Craig Online

Tomorrow bright and early, looking forward to it as I haven't been for such a long time. Hopefully some good food and views..

Arrived back home yesterday morning, of course usual mess trying to buy tickets (office was closed even though trains were running). Got back at around 7:30AM (strange experience on train with someone who obviously was 'high' offering to help me with my bags).

Today's travel has been a misery, but thankfully I knew that in advance so minimised the stress with planning. I have the option to have a car take me to the airport, but I hate that as it's inefficient, uncomfortable, and wastes time (can't use computer easily and always stuck in traffic). Public transport is a much better option- when it runs that is !

No it's not leaves on the line (as they have a new Leaves on the Line timetable). First Capital Connect drivers have gotten religious fever and decided that Sunday is a day of rest. Therefore there are no trains into Kings Cross from Cambridge today. And no, I really do not want to take a bus from Cambridge to London. If I wanted to take a bus, I'd go to the bus station.

At the station there were of course the usual 6+ uniformed staff standing around checking tickets and not doing very much. I reckon my ticket price is at least £1 higher to pay for these people adding absolutely no value whatsoever to the travel experience. What's the point of having an automated ticket barrier, but having 3 people standing beside it ? I guess it's a carry over from the former BR days. Shame none of the staff were multi-lingual since there was the usual raft of visitors looking totally confused at why a G8 country can't run a train service on a Sunday. In short, total and utter joke.

What irritates me the most is that there is a recession on, but people providing a service to the public seem to think they are immune to it. So far, it's trains and post, I predict it's going to get worse over the next 6 months. Right, I'll stop as I sound like a Daily Mail editor.

Usual carnage on the London Underground due to Engineering works. Think I'll just take a taxi from Liverpool Street to Paddington as I can't be bothered with a change on the tube (no doubt with a very long set of stairs, stuck behind a group of tortoises all walking in parallel).

I'm drained, that's the only way of describing it. I've been away from home for nearly 2 weeks and not had a break (even at the weekends). Just feels like a constant grind with zero enjoyment. The good news is that I've managed to clear a lot of stuff, but feeling really really tired. I'm so looking forward to getting on the flight Wednesday at 4:30PM and relaxing (well sort of).

I then get back to a house move. Yes, finally after nearly 3 years it's happening. Actually, it's happening really soon- 8 October so it'll be a panic this coming weekend to disconnect all the IT stuff from the house and all the packing of valuables away before the movers come in. It does feel a little silly having people come in to move you 5 mins away - but I just can't be bothered with the stress of doing it myself.

As I walked up to street level from the San Francisco metro and crossed the road I saw this:

It made me smile. I took a photo and gave the guy a dollar for the privilege to do so. Contrast this to your British beggar (don't mean the Big Issue people) who will just sit there and beg. At least this guy has made the effort...

Writing this sitting at the bar on the flight back to London. I like the collection of magazines they have on Virgin flights. GQ (I'd already read that), Sunday Times Traveler (good magazine), Newsweek. Sadly they don't have any of the political magazines anymore like New Statesman (my favourites), but there is 'Hello!'.

I was reading in The Economist an article titled 'Pissed and Posh' where (like any higher end British publication) they have to have the monthly discussion about class and how badly people live. I do find the bar charts they print amusing. In this case:

* Adults 16-59 reporting 'Class A' drug use in the past year based on annual income. No surprise that it is at the lower and higher end (with a dip between £20-30k - presumably because those people like a glass of Black Tower !).

* Adults Drinking Heavily at least once a week by gross weekly income. No surprise here that the more money people earn the more they drink !

* Adults who smoke cigarettes based on managerial status. Most people are at the lower end of the managerial spectrum (presumably because the others are on 'Class A' drugs).

* Relative likelihood of pupils aged 11-15 drinking alcohol once a week or smoking regularly by number of books at home ! . What ? This shows that the more books you have at home the less likely you are to drink/smoke. I find this hard to believe, given that there will be a very large amount of port/cigar smokers at the higher end of the spectrum (and that's just the Encyclopaedia Britannica owners from Romford !!).

Sitting in the Virgin lounge waiting for my flight to Hong Kong, then onto Taipei. 2 keynote presentations (Hsinchu and then onto Shanghai) plus a load of other meetings. It feels so long since I have been to Asia. Manage to have a few days in Hong Kong next weekend also. Looking forward to it, my bank balance isn't !!

