Three days in San Antonio

The latest ISO TC213 conference was held in San Antonio, Texas. Other commitments meant that I was only able to fly in for three days of the conference, which lasted about 10 days altogether.

I flew from Manchester via Atlanta, a most efficient airport, where it took no more than about 30 minutes to pass through immigration, collect luggage, redeposit luggage, pass through security and make my way to the correct terminal and gate for the next leg.

I arrived in San Antonio, which had been enduring weeks of heat wave recently, to find it raining. Their first proper rain for 18 months, timed to greet a visitor from Manchester! It rained on each of the following three days as well.

Most of the trip was spent inside the Holiday Inn, where all the delegates were staying, and all the meetings were being held. I was in meetings from 9:00am to 8:00pm on the first day, and 9:00am to 6:00pm the second day, so I did not see a lot besides the inside of the hotel until day 3.

San Antonio itself is smaller than I expected, as American cities often seem to be. I expect them all to be huge, and most of them aren't. According to Wikipedia, its population is around 2 million (smaller than Manchester), and it is still the seventh largest city in the USA. Rain showers each morning cut the humidity to comfortable levels, and left it pleasantly warm and even fresh while I was there.

We saw the Alamo, of course, which is close to the centre of the city.

Also in the heart of the city is Riverwalk: one storey below street level, there are walkways along either side of the San Antonio river, where there are clustered a vibrant collection of bars, shops and restaurants. We strolled along here each evening to find somewhere to eat, and always ate well.

My flying visit was quickly over, and then it was back to Manchester (which had enjoyed some of its sunniest weather in my absence).

The next TC213 conference will be in Vienna in 2010, which I will look forward to. I just hope that the ISO habit of scheduling meetings to run all evening as well as all day will still leave a little time to see the city.