The Sly Traveler

Where to begin?  I travel, yet am glad to come home.  I pine away for adventure in the quiet closeness of my office, yet catch myself longing for it when I'm squashed in the middle of two rather large businessmen in the middle seat on Delta (thankfully, this is rare).

The purpose of this blog is to resolve that duality: 1) write about all the cool places (and some not so cool on the surface at least) that I get to go on a regular basis; 2) get something good out of it besides platinum mileage status; and 3) give back to others and the communities I visit. 

Someplace I visited recently that illustrates this well: Cleveland, Ohio.  SO when I got this new job, I realized that I would be required to fly to Cleveland on a regular basis, and I was kind of angry about that.  After all, most people who don't live in Cleveland don't think it's the Mecca of North America.  But I decided to give Cleveland a try, figuring that of the million or so people who live there, at least some of them have to be cool, and there must be some neat things to do and see there that cool people who live in Cleveland patronize.  So, I set out to find some of those cool things. 

Now, normally when those of us who travel for a living visit a certain city for work, we plan our trips with a minimum of outside interference (read: local color). We stay in Marriotts and Hiltons, we eat at Sullivan's Steakhouse or Champps, we go to FedExOffice and Staples, and we really sometimes can't even remember what city are in when we wake up, because all the chain restaurants and strip malls run together at some point. 

So I made new rules: 1.  Never eat at or stay in a chain *anything*. This is much more difficult than it sounds, particularly when you are entertaining customers who happen to like chain restaurants...more on that later.  2.  Figure in a little extra time to find and visit at least one local sight.  3.  Get to know the locals...ask people what they like about their town and what there is to do. 

Believe it or not, I had surprising results when I tried this out in Cleveland.  A customer I was visiting recommended a restaurant which I would before have never entered without large bodyguards and firearms...but as it turns out the people there were friendly, the food was *outstanding* and I will go back, sans weaponry. I also got brave one day and stopped at a STATE PARK EXHIBIT and struk up a conversation with the ranger...please bear with me...I know it sounds crazy.  However, I spent only 20 minutes at this place and really enjoyed it, leaving relaxed and feeling good.  There is something to this "soaking up the local," I told myself.

Anyhow hopefully this will continue and I can report to all of you who are waiting with bated breath for the next local county park or biker dive that I can report on from Lincoln, Nebraska or some other such.  Meanwhile, carry on...and travel safely.