Advance travel planning – Gibraltar

We spent the better part of today hammering out some of the details of our trip. We’re determining how many days we need to each leg and starting to fill in the schedule.

We have discovered that getting in and out of Gibraltar is going to be much more difficult than we had previously imagined.

Apparently the fact that Gibraltar is subject to a disputed irredentist claim by Spain means that practical methods of ingress and egress are not high on the priority list for Spain.

We have determined that we will need to take a 3-4 hour bus ride to La Linea from Seville as there are no trains that travel the route.

From La Linea you can just walk across the border to Gibralter. We ‘re trying to find out if we can manage this as a day trip. From what I can tell there’s not enough to do in Gibraltar to fill two days. If we can get there early enough we can tour The Rock and then go back to Seville that evening.

We have not been able to find too much information on the web, but if we’re lucky, there will be any number of companies marketing trips to Gibraltar from Seville and it will just work itself out once we actually get to Seville. Otherwise we’ll need to stay the night in La Linea and then find our way on out the next day to go back to Seville or just move on to Granada from La Linea via a convoluted combination of bus and train trips.

Even though the Spanish government and the transportation system seems determined to hinder our ability to add Gibraltar to our itinerary, Cynthia is adamant about going to see the monkeys (apes) and Europa Point.

Reservations and time off

Cynthia and I put in our time off requests with our respective employers on Monday. Mine was approved that day, Cynthia’s boss made her wait till today.

I’m burning up all my saved vacation plus one personal day. Cynthia is doing more or less the same thing. That’s in excess of 170 hours of vacation each. 4 work weeks and a few work days plus the weekends.

With approval secured we went online to buy the tickets this evening.

Buying this far in advance and not travelling during the peak season means we are saving about $500 each on airfare which is good. Of course the airfare is only a small portion of the overall cost of spending a month overseas but every little bit counts!

Now comes hammering out the exact itinerary in terms of days per location and proceed time for each destination followed by researching hotels and making the reservations.

Our experience on our European vacation in 2005 was that the hotels with the best overall rates were not easily booked online, but usually had a web page with contact information with pictures and descriptions of the facility.

The process was for us to find the one’s we were interested in and then e-mail them to check on availability. They would respond the next day and then we would make a final decision and arrange to fax or phone in credit card information to secure the rooms. This worked really well from Amsterdam all the way down to Rome.

We’ll also need to sort out which rail pass will be the most efficient.

It’s hard work nailing down all the particulars, but it’s all part of the experience for us. We don’t want to be tied down to a tour group or a scheduled dictated by a third party. We want the freedom of exploring on our terms based on well thought out decisions that we have made.

We’re using a lot of what we learned on our last two trips to ensure the success of this one. The most practical and useful decision we came up with last time was to travel using only what we could carry in a back pack and a camera bag. The back pack measures 9″ x 21″ x 14″ and I had it down to 20lbs last time. Not having any checked luggage and being able to “wear” what you’re bringing with you does wonders for your mental state.

On the European trip we brought older underwear and socks and just disposed of it as we travelled. That was good plan! Our load lightened as we travelled! Plus you’re not stinking up your clean laundry with dirty socks.

Midway through the trip we did have to make a laundry stop in Paris.

Going to the grocery store to buy laundry detergent in a foreign land and a foreign language adds a whole new dimension to any trip. You would think picking a laundry detergent would be simple, but I was never absolutely certain that I wasn’t marching off to the laundromat with a box of dishwashing detergent, all the while being snickered at by an amused clerk who had done their level best to convince me that they spoke no English.

Then there was what could have been an international incident as I crossed the border from Rome into Vatican City to dispose of the last of our dirty undergarments. I could just imagine hearing something like “Arrestar, arrestar! Siete sotto l’arresto per terrorismo biologico!”

Fortunately I was able to utilize the cover of darkness and slipped stealthily to the dumpsters and returned without incident.

We’re starting to feel the excitement!

San Francisco – Saturday

Saturday I made my way in to San Francisco.
The plan was to meet my friend Kevin who had recently taken a job with McAfee and moved to the Bay Area.

Kevin guided me in via cell phone with some help from his heterosexual life partner, Glen.

We set off in search of food and I got a quick tour of the city.

Got brakes?

Got brakes?

Let’s build a city on the side of a mountain in an earthquake prone region!

This has drawbacks I will discuss in a bit.

We ended up down at Fisherman’s Wharf where we ate seafood at a place called Tanatino’s which had a nice scenic view of the marina.

Marina

From there we trucked around and saw a few things and then headed over to Ghiradelli’s for ice cream.

Ghiradelli's

Yum!

It was time to get Kevin and Glen home so we headed back toward the apartment.
Kevin mentioned that we should go to the top of this scenic overlook so I could get some pictures.

