Fall travel

The fall travel season has arrived! That means it's "nomad time".

I'm off to Texas tomorrow for my first trip of the fall. Over the next few months, my teammates and I will be visiting over 90 cities in 31 countries. Personally, I'll be visiting cities 25 cities in 11 countries (including 5 countries that I've never been to before!).

Here's where I'll be heading this fall:

• Houston, TX
• Austin, TX
• Washington, D.C. (twice)
• Seattle, WA (twice)
• Vancouver, Canada
• Pittsburgh, PA
• New York, NY
• Philadelphia, PA
• Chicago, IL
• Ann Arbor, MI
• Denver, CO
• Portland, OR
• Beijing, China
• Taipei, Taiwan (three visits, one of those for work)
• Hong Kong, China
• Bangkok, Thailand
• Manilla, Philippines
• Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
• Singapore
• Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
• Chennai, India
• Dubai, UAE
• Abu Dhabi, UAE
• Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
• Manama, Bahrain

Time to pack my bags...

Ready for the cold (and maybe snow)!

I'm halfway done with my Spring travels. I just got back from a week and a half long trip to Southern California on Friday afternoon and am headed to St. Louis today. It will be the first city in a whirlwind "tour" of the Midwest - with subsequent stops in Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison, and Minneapolis.

I did a similar trip around the same time last year and the weather was absolutely beautiful throughout my entire trip - temps in the mid 60s and sunny. I don't think I'm going to be quite as lucky this time around - the forecast for most of the cities is mid-30s and chances of snow.

BTW, I'll post some highlights from my SoCal trip soon...

Toronto!

I took a morning flight from Vancouver to Toronto this morning.

The flight was very good - it was my first time flying on Air Canada. The plane was relatively new and clean (a 777-200), the flight attendants were all cheerful, and the AVOD system was excellent. During the flight, I watched "The Hurt Locker", a movie that I've been wanting to watch for a long time. It was an awesome movie - it doesn't change my attitude towards the US involvement in Iraq, but it really gives me new respect for the soldiers (who risk their lives each day).

The seats even had USB ports and AC outlets. Very cool!

This is my first time in Toronto. I'm hoping to do a bit of exploring tomorrow morning.

Greetings from Vancouver

Here's the spectacular view from my room:

Stanley Park in the background

Coal Harbour, North Vancouver, Grosse Mountain, and Mount Seymour

In the homestrech

Heading to the airport for my final work related trip of the year!

Here's my schedule for the next few days -

Today: fly from Phoenix to Vancouver
Friday: Vancouver to Toronto
Sunday: Toronto to Montreal
Tuesday: fly back to Phoenix!

While I absolutely love the travel, it is exhausting. I'll post another update once I arrive in Vancouver.

Hello from Sunnyvale

My lunch today:

Torta Milanesa from Bakery Mexico!

It was HUGE!

Nicely toasted bun...

This was an amazing sandwich. I tried the same torta at the Story Rd. location earlier this year and was blown away. The tortas at Bakery Mexico are stellar. Is there anything comparable to this in Phoenix?!?

Places mentioned:
Bakery Mexico
2811 Story Rd
San Jose, CA 95127

Bakery Mexico No. 2
87 E Santa Clara St
San Jose, CA 95113

Do you know the way to San Jose?

Going to San Jose for a quick overnighter...

Once I arrive, I'm heading straight to Bakery Mexico for lunch. I first tried this place in March and the torta milanesa was one of the best things I have ever eaten.

If everything goes according to plan, I'll post a picture later today.

In LA until Thursday

I'm in LA until Thursday for work. The nice thing is...Patty is here with me

We flew in this afternoon after celebrating a friend's b-day @ La Grande Orange (happy b-day, A.!)

Once we arrived in LA, we metup with my parents for an early dinner. After dinner we were thinking of things to do and decided to stop by Disneyland. One day, one park tickets are a whopping $72 (we both thought that there might be discounted admission after a certain time, like half price tickets after 6pm, but no luck), so we decided to walk around Downtown Disney instead. The place was absolutely packed for a Sunday evening...aren't kids in school right now?!?

BTW, my rental car this time around is the worst car ever - a Dodge Caliber. I thought the Chevy Aveo and HHR were terrible, but this car surpasses them by far. Oh well, it's my ride for the week.

Time for bed!

Miscellaneous Ramblings

I'm back home for 35 more hours...

I arrived late yesterday from Williamsburg, Virginia - a total travel time of nearly 12 hrs!

