Big Noggin

I'm at the Stephen F Austin Intercontinental Hotel in Austin, Texas. I wasn't planning on being in Austin when I arrived in San Jose on Sunday night, but such is the predictability of my work life.

I like Austin, as I've said before. But I arrived around midnight, and I fly out around 130pm tomorrow, so the Hotel, customer, Airport will be my itinerary.

I don't have alot to report, but I'm getting some comments about my blog being out of date. The last time I updated it I was in Bangalore (all of 10 days ago), being quite sick. I can report that the Cipro (or whatever it actually was) combined with Immodium and sleeping pills did the trick. I slept all the way from Bangalore to Heathrow. It was just as well, because when I looked at the flight map upon arrival, it became clear that we did in fact fly directly over Iran. In a British Airways 777. Wow. I guess there's diplomatic tensions, and then there's business.

I'm really looking forward to getting home. It was a very busy week, but a productive one. I was supposed to be home all next week, but alas, now I have a multi-day work meeting in Las Vegas. Yeah, Vegas. I haven't been there in about 5 years, and I don't actually like the town. I don't gamble, so it's not really my bag. It is great people watching though. You see all kinds in a casino. I may play craps, because that's fun, and I almost know how to play it.

Well, that's all for now. Hopefully when I see the traffic report for my blog I will see some hits from my "stalker" down the street ;)

mJm

I'm now at the Oberoi Hotel in Bangalore, India. It's a spectacular hotel in the midst of some of the busiest traffic and city noise I've seen anywhere in the world. Beijing has similar volumes of traffic, but it's much more orderly, and the roads are much superior. I guess being a totalitarian state has its advantages when it comes to urban planning.

My departure from Heathrow was uneventful. I keep going back and forth on whether I like Heathrow or not. Right now, I'm leaning on NOT. The "one carry-on bag" rule is utterly ridiculous. When I travel, I bring a computer bag, and a typical roller carry-on. I do this when I travel with checked bags especially because of the risk of arriving without my checked bags. This happens frequently (especially with Air France, but that's another story).

So, now the rule is "1 bag". I am traveling with 2 computers, my beloved MacBook, and my company issued Dell notebook. In order to comply, I had to replace the valuables and notebook in my computer bag with dirty laundry, and check the computer bag. The basis of this being "for security purposes" is utter and complete BS. This is just a way for airlines to save time and money by reducing the effect of carry on bags. When I travel regularly in the US for a week, I never check my bag. If that rule became in effect in North America, that would put a final bullet in air travel for me.

Anyhow, the shops at Heathrow are pretty good. But I have no idea what you're supposed to do with the stuff you buy now that your single carry-on is stuffed to the max. At the gate, we were moved onto a bus, then to the tarmac where we met our Boeing 777. I love this aircraft. It's a true marvel. The diameter of the engine is bigger than the fusealage of some small commercial aircraft. It's (to my knowledge), the only twin engine aircraft permitted to fly over the pole because of the reliability and power of the engines. It was only the 747 and the A-340 that could fly on those routes before the 777.

The flight was very light. I was in Club Class on British Airways, and there were only 12 of us in a section that could have held at least double that. So we all spread out for the 9.5 hour flight. I enjoy watching the flight progress on the video map. Flying to India takes you over some places that are truely exotic and controversial. However, I do recall on previous flights flying over Iran, which I thought was a bit odd. On this flight, we flew a more southerly route over Saudi Arabia, south of UAE and Bahrain. As a passenger, I'm quite pleased that we're not flying over Iran in a BA aircraft, given the very recent tensions between the 2 countries.

After watching a cool thunderstorm over the Arabian Sea, we landed in Bangalore. Customs and immigration were the fastest of any of my previous trips. But, when I exited the arrival area, I didn't see the Oberoi representative. This is unusual, because they always meet you right at the door, and whisk you away to the hotel. I eventually found him, and knew something was wrong when he was flipping through multiple pages of names to find me.

Upon arrival at the Oberoi, the problem was made clear. They didn't have me checking in until later today. They have a 12pm check-in time, and I am showing up around 515am. This is the second time this has happened to me in Bangalore, so I definitely have to let the travel department know that I would appreciate a place to sleep upon arrival. And the couch in the lobby isn't what I'm looking for.

But, as always, the Oberoi staff save the day, and check me in with minimal fuss. The bad news is that the Spa is closed for renovations. And oh, was I looking forward to a massage. C'est la vie.

