http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/malcognito/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from malcognito en-us Sun, 03 Jan 2010 13:01:47 +0000 Sun, 03 Jan 2010 13:01:47 +0000 Sorry no time for photos check back and I'll add some later.Quite a lot has happned in the last few days but wersquovr been out of touch with the rest of the world so no chance of Internet connections. So time for a very quick resume and then Irsquoll check out the facilities at our final resort. Itrsquos New Years Eve now and we travelled most of today to reach Kovalam which is right i http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Kerala/Kovalam/blog-463926.html Christmas Day was a travelling day and we left Madurai at 9 am. Not much time to open presents which was OK because Santa didnrsquot call anyway. Perhaps he was running late or in a hurryOn Thursday evening we had our special inclusive hotel buffet along with some local entertainers. They were a motley looking bunch probably rejected by the local circus. There was very loud music from a bugle http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Kerala/Kumily/blog-462830.html Thursday afternoon now which means itrsquos Christmas Eve. Wersquore in Madurai heading west from the previous stop in Tanjure. Everyone is starting to get temple fatigue now so itrsquos probably a good job that this is our last day of temple visits. To be fair those wersquove seen in the last couple of days have been pretty spectacular. The facts and figures have started to wash over my http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Kerala/Kochi-/blog-462482.html Itrsquos proving harder than usual to find an Internet connection so reports from India could be few and far between this timeI think itrsquos Monday evening now Irsquom sure about the evening part so I havenrsquot completely lost it. Still since this is the first report Irsquod better start at the beginning. The flight was early on Friday morning. And I do mean early 5 to 8 take http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Kerala/Kochi-/blog-462006.html I first visited Dubai longer ago than I care to remember. Well actually I can't remember the year but I vaguely recollect that Emirates launched that year with a single second hand plane. According to wikipedia that was October 1985 so it must be true. Wherever possible we took the British Caledonian Hong Kong flight which had a refuelling stop in Dubai. It was always cheaper and less crowded tha http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/United-Arab-Emirates/Dubai/blog-459970.html So after just a few weeks I'm heading back to Bratislava. It will probably only be for a few days and because I don't know exactly what to expect I've decided to travel early so I can be raedy bright and early on Monday morning. Plus it gives me a chance to get there by a slightly different route and take a quick look at Vienna along the way. I noticed last time that there are three ways to get http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Slovakia/Bratislava-Region/blog-441834.html And so week 5 on the road and I seem to have landed in Qatar. Actually not quite five weeks I think I got a few days at home but it just didnrsquot work out. I kept leaving my laundry in a bag ready for collection but honestly the service was rubbish. Or perhaps Irsquom jinxed the hotel here managed to lose my trousers for a day and I had to wear shorts to the office. A drop in standards http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Qatar/Doha/blog-416871.html So with just 72 hours at home after returning from Toronto it's back on the road. Or more accurately back to the airport Gatwick this time. I've been tracking the weather forecast and Bratislava currently has some very unseasonal thunderstorms so it could be fairly unpleasant. However I expect to be working pretty much continuously so it probably won't matterThere are few direct flights to http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Slovakia/Bratislava-Region/Bratislava/blog-413358.html A quick entry as I'm packing to get ready to fly home. To be honest it's been a fairly underwhelming three days since the trip across from Seattle last Sunday. I'm staying in the downtown quarter or more accurately the University quarter downtown. But the students are on their 14 week summer vacation they have it tough.... so there's only the post grads and those with no homes or whose paren http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Ontario/Toronto/blog-409518.html Look if you can think of a better title perhaps you should be writing this blogI left Richland on Friday evening and after a week there I'd become quite attached to the place. Most of my previous US trips have been to the big cities New York Washington DC so it was unusual for me to visit a relatively small town. I'm guessing but I reckon the population of Richland can't be more than 700 http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Washington/Seattle/blog-408313.html Back on the road again after a month or so at home. The next few weeks will be busy and will test even my patience with airports and airlines. On the plus side I don't have any flights on United because that would probably push me over the edge.....A long journey yesterday from London to Seattle via Calgary. The flights with Air Canada were good not too full friendly service and even the f http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Washington/blog-406403.html Straight back from India then out to San Diego on business for 5 days. That didn't go smoothly so by the end of the week I was totally exhausted and ready for home. The only high spot was Saturday when I got the whole day free so caught the ferry across the Harbour to Coronado then rented a bike and cycled round to the Pacific shore. Just sat on the beach thinking Next stop Hawaii.Still h http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/National-Capital-Territory/Delhi/blog-394757.html Friday evening and itrsquos proving harder than I expected to find an internet connection so goodness knows when this one will be sent. Itrsquos been another long day after a train ride yesterday which took 3 hours but was delayed for 4. Since we Brits introduced railways to India I suppose wersquove only got ourselves to blame for the delays. So we got in finally about 9 pm straight into http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/National-Capital-Territory/Delhi/blog-391144.html Writing this on Tuesday afternoon but not sure when Irsquoll post it. There is an internet connection at the hotel but I donrsquot think itrsquos too reliable. The flight was fine so I can recommend Turkish Airlines for the future. But the journey from the airport to the hotel well it lived up to my expectations After changing my money I decided to pay a little bit more than usual for t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Uttar-Pradesh/Agra/blog-388895.html I'll be travelling out on Monday morning April 6th. Not too early thank goodness. The flight is with Turkish Airlines which is a bit of an experiment but generally they get good reviews so we'll see Anyway they were 300 cheaper than BA.I arrive into Istanbul late afternoon then a couple of hours wait before leaving for Delhi. It's about 4 more hours flying time but taking account of the tim http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/National-Capital-Territory/New-Delhi/blog-387434.html