Independent Consultant with a Hawaiian Shirt

There are several challenges of overseas business travel. For starters, just keeping in touch with people can be tough. Jetlag and sleep can wear you down faster than normal. And simple things such as eating and resting can be a chore. If I didn't have access to airport lounges during my trip, the return segment would have been miserable. Instead I arrived home in Detroit tonight with enough energy to take my wife out for a coffee date before returning home. Last year I had the benefit of a lounge membership courtesy of my beautiful wife who bought me one for Christmas. Having used it throughout the year I learned of the amenities and how to make the most of them. What I did learn was that the real benefit was during international travel. Since my Platinum Elite status now gives me access to the lounges on international flights I didn't renew the membership. When I got to the lounge in Dubai, I was able to sit down, relax and eat for the first time that day. Since I woke up lat...

I couldn't sleep last night. Again. I did end up walking over to 11 Degrees North and sitting in a booth. As I was catching up on email I got an IM (instant message) from Ash wondering whether I would be on the conference call. At that point (2:30am) I said, "Sure." So I stayed up until 4:00am and got on the conference call just to say "Hi" to everyone. Five minutes later I closed my laptop, walked back to the tent and hit the rack. My trusty little wristwatch bleeped at 6:30am. That's cute, I thought as I rolled over. I opened my eyes again - 7:45am. Great, I thought as I hopped down from my rack and got dressed. Class starts in 15 minutes and I have a 12 minute walk in the heat. This is not going well. But to my surprise the shuttle bus rolled by as I was walking - the first time we both got to the bus stop at the same time. I was grateful for faster, air-conditioned transport to the classroom. My class shrunk in size from 5 to 3 students today. Undaunted,...

Last night as I was getting ready for bed I noticed the temperature was a little cooler. At 110 degrees, even 5 degrees is a welcome cold spell. Once again, I hopped up into my rack and tried to close my eyes. From 11:30pm until 2:30am I tried to go to sleep but I couldnt. And when my alarm went off at 6:30am I woke up to a rather warm tent. So far on this trip I've only managed that one 11-hour night of sleep. That's not good for seven days of work. Still I bounded out of bed, got dreessed and made my way to the classroom. At long last class was going to start. I was anxious to meet the students and get to work. I have two civilian contractors and three PO2s (Petty Officer - 2nd Class; E5). Two of the sailors have IT ratings, and the third is an Electronics Technician who is getting some cross-training. When we broke for lunch I noted that the temperature was not as hot as it had been the past few days. Even better was the appearance of fresh pineapple and strawberries in the ...

Last night I got to sleep relatively easily. When I woke up this morning to my newly-purchased wristwatch alarm at 6:30am, I realized I had nowhere to be today so I rolled back over. I opened my eyes again, and this time the wristwatch read 8:30am. Cool, I thought, as I rolled over a second time. When I finally woke up, the little timepiece on my arm informed me that it was 10:30am! I hopped out of bed, got dressed and headed off to the office to put the finishing touches on the classroom computers. Between reviewing the lab exercises and checking in with home, today was quite relaxing. We're told by people much smarter at such things than you or me that the sense of smell imprints some of the strongest memories on people. And over the past few days, many familiar smells have been flying up my nose to remind me that I am on a military base in the middle of a desert. There are many things that I have smelled before, and continue to smell. Each has its own distinct story: Duty-Free P...

Last night I decided to shower off the day's grime before hitting the rack. So I gathered my toiletries and walked out to the latrine/shower box. It felt good to shave and shower before bed and go to sleep clean. Almost too good. From 11:00pm to 2:30am I tossed and turned as I tried to go to sleep. I tried lying on my back. I tried rolling from side to side. In desperation I pulled out my noise-cancelling headphones - all to no avail. Finally at around 3:00am I gave up on trying to sleep. Fully awake I went back to the 11th Parallel, where I watched football highlights until the galley opened at 5:30am. After breakfast I went back to the 11th Parallel until 8:00am, when I was supposed to meet my contacts. Around 8:30am my contacts finally showed up. We took the laptops up to my classroom - a conference room with a table just wide enough to fit 7 chairs. We plugged in the equipment and turned on the machines. There were a few glitches that I needed to iron out, so I spent the mornin...

