My responsibilities as an IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society take me out of the country occasionally. In the late summers, this includes trips to the annual EMB Conference, and in 2012, it was to Buenos Aires, Argentina.
At this time in my tenure at my employer, I'd asked for, and received approval to participate as an area representative for IEEE/EMBS. These responsibilities butted up against the company's travel policies and our department's (lack of) travel budget. Policy prohibited me from accepting travel reimbursement; budget prevented me from making travel reservations. I offered to resign from the IEEE role, and write a letter explaining the company's issues to the senior IEEE/EMBS officials, at which point the company grudgingly allocated travel money to me. I could understand the problem; travel policy also called for business class (or above) for all intercontinental flights; only first class was available between JFK and Buenos Aires, and if any leg was first class, the entire trip had to be first class.
Upon arrival, first impressions were not great; I'd pre-paid a shuttle trip from the airport to downtown, to our conference hotel. The other conference attendees on the plane gradually disappeared, and no shuttle. A half-hour, then an hour, then an hour and a half went by, and no shuttle. Finally, a group of college students, who'd come to pick up a later arrival, asked me if I was going to the conference, and gave me a ride (whew!). Later, I complained to the conference's logistics group and got a refund.
I had been looking forward to seeing the night sky in the southern hemisphere - no luck there either, as the night sky remained overcast during my entire stay.
The city of Buenos Aires is strangely schizophrenic. Broad swathes of neighborhoods, visible from the road from the airport and from my 12th-storey room in the hotel, butted up against new resort hotel developments, segregated from the city residents by policemen carrying automatic weapons (!). The big downtown business area, including the government complex, Tango schools, shopping malls, main downtown train station, and Malvinas Islands (Falkland Islands) War Memorial, are in a weird mixed area, where tourists and locals intermingle.
I did enjoy wandering around the city on foot, both with companions and by myself. At one point a large group got on a light rail train to go to a nice restaurant; after a great meal, we decided to wander back down the canals in the fog to our conference hotel.
Last Updated April 22, 2019