The View From Space

Just returned from a trip to London to attend a Chen Instructors Course given by my Sifu, Master Micheal Tse.  Having been to England only once back in the late 80′s, this was essentially a “first trip” for me.

While the main focus was to attend the instructor course we did have a couple of days to play “tourist”.

 

Westminster Abbey

 

 

 

 

 

 

Parliament

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saint Paul’s Cathedral

 

 

 

 

 

 

River Thames

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Correction) Tower Bridge

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tower of London

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Buckingham Palace

 

New Guard on way Buckingham Palace

Changing of the Mounted Guard

One of my favorite activities when visiting Japan is hunting down new flavors of Kit Kat.  On my latest visit I found 2 new (at least to me) flavors.

Yubari Melon (Cantaloupe)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And Blueberry Cheescake

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also picked up samples of old favorites

Having lamented about the demise of First Class service and comfort on domestic flights, I was pleasantly surprised when I recently got upgraded to Business Class onboard a United flight to Japan.

The current domestic first class cabin is akin to business class of days gone by, international first class however, is now the pinnacle in comfort.  Cocoon seating with lay flat seats and a huge individual TV screen with more entertainment choices than you can possibly watch over an 8 hour flight.  (Unfortunately I have yet to experience this level of travel nirvana)

International Business Class is no slouch either and is head and shoulders above most of the domestic first class cabins you’ll find.  There’s semi cocoon seating with lay flat beds … I mean seats.  The entertainment choices are just as good as in first class although shown on a “smaller” screen.  Yes I was like a kid in a candy store as this was my first taste of the new cabin seating arrangement.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes that’s a lumbar support button in the middle of the seat back

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and I even used the slippers provided in the amenity package.  So chic!

While in San Diego my wife and I had the pleasure of attending a local production called miXtape.  It’s playing at the Horton Grand Theater through December 19. 

The cast and crew take you on a nostalgic journey through the 80′s via the entertainment tool known back then by teens as the mixtape.  It was basically a cassette tape with a mix of one’s most important songs merged into a nonstop entertainment train. 

The women in the cast were incredible singers but the guys were the ones who stole the show.  While their voices weren’t as smooth as the women their antics and facial expressions really got the crowd hooting and howling.  From Duran Duran to CHiPs they had the crowd dancing and singing along (also having one of the male leads come running onto the stage in his whitey tighty’s ala Tom Cruise in Risky Business surely helped their cause). 

So if you happen to be in San Diego before December 19 I wholeheartedly recommend saving a night to watch miXtape.  The Horton Grand Theater is located just a block away from the Gaslamp Quarter in downtown San Diego, so you can make it a night out on the town with dinner, a show and dancing (oh and dont forget dessert at the Ghirardelli ice cream shop).

While taking a shopping break at the Fashion Valley Mall in San Diego I nearly made a most horrifying mistake.  I almost walked into …. gasp ….  a Microsoft Store.  You’ll forgive my near mis-step once you see the pics below.  C’mon, not only did the Microsoft store copy the Apple store-front design of an all glass facade, they even went so far as to do the single logo on a white background across the top.

Jeez, you’d think that a multi-billion dollar company could come up with a unique design … oh yeah they did … APPLE’S!

While in San Diego on business, had the opportunity to attend the Miramar MCAS airshow over the weekend.  Thought that watching the Blue Angels at the  Kaneohe MCB Airshow the week prior would prepare me.  However, I was overwhelmed by the sheer size of the event, easily 3 – 4 times bigger than the one in Hawaii.  Here’s just a glimpse of what went on.

Unfortunately, there aren’t any pictures or videos of the high speed fly-by’s.  I was always in the wrong place at the wrong time when the F-18′s made supersonic passes.  Watching them approach and not hearing them until they passed you with a boom was amazing.   Seeing the cone of condensation around the plane as it hit supersonic was just too cool.

But boy was it HOT!  Like the Hawaii show people were camped under the wings of display aircraft waiting for show.  And because it was so hot I left before the Blue Angels performed.  At least I got to see them at the Kaneohe MCB airshow

Did a short stay-cation at the Turtle Bay Resort to celebrate my wife’s birthday.  Having not been there in several years, we were pleasantly surprised by the accommodations.  The hotel itself has been wonderfully maintained and the grounds were well manicured.  The room, although rather spartan, was clean and pleasant.  My only issue was that the bathroom was dimly lit and bathing was done in a very dark stall.  I guess you could argue that it made for romantic showers, but at my age it’s probably more important to be able to see if you’ve missed washing any body parts.

I was also amazed to find that free wireless access was available throughout the hotel.  Normally high end hotels/resorts charge you upwards of $12/day  (although I later found out that it’s not quite free, there’s a Hotel Service Fee of $25/day that is charged to cover parking and …. wireless access).  Ok, maybe it’s just because I’m getting easier to satisfy in my old age, but I just looked at the fee as another add-on that resorts charge.

The highlight of the stay was most definitely the Luana Spa.  My wife had a facial and body scrub done the morning we left.  Although pricey, the services were definitely worth it.  The staff was warm and welcoming, making you feel at ease and relaxed.  I highly recommend a treatment or two if you ever stay there.

Shot this nice panoramic view from my hotel room while staying at the Turtle Bay Resort on the North Shore of Oahu.
The built in feature of Android 2.1 comes with the standard camera app and seamlessly integrates up to 8 standard shots into one panoramic picture. You don’t do much more than click on the first frame, pan slowly across then click on the last frame (if using less than 8). It automatically senses the edge of each shot and takes the next.
The picture shown here was only 6 frames wide.

Here’s one I took that uses the full 8 frames

I admit, I’m a fan of those strange Kit-Kat flavors coming out of Japan.  Here’s a couple that I picked up during my recent trip there.  Strawberry cheesecake (ok not so strange) and Wasabi (gotta admit, just plain weird).  Although that chocolate wasabi cheescake in Guam ran a close second.

Although I didn’t have time to walk over I was able to grab a couple of shots of the archway at Mikasa Park.  The park is home to the Japanese Battleship Mikasa.