This is one of my regular disclosure posts. You can read more of them here. This one is about ZertoCON 2018.
We continue the story that began at VeeamON 2018…
ZertoCON 2018 (Photo by Justin Warren)
Flights and Accommodation
Zerto paid for my flight to Boston, and my hotel for two nights.
I flew from Chicago to Boston on American Airlines in economy. I took the Boston Back Bay shuttle bus to Copley Place which was just across the road from the Boston Central Public Library which is a lovely looking building. It was simple and easy to do so, and I recommend it, though you have to pay by credit card so make sure your card is unlocked for local payments if you’re travelling from overseas. I paid for it on my company expenses.
Central Boston Public Library, 21 May 2018 (Photo by Justin Warren)
During ZertoCON I stayed at the Westin Copley Place, Boston which is in Back Bay a short walk from the Hynes Convention Center where ZertoCON was held.
I caught the shuttle bus back to the airport from the convention centre. Again, simple and easy.
Food and Drink
Saturday 19 May 2018
I was on my own in Chicago for Saturday, so I just grabbed a sandwich from the little shop thing in the hotel, and had some pretty decent homemade chilli for dinner.
Sunday 20 May 2018
A travel day, so coffee in the hotel room to start with, and then I grabbed a late breakfast at the American Airlines Admiral’s lounge. There was a buffet thing with the usual scrambled eggs and oily bacon (which I avoided), but it had some nice pearl barley/quinoa salad thing with ham and peas that was nice, and some mini-quiche thing that was also decent. Standard American coffee stuff to go with it.
Breakfast doubled for lunch because of the timezone difference I was about to encounter flying East.
Dinner was by the suggestion of local Bostonians via Twitter at the tremendously named venue The Salty Pig. PivotNine paid for it, and I had pork rillettes, the Westfield blue cheese, and marinated olives with the standard bread that accompanies it, and a couple of (pints? schooners?) of local beer recommended for me by the server/barperson (female) and they went together very well.
I was so impressed with the venue that I ate there again the following night. So good.
Monday 21 May 2018
I didn’t really need breakfast after the previous night’s delicious dinner. Instead, I went for a nice long run along the river past MIT. The weather was perfect, and Boston was really putting on a great show for my first ever visit. I took an instant liking to the place.
Charles River, Boston, 21 May 2018 (Photo by Justin Warren)
Post-run I opted for a slightly early lunch of local lobster roll and chowder from Luke’s Lobster Back Bay, paid for by PivotNine.
Pre-dinner I tried a couple of the crab cakes at the conference welcome reception, and they were tasty enough, but the lobster roll I sampled wasn’t anywhere near as good as the (admittedly rather expensive) Luke’s from lunch.
For dinner I caught up with Sean Thulin from Dell EMC at The Salty Pig. We enjoyed a selection of all the stuff I hadn’t been able to try the night before, as well as a pizza (which was very tasty) and a couple of beers each. I think we surprised ourselves by eating as much as we did, and I certainly thought there’d be pizza left over for Sean to take with him, but no. Sean kindly picked up the tab, even though I mostly ignored him for a good 45 minutes at the start because I was on a conference call with a client.
Tuesday 22 May 2018
Breakfast was the conference buffet, and I forget what I had exactly.
Lunch was a selection from the conference catering, and again I forget what it was. I think I suppressed the memory so that I could keep my recollection of the delicious Salty Pig fresh in my mind. It really was excellent.
Dinner was at the airport as I’d made the ambitious decision to fly from Boston to San Francisco overnight so that I could attend Pure’s Accelerate conference in the same week as ZertoCON. I chose Wahlburger, which was disappointing compared to other burgers I’ve had in America, but one shouldn’t have high expectations for airport dining. @ChrisWahl should have a word to them as it’s not up to the standard I’d want if my name was on the building.
After my flight was delayed 1.5 hours, I eventually made it to San Francisco, but we’ll cover that in the next disclosure post.
Swag Etc.
- A copy of Wired magazine, with an offer for a free three month subscription. I haven’t taken them up on this offer as I already have a massive unread book pile.
- A couple of Zerto branded wrapped chocolates.