Lessons Learned

This past Sunday, I returned home from a weeklong trip to Europe, a business trip.<br />n<br />nAs with my trip last year, this one was too short with too many destinations. Not including catching connections, I hit four countries in seven days: France (Lyon), Romania (Bucharest), the Czech Republic (Brno) and Austria (Vienna). Only in Vienna, on my last day, did I get an opportunity to sightsee.<br />n<br />nEvery trip provides an opportunity to learn something. This past week was a vivid reinforcement that cigarette smoking is a nasty, unhealthful preoccupation. What is it in Europe that makes everyone want to light up? I mean it’s nearly EVERY one! Walking into an Irish pub, opening the front door to the place, and a cloud of smoke comes billowing out above your head. Note to Europe: Quite Smoking! You are not cool or sophisticated doing that! You make me lose respect for you when I see your ridiculous addiction.<br />n<br />nAnother item learned was that you should always triple check your itinerary. We realized, early enough thankfully, that we didn’t have a room booked for Wednesday night. I was a bit disappointed that the travel agency didn’t catch it.<br />n<br />nAnd finally, the travel advice that you typically see about staying hydrated, skipping the alcohol, trying to eat as heathy as possible, is all true. It’s hard to keep the fresh fruits and veggies on the plate in front of you, especially in meat and potatoes countries like Austria, but it’s not impossible. You just have to look for them. I kept the water flowing, even managed to go for runs a couple times on treadmills, and I stayed feeling good most of the time.<br />n<br />nWill I remember these tips next time? For the most part, yes. I won’t start smoking between now and the end of my life; double checking the itinerary is an easy, low hanging fruit kind of thing; and the tips on keeping yourself in a good way is always good advice, but temptations abound.<br />n<br />nI’ll do alright.