Glamour II

I'm safely back home. The rest of the business trip unfurled nicely.

I managed to get about 5 hours of sleep each night, mostly due to insomnia induced by time zone changes and unfamiliar surroundings. The beds in hotels sure aren't as comfortable as the ones at home (with the exception of the Peabody in Memphis, which had a most astonishingly comfortable bed).

I had a leisurely breakfast the next morning at the hotel buffet, making eggs "benedict" out of biscuits and sausage gravy and the over easy eggs I ordered from the waiter.

The sales guy and my colleague arrived at the site around 9:30am and we spent the next 5 hours straight with them - it was time well spent, and very productive. We headed back to the hotel, checked out, and around 4, managed to find a place that had been highly recommended to us - a barbecue joint called "Leatha's".

Wow, best barbecue ever. The ribs were smoky and tender, the sauce delicious, and those were defnitely contenders for the best baked beans I've ever had.

Around 5pm, we were on our way to New Orleans.

New Orleans is a fun town, even post-Katrina. All the street signs are still warped funny from the winds, and there are signs of wind damage throughout the town.

But Bourbon Street is still full of bars, "gentlemen's clubs", and every bar has a take out window so you can carry your tipple of choice down the street with you. I also had the obligatory beignets and coffee at Cafe du Monde, where the service is almost as bad as the beignets are good.

I did manage to find a non-cheesy-touristy gift shop in the French quarter and bought a couple of souvenirs. A quiet night in the hotel and the next morning we had a couple of hours to wander about.

New Orleans by day is as pretty as it is seedy by night. I had a mufulletta sandwich for breakfast, which I regretted as we later passed the famed "Central Grocery", which is the original. Oh well, next time. Not that one can't make a good mufulletta oneself.

We got to the airport very early, but our flight was on time and it was a leisurely wait. The flight home was nice and quiet and routine, and I was back home in time to tuck my daughter into bed at 8:30pm.

Time away from home: 63 hours
Time in transit to/from airports or on planes: 22hours
Time in transit to/from Hattiesburg (which has no airport): 6 hours
Time with customer: 5 hours
Time enjoying New Orleans: 6 hours

All in all a much more relaxing trip than the last time.