Jetlag

I arrived in Bangkok at 06:00 local and arrived at my hotel at 08:00. I had not slept on the aircraft and my body clock was telling me it was time for sleep, it being 1AM in London. Knowing the conference was going to start at 3PM Bangkok time I opted for three hours sleep and was up and about. After the first session there was a networking event that finished at about 10PM (3PM in London) I went to bed and have managed some broken sleep. It is now 3AM in Bangkok and I am awake again. The conference starts again at 9AM and will finish after a networking dinner at about 10PM tonight, I have three sales presentations to give to people I have never met before so I need to be on my game. I am hoping the adrenalin will see me though the day.

oh an why the picture of the boat, they go up and down the river all day and I wondered what they were carrying. A quick Google search tells Thailand is one of the largest rice exporters in the world and they are carrying rice down river to the coastal ports.

Thailand

I am on my way to a conference in Bangkok, a place I dislike intensely. It has nothing to do with the Thailand, Bangkok or the Thai people and everything to do with western Tourists. I currently courtesy of BMi Diamond club have access to a VIP Lounge at Heathrow and even there I could not escape it. There was a middle to early old aged gentleman in the lounge who was traveling on the same fight as me to he was on his mobile sorting out his divorce whilst telling the person next to him what a great place Thailand was, I will leave you to guess what his “holiday plans” involved. At the gate there was a party of males inn their early 20’s who were going to Pataya for “the action” I am sat on the aircraft ant the economy cabin has a significant number of middle aged single males as every flight to Bangkok seems to have. I suspect none of them will be visiting the temples and other cultural sights whilst they are there and none of them will respect the Thai Culture which I suspect they are oblivious to. Thailand is a relatively cheap place to visit and it is possible to “splash the cash” and attract a lot of local women who are not in the bars out of choice and simply trying to find a better life. I see this as a form of abuse and I hate the place and will likely stay in my hotel for the entire duration of the conference.

and just in case you were wondering, I downloaded the picture from the internet

ATC delays at Heathrow

This will be the first of two “ranting postings”. I have been traveling a lot over the last six weeks to and from Heathrow. Heathrow is very congested and there are four “stack” or holding points for the airport, there are to the “Bovingdon” to the North West of London which is used by all the traffic from the US, “Lamborne” to the North East which is used by all the Asian Traffic, “Biggin” to the South West for the Middle East and European traffic and finally “Ockham” to the South East. Of the city used by traffic from Southern Europe, Africa and South America. All the traffic European airspace is regulated by Eurocontrol, who have a big computer in Brussels that calculates the flow rates to ensure that there is no congestion in the air. Every aircraft is allocated a time to the nearest minute to enter European Airspace and they have to fly at regulated speeds and heights.

How is it then that whenever you arrive at Heathrow you have to go round and round one of these stacks for at least 15 minutes before you are allowed to join the approach for Heathrow? It is adding massive amounts of Carbon to the atmosphere and is creating an increased risk of a collision over London by virtue of the fact that all the aircraft are in one place to mention nothing of the fact that it makes me miss by bus home. Surely we could just let everything depart a few minutes later and avoid the holding as it would appear they are planning to do for the Olympics.