I haven't blogged here for a long time, opting to tweet short cryptic messages, if at all. Well, my trip to and from Toronto was eventful enough to warrant a full post or two.
Being the mileage optimizer I am, instead of flying direct to Toronto, I had a stopover in Houston, a Continental hub. Due to differences in price, I flew from San Jose airport instead of SFO, and parked my car in a hotel near the airport. This minor fact will prove crucial later.
The outwards flight went well, except that I did not get an upgrade on the flight to Houston (I was 2nd on the waiting list). I arrived in Toronto, and took the cool wifi enabled bus to my hotel. Upon arrival, I checked the conference schedule and was somewhat surprised to see that the main part of the conference starts the next evening, which meant I had a whole day to tour the city.
Since the banquet was to be held in the CN tower, Toronto's primary attraction, I decided to use my free day to visit the Royal Ontario Museum. That day I walked several kilometers to the conference venue, then to the museum, inside the museum, and finally back home. During all that time I wore dress shoes I usually wear for interviews -- I packed my best clothes for the conference.
What I did not realize, is that dress shoes can severely hurt your feet. By the next day my feet started to develop painful blisters and abrasions, which made it painful to walk. I used taxis for my travel to and from the conference venue since.
Academically, the conference was very fruitful. I got to meet many colleagues from institutions around the world, including Michael Wooldridge from the university of Liverpool, where I am about to interview soon. My students' talks went well and there were many interesting posters, some with the potential to lead to further research.
The conference banquet was held in the revolving restaurant on the top of the CN tower. This was the first time ever I've been to such a restaurant. Dinner was edible (not a trivial thing for a fancy restaurant) and the view was beautiful. Having the restrooms in the non-revolving part proved a challenge when I was trying to return to my seat. Sitting right next to the windows, I have attempted to send clever messages by writing them on paper and putting them on the non-revolving part of the restaurant. Few of these came back to me.
On the final day, I rushed to pack all my things and check out of the hotel. Then I took a taxi to the conference venue, attended the final talks and demos, and took the wifi bus back to the airport. At this point my feet were still in pain and it was difficult to walk.
At the airport, I found out that my flight to Houston was delayed by about an hour, which meant I was going to miss my tight 1-hour connection to my flight to San Jose. The Continental agents at Toronto had two options for me: Fly direct to SFO on Air Canada, or stay in a hotel in Toronto and fly via Houston the next day. In either case, my confirmed first class upgrade will be canceled since there was no first class availability.
Since my car was parked near San Jose airport, and they were not willing to pay for ground transportation to San Jose, I decided to go for the next day flight. However, since the flight was pretty early, I asked if it was possible to take the delayed flight to Houston and spend the night there. The agents agreed. This had the added benefit of being able to make the connecting flight in case the other flight happens to also be delayed.
By the time I made it through US customs and immigration at Toronto airport, the flight had been pushed back even more. The reason: Delayed incoming aircraft -- the plane from Houston departed late. With the flight two hours late, there was little hope in making the connection. By the time I was ready to leave toronto the plane I was supposed to board to San Jose was already en route and on time from San Juan Puerto Rico.
Upon hitting the ground in Houston, I decided to check the flight status to San Jose in a last-ditch effort to make that flight. To my astonishment, the flight was severely delayed and I would be able to make the flight! As it turned out, the plane fron San Juan (SJU) had to be diverted to Baton Rouge (BTR) due to weather in Houston. By the time I landed, the diverted plane was en route from BTR to Houston (IAH).
As it turned out, I had to spend a few additional hours waiting in Houston. The plane had to be maintained and was even further delayed. I finally landed in SJC 3 hours late. I still had the upgraded first class seat so I was able to sleep for most of that flight until finally returning home, going straight to sleep. Until now.
Showing posts with label Frequent Flyer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Frequent Flyer. Show all posts
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Friday, April 17, 2009
Missed flight, business class
Greetings from over the Atlantic Ocean. I'm writing this blog post from KLM Flight 0605 from Amsterdam to San Francisco in Business class! But, before I write about my business class experience, I should explain my tweet about "missing my flight".
It all started with me booking a one-way award ticket in business class from Tel Aviv to San Francisco via Amsterdam. The ticket was booked for April 16th at 5:05 am local time. Those with a keen eye will notice that that's exactly when I posted my tweet about missing the flight. I did not make the flight for the simple reason I was sure I was booked on the April 17th flight, the one I'm on board right now.
The mix-up occurred due to an "off by one" error in copying the ticket information into Google Calendar. Since I was in the Pacific time zone I had to enter all time information in PDT, which is 10 hours earlier than Tel Aviv time, and 9 hours earlier than Amsterdam time. I did the math correctly, but neglected to adjust the date, thus adding the flight on Apr 16th at 7:05pm PDT instead of Apr 15th.
From that point onward, I did not look at my ticket until I was about to check in, what I believed was 26 hours before departure. I went to KLM's check-in site, selected the flight path and the date and was surprised to see my ticket was not found. After looking up the ticket itself I realized that my booked flight is departing in two hours, while I'm at least a two hour drive from the airport, and my bags are not packed.
