The Glamour of Travel

This week's trip was a quick one to Washington, DC for a meeting at the International City/County Managers Association (ICMA).  ICMA had invited representatives of professional associations representing senior government leaders to come together to talk about challenges in local government leadership.  It was an interesting meeting that I'm sure will open the doors for additional cooperation and collaboration.  Interestingly, one of the biggest issues facing the government professions is a dramatic reduction in the number of young people who are choosing local government as a career choice.  Although not surprising, it is a very real problem that is going to have a significant impact on the future leadership pool in local government.  Another big issue was infrastructure sustainability.  Over the last half century, we have invested in major infrastructure in this country.  Bridges, roads, water and sewer systems, buildings (like fire stations), etc. with little thought given to planning for the ongoing maintenance and eventual replacement.  The result is we are now seeing a significant crumbling of the nation's infrastructure.  We need to come up with solutions or face the gradual failure of these critical systems.  Good meeting - glad the IAFC was represented.

But this trip was also an illustration of the fun (or not so much fun) of business travel.  The basic premise was simple.  Fly from SoCal on Wednesday, attend the meeting on Thursday and fly back home on Thursday evening.  However, things rarely work out that simply any more!  The trip to DC was pretty uneventful even though I was flying on 9/11 and arriving in DC in the midst of the 2 Million Muslim March and the 2 Million Biker Rally.  I don't know where those 4 million people were, but I didn't see them in DC!  Spent the night in a typical DC hotel room:  about the size of my walk-in closet at home, for $250/night.  Got some work done on the computer in the room, so a productive day.  On Thursday, did the meeting at ICMA until about 1:30 then ran to the airport to find a quiet spot for an IAFC Board conference call.  Ever try to find a quiet spot at an airport these days?  Then just about flight time, a series of big thunderstorms moved into the DC area.  We were supposed to take off at about 5 PM and didn't leave until about 9:15.  Did you know that there aren't nearly enough chairs at the airport for everyone who would like to sit?  Needless to say, I missed my connection in Salt Lake City - the last of the day.  Since it was a weather delay, the airline isn't responsible for a hotel room.  Fortunately, my wonderful wife got on the phone while I was in the air and lined up a great hotel that we had visited while doing site visits for FRI - the Little America Hotel.  If you're ever in Salt Lake City, I highly recommend it.  Arrived at the hotel a bit after midnight.  After a too brief 5 hours of sleep, got up and back to the airport for the first flight out in the morning.

What started as a quick trip turned into a very long ordeal - especially on the return home.  While the meeting was worthwhile, I've also been reminded why they call frequent travelers 'road warriors'.  It is often a long, hard battle to get anywhere these days.