Thanks for following! Have a great summer everyone!
söndag 14 juli 2013
The end for the "tale of two cities"!
What better way of ending this travel story than with a picture of the Starbucks mugs I bought from this trip's two cities.
Thanks for following! Have a great summer everyone!
Thanks for following! Have a great summer everyone!
The three flights home!
The plane crash in San Francisco still affects the air traffic there so we were lucky that we were rescheduled to an earlier flight to San Francisco. This flight ended up taking off when our original flight was due to take off so everything worked out. We arrived in San Francisco when we were supposed to.
For our 10 hour flight, between San Francisco and Copenhagen, we had Economy Extra seats. So nice! Especially for me that with my short legs could do pretty much anything. I also had a window seat on this flight which I love having since my main interest when flying is to look down on the earth.
Cheers from Economy Extra!
Downtown San Francisco?
It was neat flying into Copenhagen being able to see the bridge over Öresund while landing.
A two hour wait in Copenhagen turned into a 5 1/2 hour wait because our flight at 15:25 PM was cancelled a hour before departure. Martin received a text message with the cancellation information as well as the information that we had been booked on a later flight that we needed to check-in to. We went to one of those check-in kiosks and tried but was asked to contact the staff since our luggage already had been checked in. We were already frustrated when we took a cue number and our frustration intensified with the wait. For the first 30 minutes the cue didn't move. And there was a lot of people waiting. The service we received when it was our turn didn't decrease our frustration with SAS.
And the card we were handed with contact information to give feedback was like a laugh in our face. What services? Does SAS provide services anymore? After three flights with SAS this summer Martin's and my conclusion is that SAS can close down for good.
We arrived at Arlanda Airport by 7:30 PM and soon discovered that our four suitcases had been left somewhere along the trip. It was just for us to stand in another line up to report it missing. The only positive thing with coming home without our suitcases was that we could go straight to bed when we got home (after a really nice shower) since we couldn't begin unpacking.
SAS called me at 8 AM telling me that my suitcases would be delivered between 10 AM and 1 PM. One of my suitcases showed up by ten to one? The other one was no where to be seen. And Martin's two suitcases had by lunch according to the tracking webpage not even been found. One was probably identified but the identification had not been confirmed. Weird that our suitcases were split up even though we checked in together in San Diego.
I called SAS to figure out where my other suitcase was (both had arrived at Arlanda the same time according to the tracking webpage) and after a hours wait I got the answer that I should just wait because the person I talked to couldn't get a hold of anyone at Arlanda. My frustration grew and by 4 PM I called SAS again. This time I got to speak directly with someone at Arlanda who went out on the floor and found my suitcase right away. So if everything works out it will be delivered between 8 and 11 PM tonight. I'm glad I called again since I probably wouldn't have got the suitcase today if I hadn't. The feeling I got yesterday from the baggage area at Arlanda was that no one seemed to be in control of the baggage there. There were bags everywhere both directly on the floor and on carts. It would have been so easy just stealing someone else's baggage.
Well at least the delay gives me time to go through my closets to make room for all my new clothing items :)
Late note: Martin's suitcases arrived Monday evening after some one called him in the morning telling him that they would be delivered before 1 AM. Around 1 AM another man called telling him that they would be delivered between 4:30 PM and 7:30 PM without the knowledge that someone else had promised him an earlier delivery. At least we got all our baggage in the end!
For our 10 hour flight, between San Francisco and Copenhagen, we had Economy Extra seats. So nice! Especially for me that with my short legs could do pretty much anything. I also had a window seat on this flight which I love having since my main interest when flying is to look down on the earth.
Cheers from Economy Extra!
Downtown San Francisco?
It was neat flying into Copenhagen being able to see the bridge over Öresund while landing.
A two hour wait in Copenhagen turned into a 5 1/2 hour wait because our flight at 15:25 PM was cancelled a hour before departure. Martin received a text message with the cancellation information as well as the information that we had been booked on a later flight that we needed to check-in to. We went to one of those check-in kiosks and tried but was asked to contact the staff since our luggage already had been checked in. We were already frustrated when we took a cue number and our frustration intensified with the wait. For the first 30 minutes the cue didn't move. And there was a lot of people waiting. The service we received when it was our turn didn't decrease our frustration with SAS.
And the card we were handed with contact information to give feedback was like a laugh in our face. What services? Does SAS provide services anymore? After three flights with SAS this summer Martin's and my conclusion is that SAS can close down for good.
