The view from my "office"

[drron]

Saturday morning’s EK office.



Yes a middle seat office in J.

 

[drron]

The afternoon’s EK office.




Arriving at FRA.

 

[Muppet501st]

Cairns office for a few days.

 

[Cossie]

West Cork Rally (Clonakilty - well known for their black pudding and white pudding) - this stage was at Sam's Cross. I had a nice little soak while watching it
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Access roads are..... pretty country Irish really.
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Onto the cars.
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Hope it was fun and you didn't get too wet! Rally spectating is either stinking hot with lots of dust or cold and wet.
Again it's another place I want to visit, the roads, the cars, the pubs! I think there are more rally Escorts on the road there than probably anywhere else, must be hundreds of them.

 

[prozac]

Albury office for next 3 nights.
Hope to get time to visit Myrtleford, Bright etc. Any suggestions for this area welcomed.

 

[Flashback]

Hope it was fun and you didn't get too wet! Rally spectating is either stinking hot with lots of dust or cold and wet.
Again it's another place I want to visit, the roads, the cars, the pubs! I think there are more rally Escorts on the road there than probably anywhere else, must be hundreds of them.

It rained the whole time but was largely good old Irish mist. Got heavier towards the end.. that's when I decided to pack it in Good fun for something a bit last minute!

 

[prozac]

Albury office for next 3 nights.
Hope to get time to visit Myrtleford, Bright etc. Any suggestions for this area welcomed.

Unpasteurised Carlton tank beer at The Star hotel.
Main street intersection at 2200. Dean and Olive Streets.
McCormick Farmall tractor produced by International Harvester in the entrance to the amazing 3,000sqm Albury Harris Farm.

 

[drron]

Saturday morning office. Senator A lounge FRA.

 

[jxv]

Once our riverboat departed Luxor the internet connection failed. You have seen pictures of Egyptian temples here before, so let me skip to last Friday.

For some reason our optional (and expensive) excursion to the Abu Simbel temples, the ones that were relocated to higher ground when Lake Nasser was created, was rescheduled from Thursday to Friday, the day we had to return to Cairo.

Suitcases out at 4:30 am! On the bus 5:30, at the gate for our Egyptair flight 6:50, the scheduled departure time. Actual departure 7:45. At temple entrance 8:40 after another bus ride. We already received our boarding passes for the return trip, which stated “boarding 9:20, departure 10:05”, which would mean that we would have to turn back immediately! The guide said not to worry, get back to the bus at 10:15, which we managed by hurrying through the temples. The return flight actually left at 11:40, getting us back to the boat at 13:20.

The temples were impressive, but I wish we would have had more time.

The original temples were cut out of the mountain in more than 800 large blocks, which were transported higher up and reassembled. It looked a bit silly without the mountain background, so they built an artificial mountain around it.

 

[drron]

After leaving the lounge we were given a bus tour of FRA. Our plane was at the remotest stand. Had to wait for a Eurowings plane to pass in front of us.


Whilst an LH jumbo went by.


Thought we were there but kept going.


Past the Cargo terminal.


Before finally reaching our plane.

 

[drron]

The LH 1178 office and some views.

 

[MattA]

Albury office for next 3 nights.
Hope to get time to visit Myrtleford, Bright etc. Any suggestions for this area welcomed.

Bright is my annual Easter office (will be there in a couple of weeks). Lovely part of the world. If you get there, my top tip would be to hire a bike and ride the rail trail (easy, flat ride, beautiful scenery). We usually don't make it past this winery though: Ringer Reef Winery Porepunkah. Boutique, hand made Alpine Valleys wine

 

[Dr Bob]

Albury office for next 3 nights.
Hope to get time to visit Myrtleford, Bright etc. Any suggestions for this area welcomed.

Are you at the Mantra? haven't eaten there since BC when they did great lunches.
Dinner at Level 1 in Dean St great food and excellent wines and he will talk wines all day. Yard Bird in Townsend St is also good food. Otherwise there is the usual array of pubs, clubs, Thai, Chinese, Pizza etc. Go to Myrtleford via Beechworth if you have time. Also the Jindera Museum is worth a visit. You've just missed Chryslers on the Murray last weekend. That was a great show with some great old Yank tanks from the 50's and 60's.