I called KLM Platinum reservations and they said that I'd have to book a new ticket, but they could cancel my existing ticket (and hopefully refund the miles and taxes paid). They recommended I call Flying Blue the next morning when they are available.
I didn't want to wait till the next morning and tried calling the local airport, which was checking in my flight at that time. I got no answer. Then, I decided to try to call the US Flying Blue line, but it was already after 8pm on the east coast, so they too were not available. 5 am passed, and I didn't have a ticket.
Then I came across the idea to call the Flying Blue center in a different timezone. I called Flying Blue Japan and they were happy to assist me. It turns out there was one award ticket left, in Business class, for the flight on the 17th. I booked that ticket.
Fast forward to the next day, and I boarded the first flight (TLV-AMS). It seems I would have been upgraded if I had an economy ticket as economy was full (as usual). The flight had a slight delay but my connection was fine. At Amsterdam, I went to the new lounge, took a shower, went online, and made a few phone calls.
About an hour later, I got tricked again by the flight information screens displaying my flight as ``Boarding''. I went to the gate, quickly passed security and realized no one has yet boarded the aircraft. After nervously waiting for about 20 minutes, a delay was announced, then another one, and we finally started boarding 30 minutes after the scheduled departure time, and departed over an hour late. We should make up for some of the lost time in the air.
Now, for the business class experience. I'm seated at row 77, which is the upper deck exit row on the 747. It's about 4 hours into the flight and I haven't yet left the upper deck, and rarely left my seat, which turns into an almost flat bed that's pretty comfy and sleepable. I spent the beginning of the flight sleeping (and eating the pretty good food) and then watched some shows on the IFE system, which is kinda old, but reasonable. I'm writing this on my laptop connected to the in-flight AC power.
Arrived safely at SFO, and posting this from the airport hotel. That's all for now. Sorry for not blogging more, but you can always follow me on Twitter!
It all started with me booking a one-way award ticket in business class from Tel Aviv to San Francisco via Amsterdam. The ticket was booked for April 16th at 5:05 am local time. Those with a keen eye will notice that that's exactly when I posted my tweet about missing the flight. I did not make the flight for the simple reason I was sure I was booked on the April 17th flight, the one I'm on board right now.
The mix-up occurred due to an "off by one" error in copying the ticket information into Google Calendar. Since I was in the Pacific time zone I had to enter all time information in PDT, which is 10 hours earlier than Tel Aviv time, and 9 hours earlier than Amsterdam time. I did the math correctly, but neglected to adjust the date, thus adding the flight on Apr 16th at 7:05pm PDT instead of Apr 15th.
From that point onward, I did not look at my ticket until I was about to check in, what I believed was 26 hours before departure. I went to KLM's check-in site, selected the flight path and the date and was surprised to see my ticket was not found. After looking up the ticket itself I realized that my booked flight is departing in two hours, while I'm at least a two hour drive from the airport, and my bags are not packed.
I called KLM Platinum reservations and they said that I'd have to book a new ticket, but they could cancel my existing ticket (and hopefully refund the miles and taxes paid). They recommended I call Flying Blue the next morning when they are available.
I didn't want to wait till the next morning and tried calling the local airport, which was checking in my flight at that time. I got no answer. Then, I decided to try to call the US Flying Blue line, but it was already after 8pm on the east coast, so they too were not available. 5 am passed, and I didn't have a ticket.
Then I came across the idea to call the Flying Blue center in a different timezone. I called Flying Blue Japan and they were happy to assist me. It turns out there was one award ticket left, in Business class, for the flight on the 17th. I booked that ticket.
Fast forward to the next day, and I boarded the first flight (TLV-AMS). It seems I would have been upgraded if I had an economy ticket as economy was full (as usual). The flight had a slight delay but my connection was fine. At Amsterdam, I went to the new lounge, took a shower, went online, and made a few phone calls.
About an hour later, I got tricked again by the flight information screens displaying my flight as ``Boarding''. I went to the gate, quickly passed security and realized no one has yet boarded the aircraft. After nervously waiting for about 20 minutes, a delay was announced, then another one, and we finally started boarding 30 minutes after the scheduled departure time, and departed over an hour late. We should make up for some of the lost time in the air.
Now, for the business class experience. I'm seated at row 77, which is the upper deck exit row on the 747. It's about 4 hours into the flight and I haven't yet left the upper deck, and rarely left my seat, which turns into an almost flat bed that's pretty comfy and sleepable. I spent the beginning of the flight sleeping (and eating the pretty good food) and then watched some shows on the IFE system, which is kinda old, but reasonable. I'm writing this on my laptop connected to the in-flight AC power.
Arrived safely at SFO, and posting this from the airport hotel. That's all for now. Sorry for not blogging more, but you can always follow me on Twitter!
Monday, September 8, 2008
$400 to spend a night in Georgia
That's what I got offered, I accepted. They took back their offer. I'm talking obviously about Atlanta, GA, and the offer was by Delta due to overbooking in my flight back to San Francisco. The offer was revoked due to the fact they didn't need volunteers after all. Too bad, I was looking forward to a day in Atlanta.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
The road to Midway
Today I have boarded a flight to Chicago, Illinois on my way to the AAAI-08 conference. As usual, instead of flying direct, I have connected through Minneapolis in order to fly Northwest and get a First-Class upgrade. This time I left my passport home intentionally, as this is a purely domestic itinerary.
