We flew back to Dallas a week ago for a week of work in Plano. This is the start of six weeks of travel including next week in Austin, the next two weeks in China, and then two more weeks in Austin. I unfortunately kicked off the journey with a nasty cold that is still lingering this morning a week and a half later from when it began. It's amazing to me that I don't get sick more often with the amount that I travel. If it's just one week or two of a cold and I can move on with my life, I guess that's not too bad.
Flying with a cold is unpleasant, but I imagine, for Jenn, flying next to someone with a cold is even more unpleasant. She handled it well though and was pretty sympathetic, especially since I wasn't particularly nice to her about the amount of luggage she was bringing with her for the trip. I travel a lot and I have two primary rules: one, only bring with you what you can carry and handle yourself, and two, any little thing you can do (within reason) that makes being mobile and getting from place to place easier, you do it. The second point is important because I was stressing about which backpack to bring for this trip, my work one or my Kelty one that I use for personal travel. The Kelty is great. It's light and has perfect pockets for personal travel. It would be perfect for Asia for the week we're traveling for fun and particularly for the hike on the Great Wall. However, it barely fits my work computer and going through airport security lines would be difficult needing to take out the computer and put it back in. It's a minor point, but for those who travel a lot, you'll completely understand. My work backpack has a side pocket what allows for easy and quick access to my laptop and allows for seamless movement through security checks. I went with my work backpack and it'll just have to suffice for the week in Asia we're traveling.
On the airplane, I watched one movie, The Lincoln Lawyer, starring Matthew McConaughey. Jenn and I actually watched it together. She prefers for us to watch the same movie at the same time when we're on flights. I didn't like the movie too much. There are a lot of plot points that are kind of thrown together to make sure they are mentioned and the way it's put together was messy. I think the whole thing was meant to be suspenseful, but the director (or editor or both) does an awful job of setting any pace to the film. It gives each plot point away blatantly before it has a chance to build any suspense. It treats the viewer like an absolute moron, which so many movies seem to do now, spelling out each plot twist clearly by the characters to ensure the lowest common denominator of moviegoer understands what's happening. The chemistry and dialogue between all characters seems so forced and unnatural that it's really difficult to take the movie seriously. Jenn read the book and said it was good, so maybe there was just too much of the story to try to fit into a ninety minute movie. I don't know. Maybe it was just too much McConaughey. It's fine for watching on a plane or if you have nothing better to do.
Jenn also watched Water For Elephants, which she said was very true to the book. I think that means it was good. I slept. Jenn wisely didn't even ask if I was interested in watching it with her.
I have nothing to report on for the food since we brought on our own lunch, sandwiches that we picked up in Heathrow. The sandwiches were good, if that counts for anything.
As we crossed the Atlantic, we reached a couple of very important milestones. I hit Platinum status on American Airlines (50K miles) for the 2nd year in a row and Jenn reached Gold status (25K miles). As the miles accumulate, while rewarding and providing a small sense of accomplishment, it's strangely a little depressing.
I'm looking forward to a nice, relaxing weekend in Austin. I need to get this cold beat so I can be at my best for my fantasy football draft on Monday.
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Disorderly Conduct
After two days in Frankfurt, my work brought me to London for the remainder of the week. Jenn met me there, which was nice for both of us. Jenn loves London. I could go either way on it. I definitely like it more when it's not as crowded. Unfortunately, our timing wasn't great as throngs of rioters were wreaking havoc in different areas of the city. This was the epitome of mob mentality as they seemed to be rioting simply for the sake of rioting. Buildings and business were vandalized and looted and people were killed as a result of this nonsense for no reason at all. I know these were teenagers and most teenagers are idiots (I can say that because I once was one), but the human race is so disappointing some times.
The fact that we were in London seemed to scare the crap out of our friends and family who actually knew we were there (or were watching the news), but we were fine. It doesn't matter how old I get, my mother will never stop worrying about me. I guess that's what mothers do. I can't fault the media for making it look awful, because it really was awful, however, we never saw any signs of disorder in the center of London.
