{"id":6997,"date":"2004-11-15T13:40:31","date_gmt":"2004-11-15T20:40:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/2004\/11\/15\/travelogue-1.html"},"modified":"2004-11-15T13:40:31","modified_gmt":"2004-11-15T20:40:31","slug":"travelogue_1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2004\/11\/15\/travelogue_1.html","title":{"rendered":"Travelogue #1"},"content":{"rendered":"

A collection of notes from my trip…<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. We went to the zoo in the afternoon before I was dropped off at the airport. It was fun, going around with Kitten and Margie. A nice, even semi-relaxing way to end a very hectic weekend of travel prep.\n
  2. Huh. You can check in to British Airways online<\/a>, and they have a special queue where you can check in your luggage. I’ll have to remember that next time. Not that the line was overly-long, at that. The flight was relatively light, with lots of extra room. Which was a good thing …<\/p>\n
  3. The original plan was for me to have a big suitcase and my briefcase. I felt the need for quite a bit of entertainment along the way, including at least one very large 3-ring binder (sigh). So we added a smallish pullable\/backpack piece of luggage to my carry-on. <\/p>\n

    When I checked in, I decided to ask about it at the ticket counter. The big “1 piece carry-on only” sign was a part of that decision. The gent behind the counter opined it would be okay — this <\/em>time — because the flight was fairly light, but that they were real sticklers about it ordinarily, and he couldn’t make any promises for the return flight. (Indeed, the limit is one bag of 6kg. Eek!)<\/p>\n

    So … different luggage configuration on the way back …<\/p>\n

  4. Concourse A is where BA flies out from. And now there’s a previously-unnoticed big US-VISIT<\/a> Exit Station (courtesy of Dept. of Homeland Security) sign on the concourse, too. <\/p>\n
  5. Traveller Tip: The second-floor area, at the top of the escalators, on Concourse A at DIA is big, open, and full of electrical outlets. Not always easy to find at DIA.<\/p>\n
  6. My seat on the BA 777<\/a> was 20F, midway back in Steerage Class, though not bad for all that. There were some very nice sleeper seat\/pods up front, but my seat was okay. Both of them, in fact. As noted, the flight was relatively empty. The seating in my area was 3-3-3, and my seat was, thus, in the center section on an aisle. The other two seats there were occupied, but there were lots of empty seats around, and after we took off, I moved up to one where the middle seat was empty. Since it was a middle 3, I didn’t think it was likely that the one guy there had been planning on sleeping across them. (I did ask if I could sit there, first, even though it wasn’t his seat.)<\/p>\n
  7. I’m always fascinated by airline safety videos, at least the first time around, to see how different companies (and nations, in this case) handle the same material. I found BA’s video much more realistic and informational than most US ones: real people, less actor-like, actual views of how the life vest pulled from under the seat, how the masks look dropping down, keen stuff like that. And they have little inflatable life pods for infants! Keen!<\/p>\n
  8. Trip was 4,662 miles long. Ran a bit faster than scheduled (8½ hours, though much of the savings were chewed up waiting for a gate). Peak flight speed was about 600 mph.<\/p>\n
  9. “What’s your tipple?” They plied us quite nicely with liquor, even in steerage. Cocktails. Wine with dinner. Seconds on wine. Yowzers. <\/p>\n

    The gin went nicely with the “Pretzel Nuggets – Sea Salt and Cider Vinegar Flavour!”<\/p>\n

  10. Dinner was fairly tasty — sirloin beef au pauvre, green beans, potatoes grautin (or manicotti with marinara). And, of course, wine. Along with a green salad, cheesecake, roll, water …<\/p>\n
  11. Tee-hee. The Bourne Supremacy<\/em>. Coolness. <\/p>\n

    Too bad the Bond movies aren’t this good. Of course, who’d want their James Bond to turn out to be a brainwashed killbot. Although …<\/p>\n