Some of you may recall my car accident. That led to me leaving my car at a garage for repair and renting a replacement car a few days ago. I have returned the rental car at the airport and thus saved the time and hassle of an airport shuttle.
As this is a short trip and the weather is warm, I packed almost nothing and did not check any bags, so I could proceed directly to the gate with my pre-printed boarding pass (as this is a domestic flight, I get no lounge access). My first class flight went smoothly, arriving on time at Minneapolis.
Upon arrivial, I checked the screens for my connection info and noticed that there was an earlier Northwest flight to Chicago Midway* airport. I decided to head directly to that gate and try to standby for the earlier flight. The gate agent told me that he could put me on standby, but the flight is likely to be full and I am not guaranteed a seat, and even if I get one, it would probably be in economy. I told the agent I don't mind (I prefer spending an hour and a half on the plane in economy than in the terminal), and then I had to wait and see if there would be room for me.
The flight turned out to be fully booked, and all 12 first class seats were full. However, since I had Platinum status I got one of those! The flight did depart late, but I ended up arriving more than an hour before my original schedule. Another plus is that a nice girl sat next to me on the flight and we chatted all the way. She was flying from San Jose (SJO), Costa Rica and was on her final leg back home to Wisconsin. I had fun.
After arriving I checked in at my hotel and took a taxi to dinner with my advisor and some more Stanford folk at a Chicago restaurant. I just now returned to the hotel. Updates to come.
*Midway airport (MDW), is named such not because of its location, but as a reference to the Battle of Midway.
Some of you may recall my car accident. That led to me leaving my car at a garage for repair and renting a replacement car a few days ago. I have returned the rental car at the airport and thus saved the time and hassle of an airport shuttle.
As this is a short trip and the weather is warm, I packed almost nothing and did not check any bags, so I could proceed directly to the gate with my pre-printed boarding pass (as this is a domestic flight, I get no lounge access). My first class flight went smoothly, arriving on time at Minneapolis.
Upon arrivial, I checked the screens for my connection info and noticed that there was an earlier Northwest flight to Chicago Midway* airport. I decided to head directly to that gate and try to standby for the earlier flight. The gate agent told me that he could put me on standby, but the flight is likely to be full and I am not guaranteed a seat, and even if I get one, it would probably be in economy. I told the agent I don't mind (I prefer spending an hour and a half on the plane in economy than in the terminal), and then I had to wait and see if there would be room for me.
The flight turned out to be fully booked, and all 12 first class seats were full. However, since I had Platinum status I got one of those! The flight did depart late, but I ended up arriving more than an hour before my original schedule. Another plus is that a nice girl sat next to me on the flight and we chatted all the way. She was flying from San Jose (SJO), Costa Rica and was on her final leg back home to Wisconsin. I had fun.
After arriving I checked in at my hotel and took a taxi to dinner with my advisor and some more Stanford folk at a Chicago restaurant. I just now returned to the hotel. Updates to come.
*Midway airport (MDW), is named such not because of its location, but as a reference to the Battle of Midway.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Abflug nach Deutschland
(that is, departure to Germany for those of you who don't know German)Yes, I'm flying again, this today my itinerary is SFO-IAH-AMS-FRA (that's San Francisco, Houston, Amsterdam, Frankfurt), and then a train to Saarbruecken. The plan is to fly to Germany for a conference and visit my brother on the way. I'm going to be there for 10 days. I'm all packed (well, except my laptop) and in an hour I'll be boarding the shuttle to the airport to start my journey.
In order to qualify for platinum I need about 3000 more miles. If I do not get any other trip funded this year, I'm considering doing a mileage run to West Palm Beach or to Boston. In the case of Boston, I might want to stay there for up to a week. Honolulu is also an option, although more expensive and with less miles.
Sunday, September 2, 2007
Mexico City - Here I come
In a previous post I talked about my frequent flyer miles plan for this year, and referred to the topic of a Mileage Run. This weekend I decided to make good on my plans and go on a weekend vacation to Mexico City practically free of charge.How could I do that? Easy. I started by booking a flight from San Francisco to Mexico city via Atlanta on Delta airlines for $323 including tax and three nights in a hotel for $111 including tax. On the savings side of the equation are four nights in a bay area hotel which costs $220, 12,143 award miles and 6,939 status miles. The award miles are equivalent to half a one-way flight from Tel Aviv to San Francisco. If priced part of a return ticket this is worth about $200. So in all, I pay $434 and save $420. I also save on food due to visits to the airline lounges and on all expenses when I'm in Mexico City.
Anyway, the dates are 27/9 - 1/10/2007. On line updates will be posted.
Monday, July 16, 2007
Handbag Only
Last week I flew back home with no luggage, with only a handbag. This was due to the fact that I left my luggage at my brother's house in Saarbrücken. I will pick the luggage up when I return to Dagstuhl (and my brother) in October.However, then I will be flying from the US and back, and thus will be able to carry the luggage left at my brother's house in addition to whatever luggage I fly with to the US.
