I wonder if successful people choose to do the riskiest thing because it scares them a little. I have talked to a couple executives that have frankly stated that they have had several moments when in a new position that they wonder if they will be able to do. They wonder what they might have gotten themselves into. Of course maybe that is only a few, I wonder if there are others that never any doubts about them selves. Maybe the successful people that accomplish the most are one sort or the other. This is a bit of a personal question for myself – due in part to the fact that in the past few years I have changed the way I approach life to small degree. Of course I think it has made a major change.
Sometime in 2002 I started to make decisions because they made me uncomfortable, because they scared me, and because I was unsure of what the out come. All I knew each time I made such a decision is that the payout would be greater, and it would take a lot more effort from me to make it work. The first of these decisions was to leave a good paying, very stable job, in place I didn’t want to be to go back to school. This was very shortly followed by a scarier choice. The original plan was much safer, find a job back home, and then go to school at the local state school at night. I had plenty of unemployment and payout from the company I left to last most of a year, with some part time work I could get by looking for a job in my field for a year and a half easy. However after some time off, and some challenges from a friend, I made a more uncertain decision. I decided to try to go back full time and get into the business school at the University.
There are many reasons this plan was riskier. I didn’t know if I could afford to keep paying my mortgage, even renting most of it out. My previous college grades were, not to exaggerate, horrendous and the program at the university had quantum level higher standards to get in. To even try to get in I would have to do an extra year of work to qualify, which of course there was no guarantee I could get in after that year. Because this was rework it would not help me at all if later I went to the state school. It also cost twice as much to go to the university versus the state school. So I risked my house, a year of work that would not be useful anywhere but the university, and had no guarantee that it would accomplish anything. In fact odds were that it would certainly be an up hill battle.
But the combinations of decision to move home and go for the better program paid off. I was admitted to the program, well I found a way to get in anyway, and graduated with a degree in the program I was interested in from the business school (though I had to blend it with another program to qualify – but that is another story). The fall before I graduated I was present with a much more fun decision. Where to work, and I had several offers. This was a huge contrast to only two and half years before when it was hard for me to even get an interview. I had the choice of several jobs where I knew I could easily do the work and excel, along with one offer that I was completely unsure of. Just like with school I was technically not qualified to apply but did anyway. With a little help from a friend I got the interview and must have done well because they made me an offer. The thing that scared me about it was that I had no clue if I could do the job, or would even fit in.
Again I took the path that quite frankly scared me. I didn’t want to do what I already knew about. I wanted to be challenged. I wanted the opportunity to get in over my head. I guess what I wanted above all was to step out of my comfort zone. Again it has paid off very well. I love my job. I think I do very well at it. At least last year I was in the top 25% of performers. I get some good roles, and some that need to be spun into lemonade. But even the lemons off me new challenges and make me stretch. I think be scared, or at the minimum apprehensive about something actually drives me to work harder, prepare more, and not let my guard down. I think it brings out a new level of performance from me. Do or die so to speak.
Because of this I wonder if this is just me or if people that really leave their mark on the world use the same tactic; to take the harder path to force themselves to perform at a new level. I then have to wonder if this was a secret that I needed to figure out to get where I am now. I wonder if I keep using the tactic if it will continue to payoff.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Hard Life Behind Bars
Over the MLK holiday weekend I was able to visit my family in California for a couple days and a friend of mine who is also a Minnesota transplant in now living in San Francisco. The highlight of my trip was a trip to the ‘Rock’ or Alcatraz Island and prison. I have always wanted to see the island up close and personal. I think many people have a fascination with the island as it has been featured in so many movies, TV shows, and has so many stories about it. I will say it doesn’t disappoint. It is a very interesting place to visit. But I will tell you that many of the things people believe about the island just are not true. It is actually a lot smaller than I thought. The main prison is maybe a ½ dozen rooms. Most of the space is dedicated to four main rooms, the shower room (nothing like the scene in the movie The Rock), the main cell block, solitary/special needs cell block, and the cafeteria. Beyond this there are is a control center and a couple of offices.
The boat ride out there isn’t that cheap but it is a nice view of the bay and the island. The island has several tours. In the morning there are guided nature tours, a self guided nature hike, all day there are self guided audio tours, there are some museum areas, and videos to watch on loop back. Oh, and how could I forget, there are a few gift shops of course. You have to book online a week or so ahead at least, but then you can just print your ticket at home and show up on the pier. I think we spent 3 hours overall on the whole event. This worked out well, you could spend ½ the time or 3 times the amount of time depending on how much you want to do. I thought it was fun to kick around in the cell block and imagine what it was like. I’m guessing that it was probably some of the hardest time you could do there.
