Berlin EPCA - the longest journey begins with just a small step

Banished from the BA lounge since June when my silver card membership expired because I had done too little longhaul travel in this year of recession, I've been roaming around Heathrow Terminal 5, trying on perfume here, buying euros there, avoiding the free snifters of Scotch which at 7.00 am would be a very bad start indeed to what is going to be a very long day.

I have gone back to my old habit of coffee and almond croissant at the Costa coffee stand - let the conference weight gain begin!

I'm waiting for my Houston pals, Stephen and Heather who are definitely in the airport but it looks like Heather's US mobile won't be working in Europe. Why can't they just fall in line with the rest of the world?

Dressed for the Arctic, in my woolly hat, scarf and gloves, I am prepared for the heavy rain and even snow forecast for Berlin this weekend, and the long daily trek from our hotel in the Los Angeles Platz to the Interconti on the Budapesterstrasse, where the main conference is taking place.

Colleagues have been reminding me that last time we were in Berlin, we had a really bad car crash on the way in from the airport. It was the talk of the conference, and gave me plenty to write about on my new blog which I had just started that month.