We arrived at Arlanda Airport by 7:30 PM and soon discovered that our four suitcases had been left somewhere along the trip. It was just for us to stand in another line up to report it missing. The only positive thing with coming home without our suitcases was that we could go straight to bed when we got home (after a really nice shower) since we couldn't begin unpacking.
SAS called me at 8 AM telling me that my suitcases would be delivered between 10 AM and 1 PM. One of my suitcases showed up by ten to one? The other one was no where to be seen. And Martin's two suitcases had by lunch according to the tracking webpage not even been found. One was probably identified but the identification had not been confirmed. Weird that our suitcases were split up even though we checked in together in San Diego.
I called SAS to figure out where my other suitcase was (both had arrived at Arlanda the same time according to the tracking webpage) and after a hours wait I got the answer that I should just wait because the person I talked to couldn't get a hold of anyone at Arlanda. My frustration grew and by 4 PM I called SAS again. This time I got to speak directly with someone at Arlanda who went out on the floor and found my suitcase right away. So if everything works out it will be delivered between 8 and 11 PM tonight. I'm glad I called again since I probably wouldn't have got the suitcase today if I hadn't. The feeling I got yesterday from the baggage area at Arlanda was that no one seemed to be in control of the baggage there. There were bags everywhere both directly on the floor and on carts. It would have been so easy just stealing someone else's baggage.
Well at least the delay gives me time to go through my closets to make room for all my new clothing items :)
Late note: Martin's suitcases arrived Monday evening after some one called him in the morning telling him that they would be delivered before 1 AM. Around 1 AM another man called telling him that they would be delivered between 4:30 PM and 7:30 PM without the knowledge that someone else had promised him an earlier delivery. At least we got all our baggage in the end!
lördag 13 juli 2013
Some fun before the flight home!
It was great having an extra suitcase when packing since we did't need to think about how to pack to get it all in there. Martin probably finished packing in 30 minutes, I needed about a hour.
For those interested our hotel room looked something like this with a bathroom with both a shower and a bathtub and a bed that was separated from the rest of the room as well as two flat screens one on towards the bed and one towards the rest of the room.
Our plan for the day before heading to the airport was a trip over to Coronado island, best known for a hotel, its beach towards the Pacific Ocean and its Marin Base.
We caught the 9.25 AM ferry there and the 11:17 ferry back. To get the most out of our 1 1/2 hours on the island we rented cruiser bikes to quickly bike over to the western side where the well known hotel and beach is. We had time to take some pictures and feel the Pacific Ocean and the beach sand between our toes but that was about it. We just made the ferry back again since it left before the time schedule.
On the short ferry ride with the convention centre and downtown in the background.
Martin with the Coronado bridge in the background.
San Diego and its skyline.
Cruiser bikes and downtown San Diego.
The famous hotel has a bow on its tower.
Coronado beach.
This trips last jumping picture. I haven't jumped as much as I use to...am I getting old?
The Pacific Ocean in my sunglasses.
After a quick lunch and a last walk through the historic part of downtown we got ready to go to the airport. When the taxi had just pulled out of the hotel's driveway Martin discovered that he didn't know where his camera was so it was just to return back to the hotel. He looked and looked both in our luggage and in the hotel's lobby. Just when we were giving up a hotel staff member showed up with the camera telling us that someone just handed it in. Lucky!
Thanks San Diego and ESRI for a fabulous week! Hope to see you again!
For those interested our hotel room looked something like this with a bathroom with both a shower and a bathtub and a bed that was separated from the rest of the room as well as two flat screens one on towards the bed and one towards the rest of the room.
Our plan for the day before heading to the airport was a trip over to Coronado island, best known for a hotel, its beach towards the Pacific Ocean and its Marin Base.
We caught the 9.25 AM ferry there and the 11:17 ferry back. To get the most out of our 1 1/2 hours on the island we rented cruiser bikes to quickly bike over to the western side where the well known hotel and beach is. We had time to take some pictures and feel the Pacific Ocean and the beach sand between our toes but that was about it. We just made the ferry back again since it left before the time schedule.
On the short ferry ride with the convention centre and downtown in the background.
Martin with the Coronado bridge in the background.
San Diego and its skyline.
Cruiser bikes and downtown San Diego.
The famous hotel has a bow on its tower.
Coronado beach.
This trips last jumping picture. I haven't jumped as much as I use to...am I getting old?
The Pacific Ocean in my sunglasses.
