Tim Jenkins, a former colleague from my TriQuint days, has written two books — with a third on the way — chronicling his travel adventures working in sales and marketing for various high-tech companies. As Tim recounts, even the best planned itinerary is likely to encounter a surprise or two, quickly dispelling the glamor our non-traveling colleagues, friends and family associate with business travel.

Tim’s books relate his travel adventures through a series of short and humorous stories, the humor reflecting his writing style and, I suspect, drawing on our own memories of similar experiences. If you work in the tech industry, no matter the role, you have likely traveled to distant continents to attend trade shows and visit customers, sales reps and suppliers. Delayed and cancelled flights, lost bags, long lines, foreign languages and unfamiliar customs are the ingredients of travel, with occasional upgrades and an unscheduled, jet-lagged afternoon to sightsee.

In 2001, I read an article in the US Airways magazine written by Jay Heinrichs. Titled “The Wild Guide to Business Comfort or 7 Lessons I learned in the Backcountry,” he concludes his piece with lesson 7:

If everything goes well, it's not an adventure. My life is full of adventure. I'm a lucky guy.

That’s exactly the spirit you’ll find in Tim’s books.

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Not having spoken with Tim in probably five years, I wanted to check in and learn the backstory of the books and a few of his travel hacks. I thought fellow travelers would enjoy our conversation, so I recorded it. We spoke on Friday, January 25, 2019.

As Tim noted, his books are available from multiple sources and in several formats (printed, eBook and audio). Here are links to the two books (so far) on Amazon:

Missions Accomplished: And some funny business along the way

More Missions Accomplished: And a lot more funny business