Hanging Out Overseas

Hello, everyone. It has been a while since I last posted, so I decided to post a quick update. Over the past couple of months, I have been bouncing between Raleigh, Atlanta, Savannah, Greenville (SC), Greensboro (NC), San Jose (CA), San Francisco, Orlando, Vero Beach (FL), Columbia (SC), London, and The Netherlands. So, I've been traveling like a crazy person lately, and I am very much looking forward to slowing down later this year as I become a dad. I'm still in London for another couple of days, and I can't wait to get home to see my very much pregnant wife.

Brandie already posted details on our trip to Orlando and Vero Beach, and we had a great time. When I went out to San Jose for two weeks for work, several of us decided not to travel back to Raleigh for the weekend in between due to the long travel time. Plus, Brandie had class on Saturday, so I went up to San Francisco with some co-workers.

Here is a shot of us on the trolley which goes down the famous steep San Francisco street. Yes, it is very touristy and quite cheesy, but you have to do it. We also went to Alcatraz after hitting all of the main areas in the city. It was a quick trip, but we had a nice time. And, since work was paying, we stayed at the Westin there, which was extremely nice.

I left for London a little over a week ago, and this gives me a good opportunity to discuss Brandie's and my recent luck with travel. On the day before I left, Brandie was flying home from New Jersey, where she was for work. Her flight was cancelled, and after some negotiation, she managed to get on a flight to Charlotte. Then, she had to rent a car and drive the 3 hours home, arriving close to 2am without her bags. Unfortunately, I was planning to pack in one of those bags. The next day, I find another bag, pack, have a quick lunch with Brandie, and shoot off to the airport. Due to air traffic control, we are delayed leaving Raleigh. I missed my London connection in JFK and spend the next 23 hours trying to get on another flight. Yes, it took an entire day to get out, so I left the next day at the same time I was planned to leave the previous day. That was not a fun experience. Then, Brandie's connection home was cancelled, so she didn't make it in until almost 3am. And, her connection home was missed due to delays, so she didn't get home until 3am again. So, in four flights, we are shooting 0%. With our current luck, I'm really worried about my flight home.

So, after taking the red eye (overnight flight) to London, I slipped in a bit of sleep before meeting several new people. As Alex started in NY, he did not have a connection, so he was already there. We stayed with two of the friendliest people ever - James and Liz. I met them when I was last in London in 2005, since Alex was living with them then. Alex, Stuart, and I went to Wimbledon the next day, and we went again a little later in the week. When we didn't go, we were watching on TV. Cable TV in London has a great interactive feature where you can watch any court you want at Wimbledon, so you can watch any match you want. It is great!

We managed to get Center Court tickets for one of Nadal's matches. He always puts on a good show, and seeing him play in person was pretty cool.

















We watched Henman play from Henman Hill, before we managed to get seats on Center Court for his great 5 set match against Carlos Moya.





To the right is the grounds crew uncovering Center Court. This year's Wimbledon had many rain delays.





We had great seats on Center for one of Maria Sharapova's matches. She made quick work of her opponent in two short sets.













We watched a lot of great tennis on the other courts as well. Here is Jonas Bjorkman playing, and we sat on the first row for this match. We also watched Hingis, Blake, Dementieva, Hantuchova, and many other less known players play matches, and you can basically sit on the court on the higher numbered courts. Center Court and Court 1 are the only courts where you need additional tickets above your ground passes. Overall, I had a great time at Wimbledon, and I've spend these past two days watching on TV. I'm looking forward to watching the finals from the comfort of my own chair on Sunday, assuming the rain delays do not push it out until Monday. I now want to hit the French Open and the Australian Open at some point, since I've already been to the US Open before. With little Drew on the way, it might be a while before I made it to those.

Below is a shot of me, Alex, and Stuart at Wimbledon. With all the rain, it was actually rather chilly.

James and Liz took us to a great bar where you overlook London and watch the sun set. It was a really neat place, and below is a shot of the city. The buildings in the distance are part of Canary Wharf. You had 360 degree views of the city, so I took a lot of good pictures.






A group of us headed over to The Netherlands for the weekend, since we were looking for a quick trip away. It was only an hour flight to get there, so we went to check it out. We went to the Van Gogh museum, checked out the first Heineken brewery as part of the Heineken beer tour, and took a boat ride of the city. It is a pretty cool place. Below is a picture of one of the many, many waterways which cut through the city. It was a nice, quick little trip.


My trip wraps up on Thursday, when I'll be leaving. We are hoping to make it to an England Cricket match tomorrow, which would be pretty cool to check out. Talk to you all soon.