London Video Blog
Written by on February 22nd, 2009Howdy from Heathrow
Written by on February 21st, 2009Here I am, in Heathrow – FINALLY.
Oh. My. God. I got from Belgium to Central London faster than I got from Central London to Heathrow. Granted, it took me about 30 minutes to get a Clam pass on the Underground, and then 30 minutes to catch the Picadilly line, an hour to get to Heathrow Terminal 5, then 30ish minutes to get from Terminal 5 to the hotel via bus – 25 of that waiting for the bus.
The hotel is nice, average Crowne Plaza room. We’re “close” to the airport, but not really… There’s totally nothing around but other hotels down the road, so I am sticking close to home tonight.
Lots of stuff on the agenda tomorrow… Buckingham Palace, Picadilly Circus, Big Ben, Harrods, Westminster Abby, and the elusive search for the perfect gift.
Working on some plans for Thursday – fingers crossed they come through!
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Belgium Video Blog 4 – Waffles!
Written by on February 21st, 2009Belgium Video Blog 3 – The Stairs
Written by on February 21st, 2009Belgium Video Blog 2 – Sights from the train
Written by on February 21st, 2009Belgium Video Blog 1 – Catching the train to Zuid
Written by on February 21st, 2009Belgium 2009 pics!
Written by on February 21st, 2009So I left my adapter chip at home, somewhere, for my digital camera… Took all these pics of my hotel, and thought it’d be when I got home before I could upload them.
Being the lucky bastard I am, while bumming around the train station, I found a camera supply store that sold one for dirt cheap! So, thanks to luck, here’s some pics from my hotel 
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G’bye Gent, Hello Heathrow
Written by on February 20th, 2009Well, I am winding down my stay here in Gent. It’s been rather cold here the past two days, but warmed up a bit today.
Last night I went with some colleagues into Gent for dinner and drinks. We went to this really trendy pub and I had Duvet, one of the more popular Belgium beers. Despite all the consolidation in the beer industry here, Duvet is still independent, and strong! It was really good – and this coming from someone who’s not big into beers.
From there it was dinner at this quaint little italian place – quaint being tiny! It seated no more than 30 and was very authentic with their Italian owner running around hosting and serving.
Tonight is dinner with my regional VP then off to the train tomorrow to London.
Don’t forget – my Hill Country Ride for AIDS account is still there with just $40.00 (thanks Brooke and Holly!). Anything you can do to help me out on this ride would be great! Donate here!
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A book, a bathtub and the Belgium burbs
Written by on February 17th, 2009Well, I am all settled into my room here in Sint-Martens-Latem, a suburb of Gent which is a small town 45 minutes outside of Brussels. It’s mainly all farming around, which I am sure is really nice in the spring – but today it’s rainy and cold and overcast, so I’ve been inside most of the time.
The flight over was nice, and didn’t feel like 8 hours, even though it was. Are you ready for this? I read an entire book from start to finish – something I haven’t done in years. Jeff gave me a book for my trip and from the time I read the first page, I couldn’t put it down until I finished it. Chelsea Handler’s “My Horizontal Life: A collection of one night stands” was one of the most entertaining and flat out hilarious things I have ever read. Within four hours, I had gone from cover to cover and laughed more and more. For the first time, I can say I can’t wait to pick up another.
After trying to doze some and get some rest, we landed in Brussels Tuesday morning at 7:30a. This time, I got all my bags at one time! I was so excited to see them come off the belt. Remember, last time it was 36 hours later before my bag showed. Remember again, when I was driving a sporty rental? Not this time. I am rolling in a Ford Galaxy – aka a MINI VAN. Yeah, tell me about it.
So I made my way out to the little community where I am working till Saturday and checked into my room. It is way cute – they’re little villa type buildings each with 4-5 rooms in each. After traveling for 24 hours, all I wanted was a hot bath, and I didn’t know if I was going to get it… my last trip to Belgium left me in a room with only a shower. Much to my surprise, I have a huge bath tub in my gorgeous little room.
After getting settled in, I made my way across to the hotel grounds to get some lunch. The hotel and restaurant have a very solid French influence – it is after all Auberge du Pecheur. So for lunch, it was time to jump into local cuisine. The starter was an oyster with garlic, followed by eel on cucumber jelly and an ice fish and apple chutney mix, which was awesome. Lunch was delicious – truffle ravioli with potatoes and mushrooms. So. Damn. Good.
From there it was nap time – I was totally jet lagged from the trip, and the dreary rainy weather made it all that much harder to stay awake.
Being a way from town, and in the suburb of a small community, there’s not much going on – so this week is going to be catch up and lounge night at the hotel.
I have a few pics I’ll put up, and hopefully tomorrow will be a little dryer so I can get more.
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Belgium Bound Once Again
Written by on February 16th, 2009After a great weekend of GQB, Valentines Day, packing and TXRD Derby, it was off to the airport at 5:50a this morning. I hopped a ride with Jeff, who gave up his uninterrupted sleep on his day off to take me to the airport.
For the first time, my clothes at the airport presented a problem for me. Not for setting off the metal detector, but for being “too baggy”. The agent wanted me to take my sweatshirt off, apparently to see my ripped abs (ha!) but I didn’t have anything on underneath it. Instead, she offered to have me patted down – joy. But the supervisor told her I was fine and sent me on my way.
After a quick stop for Round Rock Donuts, I made my way to the gate to find it practically empty – YES! Getting all comfy and skimming my book, at a totally empty gate mind you, this old guy and his wife decide to sit right next to me. Don’t mind the 5 other empty seats on this row… nah. Sit right up on my lap please.
We board the plane, and I am row 31 of 32 – but it’s bulkhead so I sprawl all out in the space and take a 3 hour nap.
I’m sitting here in O’Hare with a 5.5 hour layover waiting for my plane to Brussels. I arrive local time Tuesday morning at 7:30a. Don’t you know I’ll be a happy camper!
I found the place I am staying at is about 45mins outside the city, so I have a little drive ahead of me when I land. I’ll update when I get there – pending they have Internet!
Don’t forget – there is still plenty of time to support me in my Hill Country Ride for AIDS going on in April. Check out the page at http://www.hillcountryride.org/goto/matheny for all the details. We got our jerseys this past week and I am going bike shopping when I get back – watch for pics coming soon!
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