Working out of London for a few days was really nice. The sun was out every day. I felt a sense of calm in the rhythm of the morning and afternoon commute. With my earbuds tucked securely in my ears, I glided through the turnstiles, minded the gap, and hopped on the morning train, not oblivious (as I can be), but perfectly cognizant of all the people around me. We were all in this together. I also liked how many good food options there were around the office within walking distance for a quick lunch. The daily routine there felt so sophisticated, so adult.
I could get used to this life, if only I could figure out a way to afford it. London is so excruciatingly expensive. The only way to ease the pain is to not feel the pain, which means thinking about the prices in pounds and nothing else. It's not easy to do.
WIA (What I Ate): We met some of my co-workers for dinner on the first night at Jamie Oliver's Jamie's Italian at the Westfield Shopping Center. Sarah, another American who is working on the Europe audit team (who also writes a blog), picked the place, but gave me a hard time about being picky. I am not picky. Maybe I'm a bit particular (at times), but not picky. I like to eat good food. I feel like I'm getting a bit of a reputation at work from those who have traveled with me, but if that's the worst thing people say (and I do hope it's the worst that people say about me), then I can live with it. My dish that was sort of a take on eggplant parmesan was great. We also had a good meal at the Duke of Wellington pub the second evening. I am not a big fan of fish and chips, so I only ate a little of that, but the sticky toffee pudding for dessert was outstanding. I tried Black Sheep Ale, which was served warm, and didn't overly impress me. Jenn and I stuck close to our hotel on Friday night and ate at Canteen, which is a casual restaurant that serves relatively simple English traditional dishes. The roasted chicken was fine as was the bread pudding for dessert. I did like the beer I had, which was Meantime Helles. Saturday night, we ate a late dinner at Les Deux Salons, a brasserie which is a stone's throw from Leicester Square. We split a cheese burger which was really good. We also enjoyed the iced peanut butter parfait for dessert. I loved the beer I had there, a lager called Innes and Gunn. I had never heard of it, but it was smooth and really tasty. Our last bit of eating was a return trip to Tom's Kitchen for brunch on Sunday. We had eaten there a couple of years before on a trip there on the way back from Israel. It's still terrific. Jenn had french toast and I had a smoked salmon eggs benedict. We also picked up sweets during the weekend from Ottolenghi in Notting Hill, which Jenn is now obsessed with, Pierre Herme, one of our favorites for macarons in Paris, La Duree, the other favorite for macarons, and ice cream from Scoop by Covent Garden, which Timeout calls the best ice cream in London. It was good, but it wasn't that good.
WID (What I Did): This should probably fall under the above section, but since all we really did was eat, I consider our trip to Borough Market to be more of an activity. We crossed London Bridge, which to our surprise was not in fact falling down, and strolled through the open market full of people and food stands. There were little markets, small specialty shops, stands selling produce, dairy, and meat, as well as stands cooking, preparing, and selling hot food. It was right up our alley. London seems to be really big on locally sourced and organic food, so this market just reinforced what we'd seen throughout the city. Jenn had to see everything before deciding on something, but I quickly chose the bbq chorizo sandwich from Brindisa, which I thoroughly enjoyed. It could have been spicier, but it was really delicious. I topped it off with a chocolate chip cookie. Jenn had a chicken and mushroom pie and also a doughnut from Neal's Yard Dairy. The whole place was super crowded, which kind of sucked, so if we went back, maybe we'd go a little earlier.
We spent the afternoon walking around Notting Hill with thousands of other people who apparently had the exact same idea or were looking for Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts. The area is cute, but I was having personal space issues walking down Portobello Road, so we bailed after a while. We looked into going to the theater in the evening, but there was nothing we really wanted to see, so we ended up seeing a movie, Beginners, starring Ewan McGregor and Christopher Plummer. The plot centers on McGregor who is a graphic artist starting to see a woman while reflecting back on his relationship with his parents, but more specifically on his father who came out of the closet at age 75 when his mother passed away. He (the father) is then diagnosed with cancer and recently passed away. I realize it may not sound that appealing, but it's a great movie. The writing was clever, crisp, and funny at times, though I wouldn't call the film a comedy. However, I would call it entertaining. I highly recommend it.
