heathROW

Arrived at Heathrow at about 6:30 am. Even at that time the pilot announced that the airport was getting backed up and planes were circling south of London. Luckily, it was nice and clear and the sun was just coming up and I had a nice view of central London as we swung around to land on what I think was 27L.

I guess last time I was here it wasn't so crazily busy, but today it sure is. The immigration hall is split into several sections... Some sort of Nexus-like program, a queue for EU passport holders, a queue for other passport holders, a crew lane, and a fast track lane. Lucky for me, I was eligible for the fast track lane, which still took half an hour.

Made a brief pit stop at Air Canada's arrivals lounge, then made the 6 minute train journey from Terminal 3 to Terminal 5. T5 is also a zoo... But amazingly efficient so far. Dozens of security queues, but all were moving.

The first purchase of the journey has been successfully made... 2 more Starbucks mugs to join the collection: London and Edinburgh. (Edinburgh is a valid purchase, even though I'm not currently there. I have been there. Twice. Not like the Boston-mug-in-Watertown fiasco.)

Currently sipping a coffee, overlooking BA's T5 operations. A nice view.


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Via BlackBerry

Hello... Is this thing on?

About to head out on a 6-airport, 6-city, 6-flight tour. Thought it might be time to consider rekindling the old blog. Although, who has the patience to type (or read) more than 140 characters any more?

First thing's first... We'll see if this system still works... If so, this should appear in the blog and there should be a link automatically posted to Twitter.

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Via BlackBerry

YUL: An Addition to the (Non-) Moving Walkway Photo Collection

Montreal is joining the big time... Move over Toronto. Step aside Vancouver. YUL now also has an out of order moving walkway. (For what it's worth, Beijing also had an out of order escalator, but that doesn't quite qualify.)

Sorry for the blurriness. I was tired from the extra walking that was required.

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YOW: Daylight Savings Time is over

Changed all the clocks in the house and set two alarms last night to make sure I got up in time to make it to the airport for the 7 AM departure. I was reasonably certain the BlackBerry alarm would work, with the time automatically changing over while I slept. But I set the clock radio as well. As it turned out, both worked and went off at the right times. My only brief moment of panic was en route to the airport. Not having changed the clock in the car, for about a second or two, I thought I was late for my flight. Made it.

Now for a noisy, cramped, but short flight to Montreal, then on to Saint John.
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PEK-YYZ-YOW

Interesting... I took the pic of the walkway at YYZ on arrival, and it's the last photo I've taken using my BlackBerry. However, it wasn't the last photo showing up. It was mixed in with a bunch of pics I took at the airport in Beijing. Why? Because we landed in Toronto about half an hour before we took off from Beijing. So when I changed the time on the BB, it already had pictures on it from the future, and that's after a 12 hour flight. How crazy is that?
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YYZ: High Speed Walkway

After years of waiting and hoping, today I finally got to use one of the high speed walkways at Toronto-Pearson. A little freaky, a little loud, but it really moves.

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PEK: Things I have learned from Beijing

It is nice to be back in Canada. Beijing was interesting, for sure. But how anyone could stand living there, I don't know. If the traffic doesn't kill you (either figuratively or literally), the smog might. It was definitely a busy few days. Several days were packed with meetings and networking; a couple more were filled with sightseeing; the remaining time was spent trying in vain to catch up on work stuff.

Anyway, here's a few interesting things I learned or observed in Beijing.

I need to use my horn more when driving. Despite several "no bugling" signs, car horns are a constant everywhere in Beijing. It can mean anything from "do not even think about inching forward into my path", to "hey, I'm about to cut you off", to "hey, I just cut you off", to "it's been 5 seconds since my last honk, so...". It was pretty crazy driving though. U-turns from 3 lanes over. Bicycles and pedestrians distributed randomly throughout traffic lanes. And strict adherence to the bigger is better rule. And then on the other hand, they had a great innovation I've never seen. At some major intersections, there's a digital countdown clock, telling you how many seconds until green or red.

Just to confirm, smog is really bad for you. When we arrived last Friday, it was a beautiful clear blue sky because it was fairly windy. Luckily it stayed that way for Saturday for the trip to the Great Wall. But by Monday the smog had really returned. Tuesday and Wednesday were worse. On Wednesday I tweeted that it was the worst smog I'd ever seen (which is true). Long time Beijingers scoffed at this. Apparently, somehow, it gets worse than that. All I know is that by Wednesday, my throat was really sore and you could barely see the sun. Happy to be back where the air is fresher.

On a related note, I think the smog might have something to do with the reputation Chinese people have for being frequent spitters. Don't think I've ever been so phlegmy as I have been for the past few days.

A couple of interesting tidbits from the flight home (PEK-YYZ). I learned how to repair an aircraft seatbelt. This is something I taught myself. Of course, I first learned how to break it...accidentally. If you're in 11K on a 777-300 anytime soon, check out my work. I'm confident it meets Transport Canada safety standards.

In an effort to soothe my scratchy throat and fend off any possible illness, I also made the cabin smell of oil of oregano. Sorry to those around me. Necessary evil.

Anyway, I do feel lucky to have visited the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, Tian An Men Square, the Great Hall of the People, and even the Silk Market (which wasn't what I expected).
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PEK: No Social Networking

I don't know if this message will make it through to my blog because Blogger as a web site is not reachable here. Nor is Facebook. Nor is Twitter. Sometimes it works on the BlackBerry, but not consistently. Actually, emails and phone calls are also sporadic.

The most interesting thing is that somehow all my photos of the Great Wall got deleted from my camera. I don't know what secret - yet powerful - forces did this. I do know that it wasn't me... this time. I know this because I did do it once accidentally, and it's not something you can do without knowing it.

Other than that, it was a great day. It was sunny, clear and warm, but not too hot. There were strong winds yesterday that may have helped blow away some of the smog and haze. A good day for the Wall. If I had any photos left, I'd post them.
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YYZ: Actually a pretty great airport

Although it's frequently maligned for a number of real and imagined issues (and sometimes just remembered issues... Mom, I'm looking at you), Toronto's Pearson Airport is actually a pretty great airport.

It's big, spacious, clean, and for the most part is pretty well designed to meet the needs of the traveller. It's also become one of the best places to plane watch. I just saw Jet Airways (India) taxiing. If I sit here long enough I'll see either Etihad or Emirates (but not both on the same day, right?). I can't see T3, but there's always something interesting over there... Air France, KLM, Cathay Pacific, Korean, TACA, Malev (are they still flying here?).

I have no firm data to back this up, but I think all the good parts are thanks to GTAA's crack government relations squad. And air service development team. And concessions. But that's it.

Before I board, please remind me to get (a) some hand sanitizer, and (b) the latest GQ.
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YOW: en route to PEK

I'm sure I'm forgetting something. It's been months of preparation and frantic weeks in the lead up to departure, so there should be no excuse not to be ready. Either way, there's not much I can do about it now... Already through security and in the lounge. YOW-YYZ boards in 20 minutes.

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