So, how do you fly handbag only? I checked in for my flights the day before and printed out an electronic boarding pass. I then used this boarding pass to go directly to the gate and board the flight without even passing the checking counters. Even my Silver status was mentioned on the boarding pass, so I got to use priority boarding as well.
In the Amsterdam - Tel Aviv leg I was assigned a whole row, but shortly before departure the flight attendants had to move two children who sat near the emergency exit to my row.
Upon landing at Ben Gurion airport, I head directly outside and wait for a shared taxi that (after three hours) brought me home.
Sunday, July 1, 2007
Business Class
Special Update from Amsterdam Schipol Airport... I got upgraded to business class ("Europe Select") on my flight to Amsterdam because the flight was overbooked and Economy was full, so I got to feel KLM shorthaul business class service. The seats are standard Economy seats, but the service is improved. The food is served with real utensils and plates, and every passenger gets a personal video player with a selection of movies (I saw "300"), high quality earphones, and a kit with earplugs and eyeshades (among other stuff).However, the two best things about "Europe Select" are the fact that the center seat is always free, and the fact that they clear trash and trays from your seat much faster than in Economy, several times during the flight. And the last useful perk is lounge access, which I am using right now to write this blog post.
Now I need to explain why there's a model house in this post. Well, that's another benefit of KLM Business class. You get one of these collectible model houses for free. Not very useful, but serves as an icon for this post...
Saturday, June 30, 2007
On my way again
Yes, the airplane is here for a reason. I'm writing this post from the DAN lounge at Ben Gurion airport (TLV). I'm flying to Frankfurt via Amsterdam, and then wait to join my colleagues in a taxi to Dagstuhl, Germany. There, I plan to attend a Dagstuhl seminar titled "Computational Social Systems and the Internet". My talk on Personalized Ranking Systems will be given tomorrow afternoon.So, why am I flying via Amsterdam when EL-AL and Lufthansa each operate two direct flights on this flight daily? The reason is of course miles. I am a frequent flyer of KLM and thus prefer to earn KLM frequent flyer miles instead of Lufthansa's.
That's all for now. Next update from Dagstuhl itself, on their free wifi and wired network.
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
So, why do you need Gold/Platinum?
I promised a post about gaining levels, so here it comes.
Elite Status gives the frequent flyer several advantages. The first advantage is more miles, in Platinum status I get two miles for every mile I've flown. Just to put that into perspective, in Platinum level for every flight from Israel to the US west coast you get a free flight from Israel to Europe (30,000 miles). And for two such flights you can get another flight to anywhere in the US.
The second important bonus is access to lounges. From Gold level onwards you get free access to airline lounges of all SkyTeam partners.
The third bonus is free upgrades. When a flight is overbooked in Economy class, the airlines upgrade some passengers to Business class. These upgrades are usually given based on frequent flyer level.
So, some info about myself. Here's my plan for this year:
Elite Status gives the frequent flyer several advantages. The first advantage is more miles, in Platinum status I get two miles for every mile I've flown. Just to put that into perspective, in Platinum level for every flight from Israel to the US west coast you get a free flight from Israel to Europe (30,000 miles). And for two such flights you can get another flight to anywhere in the US.
The second important bonus is access to lounges. From Gold level onwards you get free access to airline lounges of all SkyTeam partners.
The third bonus is free upgrades. When a flight is overbooked in Economy class, the airlines upgrade some passengers to Business class. These upgrades are usually given based on frequent flyer level.
So, some info about myself. Here's my plan for this year:
| Month | Flight (click for map) | Status Miles | Award Miles |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | Tel Aviv - Hyderabad via Amsterdam | 13,276 | 19,914 |
| April | Tel Aviv - Frankfurt; Stuttgart - Amsterdam - Tel Aviv (Award ticket ELAL + KLM) | none | - 5,000 |
| May | Tel Aviv - Honolulu via Amsterdam, San Francisco, Newark, and Paris | 20,545 | 30,817 |
| May | Honolulu - Hilo (not Skyteam) | none | none |
| July | Tel Aviv - Frankfurt via Amsterdam | 5,606 | 8,410 |
| August | Tel Aviv - Istanbul direct (not SkyTeam) | none | none |
| September | Tel Aviv - San Francisco via Amsterdam (one way) | 7,513 | 11,269 |
| October | San Francisco - Frankfurt via Houston, Amsterdam and Newark | 13,831 | 24,204 |
| TOTAL | 60,771 | 89,614 | |
| Previous Balance/Level | Silver | 45,230 | |
| New Balance/Level | Gold | 134,844 | |
Monday, June 18, 2007
Miles and More
The title of this post is the name of Lufthansa' s frequent flyer program, but the post is about my quest for miles in general. The purpose of this post is to try and explain what these miles are and why and how I collect them.
First of all, for those of you who think I'm crazy, or want to join me, I suggest visiting FlyerTalk - The world's leading frequent flyer community.
In this post, I'm going to focus on the frequent flyer program I'm enrolled in - KLM/Air France Flying Blue.
The basic idea is simple: Whenever you fly with the airline or their partners you get miles based on distance flown, which you can then redeem for free tickets based on zones in the world. There also status miles which are reset every year and let you gain Elite levels if you pass some threshold.