WIS (Where I Slept): During the week, for work, we stayed at the Hilton Paddington Station, which was decent. The fact that it was attached to Paddington Station was its most appealing feature. For the weekend, we switched to the Montagu Place Hotel, which is a small boutique hotel off of Baker Street in a very quiet neighborhood. It wasn't anything fancy, but it was simple, clean, and in a convenient location. The big plus for Jenn was that they had Molton Brown toiletries in the bathroom.
WAM (Worth a Mention): I really like using public transportation, but the fact that tube lines can shut down at any instant and stops where transfers occur aren't available certain days or at certain times is a real nuisance. One of my biggest pet peeves in life is when things are supposed to go a certain way and they don't.
WTF (What the Fuck?): When we went to Scoop to get ice cream on Sunday, they had about 12 flavors available. Conspicuously, there was one missing. Chocolate. What kind of ice cream place doesn't stock chocolate ice cream?
The fact that we were in London seemed to scare the crap out of our friends and family who actually knew we were there (or were watching the news), but we were fine. It doesn't matter how old I get, my mother will never stop worrying about me. I guess that's what mothers do. I can't fault the media for making it look awful, because it really was awful, however, we never saw any signs of disorder in the center of London.
Working out of London for a few days was really nice. The sun was out every day. I felt a sense of calm in the rhythm of the morning and afternoon commute. With my earbuds tucked securely in my ears, I glided through the turnstiles, minded the gap, and hopped on the morning train, not oblivious (as I can be), but perfectly cognizant of all the people around me. We were all in this together. I also liked how many good food options there were around the office within walking distance for a quick lunch. The daily routine there felt so sophisticated, so adult.
I could get used to this life, if only I could figure out a way to afford it. London is so excruciatingly expensive. The only way to ease the pain is to not feel the pain, which means thinking about the prices in pounds and nothing else. It's not easy to do.
WIA (What I Ate): We met some of my co-workers for dinner on the first night at Jamie Oliver's Jamie's Italian at the Westfield Shopping Center. Sarah, another American who is working on the Europe audit team (who also writes a blog), picked the place, but gave me a hard time about being picky. I am not picky. Maybe I'm a bit particular (at times), but not picky. I like to eat good food. I feel like I'm getting a bit of a reputation at work from those who have traveled with me, but if that's the worst thing people say (and I do hope it's the worst that people say about me), then I can live with it. My dish that was sort of a take on eggplant parmesan was great. We also had a good meal at the Duke of Wellington pub the second evening. I am not a big fan of fish and chips, so I only ate a little of that, but the sticky toffee pudding for dessert was outstanding. I tried Black Sheep Ale, which was served warm, and didn't overly impress me. Jenn and I stuck close to our hotel on Friday night and ate at Canteen, which is a casual restaurant that serves relatively simple English traditional dishes. The roasted chicken was fine as was the bread pudding for dessert. I did like the beer I had, which was Meantime Helles. Saturday night, we ate a late dinner at Les Deux Salons, a brasserie which is a stone's throw from Leicester Square. We split a cheese burger which was really good. We also enjoyed the iced peanut butter parfait for dessert. I loved the beer I had there, a lager called Innes and Gunn. I had never heard of it, but it was smooth and really tasty. Our last bit of eating was a return trip to Tom's Kitchen for brunch on Sunday. We had eaten there a couple of years before on a trip there on the way back from Israel. It's still terrific. Jenn had french toast and I had a smoked salmon eggs benedict. We also picked up sweets during the weekend from Ottolenghi in Notting Hill, which Jenn is now obsessed with, Pierre Herme, one of our favorites for macarons in Paris, La Duree, the other favorite for macarons, and ice cream from Scoop by Covent Garden, which Timeout calls the best ice cream in London. It was good, but it wasn't that good.
