It took months to finally get this work trip decided, approved, and reservations booked, but it was finally time to take a trip for work! I couldn't have been more excited, my own little personal get away paid for by someone else! Our original plan was to head to training in Austin and it was going to be me and one other co-worker, but after looking at different training options it was decided we were heading to Boston and they found some money to send four of us. I love to travel so it really didn't matter to me where we went, but at the beginning I wasn't thrilled about going to Boston. I can say now after having gone that I would head back again no questions asked.
We were heading to training with the Kimball Group to learn all there is to learn about Data Warehousing. We would be gone for 6 days. We finagled an extra day due to the flight schedules. Our last day of class was Friday and we were supposed to be done around 3pm or so, but the only flight out that evening was at 5pm. This would mean we would have to be packed up and bring all of our luggage and everything with us to class the last day and possibly have to leave early to head to the airport. I of course was whining about this and I was looking into all of the flights and we asked if they would be willing to pay the extra night at the hotel on Friday and we would fly back on Saturday. They agreed and I was ecstatic. This meant we could do some possible sightseeing on Friday and go out on Friday night and not worry about getting up on Saturday morning early! We booked an afternoon flight on Saturday to head back to Colorado. My husband was not too thrilled that I was traveling for work, not thrilled that I would be gone for 6 days, and really not thrilled that I would be traveling for a week with 3 men. Because I didn't want to leave Dan watching the kids alone for 6 days and cause any stress from my trip on either of us I invited his parents out to our house to help watch the kids while I was gone (and I didn't tell him until later). With everything planned out it was time to finalize everything and get packing. It was so much fun researching things to do for our group outside of the training. One thing that we figured out fairly quickly was that most of the places that you can take tours at close at 5pm, which of course was when we would get out of class. I had fun digging into information anyway. We did decide on a few things we were for sure going to do while we were there. Now on to the trip!
My trips always start the night (or entire week) before I leave. I anxiously was watching the weather forecast. I hadn't been on an airplane for 4 straight hours in a very long time and was pacing around the house the night before our departure going through my to do lists and having a few Bacardi limon's. Dan's mom thought I was going crazy, but she just laughed at me. I was up early in the morning having coffee and waiting for 2 of my co-workers to pick me up. We had arranged to take a county van to drive and park at the airport and Mark and Derik picked me up at my house. Our other co-worker, Jared, had taken off a day earlier with his wife so they could enjoy some sightseeing together and make a short vacation out of it. Mark and Derik arrived at my house and shook hands with Dan and they loaded my larger than life suitcase and laptop bag. I gave hugs and kisses and said good-bye, grabbed my coffee and we were off to the airport. I had already pre-warned the guys that I am a terrible flyer and I'm pretty sure they figured that out by my craziness on the way to the airport. We had great conversation along the way talking about recent county gossip and happenings going on. Of course the chit chat was short lived and my anxiety kicked into high gear when we were getting closer to the airport. I noticed that the windmills were going crazy and assumed it was the wind and it set me off. Of course the closer we got I realized they were a different type of windmill and it wasn't the wind causing what I was seeing. I probably would have noticed this much sooner had I had my glasses on. My palms were sweating at this point and the guys were watching me. I then realized that we were closer to the airport than I thought and we were going a different way then how I am used to getting to the airport. We also parked in a different parking lot than I normally park in. This did not bode well for my anxiety and just about threw me over the edge. And if you know me I am pretty vocal about everything and voiced that this wasn't the route I take and wasn't the parking lot I park in and it was throwing me off on how I prepare myself to fly. Not that Mark and Derik really cared, but I did tell them. Once we were in the airport I pulled myself together to get through security as I always do. There was a small glitch while we were in line with our airline and checking in, but it all worked out fine and we were finally checked in and through security. As soon as we found our gate I bid the boys farewell and was off to find the smoker's lounge, I needed my pre-flight drink. I had told them I was going to do this before the trip and I'm pretty sure on the way to the airport, but they still looked at me like - What? Really, you are going to drink on a Monday morning at 8am. The answer - absolutely. I have a 4 hour flight to make it through and you may not want to sit by me if I don't. I headed off to the smoker's lounge and enjoyed an amaretto sour and answered some emails for work. Back at the gate and ready to board the guys were both great in trying to calm my nerves. I think they were a little surprised that I actually was that nervous about flying. We took off for our 4 hour flight. The nice thing about Jet Blu was that we each had our own TV to watch. I sat back and enjoyed some Real Housewives for a bit and actually managed to even take a little nap. There was a little bit of turbulence during the flight and coming into Boston wasn't the best landing that I have had. I was a mess when we got off, and was trying to collect myself and it did take awhile, but all was well and we got our bags and grabbed a cab to our hotel.