Optimizing for miles means many things. First, it means planning all your flights on one alliance of airlines, in my case SkyTeam, which covers three US airlines (Delta, Continental, Northwest) and many European airlines (KLM, Air France, Czech Airlines, Alitalia, etc.). Second, you must make sure your flight gives you 100% mileage, as some cheap flights only give 25%. Third, you can plan your itinerary in order to maximize your mileage, without compromising cost.
For example, if I need to fly from San Francisco (SFO) to Frankfurt (FRA), I can fly direct with Lufthansa, and gain 5,700 miles on Lufthansa one way:
I can fly via Newark (EWR) on Continental and get 6,434 flying blue miles:
or I can add another free connection in Houston and get 6,904 miles:
I am going to pick this last path, mostly because this way I will qualify for Platinum level, which requires 60,000 miles per year. More on levels in a later post.
First of all, for those of you who think I'm crazy, or want to join me, I suggest visiting FlyerTalk - The world's leading frequent flyer community.
In this post, I'm going to focus on the frequent flyer program I'm enrolled in - KLM/Air France Flying Blue.
The basic idea is simple: Whenever you fly with the airline or their partners you get miles based on distance flown, which you can then redeem for free tickets based on zones in the world. There also status miles which are reset every year and let you gain Elite levels if you pass some threshold.
Optimizing for miles means many things. First, it means planning all your flights on one alliance of airlines, in my case SkyTeam, which covers three US airlines (Delta, Continental, Northwest) and many European airlines (KLM, Air France, Czech Airlines, Alitalia, etc.). Second, you must make sure your flight gives you 100% mileage, as some cheap flights only give 25%. Third, you can plan your itinerary in order to maximize your mileage, without compromising cost.
For example, if I need to fly from San Francisco (SFO) to Frankfurt (FRA), I can fly direct with Lufthansa, and gain 5,700 miles on Lufthansa one way:
I can fly via Newark (EWR) on Continental and get 6,434 flying blue miles:
or I can add another free connection in Houston and get 6,904 miles:
I am going to pick this last path, mostly because this way I will qualify for Platinum level, which requires 60,000 miles per year. More on levels in a later post.
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Air France Replies
In a previous post I wrote about the disservice I had on board an Air France flight. I have recently received the following letter in reply (Scanned image of the letter):
No miles were credited to my account. I'm not sure if I'm going to take this futher.
Dear Mr ALTMAN,
Your letter was transmitted to us by the by the Flying Blue Service. Thank you for having taken the time to write to us, thus giving us the occasion to communicate with you. We welcome feedback from our passengers, as we realize that this is our best means to maintain, and whenever necessary, improve the quality of our service.
We are sorry to learn that you were dissatisfied with the conditions during your flight from Paris to Tel Aviv, on 22/05/07. l fully understand your displeasure, and wish to apologize on behalf of Air France. We try to satisfy the passenger's seat requests. but we cannot guarantee them. l regret the Exit seat couldn't be assigned to you for safety reasons.
Furthermore, we do our utmost to insure the all-round professionalism of Air France cabin crews throughout their career. Your cabin crew is required to speak three languages, including English and french. We are generally proud of the professionalism af Air france personnel. I am sorry that on this occasion the service you received was not up to standard.
I do hope that you will afford us another opportunity to serve you to your entire satisfaction.
Yours sincerely,
LISE LEVY
Customer Relations Officer
No miles were credited to my account. I'm not sure if I'm going to take this futher.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Monday, May 21, 2007
HNL-EWR
Hi All!
I am currently at Newark Liberty International Airport, where I will be spending the next 5 or so hours, awaiting my connection to Charles de Gaulle International Airport near Paris, and then to Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv.
The 9 hour red-eye flight flight from Honolulu International Airport (Continental 14) went on easily, due to the extensive on-board entertainment. I divided my time between sleeping, and watching CSI and Without a Trace.
I had half a day in Honolulu before going to the airport. As it was a hot day and we won't have a chance to shower in a long while, we decided not to hike Diamond Head, but rather spend the day leisurely at the shopping mall. I went to a bookstore and read a little.
That's all for now. Next update will probably be from Tel Aviv airport or even from my parents' home in Kiryat Haim.
Maps generated by the Great Circle Mapper - copyright © Karl L. Swartz.
I am currently at Newark Liberty International Airport, where I will be spending the next 5 or so hours, awaiting my connection to Charles de Gaulle International Airport near Paris, and then to Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv.
The 9 hour red-eye flight flight from Honolulu International Airport (Continental 14) went on easily, due to the extensive on-board entertainment. I divided my time between sleeping, and watching CSI and Without a Trace.
I had half a day in Honolulu before going to the airport. As it was a hot day and we won't have a chance to shower in a long while, we decided not to hike Diamond Head, but rather spend the day leisurely at the shopping mall. I went to a bookstore and read a little.
That's all for now. Next update will probably be from Tel Aviv airport or even from my parents' home in Kiryat Haim.
Maps generated by the Great Circle Mapper - copyright © Karl L. Swartz.
Friday, May 11, 2007
Hawaii Update 200705101230
Hi All!
Update from the road to Hawaii - San Francisco Int'l Aiport. Two flights down, two to go. For those who don't know I'm flying to Hawaii for 12 days for a conference and trip. Today I'm flying TLV-AMS-SFO-HNL-ITO.
