Warszawa

Yesterday, I landed in Warsaw as a business trip has brought me to this Polish city. Thankfully, Buddy will be joining me for some weekend sightseeing following my business commitments. All I have seen thus far is the Warsaw airport expansion project, view of the outskirts of the city from the back of a cab, and Warsaw nightlife from the window of a conference room.

What can I tell this you at this time? I am afraid not very much. It has been a while since I exited and airplane directly onto the tarmac and was bused into the arrivals terminal. Thankfully, passport control, while a bit archaic, was relatively hassle free – no arrivals card required.

The most exciting aspect of my trip has been the wild taxi ride from the EDS office last night to the hotel. Myself, along with 3 other EDS colleagues learned that Poles and Texans apparently do have something in common: (1) amber traffic lights mean accelerate through the intersection rather than slow down and (2) driving 10 miles an hour (or perhaps kilometers in this case) over the spped limit is standard operating procedure. For a split second last night, I felt like I was an extra in the Steve McQueen movie “Bullet” as we careened our way through the streets of Warsaw, taking curves on one wheel or “The Dukes of Hazzard” as we flew over the tops of hills. OK, could it be so bad as all that, you ask? Even the veteran EDS Client Executive in the front seat was “white knuckled” as he held on to the dashboard.

The last minute race to prepare for a client presentation has demanded that my team mates and I hunker down in a “soviet-bloc” style office building rather than experiencing the sights and sounds of Warsaw. Give me a day and I promise I will share more…..