Week 1 - London, Istanbul & Izmir

I know I promised regular blogging, but without Internet access in London, and with irregular, inconsistent, downright disappointing access in Istanbul, I saved up notes from each day, and will post below. Ending with Day 6 (today) since I've lost a day due to flying through 7 different time zones.

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Day 1

First day in the UK and I’ve hit the first few snags on my trip. The first and totally unexpected snag is that there is no free Internet at the Waldorf in London (my hotel). This is the most expensive hotel I’ve ever stayed in, and Internet access costs and extra GBP 15 / day. On the flip side, the hotel offers a fabulous buffet breakfast for free. This was an unexpected perk.

Second unexpected snag was my loaner Blackberry doesn’t have Internet browser activity either (my colleague’s does). Together, with snag one, I’ll have limited connectivity during the first few days of my trip. Only my work email on my Blackberry is keeping me connected back to the office.

Now for a few high-lights. Flying first class was spectacular. When they weren’t feeding me a 3-course dinner, pampering me with freebies, and fast-treking me through ‘passport control’, they were inviting me to a ‘special’ lounge in Heathrow.

G will enjoy this – I tried Jaffa cakes. Not bad, but I doubt I’ll bring any home for myself. Having said that, at least my gift for one person is procured!

My colleague and I went for a 2 hour walk along the Thames today. Got a few nice pictures with my new camera, including ones of the London Eye, St. Patrick’s cathedral, and London Bridge (from far away). Planning on using the tube tomorrow, and possibly meeting a client near Buckingham Palace.

I’m exhausted and it’s time to turn in. I’m watching an American movie on tv (saw 500 days of Summer on the plane – meh), and am looking forward to my first meeting tomorrow at 9:30am. As they say in the UK (even though I haven’t heard anyone say it just yet…) Cheerio!

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Day 2

Meetings started in earnest today, with a breakfast get together, a pre-supper chat, and then drinks with another contact. By the time Mark (my colleague on the trip with me) and I ate dinner at 8pm, we were both holding our heads up. This entry, written at 10pm, will likely be short, since I’m exhausted.

In my free time today, I walked to parliament, the National Gallery, Westminister Abbey, and Buckingham Palace. Pictures were taken of everything, and I think they’re turning out spectacular. I take no credit, as I’m sure it’s all the new camera.

We had drinks tonight at the hotel, and for the second night in the row, I asked for Strong Bow, but was given Meyners (and Irish cider) instead. This is slowly replacing Strong Bow as my favorite cider. It’s very pale, sweet, and about 4.5%. Another high-light was raspberry crème brule for dessert at supper.

Also bought some souvenirs and gifts today. Can now cross off three more people off my ‘to buy stuff for’ list.

Oh, and here’s a comment on something off topic – UK tv is strange. We only get about 15 channels at the Hilton, and only one of them is sports (SKY). Everytime I turn on the sports channel, I see soccer! It amazes me how big soccer is over here. Even with a new British heavyweight champ, everyone can’t stop talking/thinking/obsessing over soccer.

Anyway, it’s definitely bed time (10:14). Hope all is well in the C.dot.

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Day 3

My last full day in the UK was jam packed. Reality is that I’m over here on a business trip, and today was a virtual non-stop sequence of meetings across the city. We ended up at a reception with an open bar just past 6pm. In less than an hour, my colleague and I both made the most of the free appetizers and drinks. When we left at 7pm, I was full enough to not want to bother with supper.

In order to work off some of the beverages, I used the fitness center attached to the hotel for the first time. Nothing too strenuous, just a 5 minute run, and 3 sets of 6 exercises. I felt energized after the workout, and proud of myself for doing something during my trip. Maybe it was the circular implement Friday night email I got just before heading off to the gym, but it felt fantastic to get some gym time in.