 

[prozac]

Are you at the Mantra? haven't eaten there since BC when they did great lunches.
Dinner at Level 1 in Dean St great food and excellent wines and he will talk wines all day. Yard Bird in Townsend St is also good food. Otherwise there is the usual array of pubs, clubs, Thai, Chinese, Pizza etc. Go to Myrtleford via Beechworth if you have time. Also the Jindera Museum is worth a visit. You've just missed Chryslers on the Murray last weekend. That was a great show with some great old Yank tanks from the 50's and 60's.

On Monday we passed an endless stream of Chryslers driving in the opposite direction. I wondered where the meet was.

Yes, staying at Mantra. Thank you Qantas Hotels for the $100 amex cashback. Business dinner last night at Norma on Guinea St. Great food but wine price is a bit on the exie side. Dinner at The Star tonight. Plans to explore today dashed with influx of local calls and emails. By the time we went on a modified trip to Huon Lookout a huge thunderclap heralded the rain and the view was clouded-in. Will head to Myrtleford tomorrow after a business meeting, but I am growing pessimistic about time-frames and weather. Disappointing for MrsProzac but I think just getting away is also nice.
Might try the breakfast in-house in the morning. Ate at The Proprietor this morning and was reminded they cannot serve coffee hot and black coffee was bitter. Have been told Mr Benedict on Dean St does great breakfast. The other good recommendation is Guru's Cafeteria and Pizzeria.

 

[jxv]

Friday’s woes continued.

After returning to the boat we had 40 minutes to have a bite to eat and have a drink before we had to board the bus again going back to Aswan airport for our Air Cairo flight back to Cairo at 16:00. It did not leave till some time around 18:00. Then there was a long delay getting the luggage, which made that we stepped into our room at the Hilton Heliopolis, less than 15 minutes drive from the airport, at 21:30. It was a long day from the alarm going off at 4 am, with most of it spent waiting at airports!

Saturday was more relaxed, although we were very tired from the long day before.

There will be three major museums in Cairo: the old Egyptian Museum, which we visited at the start of our trip, the new Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), which is still not open after many years of delays and the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization (NMEC), which has recently been opened. It is well worth a visit.


The entrance looked like that of another airport.


Some coffins are on display in the main hall, 20 mummies are in a special exhibit in the basement where photography is not allowed.

 

[jxv]

After our visit to NMEC we had an Egyptian take-away lunch aboard a felucca, sailing on the Nile.




And a visit to a bazaar.

 

[jxv]

Sunday was the end of the tour. For us it ended early in the day with our Aegean flight to Athens with connection to Lisbon leaving CAI at 04:40. Both flights were punctual! I made upgrade bids for both flights, but only the first was successful. The Egypt Air Star Alliance lounge stood in stark contrast to @drron ’s glamorous FRA experience. I have never seen a shabbier lounge with such poor facilities.

There were four small “rooms” with seats and a tv.


Two self service areas had very meager food and beverage options. The other one actually had a small fridge with softdrinks and a microwave.


Interesting shadows of the plane while taxiing.


Bye Egypt.


Sunrise above the clouds over the Mediterranean.

 

[jxv]

We already had a suitcase delayed on the first leg of our travels and Sunday arriving at LIS we found both our suitcases damaged! One has been smashed out of shape and both can’t extend the handles anymore. We filed damage claims, but today heard that damage to wheels and handles is not covered. We should be able to manage till we get home.

We picked up a car and drove to Albufeira on Portugal’s South coast for some rest. We have a roomy one bedroom apartment in an older resort, which has been well maintained and had the bathroom updated quite recently. With daily housekeeping for only $90 per day.

We can just see the sea.


And the hotel car park.


Albufeira is a nice looking touristy place favoured by British people.

 

[drron]

Got upgraded to a suite for our Porto office.




Nice office but no view.

 

[jxv]

Got upgraded to a suite for our Porto office.
Nice office but no view.

From the view through the balustrade I recognise the Porto town hall. You must be at the Intercontinental.

What is going on in front of the hotel?

We are doing a Portugal road trip and will be in Porto in two weeks time.