This morning I woke up and decided I was going to make this Sabbath the most restful of Sabbaths I've had in a while. I rolled out of bed at 8:30am, got dressed and slowly made my way over to the galley for breakfast. (This being a Navy base, naval terms are used to identify buildings and functions. My career Armed Forces Grand slam is now complete - I've been to Camp Pendleton (Marines), Camp Arifjan, Bagram Airfield and Camp Henry (Army), Lackland Air Force Base (Air Force), and Camp Lemonnier (Navy). As for which assignment I've liked most: Right now it would have to be Arifjan because of how long I was there and the friends I've made. In fact, one of my students from my first trip to Kuwait 2 years ago is now working here in Djibouti! Talk about a small world...) After a simple breakfast I headed over to the Chapel for the 11:00am worship service. Chaplain Chaney was a warm fellow whose love for his sheep was evident in the way he looked at us and spoke with us. He ...

Before boarding my flight from Paris I thought to freshen up with a shave and a shower. I figured if even there was an outside chance for me to fly in business class the least I could do was look the part. I approached the front desk and asked to use a shower. The agent asked me for my boarding pass and put my name on a list. With less than two hours to go before my flight I was nervous about getting into the shower too late for my 11:20pm flight. The good part was that the lounge was directly below the boarding gate, so I wouldn't have far to go. Finally at about 10:15pm my name was called and I was given the key to a shower stall. I hopped in, shaved, showered and dressed quickly and left the lounge. Much to my dismay my flight had already begun boarding. That meant there was no opportunity to grovel for a business class seat. Worse, they had already begun boarding the passengers in coach which meant that my usual head start for the overhead bin space was erased. Still, I made my...

Our plane landed in Paris around 11:15am local time. Here I have a 12-hour layover while I wait to take another overnight flight from Paris to Djibouti. The Atlanta-Paris leg was almost 9 hours; the Paris-Djibouti leg will be a mere 7 hours. No sweat. I gathered my belongings and deplaned through the jetway. Following the signs I made my way to the service desk. When I checked in at Detroit I was given boarding passes up to Paris. The service representative informed me that I had been assigned a window seat. I asked about getting an aisle seat and I was thankfully moved up to the second row of Economy to the inside aisle seat (15D on the Airbus A340). With 12 hours in Paris I thought about putting my bags in a locker and heading into town for some sightseeing. But after taking a bus from my arrival terminal to my departure terminal and being rescreened for security, I thought against going through the hassle a third time. Instead I checked into the lounge and proceeded to get some work...

I suppose we'll start with the obvious: Where on earth is Djibouti? Djibouti is a small country just north of the Horn of Africa. It is on the coast of the Gulf of Aden, where the Red Sea meets the Indian Ocean. Its land neighbors are Ethiopia to the west, Eritrea to the north and Somalia to the south and east. There are fewer than 400,000 people living in Djibouti, with many of them concentrated in the capital city, Djibouti. The official languages are French and Arabic, though other indigenous languages are used as well. Here's a link to the Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Djibouti In order to prepare for this trip I was required to get a Yellow Fever vaccine. A few things you should know about Yellow Fever: It is the only disease governed by international treaty where nations can require travelers to be vaccinated for it prior to entering the country. The Centers for Disease Control in the United States has a list of clinics authorized to administer the vacci...

Wow - summer came and went so quickly! I'd love to hear about your summers. Here's how (or where) mine went: May 17-19: Where else - Rogers, Arkansas! That place still does and always will have a special piece of my heart. Good friends, good food, good clean living. May 22: GRADUATION! I finally walked and got my M.Div. to put up on my shelf with the other degree I don't use to make a living (Bachelor of Science in Mathematics). It was wonderful having family in town for something other than a funeral or a wedding. May 26-28: Yup, Arkansas (again). June 14-18: San Antonio, Texas. You know how every time the San Antonio Spurs are in the NBA Finals and ABC takes a camera crew down to the Riverwalk? Yeah, it's even cooler in person. Oh, and stopping at The Alamo is a must. It helps you rethink the whole immigration debate. When you see the names of the Latinos who gave their lives in defense of Texas you will remember that this nation was much more welcoming to immigrants,...