So what is happening in my life … email is now up to an all time high of 2000 – I have every intention of smacking this down this weekend – My friend Candice who I work with in the US showed off with her 3 mails in her in box ( I nearly fainted – not only is she smart but she is organised too )
Well I am now officially a state side person although I am never really there as my journeys below will tell you. So I can’t really comment on life in Seattle and whether or not it will be sleepless for me.
My tour started on the 18th August I was off to New Zealand http://www.microsoft.com/nz/events/teched/default.mspx – Unfortunately I completely missed Nick who was Skiing down South L however I did have a brilliant time with the NZ MVPs and Rose the MVP Lead for NZ and Oz and met a few of the Microsofties Miha, Sean, Peter Scott etc. After a few days of getting up early and standing on my feet, smiling, shaking hands and generally being nice and professional. I decided to let my hair down a bit I had a fantastic dinner with the speakers in Auckland’s Harbour and a few of us ( Brian & David from Bellevue – now I starting to get friends in Seattle ) went to my favourite bar in Auckland the famous Ice Bar - Minus 5.
Then a very early morning trip ( I had to be up at 3am for this one ! ) I landed in Australia. http://www.microsoft.com/australia/teched2006/ Sydney is in my official top 5 cities in the world. I could definitely live in Australia ( at this point my Ozzie friends start groaning and telling there friends to leave ). Darling Harbour was TechEd’s latest port of call and what a beautiful setting. Naturally it was close to a, you guessed it, Starbucks. Again, after a few days of getting up early and generally being helpful rather than a hindrance to Rose and Lyn on the MVP stand I met a rather nice man at the MS Shop who gave me a World Cup 2006 X-Box ball. So, I spent the entire time playing keepy-upy on the MVP stand which drummed up a few more clientele visits to our stand. ( I mean who can resist a girl dressed in black keeping a green football up off the ground with her knees ). Now the TechEd party was interesting - I spent 10 seconds realising this is a really packed trendy nightclub with thousands of blokes and that I was starving hungry so I climbed every single staircase until I arrived at the top and found a BBQ / Braai on a balcony and then stopped grabbed 2 beers - one for each hand and then joined the long queue for food. As predicted I had finished one beer before I got my hot dog and then used the other still remarkably cold beer to wash down that charcoaled sausage in a dry bun. The plus side about being outside on the balcony was the fresh cool air, the trendy seats and you could have a conversation with someone. I could not resist walking up to a man in a SA rugby top and upon doing so bumped into David Glover and Will ex BMO and table football whizz ( old UK MS chappies ) and their new friends which meant eventually leaving the TechEd party and going to a quieter venue to have a jolly good chat about the old days dragging along of course their friends and the smart and witty Irish speaker, David Lowe, last seen in the Minus 5 bar in Auckland. On Saturday I had lunch with Rose and her hubby David and they took me to a fabulous restaurant the other side of Darling harbour Boat House http://www.boathouse.net.au/ . Boy what a fabulous feast of fish.
Then a quick 11 hour flight to Singapore
Singapore Airlines – Official Karen Plane rating 7.5/10 reason - business class has no flat bed and lounge whilst better than most ( huge flat screen TV showing Premiership football ) they did let me nearly miss my plane with no calls for the flight or more to the point they didn’t waking me up !!!
Then back in SA to catch a plane to go on safari. Yes I am addicted to these things. After 3 days of classic animal watching at the Kenyan Mountain Lodge. I am back to South Africa for a well deserved curry in Sandton square with Carlos, Ilze and Natasha and then a bottle of red with dear Tina. (I am now officially up to date with the local gossip ).
Then off to England for less than 24 hours - where I stayed at Hotel de Greg’s mmm Sausage Sandwiches at midnight and comedy TV. Then up early to start driving only to have the clutch on the rental car go ! Disaster - Greg and the RAC to the rescue and yes thanks to Greg and his very swanky new Saab ( limited edition – I might add ) I made it to the airport on time. Although queuing with ( I think ) this years Pop Idol contestants - which was very alarming, my goodness don’t the youth of today look young – however thumbs up to Mister Branson for getting them to use Virgin!
Then 1 day in Seattle. Which means I hardly saw poor Stephen and Michael ( not for getting the children Willow the cat and Emma and Mr Owen the 2 dogs ) I merely washed clothes catched a few episode of Battlestar Galatica and Star Trek and I was off to Japan via Air Canada. I also had to blow out a lovely Meal and Simon & Andrea’s L
Air Canada - Official Karen Plane rating : ( note I was in economy )
Well I do get Star Alliance points but quite frankly they are just above Air France and Guruda Indonesia – which means a disastrous 3 out of 10. Reasons - Food was a disaster – tasteless, bland, poorly presented etc need I go on, seats were crappy and uncomfortable and the entertainment was like in the 1980’s.
The reason I was generous and gave them a 3 was the Lounge it was very, very nice although limited in plug sockets.( note: this is a Microsoft attribute - I now walk into a room spy the exit and a plug socket ( plug sockets mean power and power means my laptop will work – yes, I really am getting that sad ! )
Japan is really weird; this is my second time to the Land of the Rising Sun and I feel it is like Istanbul for me somewhere that grows on you rather than you have an instant affinity with. I have to confess I do love Istanbul now and Turkey for that matter however it did take a few visits. I am not sure I will ever love Japan but grow to appreciate it for what it is .
As soon as you get to Narita Airport you know after a huge travel ( and yes this time I did fly economy ) that you will be lugging your suitcase ( big yellow ) to the ticket station grabbing a ticket on the Narita Express to Shinjuku Station ( which is a mission of stairs and escalators ). The train ride is a very nice but 90 minutes long trip. You then have to get out of Shinjuku station which is like running some kind of gauntlet. This station is huge it has multiple levels and multiple exits. Imagine if you will an ants nest with millions of ants running around in what appears to be some kind of organise chaos. Well, I am the ant with a big yellow suitcase and a computer bag! After this ordeal of getting out of the station you have to find your hotel – this again is now always easy however normally after a 15-20 minute session of huffing and puffing ( because it is humid here ) and dodging people you will finally arrive looking bedraggled and sweaty at your hotel. At this point you normally collapse on the bed and then wakeup the next day around 1pm yes you do normally sleep over 12 hours !!
Reasons I dislike Japan are
- It is the only place I have found so far where you are surrounded by buildings ( and I mean millions of these things ) and people ( and I mean several thousand on every street ) and still feel remarkably lonely.
- Mount Fuji is an amazing land mark of Japan and the world for that matter and mankind has just polluted the atmosphere around it so much you can hardly see it and shame upon shame decided to build right up to it - very annoying, very frustrating. ( it kind of reminds me of the Pyramids in Cairo )
Reasons I really do like Japan are
· Efficient very efficient right up there with Germany and actually possibly beyond it. Everything works and leaves exactly on time. Also nothing is too much trouble if you ask for it.
· the presentation of everything food especially is very good. there is a way to do things in this country and it is almost like an art form. The array of food is very good ( although the temptation is to go sushi mad ) and yes despite going in to most restaurants and not knowing what you are ordering it ( no menus in English ) normally everything is a fantastic taste sensation and a gourmet of surprises.
· Channel 3 on the 3rd October starts playing Doctor Who! ( whilst Scifi is not a truly international language unlike Football ( soccer ) it does bring a big fat smile on my face! )
· FANTASTIC FOOD – a bit heavy on the carbs but I do love it !
Anyway I have a weekend in Seattle and 2 days to get my Russian Visa and then I am off via London to Russia Moscow and St Petersburg.