tbaroundtheworld

Well, not really. But Arlo Guthrie's words still have a ring to them after all these years. Technically I completed my around the world trip some time this afternoon over Nevada when my inbound path crossed the trail I blazed almost 3 weeks ago. For the sake of argument, let's say it was over Las Vegas which appeared out my window around 2 PM. That city, sitting there in the sun blasted rock desert was a complete contrast to all the sights that came before as I wound my way home. We got off a bit late because the fuel truck ran out while it was filling us up. Only 30 minutes and not worth getting steamed about because it's kind of funny when you think about it. The plane was about 1/2 full and so I ended up with an entire window row to myself. What a treat, to be able to stretch out and enjoy the view without being trapped in the window seat. Taking off from Dublin always illustrates why Ireland is called the Emerald Isle. Bright green patchwork fields and meadows stretched...

Here I am on the last leg of the trip. In true "Terry Fashion" I left plenty of time to make the 50 kilometer drive in. It was a tough night's sleep having to wake up at 1 AM to book a reasonable seat on my upcoming Southwest flight, doing no better than 35. Normally I'm in the 20s. The wind was howling for the rest of the wee hours and so I headed out into the gloom at 6 AM for the indeterminate drive in to the airport. Most of the advice I'd received suggested at least a full hour to allow for the nature of the inbound Dublin rush hour, the traffic moved though and I made the airport exit after 35 minutes of driving. I could see though that beyond my departure point that the commute ground to a complete standstill. Lucky me. I turned in the car in the still howling wind, made my way towards the terminal, up a very strange ramp escalator that had no stairs and then went looking for the check-in lines. Aer Lingus provides a vast bank of automated kiosks, even for ...

I've dealt with a few languages on this recent adventure, a bit of Korean, a lot of Chinese, some German and a smattering of Gaelic. It's been a bit of a challenge at times to keep straight where I was and with whom I was speaking, not unlike the beer I tried to order in Mexico over the Christmas holiday by asking for "yi ge cerveza" in my best Mandamexicanglish. Tonight Tom and I went out for Chinese food at Miss Wong's in Leixlip. Feeling frisky and falling back into the food ordering routine of just 5 days ago, I decided to toss a bit of my Mandarin into the conversation with the three waitresses who were taking care of us. I started with a simple "xie xie" and moved up to a more agressive "kuazi" asking her to leave my chopsticks. I told her I spoke a little and she laughed and told me that my accent was really good. The next one came over and I chit-chatted with her a bit and she told my my Chinese was excellent. Following the cultural imp...

Tonight I was almost hit by a bus and it was a stupid, rookie mistake. I came out of a restaurant, talking to someone and I just stepped off the curb. I felt a breeze, ruffling what little hair I have and I looked up and there was a giant blue bus, number 66x to be precise, blowing by me at a prodigious clip. Now I wasn't really in the act of crossing - I had just stepped off and was in the process of stepping back on when the bus went by. But it was close, and it really rattled me and got me to thinking about this whole driving on the left side of the street thing. I had been planning to write about it earlier, but the bus really drove the point home The title of tonight's blog comes from these yellow signs you see off and on around here. The very first sign you see when you pull out of the rental car lot at the airport warns you to drive on the left. Crosswalks all have "look left/look right" painted on the ground in front of you. Even the car has a warning label on...

I know that his will come as a complete shock to many of you, but I have some travel phobias. The first one is buying gasoline outside the US. At home, fueling the car has become a completely solitary, private event. You pop the credit card in the pump, enter your zip code and fill away. You no longer have to interact with anyone. Even when the pump tells you that “clerk has your receipt” you can elect to just get in the car and drive away, imagining all those little slips of paper being saved for you inside. Over here though, you have to go inside and talk to a real person. You never know if they want the credit card first, or if you can just fill the car and then pay. Or when they’re going to release the pump for your use. It’s daunting. And then there’s the gym at the hotel. I have finally become comfortable with putting on my gear and going into the little, stinky exercise rooms at US hotels. In China and at the hotels I use in Ireland, the facilities are more like health clubs and...

I ran out of toothpaste on Thursday in Shanghai, those little tubes are simply not enough for 10+ days. So I went shopping for a replacement at the Parkson across the street from my hotel. Parksons is a combination upscale cosmetics, home electronics, clothes and grocery store. There were many choices, I settled on Colgate because they were the one firm that stated they did not allow ethylene glycol in their products, a scandal that erupted early last year. Crest and the others were ambiguous in their statements. I don't read Chinese all that well, so I chose "green" as my flavor and tonight I cracked it open. It is the most hideous shade of green, completely clear and loaded with little white squares. The flavor - best described as mentholated green tea. I'm sure I'll get used to it. Luckily it's a big enough tube such that I will have plenty to bring home.

