On the way to Seattle

I am at the Frankfurt airport nearly ready to board to Lufthansa flight to Seattle.
It is my first time in Seattle and is also the first time I participate to the Bioconductor Meeting in USA. I am very excited of that, since the meeting program is very very interesting.
As usual when I travel I bring with me my bogu and this time it is going to be also very very interesting for the Kendo side.
Seattle has a high number of Kendo Clubs and in the four days I will spend in Seattle I will visit four of them:
Seattle Kendo Kai
Cascade Kendo Kai
Sno-King Kendo Club
NORTHWEST KENDO CLUB
I think this time jet-lag will not be an issue since I will be so tired every night and I will sleep like a baby.
The first impression I got was incredible nice. I got an enthusiastic answer to my request to practice in the various dojo and people were so kind to provide me also transportation from the Hotel to the dojo and to lend me a shinai.
Shinai transportation actually became an issue since the majority of the airlines move to the one piece concept that mean only one piece of luggage can be loaded on the plane. It mean that a shinai has to be shipped as extra luggage and a round trip on overseas flights is going to cost 300 euros. Therefore it is really not feasible to carry it any more.
Thank to the kindness of Seattle kendokas I will get one for the training on each dojo. Actually I am looking forward for the one I will use at the Seattle kendo Kai since Doug Imanishi told me that: "We will make sure to let you borrow one that is guaranteed to hit your opponent!"
Now is time to board.......