Portsmouth, October 17, 2011

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This morning started my week long business trip to Portsmouth, NH. This week will be the longest business trip I have taken since the end of July. Felt a little odd packing, driving to the airport, going through security, and dealing with delays.

We were about 40 minutes delayed leaving Houston today due to fog. Once we finally left American Airlines moved quickly to arrive in DFW. I have 20 minutes from when I landed to when my connecting flight to Boston was scheduled to depart. I arrived at the American gate with 10 minutes to spare. Amazingly they mentioned my name at the gate and when I got to the plane, the flight crew welcomed me again by name and told me that they had space for my bags set aside (I was sitting in a bulkhead seat). You talk about service, this is as good as it gets.

Arrived in Boston (Logan), on time, and went quickly to the get my National rental car. I immediately noticed the temperature was much colder than what I left in Houston at 9:00am (75 degrees). Temperature at Logan was 58 degrees, winter time in Houston. The people at the Boston location are so nice and assist you immediately when you get off the bus. Kudos to the manager at this location on motivating their employees.

What I noticed driving from Boston to Portsmouth today was none of the tree leaves were changing. I would have figured by now the trees would start showing color. A little disappointed. I hope to venture out some in the evening hours to do leaf peeping.

I arrived at the Portsmouth hotel, Hampton Inn. The hotel is smaller than I am used to. I think part of this has to do with the lobby is very cramped feeling and choppy. Aside from this small observation, the staff is super nice and very helpful. It is always refreshing to have positive staff in a hotel; it makes my home away from home much more relaxing. It was also nice to see that the hotel had several visual displays showing they will be undergoing a major remodel soon. Refreshing.

Signing off for the evening. I hope to report back on some of Portsmouth and beyond Tuesday evening.

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