I was thinking “Sure, let’s drive up there.”

It turns out you can only drive so far. Then you climb.

Glen said he had to get on back and he would drop us off. Kevin said it was only a few blocks away from the apartment so I sucked it up and went for it.

Turns out the view WAS worth the sound of my own heart beat pounding in my ear.

Click these to REALLY see the magnificence

Scenic view

Scenic view

You could see from downtown on to the ocean. It was breath taking.

It turns out that Kevin’s idea of a “few blocks” was, in reality, about 12 downhill blocks and 3 really steep uphill blocks. I was pretty beat when it was all said and done.

I did take time to cross The Golden Gate Bridge before heading back to my hotel in San Jose to crash.

Golden Gate Bridge

Truly this was a day in which I benefited greatly from knowing the way to and from San Jose.

San Jose – Friday

Still marvelling at the geek landmarks. Dwight Silverman remarked on me being such a tourist. Bah! Who cares? I embrace my dorkitude!

Look! It’s Earthlink!

That whole building must be filled to overflowing with Internets!

Friday night I opted to shed my nerd skin and cruise into downtown to check out the nightlife.
I found a place called The Blank Club.

It’s very similar to the Austin Continental Club in size. Had I been there a few days earlier I could have seen The Reverend Horton Heat in about as intimate a venue as you could imagine…with none other than Throw Rag opening.

On this night the touring act on stage was a very old school type ska band called the The Aggrolites. Very enjoyable!

I doubt I’ll find myself in San Jose again in the near future but if I do, this is a good venue to know about.

California uber alles

I have arrived, safe and sound, in San Jose.
Yup, there’s a nerd loose in the silicon valley.

It’s amazing to see all the geek institutions. The office I am here to work in is housed in the Quantum building. They don’t make hard drives anymore, they sold that off to Maxtor. But still! I had a Quantum Fireball hard drive in my old machine back in the day!

Driving around I had to stop and snap this picture:

Ebay

I can’t explain it but it just struck me as so very cool to see this.

Maybe tomorrow I can get a picture of the Intel building.

New job, same as the old job

It’s official. All the paperwork has been signed.
The merger/acquisition is complete.
With no effort on my part I now work for a different company than I did last week.

Of course there will be changes. Some I know about, others I don’t. No announcements have been made regarding any of this so the waiting game continues and the rumors are flying.

This is my fourth merger so I pretty much know what’s coming. And, to a certain degree, I know where I stand which is comforting. My co-workers who have not yet experienced a global reorganization are understandably nervous and apprehensive.

It’s hard to believe that I have been here for 5 years. This is the longest paying job I have ever held.

I’m off to our California office tomorrow to assist with some things there. I get the weekend to myself so I will head off to San Francisco for clam chowder and a chance to see the sea lions at Pier 39.

Oh yea, and Ghiradelli Chocolate.

Vegas – Evening of the second day

After a nice nap I headed down to the strip. The taxi dropped me off in front of the Paris casino.
Pretty impressive, in a cheezy Vegas sort of way. They even had a replica of the Arc D’Triumph complete with roundabout.

The “Eiffel Tower” is only half the size of the real one. They let you go to the top (for a fee).
The view is pretty nice.

The Bellagio fountain show is something to see. It is hard to capture in still photos.

Also interesting at ground level

I walked around for a bit but it wasn’t long before I decided to head back to the hotel.
The distances are greater than you might think.
The scale is what throws you.
Two casinos side by side is not like two average buildings, it’s like side by side shopping malls.

Vegas – Day 2

So far today I have been focusing on the CES event and getting down to what I came here for…learning more about emerging technologies and new products from the software company you love to hate, Microsoft.

Thanks to my editor and colleague at the Houston Chronicle, Dwight Silverman, I had the chance to attend some very “one-on-one” press interviews regarding XBox 360 and the upcoming Windows Vista operating system.

Let me say that I am not a huge console game fan. Never had a Play Station, Gameboy or anything like that. But after what I saw today I could totally see myself with the XBox. It is a fine machine and the advances are quite astounding. I got to see a preview for the upcoming game Dead Rising. The concept of this game is quite simple but beautifully rendered. You must fight your way through a shopping mall full of zombies. It’s quite addictive and very “B” movie.

Windows Vista is going to be very slick and is slated for release around the holidays this year. The new parental controls and media features go way beyond anything we’ve seen previously. I hope to acquire a pre-release beta in the coming weeks.

CES is an amazing event. The scope and scale of what is happening here is almost impossible to convey in words. Even pictures can’t capture the sheer enormity of this event. I am digging it and am very glad I came.

Now it’s back to the hotel for a much needed nappy-nap.
When I wake up me and my camera are going to the strip.

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