At the end of February, I retired from the Hilton Niagara Falls after some 22 years. I have surprisingly little to say about it. The classic joke about this sort of thing is: “when I took this job 22 years ago, I expected it to last”. Strangely, I actually did not expect it to last, my specialty was hotel openings. That said, even discounting 7 years in Cyprus, I was well into my forties on arriving in Niagara Falls and I think that all the Abels benefitted from the stability that my time at HNF provided. I dwelt on my impressions of 22 years at the same place in my remarks to my colleagues about a month after actually leaving and I feel that is a proper forum for such reflections.

Retiring from HNF is more than this particular posting, it is the end of a career that began in Quebec City in 1977. It spanned postings in St. Andrews NB, Trois Rivieres PQ, Calgary AB, Victoria BC, Vancouver BC (3 times), Lake Louise AB, New Orleans LA, Newport Beach CA, Moscow USSR (later simply Russia), and Limassol Cyprus. During my time in Cyprus, I was responsible for a portfolio of country operations that included Indonesia, Myanmar, Kenya, Mozambique, South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Sudan and Venezuela. I’m proud to say that despite such a large number of postings, I only worked for 5 companies in total, 2 of which were less than 3 years each. In the lens of reflection, I can honestly say that my work has been remarkably free of regret or strife; I find it easy to overlook any of the difficult periods, they were few and far between.

I have formed a small company which will offer consultation services and will be a platform for flying commercially. I have been quite fortunate to land(!) a position with a local air tour company and I have been happily focusing on this as I slowly decompress from my pre-retirement life. I don’t believe in a life without work and I have every intention of continuing, in some way, while health (which has never been better) permits.