So long for now!

I started this blog with no real intent. I just wanted to start a blog. Then as time went on, I realized I had two things I liked to blog about: technology and travel. And while I’m sure there are a handful of users out there who are passionate about both topics, like I am, Google has not been able to find enough for me . So… I’ve decided to try something new! I’ve migrated all of my travel posts over to UPGRD! UPGRD is a network of bloggers / podcasters, and I’m now the author of the Cloud Commuting blog over there. Go check it out! What about the tech posts? Well… for now.. they’ll stay here! However, I just purchased a new domain, notquitemainstream.com. I’m going to build a site there for me to put all of my nerdy posts up that some people seem to love. With both of these sites, I’m going to adhere to one of my principals I used when starting this site: 100% Original Content. I’m not going to go the engadget style, as useful as it may be, of just linking to other posts and generating traffic for myself. I’ll do my best to add my own articles, blog posts, and other miscellaneous content pieces my own. Thanks to all! As of now, the individual travel posts already redirect to Cloud Commuting. I have no timeframe for getting NotQuiteMainstream up, but when I do, the tech posts will redirect to there.

I’m writing this from the Executive Lounge of the Hilton Beijing Wanfujing hotel. Tonight will be my 8th consecutive night, and tomorrow I’m flying home nonstop on United 888 PEK-SFO. I have had a fantastic time in Beijing, but I’m ready to head back to the States. That being said, I’m definitely not ready to leave the Hilton Wanfujing! This is a truly elite property, and I cannot wait to return.

My arrival at the hotel was a bit hectic. The taxi driver who picked me up at the international terminal at the Beijing airport didn’t speak a lick of English. While I figured there would be a large language barrier, I figured that a cabbie going to the international terminal might speak enough! I clearly wasn’t pronouncing Wanfujing correctly. I got out my iPhone and showed him the hotel name, and he still didn’t quite get it. He ended up figuring out that I needed to go to Wanfujing Street, even though he still wasn’t familiar w/ the hotel. We did a bit of live google mapping together, and somehow we were able to find the hotel!

Check-in was rather uneventful. I booked a rate that included free breakfast, and I was told that as a Hilton Honors Gold member, I could eat breakfast either in the lounge or in the restaurant. I got my two keys and headed up to my room. I was very impressed by the room! While it wasn’t what I would call a full-on suite, it was VERY spacious and had many amenities. The first thing I noticed was that not only was there a totally awesome hotel teddy bear on my bed, but there was even a hotel rubber ducky in the bath tub! Haha cool! I guess it’s the little things that get me going .

The bathroom accommodations were very nicely done. When you first walk in, there’s a closet area with plenty of room for suitcases and hanging clothes. Then there is a toilet and a shower. The shower is very large, has a bench inside, and has two kinds of shower-heads. There is an interesting overhanging arm-style shower-head, and there is also the “rain style” that comes out of the ceiling.

The bathtub and sink area were really nice. You can see the purple rubber ducky in the bathtub! The room was really huge, and there was a desk with a wired internet connection. Wireless is also available. There was also a printer / scanner all-in-one device in the room! This is the first hotel I’ve ever seen that has had this in the room. While I had no use for it, I appreciate the effort. Let’s see… what else was nice about the room…

Ah! Motorized curtains! Two sets of them. The first set would raise and lower and was basically just to keep anyone from looking in, but they didn’t block much light. The most inner set opened horizontally, and these were designed to block out the light 100%. And yes… they did an excellent job. On my Saturday in Beijing, when I was catching up from jetlag, I intended on sleeping til noon, and I had no problem doing so, thanks to the curtains blocking out all the light!

The elite amenity was really great too. It was basically a “3 story” glass case with three floors of snacks. On the bottom, there were little cookies on top of coffee beans. In the middle, there were colorful cookies on top of popcorn. And on the very top, chocolate / yogurt covered strawberries atop raisins. Very classy. Very tasty. Kudos to Hilton for doing a good job with elite amenities.

