Company policy allowed us to fly business class overseas, with 14 days travel notice, and it was nice to be able to stretch out. Flying coach for over 8 hours was hard enough, but cramped in the space the airlines called coach was tantamount to torture.

The drive to the airport had been a little awkward. Chris and I both knew what was ahead, but neither of us broached the subject. We talked about our project, reviewing all of our materials, and going over the training information for the forty minutes or so the drive took. Then it was back to the hassles of checking in, going through security, and...