On My Way Out

I leave in a few hours and things are just crazy.

Over the past week, we have created 3 brochures and 2 slide decks, each in English and also translated into Simplified Chinese.

Our marketing person was scrambling to mail these, along with gifts (for the business meetings), and other materials to hotels in Shanghai, Suzhou and Taipei. These are heavy boxes. At $500+ per courier delivery, it still takes 3-5 business days to reach their destination.

Meanwhile, I still have to research the companies in more detail. I have to find some time to go over my presentation, which I will be giving to two big audiences in Shanghai and Taipei.

The itinerary is jam packed. We have 2 to 3 meetings a day, and another city got added. In some cases, I give a presentation to an audience in the morning, then head off to two meetings right away.

To make things worse, a French company is coming to Toronto, and I have to make a presentation to them on the same day I return. So I had to get that set up before I leave.

# # # # #

Remembering the ordeal from last year, and not wanting to repeat that, I have also spent the week making sure that my overall health will be able to handle this. I’ve been heading out to the gym for cardio and weight training on a daily basis. Once I get there, it will be non-stop with no time for sight-seeing, hotel gyms, or healthy meals. We will be rushing through breakfast. Lunch and dinner will be at the mercy of what our hosts give us. Quite frankly, my experience last year was that the food was really rich and lacking in fibre. I’m prepared this time with multi-vitamin pills and capsules of concentrated berry and oat bran extract. I’m also carrying melatonin strips to get my sleep cycle quickly back in synch once I arrive at the other side of the world.

Blogging is blocked in China, so my emailed blog posts will be going out into cyberspace. I’ll have no idea whether my communications will reach the wordpress site. This is my last chance to test this email system on home turf.

This whole thing feels like I’m some urban commando.

Map of Itinerary: