couple more work trips to add to the archives here, bumping my total travel days in 2008 up to a grand total of 8. That number is actually way lower than I thought it'd be at this point in the year. I've had jobs in the past that required travel and that number could certainly look more like 30. Thankfully it's still in the single digits...but that'll be changing shortly. As in this week.

I drove to Providence, Rhode Island a few weeks back and forgot to mention it. I'd never been to Rhode Island before, but I'd heard plenty of good reports about Providence, dating way back to my first years in Atlanta (after college) when I hung out with a group of graduates from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) - Jonas, Chris, and to a lesser extent Huckleberry and Andrew - who constantly talked it up. These guys let me try my hand at metal working, among other cool artistic labors, none of which my business degree from UGA would ever have led me towards. When it was all said and done I ended up spending an unemployed spring (one of my best ever) delivering flowers for Chris' wife Bonnie and taking my first trip to New York to visit Gretchen with Jonas. Lots of good memories conjured up simply by driving to Providence.

As far as the city goes, again, it was a nighttime arrival and a daytime departure, but I got to walk through the Federal Hill Neighborhood, which was charming enough and offered me a nice choice of restaurants. I'd have been happier with something a little more college-ey but my hotel was within walking distance of this neighborhood, so it was the easy choice. If you're in Atlanta, think Virginia Highlands.

As for my other trip - the one to Northern California - I just got back early this morning after flying back on the red-eye. The highlight, travel-wise, was not having to wear a jacket. After a long, albeit mild winter in NYC, it was nice to not bundle up before walking outside. On the downside, I didn't leave my hotel for three straight days as we really had no downtime and I didn't have a car anyhow. Nothing much to write about this trip, although Jet Blue flies out of the International Concourse at SFO and International Concourses always make travel so much cooler. Lots of foreign languages being spoken (in this case Japanese), nicer bars/restaurants, and a general feeling that travel is exciting, not dreary. Then you land at JFK and you feel like you're at the Atlantic City bus terminal.