I'm writing (starting) this blog from the Buccaneer Restaurant on Grafton Beach in Tobago (see pic of how close my table is to the water). I just returned from my 8th trip to Trinidad & 4th trip to Tobago. And as always, it was an incredible trip. Some things the same, some things new. But, all amazing. Obviously, the islands are beautiful (Tobago = Paradise), the food is good, the Carib (Caribbean Beer) is great, but most importantly, in my opinion, the people are terrific and the hospitality is second to none.

I enjoy catching up with the Digicel Pro League visionary and leader Dexter Skeene who is doing an amazing job of building the Pro League into the premier league of the Caribbean. He's a passionate, strong leader who is doing great work in T&T. I arrive on the late flight (get in @ 11:30pm Atlantic time, two hours ahead of Dallas) and for the first time in my travels, there's no other flights landing at the same time so I get through Immigration and Customs in literally 1 minute. Doesn't hurt that I had the First Class Upgrade on AA (thanks, AA)...

I check into the Hyatt Regency (my home away from home in Port of Spain) and hang outside for a couple hours doing work on their outside deck on the ocean (wired from flight and can't sleep plus body thinks it's two hours earlier). I get a few hours of sleep in a great room overlooking the ocean.

Then, first meeting of the day in POS before jumping on a plane to Tobago. It’s a quick 15 minute flight on Caribbean Airlines (nice new plane) and Tobago Meetings get started. I meet with different Football leaders and government/business leaders on the island before checking into the Grafton Beach Resort. Good view from the Hotel which is an open air hotel with open lobby, bar & restaurant, nice looking pool with a bar in the pool (although I did not have a chance to enjoy the water).

At night we have a Dinner Meeting at the really cool open air restaurant on a hill that is surrounded by villa's. While I almost always have fish and seafood in Tobago, I go with the steak and a local soup callaloo which is really good. The food in T&T always has amazing spices. Dinner meeting ends at midnight and we have a carib at the bar before calling it a night. I get to my room and open the sliding glass doors and enjoy the waves crashing and ocean breeze. Needless to say, I get an incredible night of sleep.

Next morning, I have a chance to catch up on PMI Biz at the hotel lobby before I go to the Buccaneer for lunch. Literally, 10 feet from where the waves are crashing. I have a carib beer (not normally for lunch but I'm working at a beach so it would be rude not to) and grilled tuna (fresh caught right before I sat down). The Tuna is grilled with a blend of spices. Really good.

I meet with a few Tobago leaders before heading back to Port of Spain. In Port of Spain, I check back into the Hyatt and meet with Digicel Pro League leaders, a good meeting, followed by dinner at the Waterfront Restaurant at the Hyatt. Nice restaurant. I had a great shrimp with pineapple appetizer and grilled tilapia for dinner. Once again, incredible spices on the tilapia and I had a side of fried plantains with a carib to wash it all down. And they bring Indian flat bread that is grilled with different dipping sauces. Too good...

Got back to the hotel room, caught up on emails then crashed for a 4am AT wake-up call. True to form, in the title of this blog, Paradise never gets old... Until next time, T&T.

Thanks for checking in. Safe travels.

Sincerely, 
Hitch

Allow me to start by sharing how excited I am to visit Tanzania for business. While I'll miss my family for the week, It's a once in a lifetime opportunity to visit Tanzania for business. I've heard great things about the people in Tanzania and the hospitality and looking forward to hosting a business retreat and exploring business opportunities. The trip is not an easy one; it's over 24 hours from wheels up to landing in Dar es Salaam (the capital of Tanzania). I'm traveling with Andy Smith (VP of PMI) who is a great colleague and travel partner on this trek. We enjoy a nice flight on American Airlines from DFW to LHR (London) and decide to make the most of our first leg layover. We enjoy a great breakfast/lunch (depending on what time zone you're using) of Fish & Chips and a Pint of freshly "pumped" English Lager (when in Rome!) at Huxley's Bar & Kitchen at Terminal 5 at LHR. We make the most of Mission LHR5 (our self branded layover of London Heathrow Terminal 5) before boarding a 9 hour British Airways flight from London to DAR. Flight is half empty so we're lucky enough to get our own row which helps in spreading out on this overnight flight. On my flight, I'm enjoying BRIT 40 (top 40 songs in Great Britain as presented by British Airways Radio) and a Roast Beef meal (not bad for a overnight flight meal). Fair to say, I'm rocking out to some great tunes while doing work (and writing the first Travel Blog). Inspiration... After a long flight(s), we arrive in Dar es Salaam at their International airport in the morning (@ 7am). The airport is smaller than I expected for a major African city but it's easy to navigate. When you arrive in DAR, you need to buy a Visa. $100 USD for a Visa. Takes around 45 minutes to get the visa and go through immigration. Always fun to get a new country passport stamp. This one is on this visa.

