One of the first things I’m always struck by when arriving in Europe is the ubiquitous attention to energy conservation. Approaching an escalator on our way to baggage reclamation, I noticed it was moving very slowly, but when we got to within about foot, the moving stairs kicked into a normal pace—save those watts. You …
After so many years, I think we’re finally getting the travel planning thing under control. It’s over four hours until we head to the airport and we’re all packed up, the house is clean, various maintenance tasks are done and my lengthy checklists have very few open items. Right now I’m sipping a 1664 and …
I just checked in for our Wizz Air flight from London to Gdansk and I will say, Wizz is not one of those air carriers that gives you a real warm, fuzzy feeling. They were the only airline offering non-stop service to Gdansk at a reasonable time of the day and their published fares are really …
No firm date set for the next launch attempt , but it won’t be Monday, so it’s back to PHX and then off to London and points beyond. Hail Britannia!
Notes from an ‘almost’ launch: We were on the bus to the Banana Creek viewing site when the scrub news came–bummer, but just part of the game. Coming to a launch as a NASA guest is way cool. The Guest Ops folks are the best! I sure hope the young British lady we met on Thursday …
After a brief delay to locate the car keys, we were off to the NASA KSC Guest Operations Office to pick up the appropriate documents and passes for tomorrows launch. Once that was taken care of, we did a quick bus tour around part of the facility including a stop at the Apollo exhibit facility …
Air reservations for PHX-LHR, LUT(London Luton)-GDZ (Gdansk) and BUD (Budapest)-LHR are all set. After much analysis and general flip-flopping we decided to skip the Eurail pass and pick up tickets as we go. This week, Laurel’s been pounding away, finding us some really great places to stay. London, Gdansk, Warsaw, Krakow, Ostrava in the Czech Republic and …
Finally getting a handle on this Euro 2011 thing. Read More »
Assuming no really unusual glitches in the countdown, one week from today we should be at KSC for our pre-launch briefing. In the paper this morning, there was news the President, the First Lady and Sasha and Malia will be attending the launch. Add to this the hype surrounding Mark Kelly and Representative Giffords and you …
Just when I thought we had the STS-134 launch trip under control, the good folks at NASA conferred with the Ruskies and decided the launch date needed to be slipped 10 days to accommodate a Progress supply vehicle. Bummer! The hot deal on Titusville hotel is gone and American Airlines gets to squeeze a few hundred bucks …
This time last Sunday, I was enjoying a second pass by the crab legs and sashimi at the Willows on Hausten Street in Honolulu. I haven’t been there in years and it was so nice to be back. Of course, it’s not quite the same as back in the days of Randy Lee, but it’s …