Bill Watt’s Blog

I landed in England today and took a nearly $90 taxi ride to the hotel. So much for it being 8k away from the airport like I was told but there wasn’t really another option anyway. The only other thing to do would have been to take the heathrow express into the city and then take the train back out to Richmond which would have been the opposite of fun.

So, I got to the hotel and when I tell you the room was the size of a postage stamp I am refering to the very small stamps used to send things a short distance. The bed took up half the room but I was happy to find that the bathroom was in good shape and the shower produced tons of hot water. I took a walk around to see what was available and ended up getting lunch at a really good burger place which is maybe 75 feet from the hotel. Walked for about an hour around the downtown and took a look in a few stores. I bought the book “Economic Hitmen” that they keep discussing on This Week in Tech (TWIT), my favorite podcast. Eventually I ended up across the street from the burger place for a coffee and use of their free wireless.

I then went back to the hotel and took a nap that was interrupted by the maintenance guy needing to get in and fix some stuff in the bathroom. This was a good opportunity for me to get up and go explore some more. So, I went and walked for 3 hours and covered most of the Richmond area I think! I walked all along the river and then up the side of a hill that was basically a big field that the kids seemed to loved playing in. People were sitting on benches at the top with pints they picked up at a pub across the street. Since I’d only been walking about 20 min at this point I decided to keep going. I ended up all over the place and my feet were killing when i realized it was getting dark and I had no idea where I was.

Eventually I made it back to my hotel and got cleaned up before heading out for dinner. I had seen a cool looking pub that also had a great menu (pot roast for Sunday dinner!) so I made my way over there. After a 10 to 15 min walk I sat down only to find they had closed the kitchen already. I really should have listened when people told me Richmond closes early on the weekends. It was about 9:30 at this point so I headed back to the place where I got coffee earlier and went to the dinner area for a nice steak and glass of wine.

When I got back to the hotel I decided to go ahead and get the wireless connection for the room. Even if it is extra I can’t be without internet access.

This is how I started the travel portion of my sabbatical.

Was a pretty cool experience since I’d never done it before but it does reinforce that I hate to travel. Too many people jammed in together. People and their kids, old people who were kicking my chair (not tapping me and asking politely… just starting with kicking to get my attention) because when I reclined the screen was too close for them to see, and the woman next to me was into singing at random moments. Maybe business class is worth it?

The entertainment system is pretty sweet on the Virgin flights and lets you pick and choose what you watch in a Video On Demand (VOD) manner so I’m not held captive to starting a movie when everyone else does. It was cool to be able to watch, pause, eat, nap, and then resume. I do wish that the list of movies that will be available were more accurate. I keep looking for an opportunity to watch “Hot Fuzz,” which is the new film by the same guys that did  “Shaun of the Dead,” and the online guide had me thinking this was my chance. Alas, it was not to be. The movie does come out on HD DVD at the end of July so I expect that’ll be my next opportunity.
Still, I pray for the day when teleporters become available. And no, I don’t mean available like the iPhone is available… I mean a real product.

I just wish they had Internet and power in all the seats.