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I was in Stockholm, Sweden. I had just finished my last meeting scheduled in the city and had the rest of the day off to wander. I spent most of it wandering the Old Town. At one point I noticed a small Internet cafe and wandered in to check my email (this was before I had a Blackberry or a Treo).
As I sat reading my email, I happened to overhear a couple of American backpackers next to me and l glanced over to see that there were looking at the now iconic image of the two towers with smoke billowing out of them. I joined their conversation. We speculated that it had to be a joke or some sort of marketing gimic for a new Jerry Bruckheimer film (I actually said Bruckheimer's name and was amused to see others had made this same connnection later).
I quickly started Googling on my own computer. It was real and was no joke.
I wasn't sure what to make of it at first and then it started to hit me. What if this isn't an isolated event? What if this is just the first wave of attacks?
I quickly left the cafe and jumped into a cab back to my hotel where I flicked on BBC World and called my wife back home. In those days, her office was across the hall from mine. She and all my co-workers had seen the entire thing, live. I was just happy to hear her voice. I didn't like being so far away. It made me feel helpless... what if there were more attacks? How do I protect my family when I am thousands of miles away?
I couldn't stay alone in my room that evening. So I went downstairs to the lounge to have a beer and watch the footage in Swedish with a bunch of other's staying in the hotel.
The last thing I did before going to sleep was turn off the TV. The first thing I did on waking was turn on the TV.
The next day I had to fly to London. I remember shifting between being very calm and feeling wierded out as I boarded the plan. The flight was a quiet one. The one interesting thing was that because we weren't allowed to fly over the core of London, we had to fly around and were afforded the best view I have ever had of London from a plane.
After that, I was stuck in London for the remainder of the week as I had a few meetings to attend and no flight were going to North America.
On September 13th I had a meeting with a client. As we started our meeting it was interrupted by a national moment of silence to remember all of the Brits that had perished in the Towers. It was an odd moment to say the least. Not the least of which the three of us in the meeting were all a bit teary by the end of the two minutes of silence.
I was never happier to fly home and see my family.
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"My hands are on fire. Hands are on fire. Ain't got no more time for all you charlatans and liars."
- Old Man Luedecke
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