Posts filed under 'Travel'
Apparently the traffic there is infamous. I transferred via there on my way back from the States and even at the aeroplanes were gridlocked. This really annoyed the guy sitting next to me, presumably because he might miss his transfer. While he rushed off the plane, I waited for everyone else to get off (my transfer was in six hours) and then got off almost last. He was waiting outside in the jetway for them to unload some of his luggage that had been too big to fit in the overhead locker on the rather small aircraft, looking like he was going to explode. The moral; sometimes you should just check your luggage in, like normal people.
November 20th, 2007
Just back from this year’s SuperComputing conference, which wasn’t as good as last year’s, but was still pretty good. Also, I thought I’d blog about being horribly jet-lagged and how unbearable it is to travel by plane, but after re-reading last year’s post, I really don’t have anything new to add!
So, instead, I’ll just make some short observations about Tampa, FL.
Firstly, Tampa is not like Seattle. Well, the buildings could probably have been transported from one to the other, brick by brick (if they weren’t all glass), and no-one would notice the difference. The street plan is a similar story, as there’s only so much you can do with a Cartesian grid.
On the other hand:
- No Starbucks! Absolutely none in the city centre and I only saw one (drive-through!) while on the bus to Busch Gardens. However, all the coffee places did “proudly brew Starbucks”.
- No McDonalds! Again, apart from one I saw while on the bus.
- In fact, there are very few shops in “downtown” Tampa at all. This might not be surprising, as it was 25 degrees in November, so its probably not a nice place to be in the summer. Everyone would rather be in the air-conditioned mega-mall(s?) in the suburbs.
- Plenty of homeless people, but they didn’t have the camping gear, like they did in Seattle. And fewer of them seemed to be totally crazy.
We had a little trip to Busch Gardens, which was pretty awesome. The rollercoasters there are pretty insane and scary – at least they were for me. There are also animals, but we went at night, so we didn’t see them. Also, Ybor City is worth a visit if you like bars, nightclubs or tattoos. It was clearly the centre of night-life in Tampa with lots of restaurants (Cuban, Colombian, even Greek), but its not in the “city centre”. According to our taxi driver, Thursday is the night to go, as all the students go out “half-naked and half-crocked”. So we did and had a few drinks, saw a fight get broken up by the police, but didn’t see an unusually large number of half-naked people. I guess thats what I see in a normal night out in the UK 
To be honest, I’m not sure I’d recommend Tampa for a holiday unless you were passing through for just day or two. The phrase “cultural wasteland” springs to mind, but I might be being unfair.
November 21st, 2006
I spent the past few days in Paris, doing all the touristy stuff; looking at the Sacré CÅ“ur, Notre Dame, Eiffel Tower, etc… Paris is undoubtedly an historical and important city, but I don’t know if it should be called the most romantic city in the world.
The highlights of the visit seemed to be the high places – on the roofs of the Sacré CÅ“ur and Notre Dame and, of course, the top of the Eiffel Tower. The views are really incomparable to anything available in London. I think the dizziness that comes with climbing cramped, old, stone spiral staircases allows you to appreciate the view more profoundly, or something.
Paris is to be commended for its (seeming) resistance to large corporate chains – I only saw two Starbucks™ and one MacDonalds™ there, which is almost the same as I see when I walk to the nearest tube station here… Instead, there were a large number of (I think) independently-owned cafes, bakeries and markets.
On the other hand, there were a couple of highly un-romantic things:
Firstly, there was an ubiquitous smell of piss. I mean everywhere – on the street, the metro, in lifts. To give the benefit of the doubt, it was quite hot while I was there, possibly the smell was exacerbated. Also, I don’t know how recently it had rained. On the plus side, I didn’t see any vomit (a common sight in large UK cities).
Secondly, and this is perhaps more my fault than that of the Parisians, there is very little to eat if you are vegetarian. I already knew this was true of the south of France, but thought that the capital would be more cosmopolitan. It could be that we just went to the wrong places, looked at the wrong menus, but I have the feeling that a meal without meat isn’t considered a “real” meal.
September 11th, 2006
I’m currently in Seattle, attending the Supercomputing 2005 conference. After arriving on Saturday, this is the first day that I haven’t actually been jet-lagged out of my skull. So, in my short time here, I’ve noticed a few things…
Seattle is full of:
- Tall buildings
- Starbucks (there is one per block)
- Homeless people
- People who, although they aren’t, look like they’re homeless…
And some environmental observations: its cold, much colder than Bristol, despite being at roughly the same latitude.
November 16th, 2005