I’m exhausted.
Because of a seriously family issue with someone I work with, I wound up pinch hitting this week, and took a last-minute trip to Las Vegas to attend an industry convention. I didn’t find out until Monday, confirmed the trip Tuesday, and then flew out on Wednesday–and then flew back to NY on Thursday. Yep. Cross country flight–twice–just to be in Las Vegas for one day. So aside from the urgency in booking and planning the trip, there were a few wrinkles:
[b]Day 1[/b]
[b]Day 1[/b]
My flight was due to take off at 10:45 a.m. Wed., getting me to Las Vegas at 1: 30 pm (Vegas time), so that I could attend a reception at 5:30 pm, and then another at 7 pm. I got the airport with plenty of time to spare, got an aisle seat (which I prefer), and was all set and ready to go. Except that we couldn’t take off. For three hours! That’s how long we sat on the runway. And why? Well …
Turns out that one of the planes in the queue in front of us blew a tire. Okay, I suppose these things happen. But then they had to clear the tire debris from the runway, and with 20 planes ahead of us in line to take off–and the fabulous systems of the FAA–we sat for three hours before we got clearance. Lovely.
Once we were in the air, the flight itself was fine. (I’ve also been flying Jet Blue lately, as they have the most comfortable seat and the friendliest flight attendants). We landed at about 3:30 pm Vegas time, and I was at the hotel (Treasure Island) by 4 p.m. So I checked in showered, and then changed into my suit, ready to do the whole work networking thing.
But I still needed to register for the conference and get badge, so I walked across the street to the Venetian (where the conference and the first reception was being held), got my badge and signed and was ready to go. But they gave me a complementary bag with the programs in it, which I didn’t want to carry with me all night. So I walked back across to Treasure Island and dropped off my stuff, and then back over to the Venetian.
I hit the first reception around 5:45 pm Vegas time. At this point I’m hitting a down cycle, and need to get my second wind, which kicked in right after my first Tequila and Ginger Ale. I did the networking thing for about an hour (along the publisher I work with; about 100 people there), and then we walked along the Las Vegas Strip to the Fashion Mall for another networking event. This one had about 4,000 people. Seriously. It was a total madhouse. Food was mediocre and the bar was packed, but I still I soldiered on, shaking hands and flying the flag–and I ran into someone I know, a friend of the family. Too funny. But by 8:30 pm Vegas time, I was done. My back ached, my head was heavy. Time to go back. I was asleep by 9:30 Vegas time.
[b]Day 2[/b]
Thursday morning I got up around 6:30 a.m. Vegas time, went down to the gym, worked out for 30 minutes, then came back upstairs, showered, and suited up again. But since I would be spending time at the convention, I had to pack my bag again because I had to be checked out by noon. So I got my stuff together, checked out of my room, and then left my bags with the bellman.
From there I went back over the Venetian, and did some networking for about an hour. I then had a quick, scheduled meeting, attended a session at 11:30, did a quick networking lunch at 12:45, wrote up a story by 1:30 to be posted on our company web site, and then dealt with a few work emails. And now it’s a little past 2 p.m., and I gotta go back to the airport.
I went back over to Treasure Island, got my bags, went into the men’s room in the lobby to change out of my suit and into my street clothes, and then hopped a cab to the airport for a 5 pm. flight. My plane left on time and got me back to JFK around 1:30 a.m. Friday morning New York time.
All in all I did about 6,000 miles, attended two cocktail parties, shook about 100 hands, attended a session, wrote a story, had a meeting, scheduled a few more, saw a family friend, and made it there and back in one piece. All in 36 hours.
So, yeah, I’m a little tired right now. But no worries. Sometimes that’s just the way it goes. And it’s okay. There’s a lesson to be learned here somewhere. It’s just that, at the moment, I’m too tired to see what it is.
