A reflection of the week and American Trains

Hopefully my final visit to Orlando, Disney is concluded. The contrast between the immaculate and anodyne world of Disney and the run down Orlando Amtrak station is just what was needed to clear my head of Mickey Mouse. A week in Disney at the Lotusphere conference is like being rolled up in a duvet, stuffed full of pizza and beer and watching cartoons solidly for a week – the flaking whitewash of the station paint job and the hard wooden benches are the perfect antidote to the excess of last week.

Now that I am alone for the first time in 6 months, I am both nervous and excited about what lays ahead. I haven't traveled solo before really – so this trip I am focused on talking with strangers and hearing what they have to say about life. Traveling alone makes it much easier to speak to people you don't know, and everyone is inquisitive about a lone guy sat at a bar eating oysters and furiously scribbling in a journal. When you are with friends you don't need other peoples company so much, and feel less need to just strike up a conversation with stranger.

However Disney was not a complete cultural washout, it was a week punctuated with new friends. I met several new people that I know I will stay in contact with once I leave work. Many of the conversations I had will stay with me as I travel and feel I am much better off for having made these new incontri (acquaintances – can't think of the right English word so the Italian will have to do). Also I think as I am leaving the industry many people who I have known for a few years were more willing to give me their personal opinions on things rather than their professional as may have been in the past, maybe they believe that as I am leaving their planet, their secret thoughts are safe with me.

I have not given this week off a real purpose other than to switch off and see what comes to mind, but already I think learning from strangers is good place to focus. Anyway US trains – heard lots of bad things about them and nothing good other than they are cheap. Even as I am about to step on the train a Canadian guy is warning me to be careful – of WHAT? No one will say!