Might as well go around advertising UFO abduction on your car…this wouldn’t have been out of place in the Fairborn, Ohio Fourth of July Parade. Why is it religious nutjobs also have to pull out the patriot card? By and large, it seems these are the same peckerheads who think torture is a good idea! Ah, nationalism wrapped in the bible, what a wonderful world we live in.

Yesterday, about an hour after I returned home, two missionaries came calling at the door. I was very polite and said that I wasn’t interested in their product. But they wouldn’t take no for an answer and I suggested it was highly probable there is no god of any sort and that they would be better served selling some other product door-to-door. That got me a “Though you are headed for eternal damnation, I’ll pray for you anyway” parting comment.

I’ve never had an atheist knock on my door asking me to join the club…come to think of it, I’ve never had an atheist ask for 10% of my money either. Or ask me to talk to imaginary friends with a group of other deluded souls. Yep, I’ll take the road to damnation every day of the week and twice on Sundays.

Well, the title says it all. Back on the ground waiting for my family to return from a dog walk and thought I’d make a quick entry. The view to the right is from the 51st floor of the Island Shangri-La Hotel in Central Hong Kong. My brief stay there only reinforced my view of the city as being my favorite in the Orient. Clean, modern, nice people, and efficient. But boy is it crowded!

Here’s the trip by the numbers:

• 19,434 – Miles Flown (32,276 km)
• 122 – Total Elapsed Hours Door-to-Door
• 52 – In-Transit Hours
• 39 – Actual In-Flight Hours
• 38 – Meeting and Business Event Hours
• 32 – Sleep, Eat, Relax, & Other Hours

The sequence of travel went SFO->Dulles, Dulles->Amsterdam, Amsterdam->Frankfurt (this took 4 travel hours!) Amsterdam->Hong Kong, Hong Kong->SFO. Whew, no wonder I’m tired…..

This is posted as a public service announcement for anyone that thinks business travel is “fun” – as sometimes comes up in social conversation. It does have moments, but mostly it’s a grind and as I get older, it takes longer and longer to recover from each trip. Particularly trips like this one.

The good news is, the objectives I had for the trip were fully met and while it is taxing, the investment will have a good return over time. Regardless of the outcome, it’s nice to be home again. Enjoy the weekend everyone!

After the Fourth of July Parade for Fairborn that had every church in the land marching in it, I was in a foul mood. This video perked me right back up!

Happy Fourth everyone!