I am the newer guy in the department as I was hired on as a temporary intern while I was finishing my studies at my local community college. My manager offered me to stick around and work full time hourly. I happily accepted the offer as I knew this would help develop my skills and I love what I did. A few months of hard work after being offered full-time, the IT Manager offered me to stay on his team permanently as salaried. I was astonished. I always knew this day would come and I’m thrilled to see my work paid for itself.
It started a couple months ago when my IT Manager brought up the idea of a couple of us attending the Infor TechEd conference in St. Paul, Minnesota. I have been with Linemaster for less than a year so I knew my chances of going to TechEd was slim. Fortunately, this conference was educational and was designed for developers to learn more about their product, Syteline. Sooner than later I was asked if I would be interested in traveling to attend this event, which I happily accepted. I consider that moment a milestone in my life – my first business trip.
The day started early at approximately 3:30 A.M. after my first of many alarms woke me up. Thankfully I had everything I needed to pack the night before so all I had to do in the morning was to quickly make sure everything was 100%. I grab my luggage, wallet, phone, and keys and loaded up the car. The flight was scheduled to leave by 6:00 A.M.
I was dropped off at T.F Green Airport a little before 5:00 A.M. I breezed through the security with no issues and I was at the gate 30 minutes early. My colleague, who was also traveling with me, arrived not too long after. We chatted for a few minutes until it was time to board the plane.
Providence Airport
The journey consisted of two flights, Providence, RI to Charlotte, NC. then Charlotte to Saint Paul, Minnesota. The first flight went quickly. Having less than four hours of sleep the night before, I used this time to catch up on sleep. By the time I knew it, we were in Charlotte. We had about an hour before our next flight so we made a stop for some breakfast. A classic Cinnabon treat and some coffee was good enough to get us through our next flight, which lasted slightly longer than the first.
We successfully made it the MSP, yay! We still needed to make it to the hotel so we downloaded the Uber app and had our driver, James meets us at the pickup location. This was my first Uber ride and it went great. James told us about the city and how we were a few weeks early from seeing the true colors of Minnesota’s autumn. He was a great host with an impressive 1500+ ride count. An obvious five-star experience.
We made it to the hotel, finally.
The hotel we are staying at is The Saint Paul Hotel which is consistently rated 4.5+ stars on various review websites. I have reviewed the hotel on Facebook with a similar number as it is truly impressive. Within the first few seconds of entering the lobby, I was blown away by the beauty of it all.
The Saint Paul Hotel Lobby
All in all, the entire trip to Minnesota went as expected without any delays or troubles. I was in Minnesota in less than six hours of my original starting location, Connecticut. The trip is something to remember and to look forward to in the future.