The flight from Tel Aviv to Amsterdam was on an old 737 with no entertainment system, but only lasted 5 short hours. I spent most of the flight sleeping and chatting with Itai who came with me.
The second flight (Amsterdam-San Francisco) was on a nice Boeing 747-400 (for those who don't know, that's a jumbo jet). I had one of the best seats on the flight, in the front of Economy class, with lots of room and I spent some time of the 11 hour flight sleeping on the floor. Other time was spent checking some papers and eating the lots of food that was available. The cabin crew was very nice and the flight was much easier than I thought it would be.
Note that this flight departed on 11:00 and landed on 13:30 (local time), which means it was continuoulsy noon onboard the flight for 11 hours! I'm not sure if I was in an airplane or a time machine...
I had a tight connection to my next flight, so I rushed off the plane. I was the first person off the flight (even before Business Class) and rushed to passport control, which ran smoothly with no lines whatsover. The only problem was my connecting flight to Honolulu was is more than an hour
delayed. Now I am expecting a tight connection at Honolulu. Therefore, I am expecting to actually send this mail (and additional updates) only when I reach our accomodations at Hilo.
BTW: All timestamps are Hawaiian time, which is 13 hours earlier than Israel time.
Maps generated by the Great Circle Mapper - copyright © Karl L. Swartz.
Update from the road to Hawaii - San Francisco Int'l Aiport. Two flights down, two to go. For those who don't know I'm flying to Hawaii for 12 days for a conference and trip. Today I'm flying TLV-AMS-SFO-HNL-ITO.
The flight from Tel Aviv to Amsterdam was on an old 737 with no entertainment system, but only lasted 5 short hours. I spent most of the flight sleeping and chatting with Itai who came with me.
The second flight (Amsterdam-San Francisco) was on a nice Boeing 747-400 (for those who don't know, that's a jumbo jet). I had one of the best seats on the flight, in the front of Economy class, with lots of room and I spent some time of the 11 hour flight sleeping on the floor. Other time was spent checking some papers and eating the lots of food that was available. The cabin crew was very nice and the flight was much easier than I thought it would be.
Note that this flight departed on 11:00 and landed on 13:30 (local time), which means it was continuoulsy noon onboard the flight for 11 hours! I'm not sure if I was in an airplane or a time machine...
I had a tight connection to my next flight, so I rushed off the plane. I was the first person off the flight (even before Business Class) and rushed to passport control, which ran smoothly with no lines whatsover. The only problem was my connecting flight to Honolulu was is more than an hour
delayed. Now I am expecting a tight connection at Honolulu. Therefore, I am expecting to actually send this mail (and additional updates) only when I reach our accomodations at Hilo.
BTW: All timestamps are Hawaiian time, which is 13 hours earlier than Israel time.
Maps generated by the Great Circle Mapper - copyright © Karl L. Swartz.
Monday, January 8, 2007
The Amazing Race - Hyderabad
(I decided to write my experiences as an episode of "The Amazing Race"...)
The Amazing Race - Hyderabad
----------------------------
This is Tel aviv Ben Gurion Airport - The first pit stop in a race around
the world. Teams arrived here at the end of the last leg for a mandatory
rest period that allows them eat, sleep, and mingle with other teams.
ROUTE INFO: Go to Hyderabad, India. Take a taxi to the Vasam Kutir, where
you will receive your next clue. You have $100 for this leg of the race.
Team Ola has booked a flight through Frankfurt, while team Alon has booked
a flight Amsterdam. Team Ola's flight is scheduled to arrive at 00:30, a
full hour before the flight via Amsterdam. This puts team Ola in first
place. The captain of team Alon's flight now announces that they will be
arriving ahead of schedule. Will team Alon catch up with team Ola. Stay
tuned.
Team Ola was assigned a seat in the back of the plane, she is now last in
the queue for pasport control. Team Alon's flight has arrived early. Team
Alon has arranged to get the front-most economy class seats and priority
baggage handling. Team Ola is still now changing cash at Hyderabad airport.
Both teams pass custom simultaneously and decide to share a taxi to the
next route marker. They split between them the $18 cab fare and
simultaneously arrive at Vasant Kutir, where they find the next clue.
DETOUR: STUDY or SIGHTSEE.
A detour is a choice between two tasks each with its own pros and cons. In
this detour, teams should choose between two ways to spend their free day in
Hyderabad.
In SIGHTSEE, teams must travel to Charminar, an ancient monumenting of the
Qutub Shahi period. There they must find the toursit information post and
ask for this map, and their next clue. This task may take some time but
does not require skill.
In STUDY, teams must stay in the hostel and prepare their conference talk
for the next day and pass a "dry run" of the talk. The dry run can be done
with quickly, but may stifle less skillful teams.
Alon: Sightseeing seems a lot more fun. Opening hours are between 9AM to
5:30PM. We might as well stay here for the night.
Ola: I'm tired and I want to sleep. I'll choose study.
The next morning team Alon calls for an "Auto Riksa" or mini taxi to take
him to the location. He agrees with the driver on a fare of 140 Rupee and
begins his journey, meanwhile Ola stumbles with the fact that she does not
have the right version of her talk. Who will finish the task first? Who will
arrive last at the pit stop and face elimination? Stay tuned.