Prior to our trip I had checked out the hotel. It had a really nice, fancy looking bar in it. I had told my co-workers that when we checked in I was going to get a free drink at the bar because its the only right way to start my work trip/vacation. I'm not sure if they believed me or not or if they believed that I could get one or not. As I was checking in and talking to the hotel workers there was a little mix up with our reservations about them being reserved for us vs. being booked and paid for. We all had to dish out our credit cards to reserve our rooms. It wasn't a lot to worry about we could deal with that later and get it sorted out. As I was talking to the guy checking me in and making some small talk I mentioned that we were obviously staying in the hotel for 6 days and if he wanted to make my stay really great he could start it off great by a free drink in the bar. He had no issues with grabbing a card and writing down 2 free drinks! I was all set. We were all pretty excited to be in Boston and had the afternoon and night to do as we pleased. We decided to check into our rooms and then meet in the bar for a drink before heading out to explore. I went to my room and fell in love with it immediately. There is something about having my own space for a few days that are all mine. I had a huge bed, lounge chair and a desk and the room was great. We were staying at the Radisson, Downtown Boston. I immediately starting unpacking my entire suitcase and was just about ready to go down to the bar to enjoy my free drink. Of course for me nothing goes with out an incident. As I was unpacking my suitcase there was a knock at my door. I opened the door and one of the hotel workers was there. He looked a little shocked to see that someone was in the room and said - you must have just checked in and I said yes, is there a problem? He said no and was about to go on his way, but I had a few questions first. I first asked him where the nearest liquor store was. He explained to me there were 2 nearby and both were about 15 minutes walking - What?! That seemed like an awful long walk to me at the time. As we went over where these were located (which really I wasn't paying much attention because I directionally challenged and would get lost anyway) I then switched subjects and said where is the nearest gas station. Again he looked at me like I was crazy and proceeded to tell me that there was only one gas station in Boston. I was then the one in shock - one gas station - really? I probably repeated this and questioned him about it 3 times or so. How can there only be one gas station here? I went on with this with him for a little while and then said - okay, nevermind about that - where would you go then to buy cigarettes then? He said a 7-eleven. I said, yes, that is like a gas station. He then looked at me and said - we call then convenient stores. Well, okay then. The guy at this point I could tell was wanting to get away from me and my inquisitions, so I let him go. I finished unpacking my last few items and then one of my co-workers knocked on my door and we headed down to the bar. As we were in the elevator I was telling him about the gas station conversation and I am very animated as I am telling this story to him because I am still in shock that there is only one gas station here. There were other people in the elevator including another hotel worker. The hotel worker was smirking and said "what" and then looked around at the other people in the elevator and immediately felt like an idiot. How could I believe this guy that told me there is only one gas station. The other hotel worker said there is more than one. We got off the elevator and headed to get a beer and wait for Derik to join us. I told Mark at that point that I guess I better watch myself because I sounded like a dumbass and who knows if the people that were sharing our elevator were going to be in our class tomorrow or not - ugh - nothing like a good first impression of not being the smartest person.
Derik finally joined us in the bar and we enjoyed a few beers before heading out to explore. Our first stop we wanted to make was to find one of these liquor stores and scope out restaurants along the way. It was super windy and cold as we were walking around. It was a biting wind that made your face and fingers freeze. It was so cold out, but we made the best of it. As we were walking I was in complete awe of all the buildings. I couldn't believe how beautiful they all were. It's like nothing I have seen before walking around a town. I felt like I was in a different country.
We did eventually find the liquor store and each us grabbed some beverages for our rooms and decided it was best to bring this back to the hotel and then venture back out for supper.
I was looking for a nice restaurant to dine in and ended up getting cold and I gave up and said we could go to the one that Derik had read about on-line that we had seen earlier and was close to where we were. We ended up at The RattleSnake Bar and Grill. I'm not that big into food other than being a picky eater. I'm rarely wowed by any meal. We sat down and ordered and I have to say that I was amazed. I ordered the chicken quesadilla, always a safe bet for me to eat because who can screw that up. This has to be one of the best meals that I have ever, ever eaten. It was unbelievable and Derik and Mark completely agreed about theirs as well. It definitely made me excited for the week ahead and trying out other places to eat if they were all going to be this damn good. We walked around checking out some of the buildings again after supper and then made our way back towards our hotel. It was still early to us with the 2 hour time difference and we still had excitement running through us over our fantastic meal, being in Boston, and our exciting week ahead of us so we started looking for an Irish Pub. We found one not far from our hotel and had a couple of more beers. The bartenders were super friendly and I of course was loving listening to everyone's accents. It was about 10:30pm in Boston when we headed back to the hotel for the night. We did have class in the morning and we figured it best to go to bed. Of course when I got back to my room and realized I wasn't tired at all I grabbed a beer and hung out checking out the views from my hotel room. It was only 8:30pm at home - how was I going to go to sleep? I ended up staying up late in my room, but eventually did get some shut eye.