Speaking of elite amenities, I haven’t even mentioned the lounge yet. The executive lounge at this property is fantastic. Surely I’ve been to lounges that are prettier or larger, but this one is really a perfect size. It is quite overstaffed, in a good way, so someone is there to fill your drink for you as soon as it nears empty. The breakfast staff is so friendly in the morning, and they bring out snacks in the afternoon. At 6PM, they have free beers for a few hours as well. Heineken and Tsing Tao for all! There is free internet in the lounge, and there are always free soft drinks. It just has a very calm, serene atmosphere with a delightful staff. I actually watched the Lakers take care of the Celtics there for Game 7 last week . GO LAKERS!

The gym, pool, spa, and “garden” are on the 6th floor of the hotel. The gym is small, but the equipment is well maintained, and it was never busy during my stay. I got quite a bit of usage out of the gym, and the women who work the gym were very friendly and always kept the equipment nice and clean. While I never used the pool, I did wander over there to take a look. My apology for not snapping a pic or two. It’s a nice pool, to be sure, but it’s indoor in a “greenhouse-like” room. I’d say the pool is a great spot to soak after a day in the Beijing heat, but I wouldn’t rush to this property for the pool. The “garden” is fairly silly. It’s just a roof-top grass patio. I suppose it could be useful for sunbathing, but this hotel is pretty far downtown so it’s not like it’s very quiet or comfortable.

Ah and speaking of location, that is another one of the hotel’s best features. Take a look at Beijing on Google Maps. You’ll see that there are rings of freeways around it. The city keeps growing and growing and growing, and they keep building more freeway rings around it. The Hilton Beijing Wanfujing is located about as smack dab in the middle as you can get! It’s also very close to the subway stop, which at  2 yuan, is about the best deal in the city. It’s very clean and efficient. Think DC metro-style clean. Or BART. Way cleaner than NY’s subway.

The surrounding area, including Wanfujing Street, is filled with plenty of fantastic shopping, dining, and other sites to see. You’re only a short walk away from Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, and many other fantastic Beijing sites. Also, hungry? How about some scorpion on a stick?

All in all, Beijing is a great place to visit, and while I can’t compare this hotel to the competitors in the area, I can say that the Hilton Beijing Wanfujing would make an excellent place to stay for your next business or pleasure trip (I was here on business, but I used the weekend to do some site seeing!).

My trip to India included stops in Chennai, Mumbai, and Delhi. I really enjoyed every hotel I chose. Read on to hear about my experience at the Sheraton Chola Chennai!

Your first couple days in India can be very jarring, for lack of a better word. Seeing the lack of infrastructure, the poverty, the population growth, etc, can be a very overwhelming thing. It’s nice to have a hotel that can help guide you through it all and provide some insulation from everything going on, to help you adjust. The Sheraton Chola Chennai did just that!

When I first arrived, I was surprised to have to go through a metal detector just to enter the hotel. In fact, I had to put my luggage on a security scanner belt as well. I soon realized that every hotel in India makes you do this. By the time I had gone through security, I had probably already been greeted by three people. The bellhop, security guards, and door opener (yeah I think that’s an official title) all welcomed me to the hotel. Rather than having a traditional front desk counter, the Sheraton Chola just has two wooden desks. The women who work there wear extremely beautiful saris, and the woman who checked me in was extremely friendly, always referring to me as Mr. Hanson. She checked me in, and then she walked me to my room and asked me if it was satisfactory. Let me say that it was the most satisfactory room I had in all of India! I don’t really have any status with Starwood so I don’t believe this was an upgrade. I think all of their rooms are actually this huge.

When you enter the room, there’s immediately a desk and workspace area. The desk is quite comfortable, and as you continue into the room, you enter the living room, complete with 42″ HDTV. There is a cabinet with a stack of bottled waters. You then turn through the double doors on your right into the bedroom. The bedroom has a huge bed, another 42″ HDTV, and an entrance to the bathroom.

