We arrived home from a wonderful trip to Savannah, Georgia. It was only for two nights but it feels like we had a much longer vacation.
Going on a road trip together is fun no matter where we go but Savannah is a great place to visit. It has a really nice historical downtown that is preserved in the original European style. More American cities should have stayed with the city plans and European architecture that the first settlers introduced, haha.
We stayed in a bed and breakfast in the city center and everything was in walking distance. There's lots more to say and many more pictures; all this later.
Thursday afternoon Michael and I traveled back to Raleigh/Durham. We had planned to take a 5.30 pm flight from Newark, but unfortunately the flight was significantly overbooked. We arrived at the airport about 50 minutes before departure time, and the machine didn't give us a boarding pass but a "priority seating ticket" of some kind. Bad news!
Anyway, so we were bumped off the flight, but with the help of our excellent travel agency and some creativity we got seats on a flight to Charlotte, and American Airlines paid for the minivan we took from there to RDU. We were home at 1.30 am, but at least we didn't have to stay another day and take a flight on Friday night (the first thing the AA agent offered us).
A bottle that I refilled with water in Charlotte airport... I decided not to didn't drink it.
In the afternoon I went for a long walk along the Thames. I saw the London Eye for the first time, the big Ferris wheel near the parliament buildings.
I've been in London before, but that's many years ago (some great memories, including my first vacation with friends). I read a lot about the Millenium projects and it was nice to see it.
After dinner I prepared some things for work and now I'm going to sleep.
It's 11.45 am local time now and I'm in the lobby of my hotel in London. Around 8.30 am we landed at Gatwick airport, and after journey by train and cab I'm now waiting for check-in to start.
I guess in theory I could have rented a car, but I'm quite happy with the train... it's pretty strange to see cars on the left side of the road, especially at crossings. I've been in the U.K. a few times before but I didn't drive yet then so I never really paid it attention. I had to consciously think about where to stand so a cab could stop and pick me up.
The flight was nice. The seat next to me was empty and I slept quite a bit. I had a great hamburger at the airport for dinner, sort of a good-bye to American food for a week.
I am on my way to London today. On Monday and Tuesday I have meetings for my work in our London office. I'm really looking forward to it -- we're talking about some exciting things.
Travel wise, I am as ready as can be. I'm scheduled to arrive at Gatwick Sunday morning local time, 24 hours earlier than I really have to. Should something make me miss my flight from Newark tonight, I can take the next one a day later and still be nicely on time. All the same, my flight from Newark isn't until 8 pm and I'm scheduled to arrive around 5 pm so there's plenty of room for delays.
An example of unexpected incidents is that when we went to the supermarket to pick up some fresh bread, an hour before I was scheduled to leave the house, a police car stopped in front of us and blocked the road. There was a parade just around the supermarket, and all 3 crossings from our house under freeway 147 were blocked by the police. We tried all 3 crossings (in vain), and at the third one we parked and walked and ran towards to supermarket. We quickly picked up the bread and went to pay. When you're in such a hurry everybody seems to be slow, but due to the parade Whole Foods was almost empty so we were done quickly. We ran back to the car and we arrived 10 minutes before the cab picked me up.
At first the flight to Newark seemed to have a short delay, "I just wanna board very leisurely" said the flight attendant, but in the end we arrived on time.
I have the last seat in the plane, and there's nobody next to me which is nice. From the air it is clear to see how the drought of the last months is affecting lakes in North Carolina (there have been severe water restrictions in effect since the summer).
Writing an article for my website. My laptop bag is full with electronics -- camera, webcam, laptop of course, and three different headsets.
The New York area is incredibly densely populated. The view from the airplane window is so different than above North Carolina.
Yesterday afternoon I traveled back from Newark. There was a lot of traffic because of Labor Day weekend so I took an alternative route to the airport which worked out well. It was a very productive and good week.
In the car I was listening to the Jersey Guys, a funny radio show. The radio hosts apparently don't like the state's administration very much.
The flight back home was uneventful, although we had to wait in line with the plane for quite a while. Sasha at Esteban and Belen's place, so I went there and was right in time for a delicious desert.
We landed in Las Vegas just after 11.00 pm. My first hours in Las Vegas I spent waiting in line. First for a small train from the terminal to the luggage area, then for the luggage. Then I stood in line for 45 minutes to get a cab (reading my magazine) and even at the check-in counter in the hotel there was a 15 minutes line. I arrived in my hotel room around 1.30 am. I quickly tested the equipment that I had brought with me and set it up to run overnight, and went to sleep.
The next morning I felt like I had slept in due to the 3 hour time difference, and there was a Starbucks in the hotel which was very good. I met a colleague and we took a metro rail to the conference center.
We had our business meetings in the morning so in late afternoon so we had a few hours to walk around. My colleagues had been here before but I saw the city for the first time. We walked from our hotel over the strip, towards the Belagio. There was a copy of the Eiffel tower in hotel Paris and we took the elevator to the top.
The entrance to our hotel from the metro rail.
The city of entertainment.
Excalibur, a hotel styled as Medieval castle.
The boulevard on the background is The Strip.
Win this car!
A roller coaster on top of hotel New York.
The M&M merchandise store.
The Bellagio. In the background Ceasar's Palace.
An artist in ice for 24 hours.
There are 4 show girls inside also, "to keep him warm". The girls leave the ice every 4 hours, the magician plans to stay for 24 hours. The ice needs constant maintenance.
Funny that there is a name tag on the tower so the audience knows this is indeed, the Eiffel tower.
Gustav's bar.
On top of the Eiffel tower. Unlike in Paris there is a quick and efficient elevator all the way to the top.
The Strip, with in the background the desert and the mountains.
We arrived home from a wonderful trip to Savannah, Georgia. It was only for two nights but it feels like we had a much longer vacation. 
Thursday afternoon Michael and I traveled back to Raleigh/Durham. We had planned to take a 5.30 pm flight from Newark, but unfortunately the flight was significantly overbooked. We arrived at the airport about 50 minutes before departure time, and the machine didn't give us a boarding pass but a "priority seating ticket" of some kind. Bad news! 
As part of our long 
Last Sunday, after I checked into the hotel and 
In the afternoon I went for a long walk along the Thames. I saw the London Eye for the first time, the big Ferris wheel near the parliament buildings.
It's 11.45 am local time now and I'm in the lobby of my hotel in London. Around 8.30 am we landed at Gatwick airport, and after journey by train and cab I'm now waiting for check-in to start.
I am on my way to London today. On Monday and Tuesday I have meetings for my work in our London office. I'm really looking forward to it -- we're talking about some exciting things. 
We're leaving to Wilmington, NC in a few minutes. 
We landed in Las Vegas just after 11.00 pm. My first hours in Las Vegas I spent waiting in line. First for a small train from the terminal to the luggage area, then for the luggage. Then I stood in line for 45 minutes to get a cab (reading my magazine) and even at the check-in counter in the hotel there was a 15 minutes line. I arrived in my hotel room around 1.30 am. I quickly tested the equipment that I had brought with me and set it up to run overnight, and went to sleep.
