This is my first time in London; although, I won’t get to see any of the city. I’m in Heathrow with time to spare before catching my connecting flight to Cologne. Like a true social media-ite, it’s hard to stay offline for any measure of time.

So far, my travels have been all about connections. While waiting for my flight in Ottawa, I ran into a daycare parent I haven’t seen in about two-and-a-half years — since our daughters graduated out of the pre-school rooms and into Kindergarteners. It was nice to catch up and look at photos. And it was therapeutic to discuss the shock of how quickly our children are growing. Oddly, I ran into Callum’s wife a few weeks ago. I guess I’m all caught up with them now.

As I collected all of my belongings after going through security in Heathrow, Adam introduced himself to me. He’s an Officer in Training in the US Military and off to Lithuania as part of an educational term. Adam has a particular interest in politics and we talked about the current US election. In particular, we talked about Hillary Clinton, Barak Obama and John McCain. It was an engaging conversation that came to an abrupt end at the fork to terminals 2 and 3.

In a few hours I’ll be in Germany — another first for me. I’m looking forward to meeting some amazing people and exchanging more ideas… all with an international flavour.

A few years ago I heard an interview with Stewart Copeland in which he was asked if he missed being on the road.  His response went something like this: “When I’m home I miss the road about 10% of the time; when I’m on the road I miss home about 90% of the time.”

I fly home from an eight day, three city business trip tomorrow night.  It’s my longest stretch away from home since before Lucy and Bayla were born, and one of my many trips away from home this fall.  The experience has reminded me that, for the most part, there are two types of time during business travel — you’re either too busy to think about home or too drained to think about work.

Airlines can be amazing. On Friday night, the Chicago to Des Moines flight I was on backed out of the gate and stopped a few moments later. We sat for about five or so minutes before the Captain announced that a “little person” had left something of “significant value” in the terminal and “beyond all hope” it had been found. He asked the passengers to be patient while the ground crew drove out to the plane to pass the valuable through the cockpit window and thanked us for our patience noting that we would be equally grateful had it been “you” — I agree with him. About ten minutes later a flight attendant walked proudly to the back of the plane and handed a toy to a “little person” in the very last row of the plane. It was a moment that should have been accompanied by a chorus of applause.

I’m far more relaxed about my travel today. Unlike Friday when my Toronto to Chicago flight was delayed which put pressure on me to make my Des Moines connection, today’s flight out of Des Moines left fifteen minutes early (I think we were one of three planes at the airport). We landed similarly early so I felt comfortable knowing that I would have three and a half hours to chill in O’Hare. It turns out that my Vancouver flight is delayed by almost an hour.

Anyone want to meet for dinner?

It’s funny how much music knows and how it crafts a relevant soundtrack.

I’m approaching the middle of an eight-day working trip. I haven’t traveled this much since the fall of 1998 when I spent only three of twelve weeks at home. For the occasion iTunes has been taunting me with tunes including So Far Away (Dire Straits), Jet Airliner (Steve Miller), Moving Right Along (The Muppets — I have children, remember) and Man In A Suitcase (The Police), all of which do a great job of reminding me that I’m sleeping in strange beds, rushing around to wait in line, sharing stories with cabbies and then working at a desk in my hotel room until midnight.

Thanks to John Meadows and Erika Werne for their hospitality, Tina and Dave (two of the cabbies), the three ‘crazies’ going to Chicago and Bob (the guy who helped me find the hotel).

Today I leave Ames, Iowa, a quiet and pretty city just outside of Des Moines.