Too Much Time; Not Enough Motivation: A Slow Morning at the Hands of Volkswagen

Getting a leisurely start to my Monday.

I'm with Volkswagen in Reston, Virginia. If you read my last blog, you know that VW engineered this event on a one-day schedule with journalists flying in today, participating in the program and flying out tonight. However, they also extended an invitation to come in the night before and have dinner with the VW PR folks. About 20 of us took them up on it.

Because the program is scheduled to accommodate journalists flying in today, nothing other than breakfast really begins until 9:15 when we troop to VW headquarters for a presentation.

I've got some time to kill.

Dinner last night was at some French joint called Mon Ami Gabi. I don't know much French, but I think that loosely translates as "My Love, Gabi." Or, "Yes, I have a red pencil box."  I'm not sure which.

I'm not big on French food -- or much of anything else French, for that matter -- but the chow there was pretty darn good. The French onion soup -- on the menu it was called onion soup with cheese -- was without a doubt the best I've ever eaten. It was nothing short of brilliant.

VW put us up at the Hyatt Regency Reston. It is a conference center with an emphasis on business guests. On the plus side, that means there are coffee makers in the rooms. On the minus side it means not much in the way of pampering.

I hiked the two miles through the hotel on a vision quest for the business center. On this journey I passed the bleached bones of a steer and the rusted remains of a 1952 Desoto. (I made that up.)

My 15-minute investment of time was rewarded with a small room containing two PCs and two printers. I wanted to print out my boarding passes for my flights home tonight. I sat down and clicked on the icon for Internet access and discovered that I had to swipe a credit card to get online. WTF!!!

VW had already paid whatever the daily charge is for me as a guest to access the Internet from my room. I shouldn't have to pay again just because I need a printer. VW does have a PC and printer in its hospitality suite, but it won't open until later today after I am long gone.

Luckily, there was a PC and printer in the lobby dedicated to all things airline related. I printed out my boarding passes in about 4 minutes...FOR FREE!!!

Meanwhile, I've still got an hour to kill before heading off to VW headquarters and today's ride and drive.

I suppose I could do something productive….

Nah.