Notoriously bad traveler that I am, I nearly messed up the whole operation by arriving at Leg 1 (Boston Logan) sans passport. Crisis averted by speeding family-courier-wagon, Robin Alex and I took the redeye out of Philly departing at 6PM and arriving at... 8AM.

Customs etc. were a breeze, and the booth actually made it onto both planes and landed in baggage claim prior to my own bags. Little problem with booth weight (don't exceed 100 lbs under any circimstances, thanks) but throwing some ballast overboard solved this.

Now the fun begins, and we get approached by a friendly cabbie limo type who claims to have "big car". He does, and its a Mercedes V220 - V class I suppose is for seriously big van, and 220 represents I'm guessing a 2.2 litre 4 cylinder engine that barely powered the thing around. Europeans love small engines, it seems.

Arrived at the hotel in not too long at all, a bit bleary. Want a receipt? Yes. Receipt says on it: 75. I hand him 80 Euro's for a 5 E tip. A big old Grazie and he drives away probably planning his next vacation, while Alex and Robin are raising their eyebrows that I would pay so much for such a short trip. Note to self: next time, ask/negotiate the price prior to getting into the V class.

Next its drop the stuff in our rooms and get breakfast. REAL nice buffet but the guy looks concerned because we dont get free breakfast until tomorrow. What could go wrong I think, and proceed to munch down a huge, excellent Italian breakfast of all sorts of nice treats. Bill comes: 25E. Ahh, now I see why you don't want to pay for the buffet. Then Alex and Robin do the same thing. (We're tired and not coordinating well). Net damage on breakfast: 75 more Euros.

We've been in Rome for an hour and we're down 150 Euros, but the pace just continues. I'm hoping for a morning nap but the guys force me to take them out to see the Colleseum (3 Euros: subway) Where I buy a powerade and a cappacino (receive: Coke and a coffee) for some more E's. Walk around Rome a very great deal looking at ancient architecture and generally cool Europeanness.

Now back to the hotel with very tired feet for a shower and a prep session on tcViz + Trident, our big conference surprise. I accidentally take a 1.5 hour nap and leave the guys hanging but they seem to be having fun and are - ahem - not tired at all - so its all good. More talk about our demo etc, conversation with Nick, logisitcs planning, and we landed on quantum physics for a good 45 minutes I think. In the mean time we're ordering things like "Martini" and getting things like "odd tasting mystery drink, definitely not available in the US", and "Amaretto" and getting Port. Asking for the check we get a dessert menu, so we get to chat about more obscure stuff for ALOT longer, finally get the check, up to bed, write this blog, getting up early in the morning so signing off. Chaio!