The few surprises I had were: That there had been an uprising where the marines were called in and several people both died inmates and guards. I didn’t know that in the 70s Native Americans had taken the island over for more than a year. It was this event that recaptured the public’s attention on the island and subsequently it reopened as a park. The island and prison are much smaller than they are made out to be in movies. Movies make it seem like the prison is large with a lot of rooms, when in reality it is very compact, it only held like 300 prisoners. Finally I was surprised to find out that entire families lived on the island while it was used as a prison. The families of the guards and administrators lived on the island, including their children. The children were ferried across the bay to go to school everyday. What kind of a wild childhood would that have been!
As for the rest of San Francisco I didn’t see much but I liked it. I was able to see the water front and some parks. My friend lives about ½ a mile from the water and a short ride to the downtown area. I didn’t make it to Chinatown or any of that jazz but for a one day trip loved it. The only complaint: PARKING. There is absolutely no place to park, even if you are willing to pay for it. The driveways are every 3 feet so there is no curb space left. And when there is it typically is in front of a store so forget about it. So I got to drive around for 40 minutes looking for a space. Then I didn’t move the car for a day and a ½. The restaurants and bars on the other hand are fabulous. We went out to a good seafood place, and then to a couple bars for drinks. We were, should we say, quite cheerful by the end of the night. Hopefully I can get some time to spend more than one day out there.
The boat ride out there isn’t that cheap but it is a nice view of the bay and the island. The island has several tours. In the morning there are guided nature tours, a self guided nature hike, all day there are self guided audio tours, there are some museum areas, and videos to watch on loop back. Oh, and how could I forget, there are a few gift shops of course. You have to book online a week or so ahead at least, but then you can just print your ticket at home and show up on the pier. I think we spent 3 hours overall on the whole event. This worked out well, you could spend ½ the time or 3 times the amount of time depending on how much you want to do. I thought it was fun to kick around in the cell block and imagine what it was like. I’m guessing that it was probably some of the hardest time you could do there.
The few surprises I had were: That there had been an uprising where the marines were called in and several people both died inmates and guards. I didn’t know that in the 70s Native Americans had taken the island over for more than a year. It was this event that recaptured the public’s attention on the island and subsequently it reopened as a park. The island and prison are much smaller than they are made out to be in movies. Movies make it seem like the prison is large with a lot of rooms, when in reality it is very compact, it only held like 300 prisoners. Finally I was surprised to find out that entire families lived on the island while it was used as a prison. The families of the guards and administrators lived on the island, including their children. The children were ferried across the bay to go to school everyday. What kind of a wild childhood would that have been!
As for the rest of San Francisco I didn’t see much but I liked it. I was able to see the water front and some parks. My friend lives about ½ a mile from the water and a short ride to the downtown area. I didn’t make it to Chinatown or any of that jazz but for a one day trip loved it. The only complaint: PARKING. There is absolutely no place to park, even if you are willing to pay for it. The driveways are every 3 feet so there is no curb space left. And when there is it typically is in front of a store so forget about it. So I got to drive around for 40 minutes looking for a space. Then I didn’t move the car for a day and a ½. The restaurants and bars on the other hand are fabulous. We went out to a good seafood place, and then to a couple bars for drinks. We were, should we say, quite cheerful by the end of the night. Hopefully I can get some time to spend more than one day out there.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Putah Creek Winery
While out in Davis California for my cousin’s Eagle Scout Court of honor I was able to tour a small and yet little heard of winery in the region. In fact the entire space used by this winery is probably under a thousand square feet. But that doesn’t mean they use any less technology or have less sophisticated techniques. Not at all, they have the same specialized machines to separate the grapes from the stems, to mash the juices from the grapes, to mix the various chemicals needed and so on. But they have only been producing wine for a handful of years. Though, I expect this to be the start of a long and successful endeavor. The winery is owned by my Uncle and Aunt and is named for a creek that runs through the University of Davis and most of the surrounding city. The creek also ran along their ranch until 30 years ago when it was diverted leaving a dried river bed in its place.
