Coming home from the Microsoft Dynamics GP Technical Conference 2009

This is the final diary style post on my trip to the Microsoft Dynamics GP Technical Conference 2009.  Hopefully you have enjoyed reading about the events of the trip.  As far as I am concerned it was a great success.  The conference, my sessions, the meetings and the socialising with partners and Microsoft staff all added up to make a fantastic but tiring trip.

I started my journey at 11:30 when I checked out and left the Ramada hotel. My first flight left Fargo at 13:00 arrived an hour later in Minneapolis/St Paul.  I wanted to organise my seats of the two Qantas flights and so was looking for a WiFi connection I could use.  Sadly, there was no free connections available.  I decided to browse through a gadget shop (OK, I admit it... I like cool gadgets). While there a gentleman asked about Australian power plug adapters and I ended up chatting with him.  It turned out that Brian was heading over to Sydney for a work meeting in the Hunter Valley (a great wine region). When he found out that I wanted to get an internet connection, he took me to the Delta/Northwest lounge as a guest. Once he had got me into the lounge and told me how to get onto their WiFi, he left for his flight.  Thank-you Brian for your help, which allowed me to get the blog updated.

My flight from Minneapolis left at 17:00 and was uneventful, arriving 4 hours later in Los Angeles at 19:00. I spent a couple of hours in the One World lounge (working this post). The long haul (15 hours) flight left Los Angeles at 22:30 on Saturday night and arrived in Sydney at 08:30 Monday morning.  As we crossed the international date line, Sunday will just disappear during the flight. 

This is the bit that I hate. After being away from home for a period of time, I am finally back in Australia, but I am still a five hour flight away from Perth. While in Sydney Airport, I met a couple of other Microsoft guys who were heading from Redmond (Seattle) to Hobart in Tasmania. I helped get them into the Qantas lounge so they could get internet access and refreshments before their connecting flight. After just under an hour waiting, I left Sydney at 10:00 and arrived in Perth 5.5 hours later at 12:30.  A half hour taxi ride from the airport and I am finally home after 36 hours on the move.

I think I will sleep for the rest of the day!!!  After I surprise my youngest, Rohan, by picking him up from school.

David

17-Nov-2009: Rohan was happy to see me. Also, I did not get to sleep early in the end and am still tired.

18-Nov-2009: See the Microsoft Dynamics GP Technical Conference 2009 Wrap Up for more posts.