Interesting observation:
I flew on four flights over the last week - all on US Airways, and noticed that none of the flight attendants were under 40 (by my estimates). They also seemed to be hating life (or their jobs) as there were no smiles observed. What a stark contrast to my recent travels in Asia, on a variety of Asian airlines, where none of the FAs were over 35 (again, by my estimates) and they all had permasmiles and really seemed to take pride in what they are doing. No offense GW (I'm sure you are a superstar)!

Another observation:
On one of my flights yesterday, it took the FAs nearly 45 minutes to complete the beverage service in the economy cabin. I think an EVA/ANA/(insert any Asian airline here) crew could serve pre-dinner drinks, meal, and after-dinner drink in the same amount of time.

Does any one actually like US Airways?

I try to avoid US Airways whenever possible, but it's pretty tough as it's the dominant carrier here in Phoenix (along w/ Southwest).

On one of my flights yesterday, I was reading this month's issue of US Airways Magazine. I always find the letter from the CEO segment very entertaining. This month's letter did not disappoint. Here it is (highlights are mine):

------------------------------------------
The Choice Is Yours

Chairman and CEO Doug Parker

The comforts of home may be hard to find at 35,000 feet, but US Airways is working to give you more inflight offerings to make your travels with us more enjoyable.

Over the past few months, we introduced a variety of popular snacks for sale in addition to our fresh meals and snack boxes, and we began offering several new restaurant-quality cocktails and premium beverages. These choices — more than we’ve ever offered — are all part of a new inflight menu called US Airways MarketPlace.

We’ve selected some well-known brands to offer something different from what you might expect while flying. In addition to our assortment of complimentary soda, juice, coffee, tea, and water, you now have the option to purchase three popular “pick-me-ups”: AriZona Arnold Palmer Lite Half & Half, the classic iced tea-lemonade combo; iced Starbucks® Frappuccino® Coffee Drink; and Red Bull, the number one energy drink in the world.

We’re also pleased to offer you three new, award-winning, all-natural cocktail mixers from Stirrings. You’ll have the choice of a Pomegranate Martini, Mai Tai, or Margarita, all made with real fruit juice, triple-filtered water, and cane sugar.

In addition to enhancing your travel experience with more snack and beverage options, US Airways is helping you make the most of your flying time by turning our aircraft into Wi-Fi “hotspots.”

Beginning early next year we’ll install Gogo® Inflight Internet service from Aircell on our fleet of Airbus A321 aircraft. Customers with laptops, smartphones, and other Wi-Fi enabled devices will be able to purchase full Internet access including Web, instant messaging, email, and VPN access on select domestic flights.

Whether you decide to catch up on work or relax and surf the Internet is up to you, but we know that our new Wi-Fi service will make your travels with us more enjoyable. On behalf of our 33,000 employees, we appreciate that you’re flying with us today. We look forward to serving you in the future.

Doug Parker
Chairman and CEO

------------------------------------------

I'm pretty certain that Doug Parker did not write this letter. If so...is it a joke?!? How many times does he mention for sale/purchase above? This is the same airline that recently tried to charge for all non-alcoholic beverages and decided to reinstate complimentary beverage service due to the following reason:

"The beverage program was distracting from the outstanding improvements in on-time performance and baggage handling US Airways` 34,000 employees worked so hard to achieve last year," said Parker.

New (for purchase) drink selections and for purchase internet are going to improve customer satisfaction? By the way, the cocktails are $8!!! I walked through the cabin right after beverage service was completed and did not notice any customers w/ a cocktail. Wonder if they'll last...

Other random things:

I canceled our cable and phone land-line. We don't really watch much TV and rarely use the phone. For TV, we'll rely on any free broadcast HD channels that we get.

Why do car rental companies buy the worst cars (i.e. Chevy Aveo, Chrysler PT Cruiser, etc.)?!? It seems like they could save a bunch of maintenance expenses and improve customer satisfaction by using more reliable cars. I'm thinking Toyotas, Hondas, etc here...

That's all for now!

Off to Virginia

I haven't even fully unpacked from my Asia trip, and I'm leaving again for Virginia in a few hours.

I'll be there for almost a week, back home for two days, then leave again for another trip (to Denver and Minneapolis). My schedule is somewhat crazy until mid-November.

Time to go pack!

In Milwaukee

The weather has been unusually warm in the mid-west for the past few days.

