Back in Princeton

Work has taken me back to the US.  I arrived yesterday after a progression of travel disasters that will one day make a great stand-up routine (let's just say I found myself at a Starbucks at 530am, with my bags, hotel-less and into my 20th hour of wearing the same clothes).

That afternoon I had a meeting with a prospective client, a guy I've built up a decent relationship with over the last four months, and I was faced with a problem: what to say about my nightmarish travel experience?

I'm on the horns of a familiar dilemma.  Riffing about the series of mishaps is a chance for us to bond.  The reason why so many comedy routines are travel-centered is that 'the travel disaster' is a universal experience (amongst the middle class people who go comedy shows at least).  Talking about my day will act as an ice-breaker and we can have some fun swapping stories before getting down to business.

But in doing so, am I accentuating the fact that I am a UK-based supplier trying to break into the US market, at some level I'm reminding him that I'm not based in New York or Philadelphia?  Even if its only at a subconsciously, am I restating the fact that travel experiences like yesterday have to be factored into my costs in some way?

The situation was even more pronounced when I lived in Sydney, which is at least ten hours flying time from anywhere.  The fact that much of the world sees Australia as an exotic place was always a potential negative for me: what could I gain by reminding the client that when the project's over I'm going back to somewhere exotic and he isn't?

Never complain about jetlag and save the 'travel nightmare' stories for friends and family.