Not exactly to plan

Travels far and wide
OK, so not a great start to the blog - all fied up, but no where in London to go.  Last week was Suwon, South Korea - big meeting with one of the worlds largest companies, talking 'bidniz'.  This week Mexico City talking to the one of the companies owned by the World's Richest Man, about a potential project.  So London has taken a bit of a sideline these last two weeks and I pretended to be an international business man.

Korea
Interesting county and people, well what I saw of it through the widnows of my cab.  Company was completely security mad - a bit far to be honest.  On arriving all electronic devices had to be logged at reception.  All cameras on phones, laptops and ipods were covered with tamper proof stickers.  CD drives were also covered, and USB sticks were also put into a security sealed back, that had to be shown on the way out.  Very odd - I guess protection of intellectual property is king, with the Korean electronics market being so cut-throat they may have a point, just.

However the craziest part of the whole journey was as follows:
15 hours to Korea
6 hours of meetings
17 hours back from Korea (via Hong Kong)

No hotel, no stayover, in and out in a day!  Boy was I shattered.

However what a revelation London City Airport was.  Flew out of there on Lufthansa.  Easy check-in, easy boarding, but the take off, well...

The plane taxied to the end of the runway, put on the brakes, ramped engines up to max, and then let the brakes off!  It was like being in a dragster, however with such a short runway it would appear to be the only way to do it, fun, if a little unexpected.


Mexico
Mexico was again another in and out flight - however this time with an overnight stop.  But the timezone meant that my body wan't going to let me sleep when we did eventually get to the hotel.  The saving grace was that we flew business class, on Mexicana Airways.  Never flown with them before, but really good.  Great service, almost flat seats that were very comfotable.  Didn't sleep much on the way out, but crashed out like a baby on the way home  Bliss. It may also have had to do with the 5 or 6 Tequilas we had before boarding, who can tell?

Anyway this time I got to stay in a hotel for a whole evening.  Very pleasant hotel, great rooms, food OK but couldn't sleep.  Oil problems at home.  Anyway will have to deal with that one when I get back.

Any deals done - not sure, early days, but its good to be back.


London - Home
The hike from London to Home is never a great one - I can fly to Italy, France or Germany quicker. However in their infinte wisdom Transport for London, have decided over the next however many weeks, to undertake Engineering works over the weekends.  Not at a convenient time for commters like 1am to 5am, no all day.  So when I got off the wonderful Gatwick Express and miandered down to the tubestation, there was absolute chaos.  District and Circle had been shut, and so there was absolute chaos.  20 deep trying get through the barriers, and then the platforms, and the tube itself.  Lets put it this way, sardines have it easier.

Then the joys of Mr Branson's train company (Virgin) who never quite make the connections you expect them to. Just 2 minutes too late, making an extra 1 hr journet time.  These companies should personally pay for these things.  I bet if he ever usewd them then they would soon get fixed.
Anyway I am on the way home to my fabulous family, andback down to the smoke again on Monday.

More posts then I hope - but we shall see.

Cheers