Today's high in Chicago was 72 degrees. That's 25 degrees above normal! I would have enjoyed the weather more, except I was prepared for the opposite and brought warmer clothes for my trip (sweaters, etc.).

I made the drive from Chicago to Milwaukee this afternoon. Here's my latest ride:

I was finally upgraded for once!!! It's a 2009 Nissan Rogue, a new "crossover" model. So far, I am really enjoying this car. It's a dramatic improvement over the Chevy Aveo...but almost any car would be a huge improvement over the Aveo.

Back to the weather - a record high temperature of 75 was set this afternoon in Milwaukee (the previous high was 73 back in '66).

Off to Madison tomorrow...

In Chicago

I arrived in Chicago on Friday.

My "taxi" made it! It was a long drive - starting out in Pittsburgh, with stops in Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, and W. Lafayette (about ~850 miles!).

I'm here until Tuesday morning, when I continue my road trip to Milwaukee and Madison.

I love Chicago - it's one of my favorite cities in the world. Even though I've been to Chicago many, many times before, the city has so many place to see and things to do. This weekend, the city is host to many St. Patty's day events. Yesterday, I went to see the "greening" of the Chicago River and the St. Patty's Day Parade. I'll post some pics soon. Off to explore some new places...

Off to Cleveland!

Can you guess which car is mine? (HINT: which car is not like the others?)

If you weren't able to figure it out...here's a closer look:

Four more days with this beauty... M and P (thanks for the comments about a taxi service) - I am working on my fee structure and will post it soon.

Off to Cleveland now!

Planes, trains, and automobiles

I'm finally home! I've been traveling since Feb. 25th.

In the past 9 days I've:
- taken 1 train ride
- driven 2 rental cars
- taken 3 flights
- stayed in 4 hotels
- and been to 5 cities (Portland, Seattle, San Francisco, San Jose, and Sacramento)
(how convenient that the numbers above just happened to work out!)

Basically, this is going to be a pit-stop - I'm headed to Pittsburgh on Sunday afternoon...just enough time for me to do some laundry and cut my hair before I leave again.

Amazing

Here are some of the speakers we will have on the Thunderbird campus over the next week:

• Commander, U.S. Southern Command, Admiral James Stavridis, Topic: "Security and Stability in the Western Hemisphere"
• Co-Founder of Envirofit International, Mr. Paul Hudnut, Topic: "Sustainable Solutions: Pollution, Poverty and Innovation"
• CEO of IFESH (International Foundation for Education and Self-Help), Dr. Julie Sullivan, Topic: "Empowering the Poor in sub-Saharan Africa"
• CEO, Card Services JPMorgan Chase, Mr. Gordon Smith '96, Topic: "Leadership in a Changing World"
• CEO of OPIC (Overseas Private Investment Corporation), Mr. Robert Mosbacher, Topic: "Entrepreneurial Capitalism as a Soft-Power Tool"

Last week, we had the CEO and Chairman of US Airways, Doug Parker, on campus presenting about the airline industry.

The commencement speaker for our fall term will be Luis Alberto Moreno '77, President of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

What an amazing lineup!

Headed to Salt Lake City

I'm at the airport, en route to Salt Lake City, for what should be my last work-related trip of the year. I've been to a total of thirteen cities in seven weeks (my schedule). Not bad!

Fall (work) travel

Here's my (somewhat crazy) travel schedule for the next few months:

Trip 1
-------
Wed. Sep. 17: flight from Phoenix to Washington D.C.
Sat. Sep. 20: train from DC to New York City
Sun. Sep. 21: flight from Newark to Delhi (arrive on Mon. Sep. 22)
Sun. Sep. 28: flight from Delhi to Bangalore
Tue. Sep. 30: flight from Bangalore to Hyderabad
Fri. Oct. 3: flight from Hyderabad to Mumbai
Sun. Oct. 5: flight from Mumbai to Seattle (via Newark; arrive on Mon. Oct. 6)
Thu. Oct. 9 or Fri. Oct 10: train from Seattle to Vancouver
Sat. Oct. 11: flight from Vancouver to Phoenix (via LAX)

Trip 2
-------
Tue. Oct. 21: flight from Phoenix to Oakland
Wed. Oct. 22: flight from Oakland to LA
Thu. Oct. 30: flight from LA to Phoenix

Trip 3
-------
Wed. Nov. 5: drive from Phoenix to Tucson

Trip 4
-------
Sun. Nov. 9 or Mon. Nov. 10: flight from Phoenix to Salt Lake City
Tue. Nov. 11: flight from Salt Lake City to Phoenix

Headed to India!

