Thursday, June 21, 2007

June 17, 2007 A new experience ahead of me

I don't think I have ever eaten a sandwich that tastes quite as much like parsley and red onions. How odd, I haven't even left the continent yet!
We're approaching England, and 45 minutes into the flight, Cambridge appears on the screen =) Greetings, Michael! I am waving crazily at you, in good old John "The Chicken" Colden fashion :o)

OK, so far, everything has been business as usual: very little sleep, packing the bags "a 'ultima hora", driving my mom crazy, sending off final instructions to the family before surrendering the cell to be left alone in Germany.
Yupp, that's right, won't be bringing a cell phone! I'll be checking my mail every couple of days though in case you guys want to contact me. Depends a bit on how I find things, but I'll keep you posted!
-------------------
Got to London in a second, spending most of the flight sleeping, the rest of the time being equally split between reading Douglas Adams' "The long dark teatime of the soul" and eating :o)

If you're surprised that it's already the second time I'm mentioning food, you've probably never seen me eating - I worship food :o)
-------------------
By now, I'm definitely a minority at the airport - I've entered the gate to "the Asia section" ~ about 85% of the people waiting here are Japanese *content smile*. I can already practice a bit: "sumimasen" (excuse me), "gomenazai" (I'm sorry), "arigatou" (thanks) and "dou itashimashite" (you're welcome/keine Ursache) - very basic Japanese, but already working :o)
-------------------
(In the plane) Geez, I'm surrounded by... well, Japanese people, but what gets me more is the amount of tech gadgets they drop off into a bag that their travelguide is passing around - cell phones, I-Pod-style things and yo qu`e s`e! That makes me very aware once again, that this time, I'm traveling very lightly tech-wise:

I was going to bring a new laptop that didn't get to me in time. I wanted to bring a camera which got stolen on my way to Mallorca some weeks back (I'm apparently having a talent to have cameras robbed from me...). I could have bought a new cell phone, but as Japan uses a 3G standard for cell phones (which apparently is used very litlle in all the rest of the globe), that would have been pretty pointless.

I do bring a pair of pendrives (USB-sticks) with Portable Applications (www.portableapps.com) installed - first time using it, and I must say I'm quite intrigued! Maybe I won't need to get a subnotebook after all... =)
-------------------
Have I mentioned that I'm loving the headrests!?! I quite like British Airways - their homepage and pre-flight services have impressed the hell out of me, now I can add "online check-in", "freight allowance adjustment" and "unlimited weight of carry-on luggage (Handgepaeck) to the list (sole condition, you have to be able to lift up the carry-on luggage into the overhead compartment yourself).

I was going to comment on just how big and heavy this birdy is as it had "trouble" getting up into the air - but I'm already getting annoyed with myself for babbling constantly - so you must either be horrified or asleep by now! This past week I just couldn't stop talking! Sorry to everyone - I'll be good now and shut up :o)

No comments: