A Business Trip for the Books
I was looking forward to writing this blog a couple of weeks before I set out on a two week business trip. I actually had it all planned out ahead of time. Why? Who cares about a business trip you say? Well cause I was taking a business trip around the world. That is right. For the small cost of abandoning my family for two weeks (turns out nothing is worth that), I got to fly to the UK to do some work with the home office, then fly to Taiwan to do some work with potential customers, then fly home from there thus circumnavigating the globe. I was excited about it, the plan was I would take picture at each port of call and compile them into this blog. All things were a go when I got to the UK, fancy Business Class tickets purchased for the long haul to the far east, nice hotels and many a meeting.
But no. It was not to be.
I have been traveling to the UK with some frequency, each time making more and more of a home for myself out there instead of just working 12 hours a day and never quite getting my sleep down. This time, with of my co-workers from the US, I decided to venture into nature with a mountain bike to see the other side of the UK. It did not disappoint. The Surrey Hills were gorgeous. Dense trees, wild flowers, beautiful vistas and some pretty technical mountain biking if you are looking for it. We had a great time...up until I thought I would give a particular steep decent a try. Now let’s get this out of the way now; what happened was my fault. There are a lot of things that were not ideal. The rented mountain bike was not ideal, I didn’t have my biking shoes on, one could argue that the rented bike simply wasn’t strong enough, but in the end, I ignored those factors and tried something that was probably just equal to my capabilities if I was on my own bike and I wasn’t so rusty. So I crashed. I made it to the bottom of the hill and depending on whose account you take, the front tire buckled and I hit the ground face first. So perfect was the landing on my face that there was nary a sore muscle on my hands, wrists or arms. All. Face.
It wasn’t good, it didn’t hurt a lot, and I was able to walk out of there. But I had to have an ambulance take me to a hospital (not an emergency, just a logistical problem really) and spend 10+ hours in the UK National Health Service. I was very happy with the national medical system, they were thorough, polite, skilled in their craft and worked hard to make sure I was alright. It was slow, but I can’t say I have seen anything much better here in the US. Anyway, I had two serious lacerations on my face. My upper lip and my eye lid. I got real lucky nothing else was seriously injured (like losing my eye).
Back to the beginning, looking like I did, the doctors said I shouldn’t get on a plane anytime soon (apparently the airlines can segregate the ugly). So, I missed out on Taiwan. Turns out, it was all for the best. I got much more work done in the UK, was able to heal and looked half-way normal by the time I saw my family again. I put some pictures below...if you have the stomach for it!
The Surrey Hills above Guildford, UK