Arrived in Seattle on Saturday and met by Ashley’s family laying on the red, white and blue outfits along with a CD player blasting out Neil Diamond’s “Coming to America” at the baggage carousel.
Really appreciated the gesture, especially for all of them to have made the trek out to the airport!
Then, straight into work and the Imagine 2011 conference……..more of that in another post!
It’s always nice to get upgraded by British Airways, but even better when it’s to first class!
I’ve just eaten in the Concord Lounge in New York’s JFK Airport, having been asked to take my flight an hour later, in return for a 1st class seat.
The service is polite and efficient.
The decor is all natural browns and you can dine before your flight at booth-like tables, selecting food from a three course menu which has three choices for each course.
I had an excellent crab cake followed by a well cooked chicken jalfrezi curry with pineapple pilau rice and all the gubbins.
Desert, again from a choice of three, was a pumpkin flan with a nice dollop cream on top that didn’t last long on my plate!
That’s it really. Nothing negative to report. Just good service and very good food.
Exactly what you’d expect from British Airways at first class prices……even if you aren’t paying them!
Sunset at the Beach – which is not 50 yards from the Pallagino
Reposting our Tripadvisor review of Rajen and Sandy Daswani’s B&B FeastOfMauritius.com as we believe it’s a bit of a health hazard. Our fellow guests felt the same and more recently someone has posted about the filthy rooms and sick children.
It’s a real shame when businesses try and game the internet with false promises, attracting people from miles away only to deliver far below expectations when they’ve taken all your money.
Just 2 more working days in the office, followed by 2 days packing up the flat and a whirlwind visit to NYC, and then I’m off to start a new life in Seattle.
People have asked what I’m looking forward to about Seattle, but in this post I’ll say what I’m going to miss about Blighty:
1) English Cricket – there’s nothing like a beery day out at Lords (see above) and The Oval.
2) Real Ale – I know Seattle has some great micro-breweries but there’s few beers better than Sharp’s from Cornwall or Harvey’s from Sussex.
3) Richmond Park – so many memories of sunny (and snowy) walks among the deer and training for the London Marathon.
4) BBC Breakfast – just the best news and current affairs program to get you slowly eased into the day. Not sure I’m ready for CNN on a regular AM basis!
5) English Country Pubs – we had such a great weekend recently saying goodbye to family and friends in Sussex. Who’d not want to spend every night in The Brewer’s Arms?
6) Seaford Head – breath-taking views in the south of England of Beachy Head and the Seven Sisters. If we’re there, it usually means we’re recovering from an evening with my brother Paul and his delightful family, or we’re about to hit his cheap red wine!
7) Fish and Chips – in paper of course!
8) Tony Swaitland – local butcher in East Sheen who always, always asks you how you’re going to cook his meat. His free range, organic turkey at Thanksgiving 2009, converted Ashley’s entire family.
9) London Cabbies – seriously not sure how I’ll cope in Seattle without being able to flag down, after a big night out, a black cab who’ll take me anywhere and know exactly where anywhere is!
10) Cornish Pasties
11) The West Country – Devon, Cornwall and Somerset – where my family live and have lived. I’ll never forget Ashley’s reaction to moorland, like Haytor above where we got engaged, which is beautiful geography that simply doesn’t exist in the US.
12) Rugby – a bit like American Football but for fearless, real men! [runs for cover….]
13) British Drama – we were gripped by Waking The Dead last night, plus all the costume stuff like Downton Abbey.
14) British Comedy – need I say more? MORE! Hahahahah…….ha…….
15) Trains – I won’t miss the London Underground, but I do love the train. Always so easy to hop aboard, snooze, read the paper, sip a can of lager and arrive the other end in tact, rested and raring to go!
16) Europe – being able to hop on a plane for £50 and in 90 minutes be in Nice (above) or Tuscany or Vienna or Paris or Dublin or Munich or or or or or…..
17) Proper chocolate – nothing beats Cadbury’s or some of the stuff out of Bruges or Switzerland. Kraft better not screw it up!
18) Sarcasm and irony – wondering if I’ll have to temper my gravity towards wit and candour to get a point across. Hope not!
19) The great British fry up – this morning Ashley said she was looking forward to American breakfasts again! And what is wrong with the above exactly???
20) All my fabulous friends and family that can’t wait to see the back of me, [wipes a tear from keyboard], all my colleagues in the London office and the incredible breadth and depth of talent that is the digital advertising industry in the UK.
I’ll miss more, as my cricket batting average last summer demonstrates particularly well, but later this week I’ll joy down what I’m looking forward to about the Rainy City!
One of the highlights of our recent holiday in Mauritius was the scuba diving.
Flic En Flac, on the west coast of the island where we were staying, is peppered with more than twenty dive sites just 5 minutes off the beach, so we needed a good PADI company to guide us to the best spots.
Just a few snaps from our recent trip to Flic En Flac on the west coast of Mauritius…..
Prior to our Mekong cruise on Le Cochinchine, we spent a night at the Vietnamese Nam Bo Homestay near Ben Tre, as a guest of Mr Phuoc.
One of the absolute highlights our our trip to Vietnam was the cruise we took on the Mekong River on Le Cochinchine.
Ben Thanh Market
Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, formerly Saigon, has to be one of the most amazing cities in the world for sheer sensory delight…….and overload.
I mentioned last week that we went on a jaunt to the west country to visit family and one place we always drop in on is Budleigh Salterton to visit my dad and step-mother.
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