Europe - Fall 2010 (Germany, England, Austria, Wales, Switzerland)

As the Global Director of Logistics and Purchasing for Fosbel, I travel internationally every 2 or 3 months. My motto has always been "I'll sleep when I'm dead", and my trips reflect this. I make every effort to pack my trips to accomplish a lot while I am away from my family and home my office (I also have offices in Germany and China). I take lots of pictures and video along the way to remember the sights, sounds and tastes of the cultures I am exposed to. It is a great way for me to broaden the horizion of my two boys Andy (9) and Tommy (5).

In this 10 day trip, I spent 5 days in Germany with my team there. I was so pleased with the great progress the team had made since my last visit 6 months prior! This was by far the most positive, "keep up the good work" trip... I think we are through the majority of the learning curve of them adapting the new processes and procedures that I am replicating globally, and they caught up on the 2 year backlog of work that I inherited. Yes, I was all smiles on this trip (which they really enjoyed) and we could focus on the challenges "going forward" - like making sales directly into Russia from Germany, and adapting to the closure of the Spain Warehouse (finally) and other complex logistics challenges.

For the weekend, I was lucky enough to be in Europe for the "3 Countries Marathon", which runs from Germany to Austria to Switzerland. Friday after work, I made the 6 hour drive to the very southern tip of Germany and into Austria for the weekend. I stayed in Bregenz, Austria and had all day Saturday to enjoy what the area had to offer (Pfänder Mountain, etc). It was beautiful and relaxing and the weather was excellent, too.

You can find the whole "3 Countries Marathon" weekend story in this blog as well. http://ironmanken.blogspot.com/2010/10/3-countries-marathon-germany-austria.html

I returned very, very late Sunday night to my "home away from home" at the Weidenbrück Inn in Euskirchen, Germany, and had one last work day Monday before leaving for my first trip to the UK. Monday afternoon, I took the German high speed rail to Frankfurt to catch my flight to Manchester, England.

I landed in Manchester around 5pm and was greeted at the airport by my colleague who lives nearby. The purpose of this trip was to meet and evaluate a new supplier / distributor to support our growing operations in the UK.

My first dinner in England was at a 1730 built, incredibly quaint English pub. After a couple of pints of the local beer, I enjoyed my first official "Fish 'n Chips" with "Mushy peas". It was fantastic (and HUGE). I chased this beast with a "sticky toffee pudding" - which was equally huge and equally fantastic! The setting was just so "perfect" and made for the quintessential first England dinner experience. I was taken there by the two owners of the company I was going to visit. The conversation was easy as one of the two owners was an athlete who was getting ready to start his first triathlon. :)

The next day was a whirlwind of activity. I was up early to run off the giant meal from the night before. The Inn where I was staying was actually in Wrexham, Wales. Farms, sheep, little villages and stone walls everywhere. Absolutely beautiful country! I ran from Wales to England - my own personal "2 countries 5k". :)

After the run, I had a traditional English breakfast and was picked up at the Inn by my host. We spent the day driving around western England from plant to plant and warehouse to warehouse so I could evaluate this new supplier. It was grueling... but brought us through some beautiful countryside as we traveled from Wrexham, Wales to Liverpool to Birmingham to Manchester.

I collapsed in my hotel room in Manchester the last night at 8pm. I didn't even have the energy to get out of the hotel for dinner... I ate downstairs (which was good)