The Virgin staff at checking were absolutely fantastic, not that they aren't usually, but just felt even better this time..

Sitting at Stansted Airport waiting for my flight to board. I hate Stansted Airport, even though it is close to Cambridge it doesn't have the services. I've had to kill an hour here (worried about strikes impacting other train services). What's funny is that it occurred to me that it's the first time for as long as I can remember that I've not been at an airport lounge :(.

Meet up with friends from school tonight, plan for dinner and a few quiet drinks. Somehow I am worried that may not be the case. Finally get to spend some time with my dad tomorrow- it feels like such a long time (about 9 months I think). Saturday heading through to Edinburgh to meet up with people from our Taiwan office who have decided to have a holiday before our work meeting next week.

This week has been hectic- I just hope I can relax for a few days...

Short trip this week. Fairly late flight over. Air Berlin is actually really good service. One of the Air Hostesses had a fairly typical attractive German look about her (difficult to describe, not Gaulosies Blonde), I had a chuckle when at one point she was getting something out her handbag from the locker above and I noticed that all the businessmen adjacent to me we all gazing at her !

Arrived late at Dusseldorf airport. What a superb experience. The Sheraton Hotel is 5 mins walk away from the terminal and with the flight arriving early it meant I was in my hotel room at the scheduled flight arrival (rest assured it wasn't British Airways). 5 hrs sleep and then up to catch 7:10 flight to Dresden.

Didn't get much opportunity to look around Dresden, but here are a few quick pics taken on the iPhone:

Stuck in the lounge and lady on reception having issues with this guy who obviously doesn't speak English. Of course she does the usual British thing- talk slowly and of course he'll understand. It was so annoying I decided that Babelfish needed to come to the rescue !...

Την πτήση σας καθυστερούν στις 20:50. Η κυρία θα σας πει πότε είναι έτοιμο να επιβιβαστεί στην πύλη 13 - που είναι πολύ πλησίον.

..en route to Dresden. There isn't a direct flight from London to Dresden (I made a joke to people that the people of Dresden are still nervous about UK 'planes flying over them). So, sadly need to travel via Dusseldorf and then stay overnight at the airport. Not bad - 4 flights/4 countries and a customer meeting within 23hrs ! Sadly don't get to stay at a nice hotel or have a nice dinner (I love German food).

Sitting in the lounge at Stansted Airport. Thankfully with a long distance carrier going bust there is a much more luxurious lounge here now (well at least one that doesn't have cigarette stains on the carpet !) now. I love the website that gives you details of where the lounge is. There's a specific remark 'no Ryanair'- I find that very amusing !

Generally I avoid Stansted like the plague (or is that Swine Flu?) - horrid crowded place full of holidaymakers and backpackers. When I go up to Scotland I always try to take the train up as much as possible as I find queuing stressful and Stansted is always full of queues (well they have opened up a few more security lanes now so it is not as bad as it used to be). I then fly back down (for speed) as Scottish airports are generally relaxing and queue free- apart from the jobsworths who always cause you grief by asking dumb security questions. Sadly I can't use my standard reply 'what do you really think there is going to be a terrorist attack at Glasgow Airport' since it happened a few years ago.

Security Blues
Going through security at an airport like this never amazes me. What really cracks me up is all the publicity we have around carrying liquids on flights and how people interpret them. To the average persons credit, they usually turn up prepared with their 100ml limit toiletries etc. However, for some reasons there is also the obligatory 500ml bottle of water on the side of the backback.

Wait ! - do you think cosmetics are a higher risk than a large volume of liquid that could be an explosive ? This isn't the cosmetic police looking to embarrass you about choice of make-up !

That's one thing. What really cracks me up though is that most people, rather than ditch the water, attempt to drink it really fast- at a speed that resembles that of a University beer drinking competition ! Think stuck in the desert for days without water and then suddenly found a bottle of Volvic under a sand dune ! I often hark back to drinking competition days and just want to shout 'faster faster' !

Gadgets Galore
Found this new store (forgotten name) that sells lots of travel electronics. Amazing- 4 things purchased. I looked at the banners in the store and it they looked to be in the Dixons font style. I asked the shop assistant and she said yes it was Dixons, to which I replied 'yes, but a shop that you actually want to buy something'.

Right another Scotch and Soda awaits....