As soon as we get through immigration, we're picked up by a Range Rover (lots of Range Rovers and Land Rover Defenders here, which is my personal favorite car). Tanzania is very tropical. Lots of green forests and palm trees. The Airport is an open air airport similar to what you find at some Caribbean islands. Weather is warm and humid at all times. The toughest part of these trips is that there's never down time, as soon as we land, we get started with meetings.

As we pull out of the airport, the first thing that you notice is the amount of traffic in every direction. While lots of people ride bikes and take "very full" buses, there are a ton of cars. Locals complain that the road infrastructure does not exist so traffic is a way of life and you plan on it. That said, our driver in the Range Rover makes his own lanes of roads (going over hills, sidewalks, whatever it takes to beat the traffic.) Impressive how he cuts a commute time in half.

After a first day of meetings, we go to the National Stadium to watch the Tanzania National Team play. I'm blown away by the the number of football fans (soccer fans) in the country. Everyone is wearing a soccer jersey (lots of Barcelona, Madrid, local clubs but majority are sporting English Premier League teams; Chelsea, Liverpool, Man U are the most popular). Also, I'm impressed by the amount of advertising using Soccer (Didier Drogba who is from Ivory Coast is very popular here and he's in a lot of advertising for Pepsi, Samsung, Others).

After a long day that felt like a couple of days due to the jet lag, we check into our hotel which is an incredible resort overlooking the Indian Ocean, called the Sea Cliff. Absolutely beautiful hotel with open air restaurants, great pool, nice shopping village next to it. We eat our first dinner at the Sea Cliff restaurant. I have shrimp as appetizer and a Portuguese Seafood chowder. Both are amazing, nothing better than fresh seafood accompanied with a Serengeti (local Tanzanian Beer) and ocean breezes as you overlook the ocean. This is my first visit to Africa.

What's amazing is the friendliness of the people and their spirit. Met incredible people. Swahili is the official language but English is the business language in Tanzania. There are over a hundred tribes who all speak their own dialect of Swahili. Country is about half Muslim and half Christian. We hear the call to worship every evening from the Mosques around Dar es Salaam which is really a cool experience.

It was a long flight from Dar to London, but between two movies and TV shows on the inflight entertainment and a 4 hour power nap, the flight felt short and sweet. We have a long (16 hour) layover in London. In stead of spending the layover in the airport, we decide to check out London. After a long wait to clear immigration, we get some pounds (local currency) and ask a few locals what we should do. They all agree that we should not take a cab, expensive and traffic is bad, so we take a train. We hang out at a neighborhood called Paddington where the Central London train station is located. The goal is to hit a few pubs and get dinner. The pubs are all neighborhood watering holes, very cool with their own personality. We were not in a tourist area so experienced the authentic British pub experience. It's wet and cold in London so walking pub to pub is cold but always rewarding when you walk into a packed, warm pub. The beers are great, the fish & chips were incredible plus we ate meat pies and English style sausage platter. In England, they have spicy English style mustard, tastes like it has horseradish in the mustard. It was interesting that you have you order your food and drinks at the bar and pay as you go. No waiter/waitress service at the Pubs. Early the next morning, we leave for a 10 hour flight to Dallas. The LHR is an amazing airport. Absolutely huge and nice. It takes 20 minutes to get from one terminal to the next terminal. It's good to be back in Big D for a day before a quick turn to fly to San Antonio for three days of meetings. Thanks to everyone in Tanzania for the warm hospitality. A once in a lifetime trip...