The bed was comfy, and the bathroom was really nice too!

It had one of those shower heads that comes directly from the ceiling. My in-room accommodations truly were second to none! The view out the window wasn’t the prettiest, but I guess that is to be expected by a hotel in the heart of Chennai.

The Sheraton Chola Chennai has a couple restaurant selections, but by far, their best food there is at Peshwari. This is a chain that the ITC Group puts in their hotels. The price is by no means a bargain, but the quality of the Indian food there is really fantastic (North Indian cuisine). Peshwari was my first meal in India, and it definitely ranks among the best. Even if you’re not staying at the Sheraton Chola, it’s worth going there for dinner. I had dinner at a few other hotels in Chennai while I was there, and I found them all second to Peshwari.

It took me a little while to get used to Chennai, but in the end, I really fell in love with the place. There are no skyscrapers there, a la Mumbai or Delhi. The city is dirty, but hey – it’s India. Since it’s on the water, you get a great breeze to help keep the temperature down a bit. And speaking of the water, the beach there is the second largest beach in the world, second only to a beach in Brazil. But let’s be clear. The beach ain’t the prettiest… It’s a bit dirty, and it’s swarmed with people. However, apparently if you leave the city limits a bit, the beach is fantastic.

The Sheraton Chola Chennai is a really great hotel. Staff members quickly learn your name, you’re greeted everywhere you go, and it’s just a very classy place. Also, the rooms are huge! I really recommend this hotel to anyone visiting Chennai. And as a side note, I did stay one night at the Courtyard Marriott later in the week. That hotel sucks, and that’s coming from a Platinum Marriott Rewards member. Avoid that place.

So I was plugging in an extension cord on top of a ladder at my dad’s new business (check it out! World’s best ice cream!). This typically routine activity resulted in a bit of a startle when apparently my hand connected with a cracked part of the extension cord. After a loud pop, sparks flying over the place, and a young boy outside thinking the place was going to explode, i was startled back and jumped / fell off the ladder. HAHA! Bad luck indeed. So a word of advice… if the extension cord looks a bit old and used, and you see in cracks in it, best to NOT use it.

Videos speak louder than words. Enjoy. Point of clarification, though: In the video, I say it’s the Mumbai airport, but I think I was just shocked and confused – it’s the Chennai airport.

After my 1-day adventure in Bangkok, I was off to India for a couple weeks for work. My first destination was Chennai on the southeastern coast of India. There were no great Star Alliance routes from Bangkok to Chennai so I decided to fly Jet Airways, a United partner, via Mumbai. As a United partner, Jet Airways allows Mileage Plus members to earn RDMs, but you can’t get any EQMs. Also, only certain fare codes are eligible for RDMs. Read on for the report!

There was no rhyme or reason to the initial boarding process, something that I found was common between all of the Indian airlines. However, that was good for me as I was able to be one of the first ones on the plane. I was a bit nervous about flying Jet Airways, but I had nothing to be concerned about. In fact, everything was very clean! Not only was everything clean, but every seat had a pillow and a blanket on it. I found this to be really nice, considering that BKK-BOM is only just over 1800 miles, about the same distance as SFO-ORD.

I was also very pleasantly surprised by the in-flight entertainment. If you’re familiar with the touch-screen setup of a Virgin America flight, you’ll feel right at home with the Jet Airways system. The entertainment system was filled up with a variety of movies, TV shows, and music. Each type of media was also categorized culturally. For example, if you clicked on the button for movies, you could choose between Bollywood or Hollywood movies. As I was flying to India, I figured it would only be appropriate to watch a Bollywood movie. I watched “Hello,” a film about the struggles of working in a call center. I really enjoyed it .

