Archive for December, 2006

Reflections from Madrid

Saturday, December 9th, 2006

Just warning you that this is going to be a long one.

It’s 8am, I am at the airport one and a half hours early. While most of
the time this would be unbearable, it does have its advantages. I didn’t
have to queue to get through security, I had time to gorge myself on a
chocolate croissant, carragola and an Illy short black. While Illy is
better than most of the coffee I have had so far, it’s it still has
nothing on Di Bella. I have also found myself a nice see to sit and
watch the comings and goings on the tarmac, which could probably amuse
me for many hours. (more…)

Almost there…

Friday, December 8th, 2006

The flight to Frankfurt was uneventful. I had a few very cold Bombay and Tonics (and they knew how I liked them made), then followed it with the best Pa-Naeng Thai curry I have ever eaten (sorry Spike). You wouldn’t expect airline food to be any good, but this was fantastic. I slept for about 7 hours, watched X-Men 3 (which was about as boring as the American football movie with Marky Mark that I watched last night). Breakfast was great too. Two German sausages, quiche of two cheeses with lots of soggy pastry, a roast tomato and something kind of like a hash brown. Mmmm.

(more…)

Sore Penis

Friday, December 8th, 2006

Well, 10 hours into the exercise in cattle herding that is air travel. I guess I should be happy that I am not a lamb on a ship destined for the middle east. The new airport in Bangkok is pretty impressive. The airport is filled with these metal cabinets that kind of look like an oversize cheese grater. They are actually the air-conditioning units and they have music playing out of them. As usual, it’s filled with the usual pretentious shit that you only find in airport transit areas.

Having no idea of what the local currency is worth, I spent $30 on an toy elephant. I suspect the child awaiting my arrival in Bilbao will probably prefer the tim tams I purchased. Is it cruel to introduce a 4 year old Spaniard to Tim Tams knowing that she will probably never be able to eat them again?

Thanks to all the Christmas presents I am carrying, I somehow ended up with 34 kg of luggage. The check in assistant sent me off to do an embarrassing repack of my suitcase. I managed to get the weight down by shoving some things in my carry on, which was regrettably 7kg. It is probably 10 by now with the purchases made on the way.

Sadly, the wifi here appears not to work properly. I don’t know if its just a firefox problem or it hasn’t been setup yet. This could cause a bit of a problem as I left the address details of where I am staying in Madrid in my email… I don’t think I have anyone’s mobile number either. Then again, but the time you are reading this it has been sorted out.

For whatever reason I though it would be a good idea to buy some local cigarettes and brave a smoking booth. As we all know, you don’t need to light up to have a smoke in there. Pull the packet out expecting an Australian warning on the pack, but instead I got a thought looking Thai guy blowing smoke on to some skulls… Frightening stuff. They taste like soap too. Apparently they come from the Philippines.

See you in about 13 hours.


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