I'm leavin' on a jet plane... (cue music)

In a minute I board my flight to Atlanta, where I'll meet up with Michael and Mischa from Team TMG for a connecting flight to Dusseldorf.

Yes, that long, silly city name means I'm headed to Europe :) Germany in fact... for Essen Spiel. I attended Essen with Michael 2 years ago, and it was really fun and interesting (despite coming home to a missing washer and dryer). I look forward to seeing the spectacle that is the Spiel again.

This time I won't be playing in the Euromasters Challenge, but I do have some meetings with designers set up to see their games. I don't feel too optimistic about some of them, but there's at least 1 that I suspect I'll ask them to submit if they want.

I also have a scheduled time to meet up with my friend Sebastian, who I kept missing last time. I met him online at BGDF.com about 10 years ago, and met him in person 8 years ago when I went to London. Now he's had several games published under his own name (Prosperity, Keyflower, and the new Black Fleet), and I believe Facebook told me he was about to be a father as well.

Someone hooked me up with a ticket to the sold out Essen Warm-Up event, so I'm looking forward to that. I'll have to figure out how to get there...

Well, time to board. See you on the other side (of the Atlantic)!