USA - giving strong 'Not This Year' vibes 🥲

What exactly is happening in the USA? The once-great country seems hell-bent on shooting themselves in the foot again, again and again, and knowing what a bad shot most people are, I've chosen to stay out of the line of fire this time around and canceled my travel plans.

It bleeds my heart not to make it to the MVP Summit in person to meet up with all the amazing people, and of course to take the excuse to go on a little road trip to check some of the missing states off the map.

Background

Microsoft's annual MVP Summit is happening next week, March 24-26, 2026. The in-person event is held at the Microsoft campus in Redmond, Washington.

I've only ever attended once (in 2024), and it was an amazing experience. Meeting so many cool people and simply seeing the campus in real life was mind-blowing.

Very understandably, I was really looking forward to going again this year.

The event is (in theory) just 3-4 days, but in reality it's a weeklong bonanza of learning, networking and touristy fun in Seattle (slash Bellevue/Redmond area) - after which I was planning to take another week off, rent a car, and embark on a little roadtrip to check 1-2 of my missing states off the map 😅

But a couple of weeks ago, after painful consideration, I finally decided to cancel my travel plans and switch my attendance to be virtual instead (huge kudos to Microsoft for making that possible!)

I debated whether I would write anything about it. This feels just unnecessarily ranty, negative and POLITICAL, which I don't like.

But I also feel like it's important to speak out - and maybe someone else is in the same boat and can relate to this. So here we are.

Not this year, USA

Physically attending the event is AMAZING, but is it worth the cost, the lost time, the hassle AND the increased risks associated with traveling to the USA right now?

The country at least SEEMS more unstable, more expensive, more hostile to tourists and simply less appealing that it's ever done during my lifetime.

Maybe some of that is just the mainstream media's clickbaiting. Maybe some of it is lies, damned lies and statistics.

After all, I'm an English-speaking white nerdy-looking dude with no plans to venture into the less safe areas.

And most of Redmond and Bellevue are comparable to many areas in Stockholm, which I visit all the time.

I know the risk of... Well, ANYTHING happening is low. But it's never zero.

Probably the likeliest risk is getting detained at the border for additional questioning after a 16-hour trip. And that's after a very long and arduous flight.

It might not sound like a major threat, but it still doesn’t feel very fun either. Been there, done that, after all.

So this year, I'll be instead attending the sessions virtually - all the way until something like 3-4 AM in the morning for a full week... 😅

But at least I'll have my kids waking me up at 6:30 AM every morning. 🫩

I'm planning on setting up a coffee maker in my office, and contemplating hauling a fridge with refreshments there, too. And of course will have plenty of popcorn on hand (trust me, many of the sessions fully deserve it), just like I did last year. 🍿

Anyway, I wish Microsoft keeps me in the MVP program until the administration (current or otherwise) figures out how to chill out. Maybe the vibes are better next year.

If you're going: enjoy.

If you're not: join me in the Teams chat instead 🥲