Do you recall what you were doing last night at 3am? Sleeping? Me too. Unfortunately, at 3:01am I was talking to a friend of mine on the phone. He called–just to catch up–but didn’t realize that I was in Italy, nine hours ahead of him. He was just getting off work and wondering what I was up to. Sleeping, I said. I’m in Italy–would you mind sending me an email? Needless to say, he got a chuckle out of it, and I fell right back to sleep.

Morning came quickly, however, as we needed to be back at the show bright and early. Our schedule was packed. In fact, today we split up so we could cover more ground. There is no doubt these trips are worth the time and expense. Aside from seeing new tile lines, we also have the opportunity to see nearly all of our vendors in one place. And the dinners seem to be the most important venue. Each night we spend hours sharing great food and stories–and, in the best of cases, we become friends. Paolo and Lorella, who hosted us in their home on Monday, are truly friends–people who you’d love to spend time with even if you didn’t work together. And there are many others who I enjoy seeing each year at these events.