SCC comes home!

Flights #10&11 completed (Budapest - Frankfurt, Frankfurt - San Francisco)
Flight miles: 6219 (18,085 Total)
Flight time: 13:21 (44:10 Total)

First of all, 13 and a half hours is too long for anyone to spend on airplanes in one day. What was even worse is that the flight from Frankfurt was delayed for 3 hours due to mechanical issues. (The landing gear wasn't closing...I'm glad they fixed it!). In any case, it was VERY good to finally get home, the flight miles and time on planes is bad enough but when I start to think about all of the time waiting for taxis to get to the airport, checking in at the aiport, waiting for the plane, waiting to get off the plane, waiting for luggage, waiting for the taxi, riding in the taxi...it gets a little staggering to think of all of that time.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you, even the Canadians!

Buda is Betta!

Flights #9 completed (Dusseldorf - Budapest)
Flight miles: 622 (11,866 total to date)
Flight time: 1:50 (30:49 total to date)

This is my second time in Budapest and it sure is cold! High was 30 degrees today, do I look chilled?



















Not to do any advertising but I have to say that the Budapest Hilton has got one of the best locations of any hotel in the world. It's built on the foundations of the old church so there are pieces of the ruins built into the parts of the hotel and it is right next to the "new" cathedral (built in the 1400's). This is the view from my room (unfortunately the Cathedral is undergoing renovations but it's pretty amazing).

And the views of the Danube from the hill are spectacular!

And yes, I have been doing some work on this trip, I believe we have found our new European home here in Budapest, the factory is world class and I think they can handle our business so it was a succesful trip. In any case, at this point all I care about is that I get to go home tomorrow, happy Thanksgiving!

Things that can happen when you travel but would rather not!

Flights #8 completed (Prague - Dusseldorf)
Flight miles: 340 (11,244 total to date)
Flight time: 1:15 (28:59 total to date)

We flew through pea soup from Prague to Dusseldorf on a Canadair regional jet (I've been annoying my co-workers pointing out everything made by Canadians this trip so I thought I'd pass that along). The purpose of this leg was to visit a site in Southwestern Netherlands so we were to drive from Dusseldorf. We got the rental car, which is one of the most complicated processes in Europe, we really have this down much better in North America! In any case, we neglected to really set this up properly as the car we reserved was big enough for 4 people, but not for 4 Americans with a pile of luggage. After trying for 30 minutes to cram all the bags in we had to give up and go back and ask for a bigger car, which meant going through the process all over again.

In any case, the end result is that I now can say that I drove a Mercedes on the Autobahn...it was a Mercedes station wagon and it was pouring rain so I never made it much above 120 kph, but who's counting? After arriving in Venray in Holland at our hotel we made another unpleasant discovery, the hotel was supposed to be booked for 2 nights but they only had us down for 1 night so there was no room in the inn for us. There's some conference in Dusseldorf that is consuming all of the hotel rooms for miles (err...kilometers) around but I managed to find the last 4 hotel rooms available in Southeastern Netherlands. And that is how I come to be writing this post from a hotel in Deurne that used to be a monastery (check out the pictures).

We're really out in the country here, smells of cow....quite a change for Prague, that's for sure! I have to say that Prague is probably the most beautiful city I've ever been in. Attached is a couple more pictures, consider them cheap postcards.

Wenceslaus Square and church at night

The Charles Bridge, looking towards Old Town

Prague Castle from the Charles Bridge at night

SCC goes to Prague! City of beauty...and skinheads?

Flights #6 and 7 completed (San Francisco - Frankfurt, Frankfurt - Prague)

Flight miles: 5953 (10,904 total to date)

Flight time: 12:10 (27:44 total to date)

Hours gone since last sleeping (at the time of writing this): 25

My first time in Prague and it sure is spectactular. I am a big fan of my view from the room here.

We had quite a rude welcome, however, as we pull up to the hotel there are tanks and armored cars and 100's of police officers hanging about outside. We were obviously a little concerned about this so we inquired inside...apparently there is some kind of neo-nazi parade here today, the hotel is in the Jewish Quarter of Prague so I guess it gets that kind of attention...weird. In any case, later this afternoon the parade came by, I didn't get too close but here's a picture of the ruckus anyway. Hopefully there won't be anything like this going on tomorrow!

SCC home for a rest!

Flight #'s 4 and 5 completed: Fort Lauderdale to Denver, Denver to San Jose
Flight miles: 2651 (5951 total to date)
Flight time: 7:09 (15:34 total to date)

Well, I get to go home for 4 days. We missed the earthquake in SJ while we were out of town. Fortunately the only casualties were many of the plastic animals habitating in my cubicle, my workspace was littered with giraffes and dinosaurs when I returned to work. In any case, it's nice to enjoy the comforts of home for a few days and getting to enjoy the California Fall...it was foggy and 50 degrees this morning, good stuff! I thought I'd post this picture of the Rockies that I took on my flight back to SJ from Denver...it's purdy.

Later.

SCC attends wedding!

Flight #3 completed: Washington-Dulles to Fort Lauderdale

Flight miles: 900 (3300 total to date)

Flight time: 2:36 (8:25 total to date)

We got another one of the family succesfully married off this weekend. The Hurricane decided to skip South Florida this time so we had great weather for the ceremony. The wedding was on the beach at a place we actually had looked at for our wedding so it was very reminiscent of getting married 7 years ago. It all went very well and was beautiful, although I can't say the same for my dancing abilities. Luckily I don't believe that portion of the evening was videotaped for posterity. In any case, here are some pictures (it was a little windy, check out my bad hair!).

SCC flustered by airport bus!

Flight #2 completed: Denver to Washington-Dulles
Flight miles: 1452 (2400 total to date)
Flight time: 3:11 (5:49 total to date)

These trips are always killers, I'm in town today for a 4 hour meeting and then back on a plane tonight. In any case, I had a little problem last night...I took the wrong hotel shuttle bus and ended up at the wrong hotel, apparently there are 2 Hyatt Place hotels near Dulles and I was supposed to ask the driver if I was going to the right one! Oh well, the nice people here switched my reservation and now I'll always be able to say I spent the night in Sterling, Virginia.

On a separate note, I'm no expert on all names of the world, but at the Denver airport, the driver of the rental car bus had the unlikely name of Atilahun...really, can that be right?