Up to the room, a brief unpack, and a setup of the portable WiFi router and my MacBook. Presto, I'm online and video chatting with my family. Did I mention I love my MacBook?

The next few days will be a whirlwind for me. I depart Friday morning at 630am and connect through Heathrow to Toronto. I should be home by bed time on Friday night. I'm really looking forward to that.

mJm

I went to bed around 2200 last night. I was pretty tired from all the wandering around London. My plans today were to wake up at a normal time, have breakfast, then hop in the Jetta and drive around. My only constraints are the replay of the F1 Qualifying in Malaysia at 1430 and a massage at 1700.

Well, I woke up initially at 0330 this morning. I managed to fall back asleep around 0530 after watching Star Trek TNG. The next thing I know, it's 1100 and I realize my plans now need to change. I don't have time to visit the McLaren factory in nearby Woking, much less visit my birthplace. But I have this nagging hesitation about visiting the site of my birth and the house I lived in. I don't understand this feeling, but it's been bothering me since I started plotting the trip.

In any event, I've headed down to the lobby bar to have lunch. The food in this hotel is quite bad. I'm looking forward to a decent meal in Bangalore at the 5 Star Oberoi Hotel.

Well, off to read the paper. I may take some pictures of this hotel and post them. It's a typical airport hotel. The next time I have a layover in London, I am definitely going to stay in the city. There's so much more to do. My flight leaves Heathrow at 1415 tomorrow, so my plans are to watch the F1 live, then head to the airport.

mJm

Labels: F1, McLaren, Oberoi

Today I woke up around 8am and began getting ready for my first solo exploration of London. It was a beautiful day outside. The skies were blue and the temperature was around 21C. I showered, put on my Mickey Mouse shirt, and packed my maps, camera and iPod and headed for the lobby.

There's a shuttle service from the hotel to Heathrow. For 4GPB I got a ride to Terminal 2 where I bought a return ticket on the Heathrow Express. Off I went, to Paddington Station!

I had a good map, and my intention was to see how far I could go on foot before I started aching. I decided to head to Hyde Park first. It was only a few blocks away, and it has some sentimental meaning to me because one of my favourite pictures of me as a child was taken there. It's an incredibly scenic park, and given that today is Good Friday, there were thousands of people out enjoying the great weather.


As I strolled, I realize I was walking on the Princess Diana Memorial Walk. A fitting tribute to one of Britain's most loved.

Hyde Park is quite large, and it hosts a long lake called "The Serpentine" which I assume is because of it's snake-like shape. On this lake are lots of different birds, including swans and Canada geese. Man, Canada geese are everywhere. There were flowers and trees starting to blossom, and I'm too ignorant to classify them as anything other than "pretty". Maybe you can identify it for me. There were many families out enjoying the park, and I took several pictures for those dads who were clearly taking a picture of their family. Doing that makes me feel good, because I know some of those pictures are going to be very meaningful to people for years to come. And everyone loves to have vacation pictures with the whole family in them. It made me think of my family too.


I continued my walk, and left Hyde Park through the Albert Gate. On either side of this gate you walk between the Embassies of Kuwait and France. I turned right onto Brompton and was headed to trendy Knightsbridge, home of Harrods. I thought I would tour around Harrods, because the last time I went there with my wife, we went inside, but I didn't get a chance to survey the exotic cars that would be parked in the VIP area. As I approached, I stumbled into a Starbucks, realizing I haven't had breakfast. So I continued with Grande Mocha in hand, and did a lap of Harrods. Not great hunting though, a MB SL500, Porsche Carrera S and a Ferrari 599 GTB. I decided to tour inside Harrods but was tossed out due to their prohibition on food inside the store. My mocha was verbotin. Oh well, for the best given the prices I saw the last time I was in there.


When you're in a big city, you tend to see things that you wouldn't see at home. There were people from all over the world gathered for what I would soon learn was the famous Changing of the Guard. I saw this particular man walking next to me dragging something attached to his waste by a rope. I looked back, and saw a tire. Well, I guess he's training for something. It's that or he's making his way back to his car with a new spare.