We were heading to training with the Kimball Group to learn all there is to learn about Data Warehousing. We would be gone for 6 days. We finagled an extra day due to the flight schedules. Our last day of class was Friday and we were supposed to be done around 3pm or so, but the only flight out that evening was at 5pm. This would mean we would have to be packed up and bring all of our luggage and everything with us to class the last day and possibly have to leave early to head to the airport. I of course was whining about this and I was looking into all of the flights and we asked if they would be willing to pay the extra night at the hotel on Friday and we would fly back on Saturday. They agreed and I was ecstatic. This meant we could do some possible sightseeing on Friday and go out on Friday night and not worry about getting up on Saturday morning early! We booked an afternoon flight on Saturday to head back to Colorado. My husband was not too thrilled that I was traveling for work, not thrilled that I would be gone for 6 days, and really not thrilled that I would be traveling for a week with 3 men. Because I didn't want to leave Dan watching the kids alone for 6 days and cause any stress from my trip on either of us I invited his parents out to our house to help watch the kids while I was gone (and I didn't tell him until later). With everything planned out it was time to finalize everything and get packing. It was so much fun researching things to do for our group outside of the training. One thing that we figured out fairly quickly was that most of the places that you can take tours at close at 5pm, which of course was when we would get out of class. I had fun digging into information anyway. We did decide on a few things we were for sure going to do while we were there. Now on to the trip!
My trips always start the night (or entire week) before I leave. I anxiously was watching the weather forecast. I hadn't been on an airplane for 4 straight hours in a very long time and was pacing around the house the night before our departure going through my to do lists and having a few Bacardi limon's. Dan's mom thought I was going crazy, but she just laughed at me. I was up early in the morning having coffee and waiting for 2 of my co-workers to pick me up. We had arranged to take a county van to drive and park at the airport and Mark and Derik picked me up at my house. Our other co-worker, Jared, had taken off a day earlier with his wife so they could enjoy some sightseeing together and make a short vacation out of it. Mark and Derik arrived at my house and shook hands with Dan and they loaded my larger than life suitcase and laptop bag. I gave hugs and kisses and said good-bye, grabbed my coffee and we were off to the airport. I had already pre-warned the guys that I am a terrible flyer and I'm pretty sure they figured that out by my craziness on the way to the airport. We had great conversation along the way talking about recent county gossip and happenings going on. Of course the chit chat was short lived and my anxiety kicked into high gear when we were getting closer to the airport. I noticed that the windmills were going crazy and assumed it was the wind and it set me off. Of course the closer we got I realized they were a different type of windmill and it wasn't the wind causing what I was seeing. I probably would have noticed this much sooner had I had my glasses on. My palms were sweating at this point and the guys were watching me. I then realized that we were closer to the airport than I thought and we were going a different way then how I am used to getting to the airport. We also parked in a different parking lot than I normally park in. This did not bode well for my anxiety and just about threw me over the edge. And if you know me I am pretty vocal about everything and voiced that this wasn't the route I take and wasn't the parking lot I park in and it was throwing me off on how I prepare myself to fly. Not that Mark and Derik really cared, but I did tell them. Once we were in the airport I pulled myself together to get through security as I always do. There was a small glitch while we were in line with our airline and checking in, but it all worked out fine and we were finally checked in and through security. As soon as we found our gate I bid the boys farewell and was off to find the smoker's lounge, I needed my pre-flight drink. I had told them I was going to do this before the trip and I'm pretty sure on the way to the airport, but they still looked at me like - What? Really, you are going to drink on a Monday morning at 8am. The answer - absolutely. I have a 4 hour flight to make it through and you may not want to sit by me if I don't. I headed off to the smoker's lounge and enjoyed an amaretto sour and answered some emails for work. Back at the gate and ready to board the guys were both great in trying to calm my nerves. I think they were a little surprised that I actually was that nervous about flying. We took off for our 4 hour flight. The nice thing about Jet Blu was that we each had our own TV to watch. I sat back and enjoyed some Real Housewives for a bit and actually managed to even take a little nap. There was a little bit of turbulence during the flight and coming into Boston wasn't the best landing that I have had. I was a mess when we got off, and was trying to collect myself and it did take awhile, but all was well and we got our bags and grabbed a cab to our hotel.