WID (What I Did): This should probably fall under the above section, but since all we really did was eat, I consider our trip to Borough Market to be more of an activity. We crossed London Bridge, which to our surprise was not in fact falling down, and strolled through the open market full of people and food stands. There were little markets, small specialty shops, stands selling produce, dairy, and meat, as well as stands cooking, preparing, and selling hot food. It was right up our alley. London seems to be really big on locally sourced and organic food, so this market just reinforced what we'd seen throughout the city. Jenn had to see everything before deciding on something, but I quickly chose the bbq chorizo sandwich from Brindisa, which I thoroughly enjoyed. It could have been spicier, but it was really delicious. I topped it off with a chocolate chip cookie. Jenn had a chicken and mushroom pie and also a doughnut from Neal's Yard Dairy. The whole place was super crowded, which kind of sucked, so if we went back, maybe we'd go a little earlier.
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WIS (Where I Slept): During the week, for work, we stayed at the Hilton Paddington Station, which was decent. The fact that it was attached to Paddington Station was its most appealing feature. For the weekend, we switched to the Montagu Place Hotel, which is a small boutique hotel off of Baker Street in a very quiet neighborhood. It wasn't anything fancy, but it was simple, clean, and in a convenient location. The big plus for Jenn was that they had Molton Brown toiletries in the bathroom.
WAM (Worth a Mention): I really like using public transportation, but the fact that tube lines can shut down at any instant and stops where transfers occur aren't available certain days or at certain times is a real nuisance. One of my biggest pet peeves in life is when things are supposed to go a certain way and they don't.
WTF (What the Fuck?): When we went to Scoop to get ice cream on Sunday, they had about 12 flavors available. Conspicuously, there was one missing. Chocolate. What kind of ice cream place doesn't stock chocolate ice cream?
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
One Night in Frankfurt
There isn't much to report from my first trip Frankfurt. I was there for work for two days after spending one evening in my bed back in Bratislava. Our hotel was right in the center, overlooking the Rhine. The area was fine, but not all that nice or interesting.
Because there isn't much to tell from this trip, I wanted to take the opportunity to share the new format I'll use for blog posts from our travels. One of the main things I use this blog for, besides talking about food and complaining about how expensive things are, is to log what we've done and where we've eaten in cities so we can use it as a reference if we were to travel back, or if someone is going somewhere we've been and asks (or doesn't) us for advice.
Here's how it'll look:
WIA = What I Ate
WID = What I Did
WIS = Where I Slept
WAM = Worth a Mention
WTF = Hopefully you get it...
So, for example, for this blog entry, it would look like this:
WIA: I went with my co-worker to Adolf Wagner for Wienerschnitzel and apple wine in the apfelwein district on the other side of the Rhine. It has a beer garden feel to it. The place was packed with a good mix of tourists and locals. It was a fun spot. The waiter absolutely hated us for no apparent reason.
WID: I worked ... a lot.
WIS: The Intercontinental was nothing special, but fine for a night.
WAM: I worked very late, so wasn't able to get up early in the morning, but I would have liked to run along the river as the paths looked nice.
WTF: Flipping from TV channel to channel in Frankfurt, it's easier to count the channels that don't have nudity than the ones that do.
It's a work in progress. We'll try it out for a while and see how it goes.
Because there isn't much to tell from this trip, I wanted to take the opportunity to share the new format I'll use for blog posts from our travels. One of the main things I use this blog for, besides talking about food and complaining about how expensive things are, is to log what we've done and where we've eaten in cities so we can use it as a reference if we were to travel back, or if someone is going somewhere we've been and asks (or doesn't) us for advice.
Here's how it'll look:
WIA = What I Ate
WID = What I Did
WIS = Where I Slept
WAM = Worth a Mention
WTF = Hopefully you get it...
So, for example, for this blog entry, it would look like this:
WIA: I went with my co-worker to Adolf Wagner for Wienerschnitzel and apple wine in the apfelwein district on the other side of the Rhine. It has a beer garden feel to it. The place was packed with a good mix of tourists and locals. It was a fun spot. The waiter absolutely hated us for no apparent reason.
WID: I worked ... a lot.
WIS: The Intercontinental was nothing special, but fine for a night.
WAM: I worked very late, so wasn't able to get up early in the morning, but I would have liked to run along the river as the paths looked nice.
WTF: Flipping from TV channel to channel in Frankfurt, it's easier to count the channels that don't have nudity than the ones that do.