After a quick lunch and a last walk through the historic part of downtown we got ready to go to the airport. When the taxi had just pulled out of the hotel's driveway Martin discovered that he didn't know where his camera was so it was just to return back to the hotel. He looked and looked both in our luggage and in the hotel's lobby. Just when we were giving up a hotel staff member showed up with the camera telling us that someone just handed it in. Lucky!
Thanks San Diego and ESRI for a fabulous week! Hope to see you again!
A night to remember!
The conference started to shut down already by lunch on Thursday. I therefore focused on walking through the exhibition in the morning as well as the map gallery. My most memorable moments of the morning was receiving a t-shirt with the text "I love maps" and a few of the maps from the map gallery.
A few of the maps that I liked.
Martin, I and Kricke had the longest lunch break of the week since we waited for our sushi for about 45 to 50 minutes. But at least we got a discount on the bill and pretty good sushi but far from the best. And we got the chance to watch Spiderman crawl down Hardrock Cafe. We don't know if the scene was filmed for the upcoming Spiderman-movie or if it had to do with the next conference at the convention centre, Comic Con, that is focused on the popular arts.
Spiderman on his way down.
Comic Con with approximately 140 000 visitors begins on July 18th.
We also saw a pretty cool wall painting during our lunch.
After another technical workshop in the afternoon the gang (Martin, Kricke, I and our other two colleagues) headed off to Balboa Park for the annual ESRI user conference party. Balboa Park is a kind of museum park with all these different museums placed in the same area. The food and the music entertainment was great but I think Martin enjoyed his meeting with a parrot the most.
The map for the evenings events. Food and activities where spread out between the different museums.
The menu for a food stop could look like this.
Walking around in Balboa Park. Martin and I met this interesting guy that wasn't there for the party but who lived close by. He told us that he had been Gail Devers trainer when she was young and that he had an uncle who had been designing Volvo cars for awhile in Malmö.
Martin's new love interest.
The park was lit up pretty nicely.
Martin finding more food.
Celebrity spotting in the park: Jack Dangermond.
Before ending our last night in San Diego we had to have another Frozen Margarita at Fred's. This time Martin and I shared a strawberry obe that was way better than the original both to colour and taste.
Frozen Strawberry Margarita! The best!
A few of the maps that I liked.
Martin, I and Kricke had the longest lunch break of the week since we waited for our sushi for about 45 to 50 minutes. But at least we got a discount on the bill and pretty good sushi but far from the best. And we got the chance to watch Spiderman crawl down Hardrock Cafe. We don't know if the scene was filmed for the upcoming Spiderman-movie or if it had to do with the next conference at the convention centre, Comic Con, that is focused on the popular arts.
Spiderman on his way down.
Comic Con with approximately 140 000 visitors begins on July 18th.
We also saw a pretty cool wall painting during our lunch.
After another technical workshop in the afternoon the gang (Martin, Kricke, I and our other two colleagues) headed off to Balboa Park for the annual ESRI user conference party. Balboa Park is a kind of museum park with all these different museums placed in the same area. The food and the music entertainment was great but I think Martin enjoyed his meeting with a parrot the most.
The map for the evenings events. Food and activities where spread out between the different museums.
The menu for a food stop could look like this.
Walking around in Balboa Park. Martin and I met this interesting guy that wasn't there for the party but who lived close by. He told us that he had been Gail Devers trainer when she was young and that he had an uncle who had been designing Volvo cars for awhile in Malmö.
Martin's new love interest.
The park was lit up pretty nicely.
Martin finding more food.
Celebrity spotting in the park: Jack Dangermond.
Before ending our last night in San Diego we had to have another Frozen Margarita at Fred's. This time Martin and I shared a strawberry obe that was way better than the original both to colour and taste.
Frozen Strawberry Margarita! The best!
The Gap!
The day began with the 5k ESRI-run along the water behind the convention centre. There were about 1 000 runners that came out till the start at 6:45 AM. A Swede actually came first and another Swede took third or fourth place. Since I haven't been able to run very much after my vacation on Mallorca when I hurt a muscle in my right knee I was pretty happy with my 26 minutes and 5 seconds. Martin flew through the course and finished at 24 minutes and 53 seconds. He was very satisfied beating a few known competitors that he before the race wanted to beat.
A happy runner!
I had a quite productive Wednesday when it comes to solving my everyday issues at work. Most importantly though I got contact information so that I hopefully will get quicker and better answers to my questions in the future.
After today's sessions the boys and I headed to a nearby shopping mall to hopefully find some more great deals on clothing. I found an amazing 50s inspired dress on sale on Gap that I just couldn't resist. Martin also found some great items on sale at Gap. We ended up buying clothing for exactly
the same amount minus one cent. How about that!!!
