American Academy of Optometry 2012 – Phoenix, AZ

1 hour to London and then 10 hours to Phoenix. It's a long way to travel but if you are serious about getting access to the best optometry education in the world, it's got to be America and it's got to be the AAO, which this year comes to Phoenix.

It's my first time in Phoenix and actually my first time at the AAO. I've been to other American optometry meetings which have been fantastic but already I think the AAO is the best one yet.

There are about 5000 optometrists here from all over the world (there are only about 1000 optometrists in the whole of Scotland) and there are 10 streams of lectures every day given you a massive choice of things to listen to. The scale of place is big even by American standards and because of its size, it attracts some real experts in very detailed sub specialities we just don't have in the UK.

As you can imagine it is a big investment for a small business when you include time away, travel and accommodation but at CamOpt we are dedicated to being the highest qualified and most experienced optometrists in the UK and that means this is the place we need to come to hear what's new.

As always in America early starts are the order of the day so it's 7.15am for a breakfast meeting on contact lenses to get me up and away. No big deal as Phoenix is 8 hours ahead I expect I'll be up at 5am twiddling my thumbs anyway.