While I was prepared to check out the selection of buy-on-board, a la United Airlines, I was pleasantly surprised by the free breakfast. It was actually quite good! Oddly enough, it had quite a strong resemblance to the domestic first class meals that United serves. There was an omelette, some potatoes, yogurt, and a fruit plate. It really was quite the complete breakfast.

A great meal, a great movie, and a pleasant flight to Mumbai: all included with the price of the ticket. Landing in Mumbai was an experience that I won’t forget. I wish I had a picture of the site, but it really is something amazing. Picture those tin roof huts in Slumdog Millionaire, and then have them packed so tightly, that they come all the way up to the barbed wire fence around the runway. Literally they are completely pressed up against the fence. In fact, people were hanging their laundry to dry on the fence. Really was a site to see.

And similar to the scene just outside the runway, I felt the Mumbai airport to be pretty chaotic as well. First off, rather than getting dropped off in the terminal, international passengers are dropped off in a building which is more of a holding zone than anything else. Here you pick up your bags, go through customs, make your declarations, and then head to the terminal. The only problem is that there is a bus that takes you to the terminal. The terminal is far away, and once the bus fills, you need to wait for the next one. I was just about in the front of the line, and then the bus filled up. I had to wait over THIRTY minutes for the next bus to come. When the bus finally came, there was still a fairly lengthy ride to the terminal. Then I had to transfer to the domestic terminal. I spent time in 3 different Indian airports, and I’ll just say this: domestic terminals in India suck. They look like giant bus terminals.

Everyone waits in one big room, and then when it’s time to board, instead of boarding a normal gate / jetway like you would in most countries, you just walk through a door outside and hop on a bus which takes you to your plane. It’s really annoying, and it adds one more step in the process. Also, want a bite to eat? There are no real restaurants past security in most Indian domestic terminals. People I met with there made the excuse of saying that their carriers gave you food on most flights, which is somewhat valid, but if I want to buy a snack, I should be able to do so! Also, if you’re curious what an Indian airport toilet looks like, well that’s a whole different story, and it deserves its own post .

I know it sounds like I’m complaining, but that’s not actually my intent. I’m just trying to describe how it feels to be an American domestic frequent flier and then step into an Indian airport for the first time. Once I got used to them, I had no issues with them. Also, there is a night and day difference between the domestic and international terminals. The international terminals are really much nicer.

So I waited for my bus to Chennai, I boarded the bus, and then I was off! Jet Airways offers two types of domestic flights for short-haul trips: JetLite and JetKonnect. These are basically their Southwest-style flights. You still get an assigned seat, but unlike my nice trip to Mumbai, there were no pillows, no in-flight entertainment of any sort, and no free meals. It was a pretty quick hop down to Chennai, and it was uneventful. I spent most of my flight playing Tony Hawk for my iPhone . So that’s my quick report! I’ll work on posting the rest of the segments of my trip to India / Thailand in the near future! Have questions? Just ask in the comments!

Getting to India from the United States can be a bit of a journey. Rather than grimace at the thought of all those flights, booking a stopover in Bangkok seemed like a great idea. I could adjust to the time change, explore the city, eat some great Thai food, and then continue on my journey! Read on to know how I spent my stopover in Bangkok!

My roommate’s friend gave me some great advice about things to see in Bangkok. She mentioned that I should make sure to see the Grand Palace and “some buddhas.” She also told me not to skip out on having a drink at the Banyan Tree Hotel rooftop bar, Vertigo. All great advice! So I arrived in Bangkok late in the evening, and I was really excited to be there. I arrived during the time of some political protests, and it appears like I got out just in time, as many many people have now died in the streets of Bangkok, and the hotel I stayed at has been barbed wired shut.

I got into my room at the Courtyard Marriott, and I found it to be pretty nice. Fairly minimalist, in typical Courtyard fashion, but the bed was very comfy, there was a desk, an HDTV, and a large shower and nice bathroom area.

