It’s around this time of year that I’d usually begin blogging my traditional 5,6 or 7 days of PASS (another conference about another technology) and I have been doing this for at least 3-4 years (primarily as a speaker). This year, due to a multitude of reasons, I decided to pull my sessions just prior to selection after deciding that it really was time for me to do something different. Those people who know me quite well will know that I have harbored a very strong interest in Microservices and container technologies (long before they started getting “hip” in the world of Microsoft) and have had a bucket list desire to attend Dockercon since it’s inception.
This year, Dockercon was hosted in Austin, Texas and by all accounts was a great success, and whilst I came very close to attending, it was just not quite at the right time of year for me this time around. So when Dockercon EU was announced and to be held in Copenhagen, Denmark (the home of SQLNexus -an event that I help organize) it was a no-brainer for me to try and get here since I am already familiar with the place. After much deliberating about lost earnings and reward/ return I decided to bite the bullet and stop procrastinating. So here I am….
Yesterday was supposed to be my day to prepare but given I had a dog to take for numerous walks, and then one of my children decided to hang around, I got very little packing and prep done.
So this morning I awoke with a lot to do. The usual printing off boarding passes, hotel booking papers and trying to figure out how the hell to get from A to B was firmly in progress. The first obstacle of the day was to navigate the fact that no trains were running to the airport from Cambridge! Luckily there was a replacement bus service, so I headed out early and managed to catch the earlier service to the airport.
After jumping some of the queues with my priority ticket, and clearing security, I was in the airport lounge by 11.30am. Given my flight was 2.30pm, there was a fair bit of hanging around so I decided to head to Starbucks to charge my equipment for the flight ahead. The flight was fairly uneventful and I mostly knew my way around Copenhagen airport, so I picked up my luggage and headed for the trains in which I hoped to pick up a metro to the Bella Center. It was here where I made the mistake of changing my plans at the last minute after seeing a signpost to hotel transit -which I already knew would take me directly to the hotel. The only problem was that the walk to the pickup point turned into a short hike, leading me across to the other airport terminal! Furthermore, the bus did not arrive for another 15 to 20 mins (apparently we had just missed the previous bus).
By 5.45pm I had finally arrived at the hotel and decided to eat in their restaurant called BASALT since I really didn’t have the energy to venture any further. I treated myself to Beer, a fire-grilled leek cheese dish and medium rare Sirloin which Gordon Ramsey would have been proud of (although I’d probably have preferred slightly less Beetroot on it since it was quite powerful, and even the cherries had a job taking the full edge off it). But I left really full and satisfied -and who can complain at that!
Tomorrow is the first full day out Dockercon. I’m really looking forward to it and ticking off one more bucket item from the list!
Other posts in this series
4 days of Dockercon – Day 4
4 days of Dockercon – Day 3
4 days of Dockercon – Day 2
4 days of Dockercon – Day 1
Filed under: Community, Events