Just found out today that I'll be heading to India in September (for work) This is soooo cool! I've always wanted to go to India...

I'm not looking forward to getting a bunch of vaccinations though. =(

Salt Lake City - Day 3 and 4 Highlights

Highlights from my final day (and a quarter) in Utah (from two weeks ago):

Driving back to Salt Lake City from Logan, UT (on highway 80/91)...really beautiful views:
Utah State Capitol:

My final two meals in SLC were fantastic!

For dinner on last Wednesday, I had originally planned to try Cucina Toscana. They've won a bunch of awards (including 2008 Best Restaurant -SLC and Best Italian Restaurant awards from Salt Lake Magazine). I arrived at 8:45pm and saw that there were a bunch of people waiting. I tried to locate bar seating (generally a good spot for single diners) but didn't see any so I decided to move on.

My next choice was Metropolitan. Metropolitan has an even longer list of awards than Cucina Toscana. I walked by and noticed that the place was basically empty (except for the servers and one table). This seemed so strange so I decided to pass on by. Maybe it's past its prime...

Final choice was Settebello (2008 Best New Restaurant award from Salt Lake magazine). The place was pretty packed (even at 9pm on a Wednesday), but the four counter seats in front of the kitchen were available. Here's a shot of the exterior:

I ordered the Quattro Stagioni ($10.99; Margherita Divided Into Four Sections. Each Section Topped Separately With Wood Oven Roasted Sausage, Salame, Roasted Mushrooms, Calamata Olives) and a Peroni ($4.49).

I watched my pizza being prepared. It was pretty amazing...they popped the pizza into the oven, and in less than a minute, it was out (and bubbling). According to their website, the pizzas take about 45 seconds to bake. Here are a few shots:

The pizza was fantastic! I thought the crust in the middle was a bit soggy, but it tasted incredible (I folded each piece for stability). I was only planning on eating one piece from each of the quarters, but couldn't stop and ended up finishing the entire pizza. =)

I even had room for a (huge) scoop of nocciola (hazelnut) gelato. Along w/ the huge portion was a hefty price ($4.99). I asked the server if they made the gelato in-house and she said it was from Dolcetti Gelato (their website seems to be down currently). It was quite good. I finished the entire dish. Here's a pic:

The next morning I had planned on grabbing breakfast and then heading to the airport to catch my flight. When I got outside, it was snowing! Here's what my rental car looked like:

Good thing there was a snow scraper in the car!

For breakfast, I went to Finn's Cafe. It's a very cute and cool place. Here are a few shots of the place:

I ordered Norwegian Waffles ($8), one egg ($2), and a large OJ ($3.25). The waffles were served with lingonberries, sour creme, and strawberries. They were fantastic - very light and fluffy. I finished the entire plate. The OJ was fresh squeezed (always good). Here's a pic:

On my way to Finn's, I passed by Dolcetti Gelato - here's a pic:

Here's a street scene (it reminded me of growing up in Wisconsin):
If I'm ever back in SLC, I'll definitely return to Cafe Trang (Day 1), Olio (Day 2), Settebello, and Finn's. I'd also make plans to try Cucina Toscana. One thing I would never do though, is return to McGrath's (Day 1). I'm staying far, far away from that place...yuck!

Final thoughts about SLC...I was pretty impressed! I guess I wasn't expecting much from SLC but I ended up enjoying my first visit.

When I got back to Phoenix, I decided to grab lunch at LGO. I ordered a Stacked Turkey sandwich ($7.95; nine-grain bread with avocado, tomato, lettuce, havarti, mustard and mayo). It was delicious...here's a pic:

Related:
Salt Lake City - Day 1
Salt Lake City - Day 2

Places mentioned:

Settebello
260 South 200 West
Salt Lake City, Utah 84101

Finn's Cafe
1624 South 1100 East
Salt Lake City, Utah 84105

La Grande Orange
4410 N. 40th St.
Phoenix, AZ 85018

Salt Lake City - Day 2

A full day of work related activities.

Just finished a late, light dinner at Olio (in the Sheraton). I had a bowl of tomato bisque ($5) and shared a Caprese Salad ($8 - spring mix, basil, tomato, and basil). Both were really good. I might be back for dinner again tomorrow! If so, I'll try a full entree and dessert.

I'm drained...my eyes are shot...must go to sleep!

Related:
Salt Lake City - Day 1
Salt Lake City - Day 3 and 4