Travel and Time Dilation

I wanted to talk about time travel, seeing as I was on a journey through time, but I find myself almost at the end and back in the folds of normality. I will try and separate my thoughts but as it is both 17:30pm and 01:30am I am not sure how much sense I will make. Add to this a terrible cold fuzzing up my thinking process.

First there is the obvious aspect of travel, that of time zones. I took off from London and travelled west against the turning of the earth at an altitude of 34,000 feet. This journey takes me into USA time zones that are effectively 9 hours in my past relative to me at the start of the flight. Every mile I travel takes me forward in time along with my home but it also takes me into the past. All relative, of course, but the point is that my causal domain begins to shear away from my loved ones. Little by little I drift into a new time.

Add to this the fact that I am travelling at 430 mph. The faster I go the slower my time frame moves relative to a stationary person. Theory of relativity will tell you the closer I approach to the speed of light the slower time will pass. Regardless of the time zones I begin to slow down as I travel, albeit by a miniscule fraction. ( Time dilation due to relative velocity )

Add to this my altitude and we have another aspect of causal shear. The higher I fly the slower time moves relative again to the ground. Again, this is a miniscule fraction but it all forms the fact that relative to my loved ones I drift into a new causal domain. ( Time dilation due to gravity )

So not only am I moving into a new place on the globe, where the sun hits the ground differently and thus effects how everyone goes about their business, I have slowed down in time. I take off at 20:00 and the flight takes 10 hours, but it is not the same amount of time for people waiting for me back home. It is ever so slightly longer.

Now the act of returning home cannot undo the time distortion, I have to adapt and re-synch myself to local time. I believe this is known as Jet Lag.

Second and Last Day

The second day of the vent was equally busy and I am left now, at the very end of the third and final day, heaving a sigh of relief. It was a very busy event in all ways. Hugely successful from a business point of view, very successful from a personal business point of view and run off my feet from an organisational point of view.

I met a lot of American colleagues and found everyone to be very personable and nice to have met. I learnt a lot about my business and my industry. It was good all round.

I do, however, look forward to returning home and squeezing my family. Throwing my boy into the air and cuddling my lovely wife. I have missed them.

With the event really busy I found myself running around behind the scenes a lot. On the last day the National Association of Convenience Stores started their big give away. It was obvious everyone there on the last day was there to hoover up all the freebies they could and the vendors were happy to push their items away as fast as they could too.

Now it is done. I am away tomorrow morning for another round of flights before touching down in Heathrow. Can't wait.

The First Day

The first day of the exhibition and I thought I was going to get away with an easy time. I was wrong. The first task was to gather everyone and their hand carried secret items all destined for the show and get over to the booth.

That was the easy part, hefted a few boxes and arrived at the display where all the chaos of last night had been replaced with a beautiful exhibition booth. I had to be pleased with the results. However, I also now had to make sure the multi media was working - which took some time, and then I had to make sure that the secret area had all the secret items - without which the whole event would have crumbled. Luckily there was lots of help and assistance on hand and everyone pulled together.


By the end of the day there was a common consensus that the whole thing had been a great success. Huzzah!

It's very tiring though, my gods the dry heat and constant standing up wear you down. I have yet to eat a normal meal and very much miss my lovely home cooked meals.

The Last Push

I spent a while fixing up the PPT presentation, making calls, answering emails, getting ready, etc. Then took a huge box of kit down to the taxi rank with the help of a bell boy, though he wasn't wearing the little hat I expected.

Once I was out of the taxi and waiting for a trolley I realised I had just lost my passport. It was in my trouser pocket and then it wasn't. I spent a while patting my self down, searching pockets, searching bag. Then I waited, counted to ten and searched again. It was gone. I did go straight to security though, who phoned the cab company, who got in touch with the driver, who then returned it safe and sound ( it only cost me a cab fare ). I am a lucky fellow.


Then finally I was at the exhibition where a lot of parts and fittings were forming into the design I knew of. The graphics were all in place and seeing the potential I was very pleased with the work done so far. I think it will be an impressive show. To start with I had to set up all the multimedia stuff but once that was sorted I helped the engineer guys do some welding, cleaning, packing, unpacking, shifting and so on. Acting as a human vice when called upon.

When I went to get lunch I found myself at Starbucks ( I didn't choose the venue ) and asked the lady for a "Bear Claw" because I had heard of them on Seinfeld and thought they sounded yummy and very American. The lady miss-heard me and gave me a bagel! Which was much better and a healthier choice to boot.