More than a decade ago my Uncle was mostly a rice farmer, though he also grew some straw and soy. He didn’t own any land though and had to lease it. Because he was a smaller scale farmer he had to lease land that was less the pristine. So he would not be able to use it the first season or two as he cleaned it and groomed. By the time it was producing well his lease would expire and the owners would demand more money because the land was hirer quality! So this cycle while it provided him limited success lined others pockets more than his own. So he decided to change his fortunes. Lucky for him America has developed a grand taste for wine. Consumption has sky rocketed in the last 25 years and demand of course is very high.
Many people know of Sonoma and Napa in California. What they don’t know is only a fraction of the grapes used to supply wineries in these areas come from the actual region. To increase supply they are allowed to mix similar grapes that contain the same quality and characteristics as those from there own vineyards. I do believe the regulations on the proportions are rather strict but this had created a market in northern California for wine grapes. My Uncle and Aunt did have some acreage around their house, not really enough or of the right configuration to farm most products but with the advances in grape farming it was enough to establish a vineyard. So this is what they did. Of course this is a long proposition; grape vines take years to develop, and a longer time to be cultivated to grow the right composition of grape. So they continued to farm rice on other’s lands as they grew there hopes literally in their back yard.
After several years the vineyard yielded high quality grapes and they were able to be sold to the various producers in the named regions and locally. This spurred the panting of a second acreage of land. Again after several years the grapes were of good quality and able to be sold. However by now many people in this region had discovered the money in vineyards and there was a major increase in supply or at least the worry that there would soon be an abundance and further commoditization of the product. So my uncle and aunt decided rather than letting other control their fortunes they would try to produce their own wine and realize the benefits of all of their labor. And they have met with success, they are currently working on new blends of wine, have again expanded their winery and are no longer in the rice, soy, or straw business. So it was with some amazement that I toured the winery, not a mile from there house, and feet from part of their vineyard.
I truly think that their fortunes are rising due to their diligence, hard work, systematic approach, and faith in themselves. It truly is the embodiment of the American story. To top it all off my uncle has been asked to partner is several other local business enterprises based on his experience, knowledge, and success in wines – which makes me further believe that I am witnessing the beginning of something big.
Check them out: http://www.putahcreekwinery.com/
More than a decade ago my Uncle was mostly a rice farmer, though he also grew some straw and soy. He didn’t own any land though and had to lease it. Because he was a smaller scale farmer he had to lease land that was less the pristine. So he would not be able to use it the first season or two as he cleaned it and groomed. By the time it was producing well his lease would expire and the owners would demand more money because the land was hirer quality! So this cycle while it provided him limited success lined others pockets more than his own. So he decided to change his fortunes. Lucky for him America has developed a grand taste for wine. Consumption has sky rocketed in the last 25 years and demand of course is very high.
Many people know of Sonoma and Napa in California. What they don’t know is only a fraction of the grapes used to supply wineries in these areas come from the actual region. To increase supply they are allowed to mix similar grapes that contain the same quality and characteristics as those from there own vineyards. I do believe the regulations on the proportions are rather strict but this had created a market in northern California for wine grapes. My Uncle and Aunt did have some acreage around their house, not really enough or of the right configuration to farm most products but with the advances in grape farming it was enough to establish a vineyard. So this is what they did. Of course this is a long proposition; grape vines take years to develop, and a longer time to be cultivated to grow the right composition of grape. So they continued to farm rice on other’s lands as they grew there hopes literally in their back yard.
After several years the vineyard yielded high quality grapes and they were able to be sold to the various producers in the named regions and locally. This spurred the panting of a second acreage of land. Again after several years the grapes were of good quality and able to be sold. However by now many people in this region had discovered the money in vineyards and there was a major increase in supply or at least the worry that there would soon be an abundance and further commoditization of the product. So my uncle and aunt decided rather than letting other control their fortunes they would try to produce their own wine and realize the benefits of all of their labor. And they have met with success, they are currently working on new blends of wine, have again expanded their winery and are no longer in the rice, soy, or straw business. So it was with some amazement that I toured the winery, not a mile from there house, and feet from part of their vineyard.
I truly think that their fortunes are rising due to their diligence, hard work, systematic approach, and faith in themselves. It truly is the embodiment of the American story. To top it all off my uncle has been asked to partner is several other local business enterprises based on his experience, knowledge, and success in wines – which makes me further believe that I am witnessing the beginning of something big.