I'm trying to finally send my post cards from New York but I couldn't find the opening to the mail box.
This one is for Bjorne but really it is for another Bjorne.
After a hamburger dinner with the rest of our colleagues Martin and I went to a roof top bar at Marriott while Kricke and our other two colleagues headed to the roof top bar at Hyatt. I think Martin and I choose the right one because of the great view of the baseball game at Petco Stadium between San Diego and Colorado from Marriott's roof top bar. We also had nice Swedish company.
Marriott's view of Petco Stadium and the baseball game.
Martin and I enjoying the view.
Our hotel is just by Marriott and Petco Stadium (to the right) as well as the convention centre (the bright building to the left).
The night ended when the game ended with another loss for San Diego.
A happy runner!
I had a quite productive Wednesday when it comes to solving my everyday issues at work. Most importantly though I got contact information so that I hopefully will get quicker and better answers to my questions in the future.
After today's sessions the boys and I headed to a nearby shopping mall to hopefully find some more great deals on clothing. I found an amazing 50s inspired dress on sale on Gap that I just couldn't resist. Martin also found some great items on sale at Gap. We ended up buying clothing for exactly
the same amount minus one cent. How about that!!!
I'm trying to finally send my post cards from New York but I couldn't find the opening to the mail box.
This one is for Bjorne but really it is for another Bjorne.
After a hamburger dinner with the rest of our colleagues Martin and I went to a roof top bar at Marriott while Kricke and our other two colleagues headed to the roof top bar at Hyatt. I think Martin and I choose the right one because of the great view of the baseball game at Petco Stadium between San Diego and Colorado from Marriott's roof top bar. We also had nice Swedish company.
Marriott's view of Petco Stadium and the baseball game.
Martin and I enjoying the view.
Our hotel is just by Marriott and Petco Stadium (to the right) as well as the convention centre (the bright building to the left).
The night ended when the game ended with another loss for San Diego.
What a place!
Time to get moving! So much to see and so little time! i spent the day going to technical workshops and demos about both technical aspects of the software as well as how improvements to the ArcGIS-family can be useful for our organisation. Martin mostly went to paper sessions and also had an informal meeting with an American organisation whose work is relevant to Martin's project.
I had a fabulous hamburger with Kricke where Martin and I had lunch our first day in San Diego. While eating we had a great view of a pelican that was interested in what the fishermen along the dock caught.
Most of the Swedish attendants went to a Mexican place in the evening for dinner. Nice dinner with nice company! I will be pretty suspicious about pepper in the future though since my stake came with what I thought was a pepper but that I learned the hard way that it was a chilli. I never thought the burning in my mouth would stop. I regret not ordering the fish and shrimp meal served in some kind of lava rock.
Tuesday's only picture: of the meal I regret that I didn't order.
I had a fabulous hamburger with Kricke where Martin and I had lunch our first day in San Diego. While eating we had a great view of a pelican that was interested in what the fishermen along the dock caught.
Most of the Swedish attendants went to a Mexican place in the evening for dinner. Nice dinner with nice company! I will be pretty suspicious about pepper in the future though since my stake came with what I thought was a pepper but that I learned the hard way that it was a chilli. I never thought the burning in my mouth would stop. I regret not ordering the fish and shrimp meal served in some kind of lava rock.
Tuesday's only picture: of the meal I regret that I didn't order.
Hallelujah!!!
First day of the ESRI User Conference was a day with hallelujah feeling. All the attendant spent the day in the largest conference "room" I have ever been in. According to the founder and owner of ESRI, Jack Dangermond, who led the opening session we were about 12 000 attendants this year.
Jack Dangermond, founder of ESRI.
Row after row after row of seats! I wonder hoe many foldable chairs the the centre has.
The day was filled with presentations of news when it comes to improvements in the software followed by applauds and a little bit of cheering. What amazed me the most was how simple it is becoming to work with geographical information. Hopefully that means that more people will realise the benefits of using GIS.
We had lunch by the hotel pool looking over the gigantic convention centre. The lunch the hotel served was not to great though so that was a only time during the week we had a meal there.
Our hotel, Omni, just by the convention centre.
The boys are having lunch with the convention centre in the background.
The opening session continued after lunch and ended with the key note speaker, artist Will.i.am (known by himself as well as part of Black Eyed Peas) who had gotten acquainted with Jack Dangermond through charity. To me he and his presentation of his charity project where teenagers are using GIS to improve their neighbourhood was the highlight of the day.
