We slept on the plane, it wasn’t too bad on the Lufthansa flight but some of the flight attendents just felt really dry when dealing with them. I don’t know maybe it was just the natural way they communicate with people. I was tired from a long day since I was up at 7am to go riding so a flight at 2:20 am that same night stretched my abilities to stay awake. I just wanted to get on the plane and pass out I didn’t care that it wasn’t moving really.
So as soon as we got on the plane we went to our seats and I was sitting right next to my boss. The funny part is figuring out how to use the seat. It really moves in odd ways if you want it in a certain position its shifts around under you in a strange way even going up, it feels wierd but it works.
As soon as we arrived we looked for somewhere to eat since we had about an hour and 40 minutes to our connection. So we went to get something to eat and I ordered veal sausages which came in the wierdest packaging I have ever seen but it tasted good. After finishing we went to the immigrations who were really decent, but he said my picture is too young, and I agreed since it was taken over 10 years ago and I haven’t changed it. I really look different then before so then we went straight to our gate and got on the plane after a little while.
Continue Reading…
I was informed about two weeks ago that I would be going to Germany for CeBIT is a IT & electronics convention that takes place in Hannover Germany every year. Its every vendor from every possible region in one spot. I heard its huge and there is a lot to cover, its going to be interesting.
I have a lot of work at work that I wish I was here to finish, but I’m going with my boss to the convention so its going to be interesting. I will be taking a ton of pictures.
There is a lot to cover and there will be a lot of traveling, I will be going this evening on Lufthanse, and connecting in Frankfurt to Hanover. I’m assuming everyone will be there.
I realized I had to renew my Schengen Visa since I might have to travel to Europe for work for a couple of days, and I had to check on the UK Visa as well, but I didn’t need that. This is the number of days it takes to get a Schengen Visa from any of these embassies except the UK is for the UK Visa. It could be less then the stated time, but that is the official number of days it takes to get that Visa it might be less. I got my Visa from the German embassy and it took 4 days.
To get a Schengen or UK Visa you need:
- Travel Itinerary with booked tickets
- Hotel Reservations
Austria:
Official Duration 2 Days
Germany:
Official Duration 4 Days
France:
Official Duration 15 Days
Spain:
Official Duration 7 Days
Italy:
Official Duration 10 Days
UK:
Official Duration 2 Days
This is one of those nice restaurants which is a great find. Its like a New York restaurant transplanted into London. This restaurant has an old trainstation feel to it with the tiles and the wood. Its really clean and always bubbly around lunch time, you are lucky to find a table between 12:00pm to 3:00pm, its always packed with people who are having meetings, or a nice lunch break. It is a popular spot for lunch so you will always see people going and coming, and their food is really good as well. The food is what stands out at the restaurant other then the furniture.
They have a nice selection of food, and a lot of things they have are good. The sandwichs, soups, salads, and the one thing they are known for is their Mac’n Cheese! I love it, I can’t get enough of it and it tastes so damn good. We shared a large dish between the three of us and barely managed to finish it while we all had starts and main courses. The restaurant is full of people, and waiters are running around serving drinks and food. They also had these tiny coke bottles which are very interesting and I love drinking coke from a bottle, it just tastes better to me. The waiters have a good attitude but they were a bit slow sometimes but they made up for it, and they have a good selection of food, if your looking for a good burger place in London with a touch of class then I recommend Automat.
Kilometers travelled: 1385 Km
Filled both tanks on the way, and filled one tank on the way back.
I have to say that this is probably the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen in my life. More beautiful then snow, the ocean or the mountains. We left Kuwait around 8:30pm and we got to the border by 9:45pm. We were two Chevy Silverados and One Landcruiser. We packed the Landcruiser and One Silverado until it was full and the leading Silverado had the tanks of fresh water. I met one person for the first time. It seemed interesting and I was going to be completely relaxed and loose!
I was the last car to watch if anything flew out of the back of the Silverado, we were 5 people and two were going to come the next day. It was funny since we had walkie talkie between us so you can imagine all the comments being thrown back and forth. The lead truck had two gps units and a hell of a lot of other tools which certainly were essential for where we were going. I heard horror stories of the Saudi border crossing, but I have to say that we must have been lucky since the person who stamped our paperwork were very decent and nice, maybe we were very lucky. After getting across we made a quick stop at a gas station and took off, and we were averaging between 140 to 170 kph on the highway until we got to our destination Dhanah which showed that we travelled 480 Kms, and we were only 200 to 250 Kms from Saudi. It was around 1:30am and when we stopped before taking our off road route we stopped and for the first time I looked up into the sky and I was mesmirized. I have never seen something as beautiful as a clear night sky and I was happy I will be seeing that every night. There were thousands if not millions of star in the sky and I was completely overwhelmed by the sky. It was in awe of the beauty of Gods creation! And this was just the beginning of this trip.
(This is long and if you dont want to read then just look at the pictures!)
An Ian Shriger Hotel that has a very trendy scene to it in the bustling part of London. Its close to the London’s National Gallery, Leicester Square, and a Waterstones close by. It has a very simple entrance to it that you dont notice it, it has a very clean and sleek look to it. The bar is in front of you as you enter, the reception is no your left, there is table where the concierge sits on the left as well, and Asia de Cuba is at the back left. The elevators are on the left just after the reception, and I missed it a couple of times walking into the restaurant.
