The Ute in its Natural Habitat

Spotted this specimen in Western Australia...

Flying Fish Cove winery in Margaret River, Western Australia

I was lucky enough to be able to visit this winery recently, driving down from Perth and staying locally. It's set back from the road, as you can see, down a short path. Nicely decorated inside with photos of local surfing and the surrounding area (the founder is also a surfer).

Following a wine tasting, I picked up a 2011 "Wildberry" Cabernet Sauvignon. In the tasting, it was fruity and balanced. I'm looking forward to opening this bottle!

Marriott McDowell Mountain

Although it has attractive subdued and area-appropriate architecture, I sometimes feel that the best view at the Marriott McDowell Mountain is the view from the hotel. Here is the view out from the front entrance/lobby:

Crossrail station at Canary Wharf is coming along well

You can see it on the right of this photo. Lots of new shops, and already it provides a way to walk over the waterway there without getting drenched when it is raining. Looking forward to when the trains start running, and getting quickly to and from Heathrow from Canary Wharf.

As a side point, I found this blog post on the naming of Crossrail stations very interesting.

Rolld in Brisbane

I love these Vietnamese wraps - tasty and healthy. It reminded me of Freshroll in San Francisco. Highly recommended.

Beach at San Juan Marriott Resort & Stellaris Casino

A really good Marriott property which I stayed at recently is the San Juan Marriot Resort and Stellaris Casino, in San Juan, Puerto Rico.


Beautiful beach, though with high waves and not really suitable for swimming (at least when I was there). But the hotel has great pools, right by the beach, which more than make up for this.

Gallery Inn in San Juan, Puerto Rico

I stayed at the Gallery Inn in San Juan, Puerto Rico recently, and highly recommend it. The eclectic decor and the Spanish-speaking parrots were highlights.

It's centrally-located, so it's a short walking distance from everything.

Bear Republic "Hop Rod" beer review

I had some Bear Republic beer this week at an excellent "Chief Beer Officer" event in London. It was the Hop Rod beer. Deep hops, very satisfying taste. Great to drink on a warm evening in London, with weather just like the beer's home in Sonoma County, California. Highly recommended. 

Climbing up to Coit Tower, San Francisco

Coit Tower in San Francisco is often seen in scenic views of the city, but what some people don't realize is that the views from the tower itself are just as good. Here is the tower viewed from close to Washington Square:

The walk up to the tower itself passes some woods:

At the tower itself, you see it close up, and can go in to a gift shop there:

But it's the view out to the Golden Gate bridge which is really worth the walk. Here it is at sunset:


Definitely worth walking up if you happen to be in that part of San Francisco at sunset.

Airports with "prison-worthy" seats

Ever wondered who makes those seats at airports? This HBR piece mentions that OMK makes "prison-worthy" seating for airports, self-sealing polyurethane can withstand a stabbing: http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2011/11/stop_competing_to_be_the_best.html . Kinda fitting that airports would have "prison-worthy" seats.

Films posters always look better in French

Photographed on the Paris Metro:

Corpus Clock in Cambridge

What an amazing piece of public art the Corpus Clock is. With its eerie sound, unexpected features (the creature on the top blinks), and sheer cleverness, it is almost worth visiting Cambridge just to see it. Here it is, unusually without tourists in front of it:



Here is a video of it in action. The Wikipedia entry for the Corpus Clock is well worth reading too.

Great customer service from Gray Line Mexico City

I emailed Gray Line Mexico today, a Saturday, to confirm that I arrive tomorrow evening and will be taking one of their vehicles into my hotel in the middle of Mexico City. They replied right away with all the information I need. I'd booked the trip through Expedia so I was half expecting a "we have not got the fax yet" reply, but instead it all worked seamlessly. Nice customer service.

Getting from Rental Car to the terminal at Philadelphia airport

When at PHL, I find that it's better to simply walk from the Rental Car return area to the terminals. The buses weave a circuitous route around the airport to reach the terminals, which are actually in close (5 minute) walking distance from the Rental Car return area. So next time, simply walk :-)

Review: Hyatt Place Dallas North

Overall I like this hotel. Great comfortable bed. Friendly staff. But I'm not sold on the whole Hyatt design of their breakfast room. I first ordered a breakfast wrap to the server there, but then had to tap it into the system using a touchscreen. I guess it does make sense if I'd first gone over to the touchscreen, but that seemed impersonal when there was a person there to take the order. But the wrap was delicious (though too big to finish).

Good location for meetings in the north of Dallas and right beside a great steakhouse. For great local Texas barbeque I recommend the nearby Spring Creek Barbeque.

Nice quote by the BA pilot flying into Singapore last night

Flying into Singapore last night with British Airways, the pilot said "the time is 9.30pm on Saturday, for those of you interested in that kind of thing". I guess I am usually interested in "that kind of thing" (knowing what time it is) but it was nice to imagine that there are people who are not.

Sydney's seemingly useless monorail

I've always wondered about this monorail, everytime I visit Sydney. What is the purpose of it? The distance it travels can be easily walked. Even the old trolleys in San Francisco have legitimate usage to avoid walking up Nob Hill. It just baffles me.

The monorail in question:


One of the stations, at Darling Harbour:


Looks like some people have trouble finding the door?

Emirates Airbus A380 Dubai to London

Recently I flew Emirates from Dubai to London. One of the highlights of the flight was the inflight video. Compared to other in-seat video I've seen, it is more widescreen, and sharper.

Here is the view from the tail camera before take-off at DXB:




Here is the video showing the location of the plane:



Here is the same tail camera, in the air:


Here's the plane location map, in Arabic (of course it is also presented in English, but Arabic makes for a better screenshot):

Here is the flight information screen:

And finally, here is the landing in London:




All in all, this provided some diversion on a long long flight. I also watched a bunch of films on the flight, and revisited Emirates excellent "Every top 10 on the UK charts for the last 30-odd years" archive.

When in Detroit...

Thanks to Enterprise for upgrading me on a recent trip to Detroit. This Chrysler was a really good car and it looks like they really are making world class cars now. Good to see an American car that is unashamably American too.

Verizon removes their unlimited global data option

I called Verizon yesterday and I can confirm it's true. They have removed the $69.99 a month global data option, which I recently used on a trip to Europe. This was one of my reasons for moving to Verizon (that and a new Droid Global for $40 on Amazon Wireless).

More discussion here:
http://www.droidforums.net/forum/droid-2-global/116365-vzw-unlimited-global-data-going-away.html