When I woke up in the morning, I decided to go for a jog before heading out to explore. However, about halfway through my jog, I realized that I was just too excited to spend the morning at the gym! I quit the jog, showered off, and went down to the Courtyard’s free breakfast buffet. I thought it was actually a pretty decent buffet. There were fresh pastries, made to order eggs, noodles, fresh fruit, etc. Definitely very nice.

Based on the concierge’s advice, I had planned on taking the SkyTrain (their public transportation rail system) from the Ratchadamri stop near my hotel, but before I could even get there, a Tuk Tuk driver pulled up and offered to take me anywhere I wanted to go. I mentioned to him that i wanted to take public transportation, but he was pretty insistent. He finally gave me an offer I couldn’t refuse. He said he would take me to a bunch of temples, and eventually to the Temple of the Emerald Buddha & Grand Palace, for only 22 baht. That’s like 66 cents. I asked him what the catch was, and he told me he would have to drop me off at two stores along the way. I was not obligated to buy anything, but he got a kickback from the stores just for dropping me off to browse. DEAL!

It was HOT that day too. He dropped me off at two stores. The first was the typical Thai custom suits / shirts place. Their prices were not that reasonable, and the salesmen were pretty pushy so I left pretty quickly. The next place was a store with all sorts of trinkets and souvenirs I could bring home. I picked up a few things, and then we were off to the Temple of the Emerald Buddha and the Grand Palace (same location). The Temple of the Emerald Buddha really is a beautiful complex. I also think the story about the “emerald” buddha is quite funny too. When it was first discovered, it was thought to be made of solid emerald. Nations fought over this relic, and it changed hands many times. After some time, it was discerned that the buddha was not actually made of emerald, but rather, jade. Kinda decreases the value of it. But at this point, it had become such an object of affection, that they still built a huge temple around it. The temple is much more fascinating than the buddha. The green buddha is a few feet tall, and it is seated pretty far away from where you enter the temple. I was mostly fascinated by the beautiful ancient architecture everywhere. Keep in mind that this was my first time in Asia… so this was all very new to me.

Monks in Training!

A couple beers there was a great way to finish up my night, and then I headed back to my hotel to rest up for my early morning flight on Jet Airways to Chennai via Mumbai! I realize that my post was long and rambling, but I just had this draft saved for way too long, and I needed to get this thing published so I could move on . Feel free to ask any questions you might have in the comments!

I guess it’s been about four years since I first started traveling extensively for work. I’ve been a United 1K for most of that time, and that makes sense as I’m at about 400,000 lifetime miles. However, most of those miles have been earned on domestic routes! In fact, before this past trip, I had never flown internationally on United. Read on to find out about my first SWU / International Business Class experience with United!

So I booked my round trip to Bangkok (BKK) through Tokyo Narita (NRT) with United. I then booked all my personal / work flights out of BKK. The outbound segment was a W fare, and the return booked as a Q. I used two SWUs to attempt to upgrade all 4 segments. I actually booked the ticket with only 5 day advance notice, due to some work related scheduling issues. I considered routing through SEA on the way to Tokyo in order to give my upgrades a better chance of clearing (less elite passengers in Seattle), but United isn’t using the new 180 degree flat seats on the SEA-NRT route yet…. and I want those! So i took my chances with the non-stop SFO-NRT route. I was also flying on a Wednesday, which is a bit less elite heavy than the routes at the beginning / end of the week. My NRT-BKK route cleared about 48 hours in advance, and my SFO-NRT segment cleared shortly after that. NICE!

I immediately fell in love with the seats. I know that it’s not really a “suite” like in United International First Class (and even those don’t compare to the suites on some other carriers!), but it really did feel like my own personal cocoon, rather than the typical domestic first / business seats that i’m used to. The on-demand entertainment is really fantastic too. My favorite part is that you can start the movie right when you sit down. You don’t need to wait until take-off. This is great because you can start the movie immediately, and by the time meal service is just about wrapped up, the movie is almost done as well. Then you can hit the sack and sleep for the rest of the flight. I changed into PJ pants when I boarded, and I found it quite easy to sleep in these chairs. They recline to be 180 degrees, completely flat. And back to that “personal cocoon” analogy, because the walls are so high where it reclines, you really feel like you have your own little bed, and you’re not staring at anyone else, even if you look left or right.