It's a work in progress. We'll try it out for a while and see how it goes.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Around the World in 69 Days
The current audit to which I’m assigned is US based, so it has been necessary to be in both Dallas and Austin often during the 3 month period that began in early June. Throw in a work conference in China and another work meeting back in Austin and in 69 days I’ll travel roughly forty-five thousand miles visiting 5 countries and three continents
The thought of all the work that has to be done and the travel necessary to do it is exhausting, but I’ve gotten used to it. Jet lag doesn’t affect me much anymore and if I were to crunch the numbers, I would guess I spend just as many nights away from my bed as I do in it. I accumulate miles, hotel points, a few extra pounds here and there, and lots of new experiences. It’s not a life I ever expected to be leading, but how many people end up doing exactly what they thought they’d do? It’s easy to complain about, but I wonder if I would miss the constant movement and stimulation if I were in a different job where no travel was required and the work was narrower in focus.
I currently am sitting on an airplane, squatting in the bulkhead seat because the guy in front has the back of his chair all the way back. It’s unpleasant sitting there to begin with, but I certainly can’t type on a computer. Here’s my question, does anyone like it when the person in front of them leans their chair back on an airplane? Of course they don’t. So, why does anyone lean their chair back at all? What happened to treat others as you would want to be treated. Maybe one day, I’ll be brave enough to share my thoughts with the recliner in front of me, but this is not that day. Anyway, I’ve completed what I would call the first leg of the trip. I spent time in Plano and in between work was able to spend a little bit of time with family. I did have time to eat at Breadwinner’s and eat a slice of banana jazz pie, one of my favorite desserts.
I fit in a weekend trip to New Orleans and enjoyed seeing the whole group there and swimming with my nephews. I made a return visited to Beaucoup snowballs. The strawberry lemonade was still delicious. We tried a new place (to us) called Charlie’s Seafood in Harahan. It’s a casual and homey feeling seafood joint that’s been around for 50 years, but was recently purchased and revamped by Frank Brigtsen of Brigtsen’s Restaurant. I don’t know how it was previously, but we had a great meal there. Everything they brought out from the boiled shrimp to the meat pies to my shrimp etouffee was excellent. It’s impressive by just having the name Frank Brigtsen associated with the restaurant that people are now willing to make the hike out there to eat. I’d like for my name to carry some clout like Ron Swanson (of Parks and Rec) who stated confidently while selling Snake Juice at the Snake Whole, “my endorsement is virtually a guarantee.” I voice my opinion a lot when it comes to food, travel, and movies (on this blog especially), but honestly, I don’t stress much about what others think of my opinion. It’s their loss (and their choice) if they don’t want to listen.
After two more work days in Plano, I headed to California. I used my upgrade credits to fly first class, which was nice. The dinner wasn’t anything special. As usual, I went the safe route with the pasta option. I need to take more risks. The brownie sundae wasn’t really good per se, but I ate it as the novelty of eating a brownie sundae on an airplane pleased me immensely. I spent two days in Orange County, in Lake Forest, for work. The highlight was the incredible nature trail that picked up right at the back of the hotel’s parking lot. Once I headed down for my run, I was enveloped by my surroundings. I felt very isolated as there was no view of streets or anything and there were very few people besides a few other mountain bikers. It was starting to get dark and all I could think about is that someone could kill me down there and no one would hear me scream and it would take a long time for someone to find my body. It made me run faster. I ran in one direction towards the mountains until I saw a black spider (that literally was as big as my hand) crawling across the path. I let out an audible gasp, not a high pitched squeal or anything (I swear), just a “woah”. I promptly turned around and ran very fast back in the other direction. I passed rabbits and deer as I headed back to the hotel. The trails were windy, so I started to get nervous that I was lost, but things started to look familiar again.
Usually, I would provide airplane reviews for my flight, but there is literally not one movie I want to see on the menu of available offerings. I started the Arthur remake, but recognized within two minutes that I would regret watching it, so turned it off. Fantasy football season is coming soon, so I downloaded some information to look at, so I’ll probably spend time on that. I’ll also play plenty of Scrabble on my Kindle, which is unfortunately the only thing for which I use my Kindle.
I arrive back at home in the afternoon and will get one night at home with Jenn before I head out again on Monday morning to Frankfurt. This is my life.
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