I reached the home of HRH Queen Elizabeth II. Her official residence is close to Heathrow at Windsor Castle, but Buckingham Palace is where lots of important things happen. The balcony is where the royals usually gather to wave and offer a photo op for us peasants. I managed to squeeze my way into the crowd. I don't like crowds. It's not a fear or an anxiety, I just don't like other people in my space. Europe is different in that regard, and the notion of personal space isn't well understood here. It could be that everything is smaller in Europe. (snicker, snicker)

Alas, when I turned off my iPod, I could hear (but not see) the Guard Band playing some music. I could of sworn I heard them playing that big song from the Phantom of the Opera, but I must have been wrong. How could the Royal Guard get away with playing showtunes during the changing of the guard? At exactly 1210PM, the main gates opened, and ... no, the peasants didn't storm the castle, rather, the nicely dressed gents with trumpets and machine guns came marching out in a most impressive manner. Brits can march quite smartly.


After the "pomp and circumstance" was finished, I followed the crowd away from the Queen Victoria Memorial, and headed towards Birdcage Walk. This would take me towards 10 Downing Street. I wanted to see it from all sides, because the last time I was here with my wife, we saw the back and that's about it. The security there is quite remarkable. It's no different a threat than for the White House I suppose, but this kind of security just feels out of place to me for some reason. Who would want to hurt Tony Blair. He's got such a great speaking voice. Anyhow, there are things in other countries that make me laugh. They're stupid, and silly but still. If you take something that's perfectly normal in one country, and place it in another, you'd get an interesting response. Here's a good example. It could be a bumpy road, an area frequented by sidekicks to mad scientists, or even a red light district. Who knows.


So I made it to 10 Downing Street, and walked around the perimeter. At the back, there's a statue of Lord Kitchener (who I believe is the namesake of Kitchener, Ontario). I walked towards it to take a picture. The statue is immediately outside the large brick wall that surrounds the PM's residence. I took my picture, and then walked further down along the perimeter. I saw a policeman standing guard, with machine gun in hand. I considered keeping my trajectory, but that would put me behind him, and common sense told me that guys with machine guns don't like tourists wandering behind their back. So, course change, and off to the "front side" of 10 Downing.

Well, security around the front was just as intense. I chatted with one of the guards, and he told me that 20 years ago there was 1 policeman, no fences, and anyone could wander around. Changed days indeed. Every car that was allowed in was searched top to bottom before being permitted into the inner sanctuary. I knew that my chances of getting a meeting with Tony were pretty remote. That's strike 2 since HRH also declined my offer of Tea .




I looked at my trusty map, and was amazed to see how far I'd walked. I was only a few blocks from Westminster Palace, and the Abbey. This was great news because I have wanted to visit the Abbey for a long time, but fortune never favoured me during my previous trips. I felt like today would be my day. I wanted to see the tombs of Newton, Darwin, Chaucer, Dickens, Kipling, Tennyson, Kelvin, Rutherford and many monarchs. Plus, it's part of that great story by Dan Brown. But, fortune again stuck it's thumb in my eye. Today is Good Friday, and the Abbey is closed for tourist visits, and only open for worship. Next trip, I suppose.

It was now past 130PM, and I was getting hungry. I thought it would be cool to eat in the West End around Piccadilly Circus. That would be about a 20 minute walk. I thought about grabbing a taxi, but it was such a wonderful day, and I was enjoying the exercise. As I walked, I realized that my wife and kids would be awake now, and I decided to call. That was the highpoint of my day. I wished they were with me because we could have had a fantastic picnic. I was imagining my son and I kicking around a soccer ball, and playing tickle tag with my daughter. Hyde Park is definitely on the list of places to return with the whole family.

As I finished my call, I was arriving at Piccadilly Circus. I don't know why it's called that, but I'm sure that's just 1 Google away. It's an interesting people watching place, but I wasn't overly impressed with it. Lots of lame tourist shops, and tons of people. I spotted a Japanese restaurant and headed there for a sushi fix. The food was mediocre and served in small portions. And no Toro. Well, it hit the spot anyway. At the centre of "the circus" is a statue of Eros, the Greek God of Love etc.

I wandered around and found the district called SoHo. It's got lots of pubs. I did some souvenir shopping and decided that I would head back to my hotel. It had been a good day considering I started the day wishing I was home. I've ended the day with some decent pictures, some trinkets for my family, and about 5 miles of exercise.


