As the expression goes, all good things come to an end, and going back to work after a wonderful Christmas and New Year’s break was one of them. Yes, it’s a New Year in 2016, and back to the daily grind. The Christmas season always goes so fast, but this year it really seemed to zoom by!
DOS and I had an enjoyable trip to Roanoke for Christmas to see my family. 
Although we were hoping for snow, it was an unseasonable 65-70 degrees every day! Of course no trip to Roanoke would be complete it our luggage wasn’t lost and the flight delayed going to Roanoke – quite par for the course on these former US Air Express, and now American Eagle prop-jets.
As I posted last, we stayed at the Hyatt Cypress Orlando for New Year’s,
followed by an overnight stay at the Hyatt Regency Orlando, 
where we had a delicious dinner with our friends Ben and Tom at Del Frisco’s celebrating Tom’s retirement.
On Sunday, we slept in a bit, and took our long exercise walk from the hotel to the connected Orlando Convention Center, all the way to the also connected Hilton Hotel. It’s a nice walk thru this mammoth convention center, and they were setting up for a big convention as we walked thru.
After a late checkout of 2pm, we moved on to yet another Hyatt; this time our Sunday night ‘home’ at the Hyatt Regency Orlando Airport, where we stay frequently when I have an early morning Monday flight for work. 
We stayed in our preferred 10th floor room with balcony overlooking the runway, pool, and international terminal, watching the Virgin Atlantic, Lufthansa, and British Airways jumbo jets take off.
On Monday, we had a nice breakfast buffet at Hemisphere’s at the Hyatt hotel, before I headed downstairs for my flight to Dayton, OH, via Charlotte.
I started the 2016 flight year off right in First Class, which was nice with my complimentary American Airlines Executive Platinum upgrades, and both flights were comfortable and uneventful.
I got to Dayton around 1pm, and rented an SUV from National Car Rental for the week.
Of course I wasn’t expecting the morning icy frost I had to scrape off the windshield – one of those reasons I moved to Florida years ago! I commented on Facebook about the nice flannel-lined jeans my sister had gotten me for Christmas – something that definitely was appreciated here in winter-time Ohio!
My week in Ohio was quite cold compared to Orlando, but I was so busy this week with four different projects that I hardly noticed. I worked most days from 8am to 9 or 10pm, so I was quite tired when I got ‘home’ to my hotel; the Hampton Inn Sidney which is the best hotel in town. Actually I really liked this property as I had stayed there before in December, and had requested my favorite room – 260, which is a large and very quiet room at the end of the hall, next to the staircase and a storage closet, so there was no traffic or noise in the hallway.
I didn’t have a chance to do much of anything this week, but being the tourist that I am, I took a couple photos going from rural site to rural site.
By Friday I was ready to come home, and took the 1:45pm flight from Dayton to Charlotte, connecting to Orlando. Although I had a scheduled hour and a half connection, the first flight was delayed almost an hour, so it made for a very tight connection going from the commuter terminal E in Charlotte to the end of terminal C. Fortunately I made the flight with 15 minutes to spare. Along the way, I could see workers taking down the Christmas decorations in the airport. So sad to see the season come to an end!
When I got back to Orlando at 6:20pm, DOS was waiting for me, and we had a nice dinner at home. After eating out all the time for work, it was so nice to fire up the grill, have a nice steak, and of course some nice vino; a delicious O’brien Cabernet we had picked up at the winery a couple years ago in Napa Valley.
Now back at home, I’m back in the mode for the New Year in 2016! Lots of things and trips to look forward too this year. Ready or not – it’s a new year! As the saying goes: ‘Time waits for no-one!’ – oh so true! 
Happy New Year!