Airplanes and taxis and buses and trams, oh my!

Air travel, with a group, is much more enjoyable than flying alone. The time goes by more quickly and I don’t have to think as much – Randy does the thinking. He’s a really smart guy – even has his Doctorate in Chemistry. Randy knows when we need to catch our connection. Randy knows where the gate is because he looked on the airport map on the plane before we landed. Usually I wander around looking for the perfect place to eat, but not today. Jeff picked it out, “We’re not eating crappy fast food – we’re sitting down!” Maggie and Amanda provide the entertainment. Maggie keeps us energized with her amazingly positive spirit and Amanda is my rock – calm, non-judgmental, sincere – listening to all of my decompression babble. (I’ve had insomnia for the last couple of nights and the adrenaline I’m running on is finally starting to fizzle now that I’m en route to my conference.)

Travel from the Nashville airport to the hotel was a tad complicated. Fitting five suitcases, five passengers and various carry-ons into a minivan taxi was hilarious, but the guy really wanted our money and made it happen! By the time we got to the hotel, we had to hurry to get to the shuttle stop that would take us to the Opening Night speaker. I dumped my stuff in my room. Looked around in amazement. (This is a super fancy place!) And ran back down to the lobby to wait and wait. Forty minutes later we were taken about 20 minutes to the Grand Ole Opry Conference Center extravaganza – hotels, restaurants, and meeting halls. The speaker was in the Grand Ole Opry House and I can now check that off my list of things to do before I die. We listened to a taped version of Leeann Rimes singing the National Anthem while we all stood. The acoustics were amazing.

A tram ride and another bus later, we were back to our hotel. Walked to a restaurant for some beer and food and collapsed about midnight. Have to say I am pretty impressed…this is a really cool town. Looking forward to seeing some of the live blues I heard oozing out of many of the places we walked by last night.

Oh – if you happen to be in downtown Nashville tonight and see a nerdy looking bouncer with lots of stuff hanging off his belt – don’t let him card you. (Some guy thought Dr. Randy was a bouncer and handed him his card. It was hilarious!)