Posts Tagged Travel
Dubai fish market.Travel Days – Dubai 2009
My emotions on days like this run the gamut. I am headed to Dubai with my wife/business partner for some work and a couple days worth of fun. I am excited to travel internationally, see new places, meet new people and have interesting experiences in general. However, to have this experience means I must leave my children at home. They will be well taken care of, have fun, and probably not miss us a whit. But no one can take care of my kids as well as me, right?
I get uneasy being half a world away. I know it is only 20 hours, but it is half of a planet! I will miss the things that I have done every day for ten years. Repetition has not quelled the simple satisfaction of being an active parent. I will miss being there when they get home from school to get them a snack, hear about the day, and get them started on their music practice.
So, my excitement at traveling around our planet is tempered by the seperation from my kids. I hope I can come home with wonderous stories, pictures, and memories to delight their imagination and enrich them just a little, making the trip beneficial to all of us.
Lookout Dubai! One dad is on his way to collect precious memories.
Dulles Customs Fiasco
Ok, I have been back in the good ole USA for over two weeks now and am just getting over my anger at Dulles International Airport customs. After 10 days on the road, the return trip was harrowing once we got to Dulles from Heathrow. Let me provide you with a detailed description of how things went down.
The eight hour flight from London was uneventful, we slept, watched a couple movies, listened to iPods, etc. Upon landing we taxied to a gate. No wait, the gate had a broken down airplane stuck there so lets park on the tarmac and unload the passengers on people mover vehicle thingies. The people movers must hit traffic in route because it took an eternity for the first one to arrive. We stood patiently waiting while the mover got loaded and just before Stacy and I were to board it was declared that the thingy was full. Now we must wait for the next mover to clear traffic and get to the plane. When the thingy gets to the plane it must park near the door of the plane and then engage the hydraulics to lift the mover cabin up to the level of the plane’s cabin. Once it is at the correct level. It adjusts the walkway to jut out and meet the plane’s sides and provide a safe method of boarding. This all takes time. Stacy and I board the thingy with 100 or so of the smelliest overseas travelers. For some reason, once the thingy was full we needed to stand still and wait for 10 minutes until at some unknown signal the doors were closed and the mover cabin was lowered to ground level and we made our way to the customs area.
London Calling
As a follow up to my previous post regarding video footage from Dubai, here is all 2 minutes 30 seconds of video from London. It will just give you a sense for the area of the city we were staying. You will also see the “Traditional English Breakfast” that we had several mornings. The breakfast was good and not very different from what I do at home save for the baked beans.
At the end you will see a reference to “mind the gap”. When riding the Tube, this is a seemingly never ending reminder played over the loudspeakers at every stop. I assume there have been some costly lawsuits over people getting feet, clothing, bags etc. caught in the gap between the train and the platform. I found the word choice interesting compared to the American “watch your step”. In another example the Brits used the sign “way out” for uses where we would use “exit”.
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Photographer Who Doesn’t Take Photographs
Posted by admin in Photography, Travel on June 9, 2008
Before going on a vacation I always get excited about all of the photography opportunities I will have. I try to keep my camera bag to a minimum of gear but can always think of a reason I just might need this or that gadget. I end up with a bag absolutely stuffed with everything and end up with shoulder problems in the airports. Then, when I finally get to the destination, I end up leaving the camera bag in the room most of the time. I feel like a spectator to my vacation when I am photographing all the time.
This trip was no different, I took the new video camera and almost every piece of still camera gear I own. However, when I finally got to Dubai, I did not take a fraction of the pictures I had planned to. I wanted to actually experience this trip as a participant, not just a spectator, without the burden of always looking for the next great shot.
I only took about 400 pictures during the entire 10 day trip to Dubai and London. This is laughably few for someone who considers themselves a photographer. Anyway, here is all 2 minutes and 38 seconds of video I shot in Dubai. Near the end you will see the worlds tallest building as I shoot it from a taxi.
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Travel is Grueling
I have not blogged in several days. Tuesday was a travel day, hot, crowded, uncomfortable flight at the back of the plane. The only positive out of the flight was watching “I am Legend” for a couple of hours. It turns out I was starting to get ill on this flight and have been fighting it ever since. I never should have eaten that piece of “jet” fruit (no idea what it was) the vendor offered me with his bare hand! My desire to be courteous won over my common sense. No more mister nice guy!
The London Underground was a great way to get from the airport to the hotel. The “tube” system is very easy to navigate and very convenient. We are near the Earl’s Court tube station in Kensington. The neighborhood is loaded with hotels remodeled from old row residences.
The blisters started to form today as the miles continue to mount. The feet, more than anything else, will enjoy the return to the USA. I don’t mean to complain too much, we are actually having a great time. We will soon be leaving to meet Silvia for a drink before we see Mark Knopfler at the Royal Albert Hall in concert. Silvia is an IABC colleague of Stacy’s from London who gave the “opening remarks” for Stacy’s workshop in Dubai.
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Travel Blog Inspiration
As I prepare for the trip to Dubai and London I am inspired by the travels, writings, and travel writing of Susanne Salvo. Her Salvo at Large blog is a great read; humorous, informative, with great pictures and skillfully written. I heartily recommend you take a look! She, along with her photographer husband, have been to something like 130 countries. My list of countries will blossom to 6 when I get UAE and Great Britain.
Countdown to Dubai
We will be heading for Dubai, UAE in 17 days. Stacy and I are very excited and if it were not for the hundreds of things left to do we would wish we could leave tomorrow.
Stacy is finishing up her revisions to the training materials she will use for the Marcus Evans internal communications training session she is teaching. We will be at the Hyatt Regency Dubai for 4 nights; one day to recover from jet lag, two for the actual training, and one day for Stacy to decompress and enjoy some of what the city has to offer.
Oh, but the fun doesn’t stop there. We go on to London for 4 days and nights of 20th wedding anniversary celebrating! We don’t have firm plans for what we want to do and see in London other than a concert at the Royal Albert Hall. I bought 2 tickets on the UK eBay site to Mark Knopfler!
We have loved Mark since the Dire Straits days and saw him two years ago at Red Rocks. It was a fantastic show and we look forward to seeing him on his home turf.