Check them out: http://www.putahcreekwinery.com/
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Soaring
Eagle 1, Eagle 2, Eagle 3, and Eagle four aren’t call signs of fighter pilots, or code names for spies behind enemy lines. Rather it is an small inside joke between my dad, brother, cousin, and myself. Recently I got a plane and instead of going home headed out to San Francisco California. This trip was to visit with family, escape the cold, and to attend a ceremony in honor of my cousin earning his Eagle Scout. For those that do not know this is the top rank in the Boy Scouts of America. While you can continue to earn merit badges and awards Eagle is considered the biggest achievement of scouting. Less than 2 percent of boys that join earn the rank. This is one of the few achievements that you earn as a boy and leave on your resume for your entire life. My dad gave a very compelling speech about the meaning of being an Eagle Scout.
It revolved around the amount of work it takes to get there, how few accomplish it, and what great achievements Eagle Scouts have gone on to make. Eagle Scouts are executives of large corporations, have been President of the United States of America, most space missions contain at least one eagle scout, they have been leaders of the civil rights movement, served there country as soldiers and generals in all American wars beginning with WWI, and have filled many other amazing roles in history. In fact you can see many of these at www.eaglescout.org. Most people in the United States recognize what the boy scouts and above all what Eagle Scouts represent.
So what is the inside joke. Well my dad (Eagle 1 – 1970s), my brother (Eagle 3 – 1990s), my cousin (Eagle 4 – 2000’s), and myself (Eagle 2 – 1990s) are all Eagle Scouts. It was nice to see how much my cousin had enjoyed his experiences in the Scouts as I had. You make great friend in Scouts and get to go on adventures that most boys don’t get to have: Camping as many as 10 times a year, high adventure trips, participate in crazy survival races, work on all sorts of community projects, and learn skills in anything and everything from auto mechanics to beekeeping to art or sculpting. When you are twelve years old to eighteen you can do things most people think they won’t even get to try when they are adults. It was a great time.
One other thing that surprised me about this event was how much I think my uncle enjoyed being an adult leader. He had dropped out of the scouts to pursue agricultural activities and due to some bad experiences when he was a boy. But this time around with his son I think he looked forward to scouting events as much as the scouts involved. He was in many, many photos shown of my cousins camping trips and adventures. I don’t think his younger boy will join so now he will have to convince his family to go on trips into the great out doors (which I don’t think will be that hard to do). But I doubt these trips will be as frequent as he was able to participate in with the scouts. One thing I know too is that my boy(s) if/when I have them will be signed up to try it. They don’t have to stick with it if they don’t like it, but they do have to try it. Hopefully I can have some fun being the adult leader too someday. Plus we could get an Eagle 5, 6, 7, and 8 maybe… who knows.
It revolved around the amount of work it takes to get there, how few accomplish it, and what great achievements Eagle Scouts have gone on to make. Eagle Scouts are executives of large corporations, have been President of the United States of America, most space missions contain at least one eagle scout, they have been leaders of the civil rights movement, served there country as soldiers and generals in all American wars beginning with WWI, and have filled many other amazing roles in history. In fact you can see many of these at www.eaglescout.org. Most people in the United States recognize what the boy scouts and above all what Eagle Scouts represent.
So what is the inside joke. Well my dad (Eagle 1 – 1970s), my brother (Eagle 3 – 1990s), my cousin (Eagle 4 – 2000’s), and myself (Eagle 2 – 1990s) are all Eagle Scouts. It was nice to see how much my cousin had enjoyed his experiences in the Scouts as I had. You make great friend in Scouts and get to go on adventures that most boys don’t get to have: Camping as many as 10 times a year, high adventure trips, participate in crazy survival races, work on all sorts of community projects, and learn skills in anything and everything from auto mechanics to beekeeping to art or sculpting. When you are twelve years old to eighteen you can do things most people think they won’t even get to try when they are adults. It was a great time.
One other thing that surprised me about this event was how much I think my uncle enjoyed being an adult leader. He had dropped out of the scouts to pursue agricultural activities and due to some bad experiences when he was a boy. But this time around with his son I think he looked forward to scouting events as much as the scouts involved. He was in many, many photos shown of my cousins camping trips and adventures. I don’t think his younger boy will join so now he will have to convince his family to go on trips into the great out doors (which I don’t think will be that hard to do). But I doubt these trips will be as frequent as he was able to participate in with the scouts. One thing I know too is that my boy(s) if/when I have them will be signed up to try it. They don’t have to stick with it if they don’t like it, but they do have to try it. Hopefully I can have some fun being the adult leader too someday. Plus we could get an Eagle 5, 6, 7, and 8 maybe… who knows.