Prior to our trip I had checked out the hotel. It had a really nice, fancy looking bar in it. I had told my co-workers that when we checked in I was going to get a free drink at the bar because its the only right way to start my work trip/vacation. I'm not sure if they believed me or not or if they believed that I could get one or not. As I was checking in and talking to the hotel workers there was a little mix up with our reservations about them being reserved for us vs. being booked and paid for. We all had to dish out our credit cards to reserve our rooms. It wasn't a lot to worry about we could deal with that later and get it sorted out. As I was talking to the guy checking me in and making some small talk I mentioned that we were obviously staying in the hotel for 6 days and if he wanted to make my stay really great he could start it off great by a free drink in the bar. He had no issues with grabbing a card and writing down 2 free drinks! I was all set. We were all pretty excited to be in Boston and had the afternoon and night to do as we pleased. We decided to check into our rooms and then meet in the bar for a drink before heading out to explore. I went to my room and fell in love with it immediately. There is something about having my own space for a few days that are all mine. I had a huge bed, lounge chair and a desk and the room was great. We were staying at the Radisson, Downtown Boston. I immediately starting unpacking my entire suitcase and was just about ready to go down to the bar to enjoy my free drink. Of course for me nothing goes with out an incident. As I was unpacking my suitcase there was a knock at my door. I opened the door and one of the hotel workers was there. He looked a little shocked to see that someone was in the room and said - you must have just checked in and I said yes, is there a problem? He said no and was about to go on his way, but I had a few questions first. I first asked him where the nearest liquor store was. He explained to me there were 2 nearby and both were about 15 minutes walking - What?! That seemed like an awful long walk to me at the time. As we went over where these were located (which really I wasn't paying much attention because I directionally challenged and would get lost anyway) I then switched subjects and said where is the nearest gas station. Again he looked at me like I was crazy and proceeded to tell me that there was only one gas station in Boston. I was then the one in shock - one gas station - really? I probably repeated this and questioned him about it 3 times or so. How can there only be one gas station here? I went on with this with him for a little while and then said - okay, nevermind about that - where would you go then to buy cigarettes then? He said a 7-eleven. I said, yes, that is like a gas station. He then looked at me and said - we call then convenient stores. Well, okay then. The guy at this point I could tell was wanting to get away from me and my inquisitions, so I let him go. I finished unpacking my last few items and then one of my co-workers knocked on my door and we headed down to the bar. As we were in the elevator I was telling him about the gas station conversation and I am very animated as I am telling this story to him because I am still in shock that there is only one gas station here. There were other people in the elevator including another hotel worker. The hotel worker was smirking and said "what" and then looked around at the other people in the elevator and immediately felt like an idiot. How could I believe this guy that told me there is only one gas station. The other hotel worker said there is more than one. We got off the elevator and headed to get a beer and wait for Derik to join us. I told Mark at that point that I guess I better watch myself because I sounded like a dumbass and who knows if the people that were sharing our elevator were going to be in our class tomorrow or not - ugh - nothing like a good first impression of not being the smartest person.
Derik finally joined us in the bar and we enjoyed a few beers before heading out to explore. Our first stop we wanted to make was to find one of these liquor stores and scope out restaurants along the way. It was super windy and cold as we were walking around. It was a biting wind that made your face and fingers freeze. It was so cold out, but we made the best of it. As we were walking I was in complete awe of all the buildings. I couldn't believe how beautiful they all were. It's like nothing I have seen before walking around a town. I felt like I was in a different country.
I was looking for a nice restaurant to dine in and ended up getting cold and I gave up and said we could go to the one that Derik had read about on-line that we had seen earlier and was close to where we were. We ended up at The RattleSnake Bar and Grill. I'm not that big into food other than being a picky eater. I'm rarely wowed by any meal. We sat down and ordered and I have to say that I was amazed. I ordered the chicken quesadilla, always a safe bet for me to eat because who can screw that up. This has to be one of the best meals that I have ever, ever eaten. It was unbelievable and Derik and Mark completely agreed about theirs as well. It definitely made me excited for the week ahead and trying out other places to eat if they were all going to be this damn good. We walked around checking out some of the buildings again after supper and then made our way back towards our hotel. It was still early to us with the 2 hour time difference and we still had excitement running through us over our fantastic meal, being in Boston, and our exciting week ahead of us so we started looking for an Irish Pub. We found one not far from our hotel and had a couple of more beers. The bartenders were super friendly and I of course was loving listening to everyone's accents. It was about 10:30pm in Boston when we headed back to the hotel for the night. We did have class in the morning and we figured it best to go to bed. Of course when I got back to my room and realized I wasn't tired at all I grabbed a beer and hung out checking out the views from my hotel room. It was only 8:30pm at home - how was I going to go to sleep? I ended up staying up late in my room, but eventually did get some shut eye.
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