75,389 air miles, 17 airports, 28 flights, 10 cities, 1,000s of IBMers and partners and we can put 2025 Fusion Grand Prix in the books. Our team ran our Grand Prix in 26 cities by end of April. Here is a view of 10 of those cities.

My latest business trip was to Zurich, Vienna, Budapest, and Frankfurt. It was my first time in Switzerland and Hungary. While I didn’t have enough time to explore Zurich, a weekend in Budapest was a real treat where I was lucky to get some good shots of the Hungarian capital. We took a three-hour Segway tour on Saturday – best way to see tons in a small window of time.

It’s been quite a while since I’ve flown to Australia for business and I’ve never been to New Zealand. This trip was not only productive for work, it was fun seeing new places and catching some good shots. Tell me what you think.

I enjoyed visiting Central Eastern Europe and Netherlands early in 2024 where I stopped in Warsaw, Stockholm, and Amsterdam IBM locations. It was a real treat to meet with clients and partners but even more to see the sites and history of these amazing cities.

Business took me to South Africa and Istanbul for the first time. Thanks to my outstanding IBM hosts, the business side was fruitful and the experience was exceptional.

South Africa

Getting to South Africa is a challenge from anywhere but from Peoria, it’s a whole ‘nuther thing – 3 hr drive to Chicago, 7.5 hr flight to London, 11 hr flight to South Africa plus layovers adds up to 32+ hrs. Fortunately, the weather was perfect and the Sandton Hilton hotel accommodations made the adjustment better. Continue reading Istanbul & South Africa →

It had been almost four years since I was last in Japan so time to pay a visit to some clients and our hard working storage technical team here.

I was lucky to use my last system wide upgrade flying to Tokyo, so I caught a few hours shut eye on the way here. That made the whole trip more pleasant to be time adjusted and wrested – especially for a jam packed 2-day business trip.

On my first day, I called on the IT leadership team at JPX to  discuss some new storage technical options. After our business meeting, our client was more than happy to let us roam the exchange floor and snap some obligatory pictures. I was surprised to see almost no traders on the floor and no one waving their hands like in NYC. But we did get to see a new company listing ceremony. Continue reading Tokyo 2018 →

We met with our Digital Business Group from Dublin this week. Because it gets dark so late, we were able to catch some sites after our meetings. Flew into Dublin over night arriving 6:30 AM local time and caught a coast line golf course. Continue reading Dublin 2018 →

Last week, our European colleagues held their annual sales training event in Malaga Spain. I was honored to be invited to present as I always enjoy working in Europe.

Boy oh boy it’s hard to get to Malaga! Of course, it doesn’t help that I am leaving from Peoria but it’s harder to get to Malaga Spain than it is to get to Australia. It took four legs and 24 hours both ways. Malaga is in southern part of Spain, just 60 miles from Gibralter, right on the Alboran Sea. It reminded me of Fort Lauderdale with a very active beach community if Fort Lauderdale was below a set of mountains.

View from my room. Rainy day but beautiful view.

After work one after noon, we ventured into the city to see the sites.  We didn’t have time to see the Picasso museum but we saw a few of the famous sites. Continue reading Malaga →

It was time to hit the road and pay for all that fun I had this summer. Flew out on Sunday afternoon to Melbourne, right after member guest. Connect through DFW and LAX to MEL. Twenty four hours after departure, I arrive in Melbourne on Tuesday morning.

I know some people think travel is glamorous but I believe those are people that don’t travel. For my final 15 hour leg to Melbourne, I thought I was going to have lots of leg room only to find out that I was stuck in perhaps the tightest overseas seat I have experienced. And Monday disappeared while I was in the air.

Boarded this A380 to Melbourne from LAX. Notice the dual entry top/bottom. I was on the top. Thought it would be a cool/quiet ride. Uh…. no. Cramped and not quiet.

The view from my hotel room on Tuesday morning as I arrived.

Continue reading Visit to AP →