My room was on the third floor overlooking the street and there were offices right accross from me, but what I especially liked about the room is the floor to ceiling windows. It gives it a very open feel to it. I loved the look of the room and the large and simple bathrom. I think they need to update their tvs since they are a bit small for the price you are paying for the room, and Plasma screens are relatively cheap these days. The bed was amazing and very comfortable, I love the white linen look with ample amount of pillows. The desk is facing the desk and very artsy looking, but I think the chair needs to be changed for the sake of comfort, after a while of sitting on it you do get a bit uncomfortable. They had wireless internet all over the hotel and you only needed to get a login and password for your stay that you could use everywhere in the hotel which worked very well for me. What I also found entertaining was the different kinds of lighting available to you in the bathroom and bedroom, you can set it to whatever you like. I tend to like the rooms with all the lights lit up.
The people working at the hotel were very friendly and helpful, I was always asking for directions because I tended to walk to a lot of places close by if I wasn’t using the Virgin Limo Bike. Even house keeping is very efficient and quick, I used to ask them to clean early in the morning and clean in the evening again when I would shower up again before going out. The one thing that I kept drinknig out of the little fridge is the Voss water! I love the water bottle and I tend to drink a lot of water so I bought a bunch when going to Selfridges, but I also kept drinking what was in the minibar when I finished my supply. I think that the people at the hotel were friendly and you can carry conversation with them and they were more then willing to give me places to go, even the door man gave me recommendations. I tend to like hotels with friendly people, it makes the stay that much better.
The bathroom is great since it had a lot of warm water and a lot of water pressure which I especially liked, and it was a good amount of space. I really don’t like cramped bathrooms which make you think the bathroom was an afterthought to the architect. This bathroom seemed to be a center point when they were designing it. What I like is the ample amount of towels available throughout the bathroom, I get annoyed with hotels that skimp on towels since you do need them.
Room service was pretty good as well since I had breakfast once and a late night bite after a movie. Both times the food came earlier then expect and it was pretty good. I know this can’t be a complete judge of their room service capability or lack off, but you don’t really eat a lot in your in London since you have such a great amount of choice available to you.
Overall I think this is a great hotel for a stay with a different expereince. The rooms need a few changes, but relative to what is available in London I really like this hotel and especially the staff. It isn’t one of the cheaper ones and I think this is one of the better Ian Shriger hotels out there.
There is a lot I have to say about this Desert trip, but for now I’m going to leave you with three statements:
- My Nickname is now Vertical (Reasons will be later)
- It was Cold and Hot
- I loved it (My license plate is in my trunk)
More posts coming soon with alot of pics!
Ready to head out! The Landcruiser is packed and I have my essentials with me!
I hope everyone is going to enjoy the long weekend!
I’m prepared for the cold! Taking it head on!
Check list:
- Two layers of socks
- Timbaland Boots
- Jeans (another)
- Nike Dry Fit undershirt
- My 24 sweat shirt!
Im ready for anything thats going to be thrown at me! This is going to be good one interesting trip! And I just stuffed myself silly before going out so I wont get too hungry under the stary night!
After a good amount of planning with some friends and coworkers, we are going this Wednesday to go camping in Saudi Arabia, when I mean camping its going to be the real thing. Not much electricity only cold water, and some good old sleeping bags to keep you warm.
People we are going camping in Saudi Arabia! This is going to be one hell of an adventure! I’m going in my trusty Landcruiser! The last time I went camping was in Lake Tahoe, California but I think is a slightly different environment. From what I could tell the weather report says it could go -5 to -7 in the desert without any snow! This is just going to be great, and a little raw and exciting! It supposed to take 4 day in total coming back Saturday.
I picked up two sleeping bags, a tent, some thermal blankets, LED Lantern, and a Mag flashlight. My other friend who hasn’t gone camping in Saudi either is bring the other recommended essentials and of course we are going a bit overboard but what can we say, I would rather be over prepared then under prepared!
I’m also bringing with me my camera, mp3 player, and some magazines. Other people are bringing the essentials that will keep us alive and full so I’m not sure what else to bring. I’m also picking up some meat, coke, sprite, and water. We are just laughing about this, and there are going to be some shenanigans! I think someone is bringing Risk! This is going to be interesting!
This is one of London’s must see book shops! It has this old classic feel to the bookshop! I have been to it a few times before, and its always fun being in here! If ever you wanted to know how Harry Potter felt in a bookstore then this would be it. When ever I’m reading a few excerpts from a book, I can hear the creak and crack of people walking up and down the flight of stairs. This is the best spot to find signed versions of books, and a different flavor of books! What I like is that they really do have a different recommended books section so I can take a look at what other good books are available. There is a smell of old paper as if they have magic books hidden in between all these books or at least that what I like to think. You are literally surrounded by books that it takes some good maneuvering skills to get from one end to the other and around the books. What I especially like is the personal service and personal feel you get from this bookstore, you can tell those who are working their really love to work there and I can’t blame them.