I rolled out of bed this morning at the very civilized hour of 8, had the breakfast buffet and loaded up for a day on the road. My goal was generally the west coast of Ireland and the areas around Galway in particular. Before leaving I took a stroll around the grounds, the calls of the birds being just too irresistible to ignore. In just a short walk I saw some type of Wren, Coal Tit, Great Tit, Thrush, Wood Pigeon , Rook, Jackdaw and Eurasian Blackbird. My inability to refine a few of the species reminded me that I really need to bring a field guide with me on these trip. The hotel is built around an old manor house, and the grounds are quite nice. I managed to pull out of the car park (using the correct local term) without running into anything. I've been doing pretty well this trip, having only scraped the curb twice leaving the airport last night. In fact, last night I successfully navigated the Airport to M1 to M50 to N4 to M4 to Enfield and into the hotel lot maze without dri...

The trip across Asia was pretty easy and went quickly, belying the fact that it was a bit over 11 hours. Lufthansa is a pretty impressive airline, and the more foreign based carriers I fly, the more I am coming to realize what a cheap job the big US outfits do. The contrast is stark. After leaving Shanghai and doing a weird zig zag over central China due to some traffic restrictions, we took a westerly course over Mongolia. We were chasing the dusk line, traveling a bit slower than the sun, so I was able to see a shocking red sunset over the frozen expanse of Siberia. Tall snow capped peaks glittered on the arc of the earth. Ulan Bator, Novosibirsk, Ekaterinberg - names from the deep history of the Silk Road and Russia. From there it was a glide down into Europe crossing Moscow, Minsk, Warsaw and Berlin. Before deplaning, the showed a nice little instructional video about how to do your transfer in the terminal, including video showing all the routes and counters. This was nice for me...

Following the train trip, I made my way to the check in gate and got in the special treatment line. Not as special as First Class but more special than the proletariat line. A small problem with my final destination ensued when the agent insisted that I should go only to Frankfurt. I held my ground, "Dublin" I claimed. After producing my itinerary, he relented and checked my bag all the way through . I on the other hand will have to check myself again upon arrival. Matt received an invitation to the business lounge while I did not. So I marched back to the check in line and waited until a First Class agent waved me over. I explained that I did not receive an invitation and she asked me what program I am a member of. I told her and she told me that I need Gold status to use the lounge. I replied that that was odd, because I always get a lounge card. Rather than argue, she just have me the card, checking the box for the lower class lounge. Not easily dissuaded, I just checked...

What better way to explore the magic of direct Blackberry to Blog technology than to do it from the Maglev bullet train. The next few entries will be from my phone, so please excuse any obvious errors. Typing a lengthy piece from a phone with two letters per key is challenging for someone with my thumbs. I thought though that real time blogging the next phase of the trip would be a worthwhile experiment, so here we are. Currently passing 400 kph one our way to 430. The scenery flies by outside, changing from industrial to rural, the being the fringes of Pudong on the Yangtze Delta. The train on the opposite tracks passes with a poof in about 1 seconds time. A look out the window tells us we made the right call - the road in to the airport is jammed due to a wreck. And then it's over, 6 minutes and we arrive at the airport. More later!

We made a quick trip back to the pearl market to pick up yesterday's order followed by a trip across the street into Yu Gardens for a look at the tourists and the Starbucks. New Years goods were on sale everywhere, making the scene red wherever you turned. We stopped for a moment in the center square to talk about a dumpling shop that was pronounced "best in the world' on one segment of Anthony Bourdain's show, "No Reservations." The line extended out the door and around the building and while remarking on that a gentleman standing near us chimed in using perfect English that it was in fact the best. He asked about our business there on that day, laughed at the fact that we worked for Intel, telling us our financial situation was not ideal. He went on to tell about his brother whom had lived in Provo, Utah for the last 25 years, becoming a Mormon while there. He laughed and said "that's the only reason anyone would want to live there." Sometimes...

I mentioned the pearl market in yesterday's blog and since we were heading back there today, decided to include a couple of pictures. Anna is the Purveyor of Fine Pearls to Intel. Matt found out about her from a businessman here at the Renaissance on a trip back in 2006. Since then, every person who has been over here on the project at one time or another has visited Anna. She knows most of us by name and always has a big grin when we come up the escalator. The pictures below are of some of the product in her stall and of the third floor in general where the pearl dealing is done. Although the shops are separate, it's almost certainly some sort of cartel because she will hand off the task of stringing and tying on the clasps while she is taking other orders. The market is located in a big building on the edge of the Old City and the Yu Gardens tourist shopping district. The first floor is engagement rings, the second, gold and jade artworks and the third, pearls. While my compa...