Friday, February 1, 2008
London for New Years
Well I think the title of this Blog makes it self explanatory. I was in London for the New Years celebration. It is actually the second time I have been in London for New Years, and this time seemed a lot crazier than I remember. The first time was a decade ago when I when with my dad. He was leading some training for the airline at this time and asked if I wanted to. It was a lot of fun. We went to the tower of London, the wax museum, Piccadilly Circus, and a few pubs. It was over my freshman winter break at the university. This year I met up with my wife in London. Or rather I should say I met up with the crew: my wife, my sister in law, their roommate, and another of their Russian friends. It was actually quite reminiscent of college as we had all of these people in a single hotel room.
One of the best perks of my job/career is that I get to rack up the hotel, airline, credit card, and rental car points. So when we travel I don’t generally need to go online and look for the cheapest deal. Instead I go to Marriott’s web site see what they have in the city and use my points. This also makes traveling a lot cheaper. In fact I think in general hotels are the biggest expense when traveling. But using the miles for airfare certainly helps. Our hotel was just outside of the city center to the north and there was an Underground station within 4 blocks. So it was really never more than a 20 minute ride to get anywhere. The underground in the UK is so nice because you can get any where. Its layout is basically a loop with several strands that cross both the loop and each other in a manner that resembles a spider web. Even though we came into different airports we were all able to take the underground to the hotel. No fussing with shuttles, buses, or taxi’s.
The hotel was very nice, though the pool and executive lounge were crowded most of the time. We didn’t spend a lot of time there; instead leaving in the morning seeing a bunch of sites, then returning to freshen up, and leaving again for a bit of night life. We saw quite a lot of sites in face. The tower of London, tower bridge, the BA London Eye, Buckingham palace, Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly circus, Oxford and Canary streets, the Winston Churchill Museum, the Cabinet War Rooms, the original Hard Rock Café (yes it was founded out side the states), Harrods (though it was so crowded the girls had no intentions of shopping), Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abby, to name a few. We also dinned on fish and chips, Shepard’s pie, and sausage and mash at local pubs and fish n chips establishments. I tried to tone it down, and we only went to se a couple of things a day. But I still think I wore RG out a bit.
Now originally RG wanted to go to a pretty fancy party on a WWII ship anchored on the Thames. I thought it was a little expensive and put off looking into alternatives. So I will give this point of advice. If you are in London for New Year’s Eve have a plan and a venue well in advance. Being out on the streets is insane to say the least. After it was too late I actually found boat cruises on the Thames that were well within budget but they were sold out. So I have to admit I dropped the ball on that one. So we decided we would head down to the river across from the London Eye stop in a pub for a few drinks, then watch the fireworks out side. Well, all the pubs had lines to get in leading out into the street. We didn’t bring any beverages and ended up being carried by the crowd to a location to watch the fireworks, where we hung out soberly and somewhat somberly for nearly two hours. They did have music playing over the loudspeaker PA system and the people watching was good.
However the fireworks were well worth the wait (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4tqsQktE2w). The British are nutz. That is all I have to say. They had over 100,000 separate pyrotechnics go off for the show. Not over $100,000 worth, but actually more than 100,000 individual explosions. It was like watching the Fourth of July fireworks. Only the main show was like our finallies and finally was 10 times that. The whole show lasted 30 to 40 minutes and was mesmerizing to say the least. My favorite part was when they had a couple doze rockets launching from the London Eye in a bidirectional loop that started at the bottom of the wheel and me at the top, all while two boats in the river motored back and forth launching several more from launch tube in the back of the boat! After it was finished nothing but madness ensued.
The BBC reported the next day that there had been over 700,000 people out on the streets of London. 2/3 of the underground station had been closed and most people didn’t want to wait in the long lines at those that were open. Neither did we. So we along with hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people roamed the streets of London looking for an open underground station. The foot traffic was so great it brought all auto traffic to a stand still for hours. Not only that, but there was no place to pee. This seems short sighted to me. We saw countless people making there own arrangements, it is a good thing it rained within the next few days. We finally gave up trying to find a way back to the hotel room at around 3:00am and ditched into a hole in the wall Indian food restaurant. Shared some appetizers and other small plates of food, used the restrooms, and waited for the crowd to disperse. An hour later we were able to get to an underground station, and we were to the hotel and in bed by 5:30a.
