Road Trips Rock!

I love a good road trip.

Especially if it involves playing chaperone to former ABC news anchor and Mrs. Texas Megan Johnson-Zucaro

It started with a soirée in London’s fashionable Notting Hill at a cool venue called the Residency owned by hospitality supremo Danio Domingues?where we met Maurice Watts who was kind enough to collect her from the airport.

Also in attendance was my lifelong friend Kammy Darweish?who recently won Grand Prize Best Screenplay at The Rhode Island Film Festival and Best Film at the Florida Film Festival who brought Gordon Warnecke best known for playing the co-lead with Daniel Day-Lewis in the Oscar nominated film My Beautiful Laundrette.

From there, things started going downhill rapidly - albeit temporarily.? The more than mediocre hotel Megan had booked screwed up her booking.? Then bizarrely of all the thousands of hotels in London she could have taken, she ended up booking a room at the one where I was awarded ‘Networker of the Year’ back in April.??

It was time to eat, but the local pub nearby was not serving food that evening so we walked to another restaurant which did not seem to know anything about their own menu!

The next morning, it was time to collect our chariot - a Tesla - from the Westfield Shopping Centre.? Challenge number one was figuring out how to open the vehicle.? Challenge number number two was working out how to start it.? Both these feats were accomplished using the hire company’s app.? Whilst a big fan of gadgetry, this was a case of ‘too much tech’ - it took us several minutes to figure out how to open the glove compartment!? However, we were soon on the road and the terrific torque afforded by the vehicle more than made up for it.

Stop number one was to visit the ultimate ‘bad boy done good’ Stephen Gillen and his wonderful partner Daphne .? We arrived early so we had time to kill so we headed to the nearby Great Fosters hotel.? Despite smoking being a filthy and expensive habit, I do meet some interesting fellow smokers.? Today was no different and I met a charming young man called Mohamd whose family in Saudi Arabia is looking to acquire an estate in the UK.? I can sometimes be blunt.? When I pointed out that his family must be exceeding wealthy, he coyly nodded in agreement.

An enjoyable and productive meeting with Stephen and Daphne ensued, and they have hired me to bang their drum with my new bragging-as-a-service (BaaS) service.

We then hit the read and headed towards the UK’s second City Birmingham where we hooked up with signature speech supremo @Michael Don-Smith.? I have been to Birmingham six or seven times and it never fails to disappoint.? The meal we had in its buzzy center was perfect in every way - unlike the hotel which was marketed as a four star but which had the attributes of a two star.? Trying to locate the vehicle in a place which had closed for the evening simply added to the sense of adventure.

The next morning, we headed to neighboring Walsall where we met a gentleman who claimed he could help us help others in the music industry.? We shall see.

It was time to hit the road again and doing so reminded me about a major drawback to electric vehicles - the time that it takes to charge them.? We used this time productively and spent a couple of hours and the motorway service station at Warwick became our office for the second time.

Before returning the vehicle to its rightful home, I took Megan to my late Mother’s memorial bench located by the River Thames in Richmond in South West London just as the sun was going down.? We had a prayer together and could both feel her presence.? It was the highlight of our trip. A truly magical moment.

We then headed to East London where we hung out on the roof terrace of our hotel and took in the stunning views of the world’s best city.

Before parting our ways the next morning, we soaked up the atmosphere of the cosmopolitan Borough market - a heavenly destination for food lovers everywhere.

Megan and I are kindred spirits.? We met virtually before the pandemic and our friendship has become oh-so-real.? I look forward to working with her by doing what we both love doing - helping people in a spirit of trust and mutual collaboration.??????