After a long 30 minutes of dangerous driving in the narrow streets of
Hyderabad amidst the very dense traffic, team Alon finally arrives at
Charminar. The Riksha driver does not have change and thus team Alon is
forced to pay 200 Rupee for the ride. After circling Charminar, team Alon
finds no tourist information point in sight. Team Alon decides to enter this
formidable structure in search of the next clue.
Meanwhile, team Ola struggles with her partital version of the talk, with no
Internet access and while forced to stay at the hostel, she has no choice
but to try to prepare for a dry run using the old version of the slides. She
gives one dry run, but fails.
Team Alon's tourist status is immediately detected and they are forced to
pay 100 Rupees for the entrance, 20 times more than the fare Indian citizens
have to pay. After buying 20 tickets, team Alon now climbs the steep spiral
stairway in order to look of a tourist information station, but in vain.
Alon: I understand that saftey is not a major consideration in India.
Looking in every direction from the top of Charminar, facing a spectacular
view team Alon could not find any information point. In deperation, they
decend though a second spiral staircase, only to find the tourist
information point right in from on them.
Alon: Do you have a map of the city?
Vendor: Yes, 20 Rupee please.
Vendor: Here is your map, and here is your next clue.
ROUTE INFO: Attend the conference opening at IIIT Hyderabad starting 6pm.
Alon, having completed the detour is now in first place. However, his
location at Charminar is inconvenient for him. He decides to try and go for
the Fast Forward.
There is only one Fast Forward on each leg of the race. The first team that
finds it can skip all tasks and go directly for the pit stop. However, once
a team has used a Fast Forward they cannot use another one for the rest of
the race so they have to decide when it's most advantageous to go for it. To
claim this fast forward, teams must take a boat this Buddha statue and find
the clue hidden in its base.
Alon: Let's go. To this point, here.
Driver: Lubmini Park?
Alon: Yes. How much?
Driver: 60 Rupee. OK?
Alon: OK, Go!
Meanwhile, Ola is still struggling with her prestation. With only a few
hours to the opening ceremony, she doesn't have much time.
Alon (reads): "Lumbini Park: tickets required, 5 Rupee".
Alon: Two tickets please.
Daniel: Is this the right place?
Alon: Where are the boats?
Alon: Let's just go look.
Alon: Here! I see boats! And the statue!
Alon(reads): Motorized boat to Buddha statue - 30 Rupee.
Alon: Two tickets please.
However, the ticket agent is busy.
Alon: Come on!
Finally, the agent sells them the two tickets.
Alon: Where to?
Daniel: Here, motorized boats.
Alon: Where is the boat?
Local person: Wait here.
After several minutes of waiting, the board arrives and they are on the way
to the Buddha statue. However, upon arriving at the island the find that the
Fast Forward has already been taken.
Alon: Let's take the boat back and take a Riksha back to the hostel and then
we can still make it to the opening by 6PM.
Daniel: Ok.
Meanwhile, Ola finally completes a dry run and boards Riksha towards IIITH.
Due to the time lost by pursuing the Fast Forward, team Ola is now ahead of
team Alon.
Ola: ROADBLOCK
A roadblock is a task that only one person can perform. In this roadblock,
that person has to listen to boring speeches and cultural performances and
then eat from the fine but spicy Hindu cuisine without consuming water for
several minutes. Once the food is consumed, they may get the next clue.
Ola: Who likes it hot? Choose before you open the card.
Ola: I'll do it.
Ola begins listening to the boring speeches. Meanwhile, Alon and Daniel
arrive in a Riksha and join Ola in listening to the speeches. The teams are
now tied for first place.
--
This message was sent by Alon Altman (alon@8ln.org) ICQ:1366540
GPG public key at http://8ln.org/pubkey.txt
Key fingerprint = A670 6C81 19D3 3773 3627 DE14 B44A 50A3 FE06 7F24
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
-=[ Random Fortune ]=-
No man's ambition has a right to stand in the way of performing a simple
act of justice.
-- John Altgeld
The Amazing Race - Hyderabad
----------------------------
This is Tel aviv Ben Gurion Airport - The first pit stop in a race around
the world. Teams arrived here at the end of the last leg for a mandatory
rest period that allows them eat, sleep, and mingle with other teams.
ROUTE INFO: Go to Hyderabad, India. Take a taxi to the Vasam Kutir, where
you will receive your next clue. You have $100 for this leg of the race.
Team Ola has booked a flight through Frankfurt, while team Alon has booked
a flight Amsterdam. Team Ola's flight is scheduled to arrive at 00:30, a
full hour before the flight via Amsterdam. This puts team Ola in first
place. The captain of team Alon's flight now announces that they will be
arriving ahead of schedule. Will team Alon catch up with team Ola. Stay
tuned.
Team Ola was assigned a seat in the back of the plane, she is now last in
the queue for pasport control. Team Alon's flight has arrived early. Team
Alon has arranged to get the front-most economy class seats and priority
baggage handling. Team Ola is still now changing cash at Hyderabad airport.
