Orlando
I just finished a presentation at the RD summit here in Orlando, where I arrived from Africa a few hours ago. It was a 17.5-hour flight from Johannesburg to Atlanta, with a 1-hour refueling stop in Dakar, Senegal. Megan and I enjoyed the security sweep in Dakar, and now she’s headed for home while I settle in for a geek week in the sun.
This photo is taken outside my hotel room. Let’s just say this place is different from the hotels I’ve stayed at on most of my business trips lately. Disney World is so close you can feel it in the air.
And speaking of hotels, here’s an email I just sent to the editor of Time Magazine …
As a frequent business traveler, I often find overbearing hotel staff tedious. So on the long flight yesterday from Johannesburg to Atlanta, I was pleased to come across your article on Andrew Cosslett, the man who transformed Intercontinental. His thoughts on hotel service for business travelers were refreshing, such as “Why do we play The Girl from Impanema when no one in the bar is over the age of 40? Why do we have to tow that pianist out?”
Just 24 hours earlier, I had found myself listening to the piano player in the bar of my hotel playing Girl from Impanema. The hotel: Johannesburg’s Intercontinental Palazzo. Transform away, Mr. Cosslett.
Doug Mahugh
Seattle, WA
This entry was posted on Sunday, June 3rd, 2007 at 2:59 pm. You can subscribe to comments on this post through its RSS feed.
on June 3, 2007 at 3:20 pm orcmid wrote:
Wow, I have a version of that frog, smaller and in an interesting green color. I’m not sure I have any record who the artist was.
on June 3, 2007 at 5:06 pm Tom wrote:
Part of our honeymoon was spent in Orlando/Kissimmee. Mostly because it was between St. Pete and St. Augustine, where we spent more of our time. But we had a good time there, I suppose — we had a friend working at Disney, so we had a good and more-affordable-than-most time.
The best part was that when we got off the highway, there were signs for attractions. Disney World, Ocean World, Gator World, Orange World, Jeans World, and (wait for it …) Theme World.
Lizzie wouldn’t let me take us to Theme World. I was overwhelmed with curiosity, but it was either that or World Golf Village in St. Augustine. I think I chose wisely.
We got to see a vintage mashie niblick, for heaven’s sake.