I knew that this trip would not be easy. It’s a long distance from Switzerland to New Orleans, and there were no direct flights. So i’ll have to change the plane at least once. But let’s start at the beginning of my journey to VeeamON 2017.
Saturday, 13th of May – Flight to New Orleans
Last Saturday the 13th of May it all started. I woke up early in the morning to get the rest of my stuff packed, and checked if there is anything missing. Fortunately there wasn’t. I got my clothes, my laptop, all the necessary cables and chargers and travel documents. I’m good to go. I went to the train station to catch the train to Zurich Airport. The nice thing is that directly under the airport there is a train station. So i went from the train directly to the baggage check-in and then straight through security to the gate.
The flight from Zurich to London, where my connection flight was scheduled, was not so nice. The flight itself was smooth and without turbulences. But there was a small child, crying the whole flight. I was hoping that this won’t happen on the plane to New Orleans…
In London i met a bunch of cool people. Some guys from the UK, all Veeam addicted assembled there, and we all together took the “Veeam Plane” to NOLA. We were about ten or so people, Scottish, Englisch, Spanisch and Swiss. We had good fun on the plane to New Orleans. I thought I could get some sleep on the plane, but there wasn’t any chance. It’s not easy to catch some sleep if you’re not tired and when it’s noisy. I ready some pages and watched three movies. Finally, with the last movie, i found also my headphones.
At around 7pm in the evening we landed a little before schedule on Louis Armstrong International outside of New Orleans. After border control and baggage claim we were picked up by bus drivers and were driven to the hotel. At the hotel we checked in and met a little later at the reception to go out and find some good food. We were all hungry after such a flight. And thirsty too…
We enjoyed a nice evening on Saturday, but good chats, good burgers and beer. Some went back to the hotel, some others went out for other bars. At this time i was tired. After roughly 24 hours being awake i needed some sleep really bad.
Sunday, 14th of May – Just a day off
I woke up earlier than expected on Sunday. I thought i would be dead tired and sleep until lunch. But i was fine and felt good rested. We met at the hotel reception and went out to get a good breakfast. There was a restaurant some minutes from the hotel. They served real good stuff. From traditional pancakes, to waffles and toast, omelets, there was anything available. You could also order a T-Bone steak if you’d like to.
After that great meal we had enough energy for the rest of the day. We were heading for the National World War II Museum, just some minutes in walking distance. If you’re in New Orleans, then this is definitely a place to go. It’s huge and very interesting. And it’s a national museum, the real thing, not some small backyard playground.
Wondering what will happen on Monday and Tuesday? Stay tuned 😉