Both teams pass custom simultaneously and decide to share a taxi to the
next route marker. They split between them the $18 cab fare and
simultaneously arrive at Vasant Kutir, where they find the next clue.
DETOUR: STUDY or SIGHTSEE.
A detour is a choice between two tasks each with its own pros and cons. In
this detour, teams should choose between two ways to spend their free day in
Hyderabad.
In SIGHTSEE, teams must travel to Charminar, an ancient monumenting of the
Qutub Shahi period. There they must find the toursit information post and
ask for this map, and their next clue. This task may take some time but
does not require skill.
In STUDY, teams must stay in the hostel and prepare their conference talk
for the next day and pass a "dry run" of the talk. The dry run can be done
with quickly, but may stifle less skillful teams.
Alon: Sightseeing seems a lot more fun. Opening hours are between 9AM to
5:30PM. We might as well stay here for the night.
Ola: I'm tired and I want to sleep. I'll choose study.
The next morning team Alon calls for an "Auto Riksa" or mini taxi to take
him to the location. He agrees with the driver on a fare of 140 Rupee and
begins his journey, meanwhile Ola stumbles with the fact that she does not
have the right version of her talk. Who will finish the task first? Who will
arrive last at the pit stop and face elimination? Stay tuned.
After a long 30 minutes of dangerous driving in the narrow streets of
Hyderabad amidst the very dense traffic, team Alon finally arrives at
Charminar. The Riksha driver does not have change and thus team Alon is
forced to pay 200 Rupee for the ride. After circling Charminar, team Alon
finds no tourist information point in sight. Team Alon decides to enter this
formidable structure in search of the next clue.
Meanwhile, team Ola struggles with her partital version of the talk, with no
Internet access and while forced to stay at the hostel, she has no choice
but to try to prepare for a dry run using the old version of the slides. She
gives one dry run, but fails.
Team Alon's tourist status is immediately detected and they are forced to
pay 100 Rupees for the entrance, 20 times more than the fare Indian citizens
have to pay. After buying 20 tickets, team Alon now climbs the steep spiral
stairway in order to look of a tourist information station, but in vain.
Alon: I understand that saftey is not a major consideration in India.
Looking in every direction from the top of Charminar, facing a spectacular
view team Alon could not find any information point. In deperation, they
decend though a second spiral staircase, only to find the tourist
information point right in from on them.
Alon: Do you have a map of the city?
Vendor: Yes, 20 Rupee please.
Vendor: Here is your map, and here is your next clue.
ROUTE INFO: Attend the conference opening at IIIT Hyderabad starting 6pm.
Alon, having completed the detour is now in first place. However, his
location at Charminar is inconvenient for him. He decides to try and go for
the Fast Forward.
There is only one Fast Forward on each leg of the race. The first team that
finds it can skip all tasks and go directly for the pit stop. However, once
a team has used a Fast Forward they cannot use another one for the rest of
the race so they have to decide when it's most advantageous to go for it. To
claim this fast forward, teams must take a boat this Buddha statue and find
the clue hidden in its base.
Alon: Let's go. To this point, here.
Driver: Lubmini Park?
Alon: Yes. How much?
Driver: 60 Rupee. OK?
Alon: OK, Go!
Meanwhile, Ola is still struggling with her prestation. With only a few
hours to the opening ceremony, she doesn't have much time.
Alon (reads): "Lumbini Park: tickets required, 5 Rupee".
Alon: Two tickets please.
Daniel: Is this the right place?
Alon: Where are the boats?
Alon: Let's just go look.
Alon: Here! I see boats! And the statue!
Alon(reads): Motorized boat to Buddha statue - 30 Rupee.
Alon: Two tickets please.
However, the ticket agent is busy.
Alon: Come on!
Finally, the agent sells them the two tickets.
Alon: Where to?
Daniel: Here, motorized boats.
Alon: Where is the boat?
Local person: Wait here.
After several minutes of waiting, the board arrives and they are on the way
to the Buddha statue. However, upon arriving at the island the find that the
Fast Forward has already been taken.
Alon: Let's take the boat back and take a Riksha back to the hostel and then
we can still make it to the opening by 6PM.
Daniel: Ok.
Meanwhile, Ola finally completes a dry run and boards Riksha towards IIITH.
Due to the time lost by pursuing the Fast Forward, team Ola is now ahead of
team Alon.
Ola: ROADBLOCK
A roadblock is a task that only one person can perform. In this roadblock,
that person has to listen to boring speeches and cultural performances and
then eat from the fine but spicy Hindu cuisine without consuming water for
several minutes. Once the food is consumed, they may get the next clue.
Ola: Who likes it hot? Choose before you open the card.
Ola: I'll do it.
Ola begins listening to the boring speeches. Meanwhile, Alon and Daniel
arrive in a Riksha and join Ola in listening to the speeches. The teams are
now tied for first place.
--
This message was sent by Alon Altman (alon@8ln.org) ICQ:1366540
GPG public key at http://8ln.org/pubkey.txt
Key fingerprint = A670 6C81 19D3 3773 3627 DE14 B44A 50A3 FE06 7F24
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
-=[ Random Fortune ]=-
No man's ambition has a right to stand in the way of performing a simple
act of justice.
-- John Altgeld
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