So I guess I should have gotten reservations to a party or cruise earlier, they don’t even let you back onto the streets until the crowds have dispersed and in the mean time you have a place to relax and have drinks. I would be upset if the venue did not offer a view of the fireworks.
One of the best perks of my job/career is that I get to rack up the hotel, airline, credit card, and rental car points. So when we travel I don’t generally need to go online and look for the cheapest deal. Instead I go to Marriott’s web site see what they have in the city and use my points. This also makes traveling a lot cheaper. In fact I think in general hotels are the biggest expense when traveling. But using the miles for airfare certainly helps. Our hotel was just outside of the city center to the north and there was an Underground station within 4 blocks. So it was really never more than a 20 minute ride to get anywhere. The underground in the UK is so nice because you can get any where. Its layout is basically a loop with several strands that cross both the loop and each other in a manner that resembles a spider web. Even though we came into different airports we were all able to take the underground to the hotel. No fussing with shuttles, buses, or taxi’s.
The hotel was very nice, though the pool and executive lounge were crowded most of the time. We didn’t spend a lot of time there; instead leaving in the morning seeing a bunch of sites, then returning to freshen up, and leaving again for a bit of night life. We saw quite a lot of sites in face. The tower of London, tower bridge, the BA London Eye, Buckingham palace, Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly circus, Oxford and Canary streets, the Winston Churchill Museum, the Cabinet War Rooms, the original Hard Rock Café (yes it was founded out side the states), Harrods (though it was so crowded the girls had no intentions of shopping), Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abby, to name a few. We also dinned on fish and chips, Shepard’s pie, and sausage and mash at local pubs and fish n chips establishments. I tried to tone it down, and we only went to se a couple of things a day. But I still think I wore RG out a bit.
Now originally RG wanted to go to a pretty fancy party on a WWII ship anchored on the Thames. I thought it was a little expensive and put off looking into alternatives. So I will give this point of advice. If you are in London for New Year’s Eve have a plan and a venue well in advance. Being out on the streets is insane to say the least. After it was too late I actually found boat cruises on the Thames that were well within budget but they were sold out. So I have to admit I dropped the ball on that one. So we decided we would head down to the river across from the London Eye stop in a pub for a few drinks, then watch the fireworks out side. Well, all the pubs had lines to get in leading out into the street. We didn’t bring any beverages and ended up being carried by the crowd to a location to watch the fireworks, where we hung out soberly and somewhat somberly for nearly two hours. They did have music playing over the loudspeaker PA system and the people watching was good.
However the fireworks were well worth the wait (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4tqsQktE2w). The British are nutz. That is all I have to say. They had over 100,000 separate pyrotechnics go off for the show. Not over $100,000 worth, but actually more than 100,000 individual explosions. It was like watching the Fourth of July fireworks. Only the main show was like our finallies and finally was 10 times that. The whole show lasted 30 to 40 minutes and was mesmerizing to say the least. My favorite part was when they had a couple doze rockets launching from the London Eye in a bidirectional loop that started at the bottom of the wheel and me at the top, all while two boats in the river motored back and forth launching several more from launch tube in the back of the boat! After it was finished nothing but madness ensued.
The BBC reported the next day that there had been over 700,000 people out on the streets of London. 2/3 of the underground station had been closed and most people didn’t want to wait in the long lines at those that were open. Neither did we. So we along with hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people roamed the streets of London looking for an open underground station. The foot traffic was so great it brought all auto traffic to a stand still for hours. Not only that, but there was no place to pee. This seems short sighted to me. We saw countless people making there own arrangements, it is a good thing it rained within the next few days. We finally gave up trying to find a way back to the hotel room at around 3:00am and ditched into a hole in the wall Indian food restaurant. Shared some appetizers and other small plates of food, used the restrooms, and waited for the crowd to disperse. An hour later we were able to get to an underground station, and we were to the hotel and in bed by 5:30a.
So I guess I should have gotten reservations to a party or cruise earlier, they don’t even let you back onto the streets until the crowds have dispersed and in the mean time you have a place to relax and have drinks. I would be upset if the venue did not offer a view of the fireworks.
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