Where in the world is Ben? The UK

Big Ben, of course

A week-long trip to England brought me to three cities — London, Leeds and Manchester.  London was great, as always — I stayed in a cool boutique hotel (Hotel Indigo — look it up) near Paddington Station, surrounded by great pubs and restaurants, and only a few blocks’ walk from Hyde Park and Buckingham Palace.  Next up was Leeds, a nondescript town about 4 hours north of London, and then on to Manchester (home of Man U), a gritty urban city if there ever was one, before heading home.  The English are a great people; they are kind and generous, and quite helpful in recommending just the right beers to try.  Unusually for me, my colleague and I DROVE the entire trip, forsaking the Tube, trains and taxis due to the large distances between our appointments, and it was lucky for me that I wasn’t the one behind the wheel trying to stay on the “wrong” side of the road.  Ah, well, nobody was hurt in the making of this trip, and therefore — except for the excruciating 5-hour delay flying home due to the tremendous storms in NJ, and the embarrassment of shopping for “Will and Kate” souvenirs for my girls – it was another fantastic visit across the pond.

Where in the world is Ben? Las Vegas

The Strip

Las Vegas — what an odd place.  I was there for a business/scientific conference and after the technical presentations and lectures I certainly enjoyed the food, gambling and street performers, but no shows this time.  Celebrity sightings included Tori Spelling (at least I think it was her), somebody who was the absolute spitting image of Michael Jackson, and all the Elvises you care to imagine.  The light and water show at the Bellagio was visible from my hotel window at Bally’s; that was fun to watch.  And just prior to the conference, I spent a day with two of my favorite people, Bruce and Dania, eating a lot of ice cream and watching them clean up at the roulette tables.  But on the OTHER hand, Vegas seemed to be strangely lifeless, full of tourists, beggars, escort-service rustlers, itinerant musicians of dubious talent and more concrete than I expected, and it was NOT cheap.  On the list of vacation spots, I would rate it a 4 and as a business destination a solid 5, but despite all of the thousands of people milling about shoulder to shoulder, it struck me as a lonely place.

And awa-a-a-a-y we go!

For the past two years, my job has taken me around the world to countries near and far, and yet the only commentaries I’ve posted have been connected to our great town of Verona.  Well, the ether is just too big a place for that, so I hereby inaugurate a new category for this blog — World Travel.  Coming up, observations on my recent trip to Las Vegas, with comments on trips to England and Switzerland later this summer.  However, don’t be upset, dear readers — now that our town has elected three new town council members and the budget battle for 2011 rages on, there will be plenty of comments, insights and (yes) criticism on Verona topics.  How sweet it is!