The Pros and Cons of Travelling

I just got back from a whirlwind couple of days in Philadelphia meeting with one of our parent companies and two of the other software joint ventures. I always view travelling on business as a dichotomy of good and bad. I thought I'd outline some of the specific good and bad things from this trip:

Good

• face to face contact with partners results in better understanding of each others problems and concerns
• putting a face to a name you've heard before, or spoken with, or emailed back and forth adds a dimension to the relationship
  
• all food and drink will be reimbursed (especially good when travelling with my boss who picks up the expensive meals)
• finding a pretty good jazz club in Philly that had two great bands on consecutive nights (a tuesday and wednesday, no less)
• no screaming kids in the middle of the night in a hotel
  
• meeting the bouncer in the aforementioned club and realizing what a great guy he was - Philly truly is the city of brotherly love (also - see below)

Bad

• Leaving the family is stressful on both me and my wife
• A hotel that is under construction is not much fun - the power to the alarm clock went out both nights
• The TSA and the stupid 'enhanced searches' I always seem to receive
• Canadian Immigration screw-ups....it's still not resolved so I got hassled getting back in to my own country
• Mesaba Airlines operates the NWA airlink between London and Detroit - they have the worst planes I've ever been on. The seats are really uncomfortable
• Rushing to get a conneting flight when the first flight is late
• Sitting on the runway while your plane is de-iced
• Walking to the hotel and seeing a large homeless man masturbating while lying on the sidewalk - I said it was the city of Brotherly Love.