After the gym, I decided to go for a little walk down by the Thames. I took a couple of pictures, and then started to look for a place to eat. I wanted to go for a pub since it’s my last night here, but the only one I found “The Sherlock Holmes” closed at 10pm (I found it at 9:50). So, I decided to gather myself a traditional English meal on the go instead. I grabbed a Thai chicken wrap (incredible), a banana (needed a fruit), an Innocent strawberry smoothie, a chocolate tart, and a Magners cider (my new favorite cider). All in all, it was a great meal.

Now I’m watching an English movie, with a few American actors, thinking about my 3 days in London. This is such a beautiful, historic, picturesque city, Turkey really has it’s work cut out for it.

Until next time, happy travels ;-)

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Day 4

Left London on a high note (Star Alliance lounge at Heathrow), and ever since my mood has changed drastically. The first 2 hours in Turkey have been awful, losing 2 hours is sucking, and honestly, I’m just really down right now. If I continued with this entry, I’d probably say things I’d regret. Off to sleep. Hoping tomorrow is a much better day.

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Day 5

Today was a slightly better day. It started off early when the hotel cashed and converted my GBP travelers’ cheques to Turkish Lira, giving us some cash to cab. Also had 2 very enjoyable ferry rides across one of the major bodies of water to Ottawa to/from a meeting. Cabs continue to be a problem, as I spent 15 lira to basically get nowhere, and need to spend an extra 6 to get back to my hotel.

Things I like about Turkey:
- The people are very nice, and love to talk.
- Our hotel is beautiful, except for the Internet charge.
- The food is interesting…but…

Things I dislike about Turkey:
- The food expensive. For example, tonight I paid about 8 Canadian dollars for a can a sprite. This beats the 10 Canadian dollars my colleague paid for a 1 L bottle of water.
- The language barrier is pretty huge. The only turkey word I’ve learned is “Fiche” (receipt).
- Cabs are not well run, and most drivers don’t speak English, and have never heard of our hotel (only open 14 months).

Off to bed before a flight to Izmir tomorrow at 11am. Hoping tomorrow is a slower day as I’m starting to wear out. This wouldn’t be such a problem if people back home didn’t expect me to respond immediately to their work requests despite the 7 hour time difference and my loner Blackberry being down all day (another thing I dislike about Turkey). Until next time, sweet dreams peeps.

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Day 6

Got up and had another delicious, complementary breakfast at my hotel, and then headed to the airport to fly to Izmir for a meeting. There were a couple bumps along the way getting to the airport, figuratively speaking, but I want to concentrate on the positive.

The flight to Izmir is only about 45 minutes in the air, and since we're flying business class, each flight starts off with champagne (or OJ). The geography around Izmir is fascinating. It's basically the size of Toronto (4 million people) built in between and on mountains. I have some pictures of it, that don't do it justice, but it's sprawling, beautiful city.

The company we were meeting with sent a car to the airport for us, as they were about an hour away from the airport. My colleague and I enjoyed the drive immensely. Not only was it scenic, but our driver drove like he was rushing us to the hospital for an emergency. I can't do Turkish private drivers and cab drivers justice in trying to explain their driving to you, it's truly something you have to experience. Here's a quote from my colleague "Do you notice that this car starts to shimmy when we go over 140 km/h?" I tipped the driver 20 Euro when he dropped us off back at the airport, and his eyes just lit up. It's people like him who make Turkey worthwhile.

I intentionally try to minimize details on the business side of my trip, but feel it necessary to say that this was by far my favorite meeting. Not only did our hosts feed us a Turkish lunch in the company cafeteria (where 3 meals a day are served for employees), he took 2 and a half hours to answer all our questions, and then toured us through the premises. I can only say that the tour was fascinating and eye opening. I'll never forget today's meeting.

Had some dinner on the flight back, and enjoyed the Star Alliance lounge at the Izmir airport before that. Got back to the hotel, bought 24 hours of Internet access (since Blackberries continue to function for about 5 minutes a day), and have been working, and catching up on emails ever since.

It's time for a little Turkish/English tv before bed. With 4 non-news channels to choose from, I think I'll settle on some Euro-Sport (likely soccer)...which should help put me to sleep. Here's to sleeping in til 10am tomorrow!