Will.i.am with Jack Dangermond and students teenagers from his charity.
Will.i.am.
After a meeting with other Swedish colleagues within my line of work, Martin and I headed down south with the tram to a large shopping area close to the Mexican border about a 30 minute ride from downtown. There we did some speed shopping until 10 PM when they closed. The last place we stopped at was Ross where brand items seemed to end up after being discarded by the brand stores.
On our way to another shopping spree. Can you see the Mexican flag in the background marking the Mexican border.
There we found Samsonite suitcases really cheap, more than half the regular price and since we are allowed two items of checked-in luggage each on the flights home we ended up buying one each which gave us the chance to buy even more stuff.
Leaving Ross the store alarm went off when I was exiting. Then I discovered that a bag I bought at Levi's still had its alarm. It hadn't triggered the alarm leaving the Levi's store, entering and leaving the Samsonite store or when I entered Ross. I knew that the store was closed but thought that maybe someone would still be there so I headed back to that store while Martin went to McDonald's. Back at Levi's I saw at least 10 people tiding up the store and thought that great now I can get the alarm off without too much extra work. I knocked on the window and one of the girls came up to it. She asked what was wrong through the window and I showed her the alarm. What I thought was an easy problem to solve was apparently a difficult one. According to the girl I had to come back in the morning since it was impossible for them to open the doors again after closing. Since that wasn't a possibility for me I continued the discussion and when I was ignored (the girl just left the window from time to time) I put the bag by the window close to the alarm sensor so that the alarm would go off. Finally after about 25 minutes the manager came and opened the door and took the alarm off but she was not very happy and barely apologised. I wasn't the one forgetting to take the alarm off. I don't like turning into a bitch but I'm glad I did and that I didn't give up in this case. We got home quite exhausted by 11:15 PM, but still glad over what we accomplished shopping wise :)
Jack Dangermond, founder of ESRI.
Row after row after row of seats! I wonder hoe many foldable chairs the the centre has.
The day was filled with presentations of news when it comes to improvements in the software followed by applauds and a little bit of cheering. What amazed me the most was how simple it is becoming to work with geographical information. Hopefully that means that more people will realise the benefits of using GIS.
We had lunch by the hotel pool looking over the gigantic convention centre. The lunch the hotel served was not to great though so that was a only time during the week we had a meal there.
Our hotel, Omni, just by the convention centre.
The boys are having lunch with the convention centre in the background.
The opening session continued after lunch and ended with the key note speaker, artist Will.i.am (known by himself as well as part of Black Eyed Peas) who had gotten acquainted with Jack Dangermond through charity. To me he and his presentation of his charity project where teenagers are using GIS to improve their neighbourhood was the highlight of the day.
Will.i.am with Jack Dangermond and students teenagers from his charity.
Will.i.am.
After a meeting with other Swedish colleagues within my line of work, Martin and I headed down south with the tram to a large shopping area close to the Mexican border about a 30 minute ride from downtown. There we did some speed shopping until 10 PM when they closed. The last place we stopped at was Ross where brand items seemed to end up after being discarded by the brand stores.
On our way to another shopping spree. Can you see the Mexican flag in the background marking the Mexican border.
There we found Samsonite suitcases really cheap, more than half the regular price and since we are allowed two items of checked-in luggage each on the flights home we ended up buying one each which gave us the chance to buy even more stuff.
Leaving Ross the store alarm went off when I was exiting. Then I discovered that a bag I bought at Levi's still had its alarm. It hadn't triggered the alarm leaving the Levi's store, entering and leaving the Samsonite store or when I entered Ross. I knew that the store was closed but thought that maybe someone would still be there so I headed back to that store while Martin went to McDonald's. Back at Levi's I saw at least 10 people tiding up the store and thought that great now I can get the alarm off without too much extra work. I knocked on the window and one of the girls came up to it. She asked what was wrong through the window and I showed her the alarm. What I thought was an easy problem to solve was apparently a difficult one. According to the girl I had to come back in the morning since it was impossible for them to open the doors again after closing. Since that wasn't a possibility for me I continued the discussion and when I was ignored (the girl just left the window from time to time) I put the bag by the window close to the alarm sensor so that the alarm would go off. Finally after about 25 minutes the manager came and opened the door and took the alarm off but she was not very happy and barely apologised. I wasn't the one forgetting to take the alarm off. I don't like turning into a bitch but I'm glad I did and that I didn't give up in this case. We got home quite exhausted by 11:15 PM, but still glad over what we accomplished shopping wise :)
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