    I’ll have to watch these with Margie. I think she’d enjoy them.<\/p>\n

  12. Little LCD screens in the back of each seat. Nothing too terrilby new, but still fun. Though they’re a bit difficult to watch with (ahem) bifocals and when leaning forward to eat, especially since they didn’t angle any higher than my chin.<\/p>\n
  13. When I decided it was time to sleep, we were just passing over the thriving megalopolis of Moosonee<\/a>, at the bottom of Hudson Bay (well, technically, James Bay). Took a long time to go to sleep — about to Newfoundland, in fact. Ended up about 4½ hours all told. (Yawn.)<\/p>\n

    (Yaaaawwwwnnnnnn …)<\/p>\n

  14. Decent enough continental breakfast for … well, breakfast.<\/p>\n
  15. International Roaming on my GSM phone is … interesting. It took a few minutes to get a signal when I powered up at Heathrow. And once I did, it didn’t seem that my phone works. Then, from my hotel room, I get roaming, sometimes “O2 – UK,” other times “Orange,” and other times … well, nada.<\/em><\/p>\n

    The phone, by the way, does work. See, roaming in the US, wherever I am, I don’t have to change my dialing habits. If it’s a 303, I just dial 303, whether I’m in Denver or in LA, whether I’m in AT&T or Roaming. So I sorta figured that a phone roaming in Europe that was designed to tie into the cellular nets there … well, would be the same. <\/p>\n

    Um … no. Have to dial “001” as the prefix to everything to dial back to the States. Who’da thunkit?<\/p>\n

  16. Spain is part of the EU. Except for the Canary Islands. At least as far as Customs regs go. And the UK is part of the EU, too — except for the Channel Islands.<\/p>\n

    I have no idea why.<\/p>\n

  17. I’ve never been picked up by one of those guys with the signs at the airport. “Drivers.” When the office said they’d arrange for a taxi for me, I wasn’t sure how that would work. A taxi would be waiting for me at the curb? Some guy in a shabby top hat and coat — “‘Scuse me, Governor — would you be Master Hill?”<\/p>\n

    Well, no. It took me several tries up and down the line to spot my name (though, once I saw it, it was obvious. And even had my company logo on it.) Nice young gent in a suit, pushed my baggage cart out to the … um, Mercedes<\/a>. And zipped me down the Motorway at, ah, 95 mph<\/em>, weaving smoothly in and out of traffic, to the hotel.<\/p>\n

    So that’s how the Other Half lives.<\/p>\n

    (I’m glad I didn’t drive this part of the trip, as all about Heathrow the highways and motorways are tangled and snarled with construction, related to the new massive Terminal Five at the airport.)<\/p>\n

    And then another cab picked me up on schedule to take me to the hotel. And then another was called to take me back to the hotel. And it’s all billed to the office, so there’s no credit cards or fumbling for cash or figuring out the tips …<\/p>\n

    I could get to like this.<\/p>\n

  18. The Moat House Hotel in Reading<\/a> is fairly nice. The room is small, but well-appointed, and the water pressure is very good and there are plenty of accessible outlets on the desk. And, oh, yeah, I get WiFi in my room. W00T!<\/p>\n

    The restaurant at the hotel is fine, though I can see why folks might go a little stir crazy rather quickly.<\/p>\n

  19. Why does the ubiquitous “Speed Camera” sign<\/a> have an old-fashioned “accordion” style focus lens? I’d think a simpler, more modern, camera icon would be simpler and more clear.<\/p>\n
  20. I’m so glad to see that Mastermind<\/a><\/em> is still running on British TV. It makes Jeopardy look like “Simple Questions for Idiots.”<\/p>\n
  21. Katherine drew a pretty picture for me (with Margie’s help), and I have it propped up atop my TV set. Nifty.<\/ol>\n

    And that, for the moment, is that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    A collection of notes from my trip… We went to the zoo in the afternoon before I was dropped off at the airport. It was fun, going around with Kitten…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[20,21,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hi-tech","category-job-jollies","category-travel"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6776,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2005\/01\/04\/oh_hell_yeah.html","url_meta":{"origin":6997,"position":0},"title":"Oh, hell, yeah!","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 4-Jan-05 8:49am","format":false,"excerpt":"We obviously planned our Walt Disney World trip six months too early. 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