You may think I’m being inconsiderate, but it seems that the title of this post was actually uttered on radio here in the US. Memorial day, a federal holiday observed on the last Monday of May commemorates the dead of the US civil war and further deaths of US servicepeople. However, due to the long weekend timing at the beginning of summer, it has become an important time for outing, picnics, and other fun activities.
In contrast, memorial day in Israel is not a holiday, and it is a day before independence day. To ensure the correct atmosphere, all entertainment venues are closed by law, and the TV and radio screen sad films and documentaries, in addition to live broadcasts the official ceremonies.
Back to the US, I spent this year’s memorial day weekend at KublaCon, the annual bay area gaming convention. The Convention features all types of non-computer gaming, from miniatures to LARPs, boardgames to RPGs. The convention lasted four days Friday-Monday, but I decided not to go on Monday. It was held in a hotel near San Francisco airport. I registered onsite for $50, and got a badge and a wristband. I spent most of the weekend playing dozens for boardgames with many different players of all ages from 8 to 80.
On the second day of the conference I registered for a Settlers of Catan tournament. After winning two of three games, I broke to the semi-finals that were held the next day. In the semis, in a very close game, I came in tied for second with 9 points (out of 10). Later that day, I have then spent many more hours playing all kinds of boardgames with people I could find, including a very smart 11 year old girl, who managed to play very well and come in second in several games in a row, until finally winning a game of Tsuro. It turns out that her father, who joined us for some of the games, owns a game store nearby and can get me good deals on games.
All in all, KublaCon was lots of fun and well worth the money. Now I have memorial day to rest before going back to work tomorrow.
May 27th, 2008 at 05:09
Posted by
epsalon |
American Culture, Gaming |
2 comments
As promised, here are the chronicles of my German visit.
The visit started with a flight from Lisbon to Saarbrucken via Palma de Mallorca. It’s been quite a while since I’ve flown without frequent flyer benefits: No lounge, no special check-in. It was quite a shock to sit on the uncomfortable terminal chairs with no Internet access, but I managed. The flights themselves were surprisingly comfortable. Due to the fact I was flying on a low-cost carrier, I could book seat 1A, which is a regular economy seat, just in the front of the plane and with much more legroom. As luck would have it 1B was vacant on both flights, and on the second one 1C was vacant too, leaving me with a whole row to myself. Onboard service included a sandwich and free soft and hot drinks. All in all, a very positive experience, comparable even to “Europe Select” (business class) on KLM.
Between the flights, I ate at KFC at PMI, was surprised to see they offered Coke and not Pepsi, and French Fries instead of Mashed Potatoes, but the chicken was more or less the same. They also talked Spanish, but that I’m used to from KFC in the US too.
Saarbruecken airport is very small, serving mostly general aviation. It has exactly two gates and two baggage belts, and the passengers walk from the airstairs to the terminal. No border control was needed, and in less than half an hour from landing I was outside and picked up.
Later that night came the shock: The vacation apartment we were staying at did not have basic necessities: No Internet access, and even no phone! This left me without any form of communication with the outside world. In the following days, my outside communications were strictly monitored and limited, and thus no blog updates, among other things.
What we did do in the following days was play lots of boardgames I brought, and go touring in several towns in Germany and beyond.
The first day was all spent playing boardgames and resting. The next day we went to the northern Mosel valley and visited the tourist town of Cochem and Eltz Castle. This was not the original plan, but the road to the southern Mosel valley was closed for bicycles only for a “bicycle day”. I could not help noticing the contrast between that and what happened recently in San Francisco, where the city was sued by car owners for a plan to dedicate more bicycle lanes.
On the third day we went to Luxembourg, capital of Luxembourg. On the way we passed the city of Schengen, which is known for the Schengen treaty for open borders in Europe. This leads to the anomaly that Luxembourg is in Schengen, while Schengen is in Luxembourg. The city itself houses an impressive castle and “casemates” — ancient city fortifications. Another useful feature is the free municipal WiFi all over the city and the impressive views.
