Next stop is Tokyo. I managed to get into the AA club lounge which was nice, so I didn't have to pay for breakfast. The flight loads at 11 am so there was not too much time to kill before boarding, which was nice.
Monday, March 22, 2010
On to Tokyo
Next stop is Tokyo. I managed to get into the AA club lounge which was nice, so I didn't have to pay for breakfast. The flight loads at 11 am so there was not too much time to kill before boarding, which was nice.
Seattle Visiting
So the six days are over and I'm heading down to LAX again.
I had a lovely time in Seattle. I caught up with many friends but due to time not quite all, sorry Ori. I had many lunches, dinners, morning teas and afternoon teas. I also got quite a bit of shopping in, a lot more than I was expecting, especially for the model train set. Oops :)
I had a rental car for the six days and was able to visit all of the places I used to go to. I even managed to get up to Snoqualmie Pass. The snow there was much better than the last time I went skiing in Australia, and it is about the worst place you can go in the Seattle area!
Unfortunately I had a minor incident with the car and a pole in a shopping centre. Very minor. I was a bit worried that there might be some ridiculous exclusion to the comprehensive insurance I'd got on the car, but fortunately not!
I booked the Four Point Sheraton for then night. I got a good rate through their web site and it is right near the airport with a free shuttle. Like most airport hotels the outside is a bit run down but the hotel room is reasonably nice and it is clean. The only down side on being near the airport is the noise, you can actually hear planes taking off when the aircon shuts off. Bummer. Slept well though.
Sleepless in Seattle
Seattle at last. It's been 9 years! Hard to believe.
After 21 hours in transit I had the pleasure of driving in peak hour traffic, on the wrong side of the road. I don't think I've been on a 10 lane highway since I was last in Seattle. All a bit nerve wracking. I was exhausted by the time I got to my friends house.
I'm staying with Australian friends for a few nights then with some friends from the last group I worked in at Microsoft. When organising the trip I agreed to go to a late night Burlesque show with Shane and Stacey, it all seemed like a good idea at the time, afterall what does 21 hours in transit matter? It was a great show but I have to say I slept really well that night.
The next day we went around a market, a few shops, I bought a bottle of champagne to have with dinner and then we went to the Seattle Bicycle Expo. All very good. In the evening we went to Musicquarium for a band. Another late night.
By the way, you may find this hard to believe but... Seattle is cold!!! Bitterly cold if you've just come from Sydney.
After 21 hours in transit I had the pleasure of driving in peak hour traffic, on the wrong side of the road. I don't think I've been on a 10 lane highway since I was last in Seattle. All a bit nerve wracking. I was exhausted by the time I got to my friends house.
I'm staying with Australian friends for a few nights then with some friends from the last group I worked in at Microsoft. When organising the trip I agreed to go to a late night Burlesque show with Shane and Stacey, it all seemed like a good idea at the time, afterall what does 21 hours in transit matter? It was a great show but I have to say I slept really well that night.
The next day we went around a market, a few shops, I bought a bottle of champagne to have with dinner and then we went to the Seattle Bicycle Expo. All very good. In the evening we went to Musicquarium for a band. Another late night.
By the way, you may find this hard to believe but... Seattle is cold!!! Bitterly cold if you've just come from Sydney.
6 Months On
Well, what has happened in that time? It's actually hard to believe that so long has already gone past. In the first couple of months after the trip I did a modest mount of cycling. My fitness was excellent as you'd expect. But by Christmas I'd pretty much lost interest in riding in Sydney as it is like I am always on a training ride. Not so interesting.
In January I had a brief resurgence of interest and did a couple of training rides before heading down to Bright for the Alpine Classic. With the huge amount of riding I did last year I obviously had a good base so I of course did the shortest distance at the Alpine, 72 Kms :)
I've also been fairly busy over the past few months with the n-scale model train set I have been working on. I've promised to put a photo up so here's one. It doesn't look like much at the moment but a lot of work went into the underlying structure. There is a metro line just visible on the left which runs all the way around the underside of the table. On the right hand side I have a large switching yard. I plan to finish these two features before moving on to the table top itself. I've still not got much idea about what to place on the top of the table.
So not much riding the last six months, so why am I blogging again? Because I'm on holidays of course. I'm currently sitting in the Alaskan lounge at LAX waiting for my connecting flight to Seattle. The flight from Sydney was very pleasant, a new 380, and I had the seat beside me empty. Economy of course, I had to pay for this flight. I saw three really good movies too, "Zombieland", "An innocent man", "In the air".
After a snack at the international airport I've been sitting in the departure lounge writing this and I ended up having a nice chat with a business man from Seattle about cycling.
In January I had a brief resurgence of interest and did a couple of training rides before heading down to Bright for the Alpine Classic. With the huge amount of riding I did last year I obviously had a good base so I of course did the shortest distance at the Alpine, 72 Kms :)
I've also been fairly busy over the past few months with the n-scale model train set I have been working on. I've promised to put a photo up so here's one. It doesn't look like much at the moment but a lot of work went into the underlying structure. There is a metro line just visible on the left which runs all the way around the underside of the table. On the right hand side I have a large switching yard. I plan to finish these two features before moving on to the table top itself. I've still not got much idea about what to place on the top of the table.
So not much riding the last six months, so why am I blogging again? Because I'm on holidays of course. I'm currently sitting in the Alaskan lounge at LAX waiting for my connecting flight to Seattle. The flight from Sydney was very pleasant, a new 380, and I had the seat beside me empty. Economy of course, I had to pay for this flight. I saw three really good movies too, "Zombieland", "An innocent man", "In the air".
After a snack at the international airport I've been sitting in the departure lounge writing this and I ended up having a nice chat with a business man from Seattle about cycling.
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