I jumped on the Tube for the first time, and now consider myself an expert on the mass transit systems of Tokyo and London. The Tube is old but very good. It's not as efficient in the ticketing and layout as Tokyo, but I'm pretty sure it's old enough to be the Tokyo system's granddad. I arrived back at Paddington Station and sought out the Paddington Bear statue because I wanted to get a picture of that for my kids. The bear was named for the station in case you're wondering. One thing I wasn't sure of is whether this is the station that Harry Potter began his adventures in. I'm sure my wife will let me know! (update: I Googled this, and it was King's Cross Station, which was also one of the sites of the London terrorist bombings)

mJm

Labels: Heathrow, Paddington, Westminster Abbey

This week, I'm on a business trip to Cork, Ireland and Bangalore India. I'll be spending Easter weekend in London. When I planned this trip, I didn't realize that it was occurring over Easter, and by the time I figured it out, I couldn't change it because God knows when I'd get the chance before the summer to take care of this agenda.

Sometimes I feel like my calendar is a big practical joke. I was supposed to be traveling less now, but since the New Year, it's been as much as ever.

That said, aside from being away from my wife and kids, which is becoming much harder and harder to take, I enjoy visiting these spots. Ireland is a beautiful country, and the people there are among the friendliest in the world. There's something about the Irish accent that makes even bad news sound ok. They always sound so happy. Or maybe that's just how I hear them.

It was a bit of an adventure upon arrival. I missed my connection because it was put into my Blackberry an hour later than it actually was (I guess a DST issue). So that meant I had to wait 2 more hours for the next flight to Cork. I didn't sleep on the flight to Heathrow from London (big mistake). I normally take a sleeping pill, but by the time I had dinner, and finished reading, there was only about 4 hours left, and I thought taking a pill for that would not serve me well upon arrival.

Anyhow, I finally got to Cork, and then confronted my first new challenge of the trip. As in the United Kingdom, in the Republic of Ireland you "drive on the left, and sit on the right". I've driven that way before in the UK, but never with a manual gearbox. Well, cool, I like to drive, and I love a manual gearbox, so it should be fun. Well, I thought it was fun until I saw that they gave me a mini-van ("people carrier" for the Brits). I really had no idea where I was going, but the signs for the motorways were pretty good. Roundabouts are trivial, and highly efficient. We need more of them in Canada.

But, upon entering downtown Cork, the signage disappeared. I broke stereotype and asked a nice local chap at a red light where my hotel was. He pointed at the building right across the street. "Bloody tourist" I'm sure he thought as I signaled for my left turn. Can you do a left turn on a red in Ireland? Well, I chose not to try lest I find myself in a Limerick prison.

After a few productive days in Cork, including some quality time with a great lad named Paul, I headed back to the country of my birth. The flight was an hour and a half delayed due to an "equipment problem" (airline speak for "something broke"). I landed, and rushed to get my rental car as I had several conference calls lined up in short order.

I got the car, and the nice lady at Avis happily gave me directions to my hotel. Sadly, they were COMPLETELY WRONG. Rush hour around Heathrow ain't the place to be scrambling to find your way. I did 2 or 3 excellent laps around Terminal 1 (I think I did set a track record on lap 2), and then found myself on the M25 south seeing farms and cement factories. Clearly, not the directions I was looking for. I popped open my Blackberry and checked the emailed directions I received from my admin. Yup, totally wrong direction. So, off I went, back towards Heathrow, and then ultimately, after bobbing and weaving my way through roundabout traffic, found my hotel.

My calls are done, and I think some good things were taken care of today. My wife will be pleased with one aspect relating to the summer that I made progress on today.

BTW, I brought my MacBook with me, as I do now whenever I travel. I just love it. Between iChat and Skype, I can always see my family when I'm on the road. I got some virtual quality time with them tonight. I even watched my son as he played a game on the computer, completely engrossed in it and ignoring me! It's technology like this that gives this industry it's soul to me. I can't hug my wife and kids, but I can see them, and their smiles, and that's pretty damn fine.

Tomorrow is Good Friday. I'm not with my family, so all I'm looking to achieve is "OK Friday". Traffic is supposed to be horrid, so I think I'll leave the car and take the train into London. I may catch a show, or go to a museum, or just walk around. I really love London. It's got such a rich history. And being born in England, I feel a strange attachment to this country, even though I haven't been a resident in well over 30 years. On Saturday, I may venture out in the car and see some sites. On my list of potential vists are:

1) Hospital of my birth
2) House I lived in before moving to Canada
3) Top Gear Race Track
4) Silverstone Race Track
5) Brands Hatch Race Track
6) Williams F1 Team HQ
7) McLaren F1 Team HQ
8) Oxford University
9) Stonehenge

Dunno where I'll go, but I'll keep to the left when I do it.

mJm