Spent today relaxing, got bored and decided to go shopping. Given I've been eating restaurant food for the past 3 weeks I decided to try and find a supermarket to grab some basic food and not have to eat it at a table where someone was serving me (eat at my own pace). Low and behold a Waitrose ! Of course like any supermarket abroad (save for Germany) there was an amazing selection of food on display that you'd want to eat.

Whilst browsing, I spotted this:



It got me thinking - maybe there should be a separate exclusive section in Cambridge:


Imagine - shelves full of sparkling water, lemons, potatoes, beef stock - all those things that are a rarity in Cambridge !

Easily becoming the best place I have ever been... Bank balance being severely hit by amazing shopping (gadget central and a Virgin Megastore you'd actually buy something from) and food. What's the most bizarre is hearing local people people speak with a Glasgow accent !- well I guess that's what direct flights, education, and an oil industry do for you.

So arrived at Dubai. Realised I was in the wrong immigration queue- due to the fact I was the only British person ! I guess it's one really good thing about being British is that you don't need visa's for most places.

Hotel is superb. So far superb service from people (own butler). Clientele seems to be a mixture of British people and Russian models ! I reckon ranking of holiday destinations so far:

* Dubai - though very limited experience so reserve the right to drop it in the ranking
* Barbados - very relaxing but slow service and lousy food (unless you eat at the South Sea which my budget doesn't stretch to every night)
* Thailand - best food I've had on a holiday by far
* Mauritius - best environment and designed hotel
* Egypt - best things to look at

Pics to follow (I'm shooting RAW and Aperture doesn't run on my MacBook Air)...

My prediction was totally correct - 3hr delay on the flight. Strange arriving at the hotel to be greeted with 'morning' (as opposed to evening)...

Blogging in-flight (but not in-air)
Thanks to British Airways, 'The Worlds Favourite Airline' but sadly 'Not the Worlds Most Punctual Airline' this post comes from in-seat whilst my BA flight to Dubai is stuck at gate A18 of Terminal 5. Yes no surprise, like every BA flight I have been on in my life, it's delayed ! 2 hours this time due to some problem with one of the tips on the wing. Of course the time it takes to do the Engineering work is 1.5hrs- but we still have to get the Engineers to the aircraft. No doubt they are stuck in Aberdeen or somewhere and have to fly in. Come to think of it, it is lunchtime right now- so I'm guessing they won't turn up for another hour or so. Why is everything so complicated ?? A classic comedy of errors.

Prediction: 3hrs minimum delay, likely will have to swap aircraft at some point.

Getting to the airport - early morning disaster
I always like to take public transport to the airport wherever possible. I've got an optimised regime. Taxi to Cambridge Station, train to Kings Cross, Tube to Paddington (optimised in terms of lifts), Heathrow Express to the airport. Of course today was a nightmare as the majority of tube drivers in London decided to go on strike.

To the tube drivers... I know public sector workers don't live in the real world, but surely you've realised there is a recession ? I think the last thing we need is to cripple the capital by not allowing ordinary hard-working people to go and do their jobs. Why don't you just mount a publicity campaign to get your point across ? Actually, I know the answer to that one- because then we'd know how much you get paid and then there would be zero sympathy for you. Far better to make everyone's life a misery. The next time I'm in India with a bus driver that works really hard to survive, a tear will come to my eye at the thought of you in your unionised environment working away merrily feeling so hard done by.

Got to Kings Cross this morning and queue about 1 mile long for taxis (reckoned at least 1hr wait). Went to catch bus, only to be hit by rain. A stroke of luck spotted taxi and ended up grabbing that to Paddington. Of course I've saved the receipt (£15) to claim this back from the Tube Drivers Union. Yeh, I know I won't get the money back, but I'll sleep better knowing that some downtrodden workers Union payments will have funded the need for someone to spend close to 1hr writing me a letter telling me to go away and no doubt justifying their actions.

Terminal 5
The one good thing about todays travel experience is Terminal 5 at Heathrow. Absolutely superb in terms of experience and amenities (including shops you'd actually want to buy something from). Actually, it's better than Cambridge for shopping (probably not a good analogy though).

Things were so good I had to keep reminding myself that I was at an airport in the UK. Not quite the usual experience of dirty walls, no aircon, the usual buckets every 100m to soak up the dripping roof. As usual let down by no trolleys though.