The fourth day was spent in the city of Heidelberg, known as the home of the first university in Germany, and well, another castle. The castle houses the largest wine barrel in the world, and a museum of German pharmacies.
The last day was spent packing and playing boardgames, and the day after was spent flying back. The route was STR-AMS-MSP-SFO. We left home at 6am towards Stuttgart airport, where I was upgraded to business class on the two short segments. The flights were comfortable, but the illness I began developing in Lisbon has intensified, and I spent the flights coughing and aching, especially the last one. The first class flight attendant was very nice and repeatedly offered me more tea, until we finally arrived at the airport. Finally I took the shuttle home and went to sleep.
At home, I checked my newly repaired laptop and some boardgames I’ve ordered and made a doctor’s appointment, where I’m headed right now.
May 23rd, 2008 at 23:21
Posted by
epsalon |
Health, Germany |
2 comments
It’s time to settle the cliffhanger and to give due praise to Northwest Airlines. As I arrived at Memphis, the gate crew immediately tried to assist me with my passport issue. The final result: My passport was to arrive the next day and I was rebooked for the flights for that day. I was also given hotel and meal vouchers for Memphis.
I used the extra night to rest and change, and the next day I went so see Elvis’ mansion - Graceland. Later I arrived at the airport and got my passport at the gate.
The flight from Memphis to Amsterdam was on a brand new A330 which included a VOD entertainment system for all passengers. The system also allowed sending text messages from the plane for only $2.50 per message. I sent two.
The next flight was a short flight to Lisbon ok KLM. The scheduled arrival time of this flight left little time between arrival and the time I should present my poster.
As Murphy would have it, this was the only flight that did not arrive early. We had a 5 min delay on departure and then during final approach, after the crew was ordered to sit down, the pilot had to abort the landing and perform a “go around”, which means take off again, circle the airport and re-attempt. The reason given: the runway was “occupied”. KLM had their share of problems using occupied runways, the most spectacular at Tenerife.
That, however, was not the end of my problems. My luggage did not show up at Lisbon. A quick check recovered my luggage which has been mistakenly labeled “RUSH”, which means it does not show up at the belt.
After retrieving my luggage. I had to wait in line for a taxi. The driver then took me to the wrong hotel and had to correct himself (I think he did it on purpose to make more money). I ended up paying €55, but arrived on time.
Later I took a taxi to my hotel, used the very small shower and reasonably priced restaurant and went to sleep.
Tomorrow: I fly to Germany on AirBerlin, seat 1-A. Stay Tuned.
May 15th, 2008 at 14:58
Posted by
epsalon |
Portugal, US Travel |
no comments
… But what an eventful week it was! For those of you that don’t know, last week I have flown back from Israel, and this week I’m flying to a conference in Portugal.
Some people (ahem, ahem) have commented on the lack of personal perspective in this blog, and it being just a dry collection of facts. Hopefully this post will be an improvement in that regard.
I know I haven’t posted in a while. This is a result of a combination of two seemingly contradicting things: there was nothing to write about, and I was too busy. Well, now, from my first class seat on NW272 SFO-MEM, I can tell you all the news.
BREAKING NEWS: I was just notified by a flight attendant that I have left my passport in SFO. This is very bad since my next flight is international. I will check with the staff at Memphis about how to get it back.
Until we land, I’ll tell you about our planned German family reunion. It seems that 4 out of my 5 immediate family members will be at Saabrücken with me the coming weekend touring around and playing boardgames.
I’m now really worried about the passport issue and hope I could board the SFO-AMS flight without it and also pass the passport control at AMS, since my I-94 has already been affixed to my boarding pass.
May 13th, 2008 at 04:36
Posted by
epsalon |
Portugal, Frequent Flyer, Personal, USA, Travel |
one comment