In the evening we had the team dinner. I had to race back from the set up and leap in a shower before attending the Cantonese meal. It was a very nice restaurant, with lovely meal. Lots to eat of all different varieties. The whole show is shaping up. Tomorrow is the last push before it starts.

First Stage: Slim Pickings to Sin City

It was an uneventful trip in the nice car to Heathrow, chatting with some ex-copper about the state of the world. Then I went through a swift check-in process and boarded the United Airlines plane, a great big transatlantic one. I had to get my laptops out, belt off, shoes off, jacket off for the customs search but there was lots of time to recover my wits and garments.

On the plane I was stuck between two other fellows but I'm not much of a twitcher, so I found that I was OK for most of the flight. I watched the in flight movies "Night in the Museum 2" - which could be called 'Night in Ad Nauseam' ( you see what I did there?), lots of the usual faces doing Ben Stiller impressions so I was dropping off for that one. However, there was also more than enough time for "Moon" - which was awesome, very cool sci-fi.

I really felt for a character far from home and stuck in a tin can. I felt I was on a big coach trip until I glanced out the window and realised I was 34,000 feet up.

Landed in Dulles, Washington DC ( which looks very nice indeed, all green countryside and similar temperatures ) and had to go through the scary customs, where they take your mug shot and fingerprints. The desire to be naughty and cheeky, or just plain running around crazy, was quite strong (How far could I get if I just ran like a bastard through the customs line? How many times would they ask me to retake my photo if I pulled a joey face at the last minute? ).

Finally landed in Las Vegas after a final long dull journey, watched a program about the Stone of Scone, drifted in and out of snoozes. Then after gathering the bags, I bought a ticket on the shuttle. It is only at this point, driving into the heart of Sin City, that I understand I am in America. I haven't made contact with JAB or anyone else but I have had a whole load of stuff delivered to my room for the conference.



The hotel room is awesome and I have just about set myself up. I made sure I have internet and that I have coffee making facilities ( a tiny percolator ) - so I am about to have a coffee and some lovely home made biscuits, then a shower and shave. Whereabouts I may feel normal - how decidedly British of me.

Just Before the Big Adventure

By the Beard of Thor! The time is upon me and the Big Adventure is almost here. Even now, with so much to do I still find myself hiding my head a little bit from the reality of not being at home all week.

This seems like the only time I will have been away from my boy in his life ( more sad for me than him, I'm sure ) and the only time I've not been home to wife since we have been together ( aside from a night or two at the time of said boys arrival into the world). The preparation has been so busy and stressful I have not really absorbed the scale of the project, let alone it's affect on me personally.

To describe a little more. I am about to go to Las Vegas for the NACS Show 2009 - which is a huuuuuge venue for forecourt and petrochem companies and their major yearly exhibition. I have been part of a team organising and forming the essence of the exhibition for my current employer PetroTechnik (hi guys!). I wont delve too much into the specifics of why or what because it may distract from the experiences relevant to this blog. Go to the company site to know more, Google your self silly and track down the details. What interests me more is obviously, my part in this.

The visual design, advertising and general organisation has fallen to me and thus I have been unable to fully take in the massive scale. I know it will be big and wonderful, I know it will be successful, but exactly how successful and wonderful is yet to play out.

I will talk more about it as the days unfold, as I plan to focus on communication. Something that will become very important. So I will try and keep a diary of sorts via this blog, post pictures and so on, even record some vlogs and messages.

I will discuss time at some point, and yes I will go off on a big twisty mind rant. Time is very much entwined in these events. Not just from the time spent away but the time not spent in normality.

The reason I have not blogged for so long and the reason for some new activity is that I will be away by aeroplane, staying in big hotel, roaming the halls of Las Vegas and not be back for a little while. This may be seen as a great time for most, a holiday even for some but with my particular family it is very different, we simply do not wish to be apart. Our lives and way of living is carefully balanced and sychronised, routined and ordered to fulfill as much of our quite and modest wishes as we can.

I will have to buy a suitcase for this whole event. Thank goodness I have a passport! Plus I have this swanky new laptop so I need to make best use of it.

Now, change is not a bad thing in itself and every time we have experienced change so far, we have adapted and molded reality until it allows us to once again maintain our path.

We are a bubble, a unit, the family is one.