Lessons learned.

So, I went to VMworld this year in San Franciso with a few days tacked on to the end for sight seeing plus a three day stayover in Vancouver, and learned a few things about traveling. This is the first time traveling back to the United States in twenty years, and the first time traveling by air in ten years. Researching on the TSA web site (tsa.gov) certainly helped, but other things you just need to learn first hand.

Make sure you register early so that you can get a hotel close to the event. Due to delays out of my control I ended up on 8th Street which is almost a mile (1.6 km) from the Moscone Center. While the walk did me good, the neighbourhood seemed to be a bit 'forgotten' by the rest of the city. The folks on the street seemed harmless enough I did not feel completely at ease.

When confirming that your hotel has Internet service it would probably be a good idea to see if they mean wired or wireless. I'm an really paranoid about wireless security so I brought a laptop with no wireless hardware with the intention of using a standard Ethernet cable --- no such luck. I bought a Linksys USB wireless adapter at OfficeDepot but the setup did not complete successfully. I attribute the setup failure to our standard corporate laptop image which is locked down pretty tight. Even with local Administrator access I could not get the USB wireless adapter working. I did a fresh install of Windows XP Professional with Serivce Pack 3 slipstreamed and the setup completed successfully.

Be wary of vendors that hand out metal drinking bottles. EMC was nice enough to sponser a aluminum drink bottle in the backpack bundle availabe to attendees, but I don't think anyone at VMworld considered airport security.

Get to know the public transit. This seems kinda obvious, but it was not until the conference was over that I got a 3-day Muni pass. This made getting around San Francisco easier. While in Vancouver, the BC Translink site was down on the Sunday which made trying to getting scheduling information difficult. It turns out that he transit information that Google Maps uses is actually reliable, for Vancouver at least.

Keep an eye on the weather. Again, really obvious, but while meandering my way to the Presideo to see the Golden Gate bridge I spent too much time in Beuna Vista park and Haight Astbury so that by the time I got there the fog had rolled in. I have some terrific pictures of the bridge, but only as far as the first support tower.

This brings me to my final lesson learned. Again, super obvious, but I must have been getting tired when I left for Stanley Park in Vancouver on my last day and forgot my camera.

Well, at least I didn't lose my luggage.