As for meal service, this was not outstanding. If you’re familiar with the meals on United’s P.S. JFK-LAX/SFO flights (in business class), it’s about in the same. I’m trying to figure out which is nicer, and I really think it’s a wash. I got some chicken and cous cous, and the presentation was not that fantastic. In fact, it looked a bit unappetizing . Luckily for me, the meal tasted much better than it looked!

As for controlling the in-flight entertainment, if you’re familiar with the controls on Virgin America, you’ll be familiar with this. It uses the exact same controller. And for the Geeks out there, I did see the system reboot, and I can confirm it runs on top of Linux . Not sure why they chose Red Hat, but to each his own…

After watching a movie and eating my meal, I fell asleep for about 6 hours. I woke up in time for breakfast,  and soon after, we were landing in Tokyo. The service on the flight was nothing special. It wasn’t bad by any means. But if you’re familiar with United domestic flight attendants, then you’re familiar with international flight attendants. I’m very used to the fact that if I want a diet coke mid-flight, I just need to get up, walk to the galley, and ask them for one. This isn’t how it should be, but it’s how life on United (and most other domestic carriers) is. I can deal with it. As long as the seat / food is good, and they bring me my hot nuts, then I won’t complain.

I had 3 hours to kill in Tokyo before my flight to Bangkok. I found the RCC to be very enjoyable. Many people complain about it being overcrowded, and I would actually agree that it is pretty crowded. If that were my regular RCC, then I might be annoyed at the crowds. However, since i’m an SFO native (we have the best domestic RCC in the country, in my opinion), I found the crowds of the Tokyo RCC to be charming. I enjoyed seeing so many non-Americans in the RCC. Something about it just made me laugh. Their snacks were the typically weak RCC fare, but I decided to go make use of the showers. I was EXTREMELY impressed by these! They have a bit of a wait to use the showers so you give them your boarding pass, and they give you a beeper in exchange. When the shower is ready, your beeper goes off, and you get a laminated sign to stick on your shower door, letting people know the room is occupied. You also get an kit of shampoo, lotion, etc. The showers were extremely clean, there was a freshly sealed towel waiting for me, the water pressure was great, and the water temperature was hot. That’s all I need. So I showered up and got ready for my flight to Bangkok.

I was extremely impressed with the boarding procedure in Tokyo. In addition to running the same boarding process that United runs in the States, they also had agents going up and down the lines, making sure everyone was in the right place. It was very efficient, and within no time, I was on my way to Bangkok. I sat on the first floor to Tokyo, facing forward. On the flight to Bangkok, I sat on the second floor, facing backwards. I figured I would try both! Many people prefer the bottom floor on a 747, but I definitely preferred the top floor. The overhead bin space is much smaller so if you have a carryon bag, there’s an area you can put just to the right when you first come up the stairs. However, if you have a briefcase, there is some stowage on the sides of the plane. This is REALLY convenient, because on the first floor, all bags that would go “under the seat in front of you” with normal seats need to be stored overhead during takeoff and landing. This stowage area on the side means two less times during the flight that you need to get up and retrieve your bag. They passed out newspapers, mostly detailing that I would be landing in an are of political unrest, with all the Red Shirts in Thailand. Whoops! Maybe I should have watched the news before I booked that ticket .

I didn’t sleep on the NRT-BKK flight. This flight is only slightly longer than a transcontinental flight in the USA. I watched “Young Frankenstein”, played Tony Hawk on my iPhone, caught up on some podcasts, and prepared for a couple days in Bangkok, before heading to India. Those trip reports will all come soon…