Back to Europe - via Paris

It is still hot in Dallas, but according to Helsinki weather... I do not need to worry... It is raining.... This trip is 2 weeks with a little swing via Slovakia... Very exciting. My seat is in business Boeing 767.... Sweet

American Airlines did it again

I am a happy camper. My flight to Dallas was delayed and they booked me into an earlier flight.... To first class. These guys really know how to treat their clients.

On my way to hot Chicago

Beautiful morning in Dallas Texas this morning and I am on my way to Chicago for one night. First class again, thank you American Airlines! What makes this trip even more enjoyable is the fact that the first initial book manuscript is ready and I sent it for a review to the book publisher yesterday.

Pleasent surprise from American Airlines again - return to Dallas

I have to say that I really enjoy American Airlines, my whole family got upgraded to business class on Boeing 777 and now the kids get to see how I spend most of my travel... Working on my 3 million miles on American Airlines..... Our vacation is over now, final leg from Miami, Florida to Dallas, Texas. Our vacation was beautiful, refreshing and we met people from differnet cultures around the world.

Miami city and boat tour aound the Miami neighbourhood

We spent our day today on a nice short bus tour in downtown Miami and then finished our trip by having a 90 minute boat tour that let us see the rich and famous Star Island and Fisher Island house owners (many of them). The weather was beautiful, the boat was not packed as it could have been and the pictures I was able to take with my Nikon D80 were perfect!

Tomorrow, we will fly back to our Dallas, Texas home! I really miss our three Lowchen dogs! I am sure they will be happy to see us. My next longer trip will be in the end of August and will take me to Helsinki, Finland and Bratislava, Slovakia.

Miami South Beach hotel and neighbourhood

We stayed in the famous South Beach area in a hotel that is built in art deco style. This hotel South Sea is OK and we had a view to the sea and beaches from our corner room. However, as in lots of Florida hotels, do not expect much of them being new..... they are not.

San Juan, Puerto Rico - Miami Florida flight on Boeing 300

The flight to Miami was smooth, but we were hit by a thunderstorm immediately after landing. This resulted in a boring 1 hour "sitting in the plane without drinks or anything" and kids started to become impatient and screamy.... Oh well... Now we have been waiting for our bags to arrived for more than an hour....

How did Royal Caribbean International do - final ranking

The cruise is over and my somewhat lame feedback on the service levels of Royal Caribbean International during the first two days were balanced with very good service during the rest of the cruise.

The ship "Adventures of the Seas" is much nice one than the "Carnival Destiny" we used last year and the state rooms and overall service stations with bars, food etc works better on RCI. If you visit this ship, make sure you test the Portofino restaurant that is top-of-breed food with very good service.

Back to San Juan, Puerto Rico

We are on our way back to San Juan, Puerto Rico. Seven days is over and we have seen unbelievable places and islands. The Royal Caribbean Cruiselines has changed the immigration to be more smooth... It is done already on St Thomas, which is US soil so there is not as much hassle in San Juan in the morning. We also have to catch our flight to Miami, where we will spend a couple of nights in the beautiful Southbeach area......

St John's and St Thomas are pearls of the Caribbean

This morning we arrived to the US Virgin Islands, St. Thomas. Having now seen 11 Caribbean islands, St. Thomas and the neighbouring St John are our favorites.... no question about that.

We participated in an arranged excursion that included a 45 minute ferry ride to St Johns and then a 2 hour bus drive around the island. Beautiful scenery, and two of the 10 most beautiful beaches reside on these two islands: Megans Bay on St. Thomas and Trunk Beach on St. Johns.

I am sure we will visit these islands again, maybe purely coming to St Thomas and staying on both islands for a week or so.

Early arrival to St Martin

The morning was beautiful and we had decided to take a combined island sightseeing and catamaran trip. The only way to see the true nature of these islands is to take the tours as you have typically less than 8 hours time to explore and 2 hours of this goes to eating and security controls.

This island was pretty nice, but not like St Thomas.... I am amazed of the amount of trash that one gets to see on these islands when driving around. The other noticable thing is the uneven quality of buildings..... You can have a nice house and a dumpdter beside it.

During our catamaran cruise we got to see Microsoft Bill Gates two mansions that he ownes on these islands. One was a huge thing overseeing the bay and the other one was also very impressive.

Fun at the Caribbean sea - from Curacao to St. Martin

It took a full day and night to sail from Curacao to St. Martin, which is an island divided between two countries: France and Holland. During the day of sailing I decided to take it easy and read and sleep. In the evening it was time for Mohito and dacing with 80s music.

Full day on the sea, next destination is St Maarten

We are on our way to St Maarten and as we are very south as of now, it will take a while to get to our next destination. After this trip, I have seen 10 Caribbean islands, from south, east to north. Each of these island have their own flavor so do not assume you have seen them all when having seen one.

Are we destroying our nature - our jeep trip opened my eyes

The former head of Nokia, Jorma Ollilla is the chairman of the board for Royal Dutch Shell and one of the refineries is located on the island of Curacao. According to our guide, the plant is among the third largest in the world. We drove for three hours on the jeep and the island is very dry and not much green can be seen anywhere. At some point in time my nose picked up a familiar smell that I got used to when passing Porvoo Finland oil refineries. The sky of Curacao was full of dirty smog and the smell of oil was very noticable. What was even more interesting that Europeans buy luxury time shares from a luxury resort which is directly under the smog that tens of different pipes spit out.

I do understand that it is about money, but what is sad is to see the pollution taking foothold in these beautiful Caribbean islands.

Early arrival to Curacao this morning

One more island to visit. This time we arrived to Curacao that is 42 miles east of Aruba and 35 miles north of Venezuela. The capital of Curacao, Willemstad, is also called little Amsterdam and I do not wonder why... It is a beautiful little city with Amsterdam-like houses with hundreds of shops. The cruise ship was able to dock very close to the downtown area and there is a bridge between the downtown and the cruise ship. There are approximately 170.000 inhabitants in the island of Curacao.

We really liked the downtown area and had a nice cup of coffee by the water. Three hours of walking was enough to explore the style and pricing of the island.

Aruba as a shopping paradise?

I spent 3 hours today shopping in Aruba main streets... Based on our "collected intelligence", Aruba and Curacao are more expensive than St Thomas, St Maarten or even San Juan, Puerto Rico.

My wife compared the pricing of some merchanise in the Tommy Hilfinger and some of the stuff was 4 times more expensive when compared to the factory outlet in Dallas, Texas.

The Aruba center is made for tourists, so the feel you get is to spend money on stuff which is ok as the whole islands lives on tourism nowadays.

Scuba diving and sailing

We went today immediately to scuba dive with a sailboat. I just had just read about the presence of the largest oil refinery in the world on these islands and I could not be without thinking what that does for the environment.

The second stop on our scuba trip was a location with a shipwreck.... And some of the parts of the wreck were only 2 feet deep. I was able to see lots of fish and some very large fish when scuba diving.

Aruba by early morning

We arrived to Aruba in the Caribbean islands early this morning. The view was beautiful, as it was raining in one part of the island and sun shining in the other. The ship is docked very close to the downtown area, she guests can pretty much walk down to the shops.

Aruba has around 100.000 inhabitants, mostly with Dutch heritage and the island became independent in the seventies but is part of the Dutch kingdom.

Carnival Cruise vs. Royal Caribbean

I have to say that I am amazed of the lack of urgency to serve on the "top of the line cruise ship". Last year we spent our vacation on Carnival Destiny where the crew really wanted us to enjoy... Here on Royal Caribbean it is like the clients are an annoyance if you ask anything. And by the way, I am paying twice as much on this cruise.... So.... Can I have this ship with the crew from Carnival please.

Our Caribbean route this summer

We are on the ship, so our two nights in San Juan old town Sheraton is over. The ship Royal Caribbean "Adventures of the Seas" is headed first to Aruba and we will be there on
Tuesday which means that we are going to have one night cruising and Wednesday our trip takes us to Curacao (tropical mini Amsterdam) for a day.

Thursday we will spend one day at the sea and Friday we will arrive to St Maarten, Saturday is St Thomas.

Sunday we will arrive back to San Juan, Puerto Rico and we will fly to Miami where we will spend a night in South Beach Miami.

Tuesday we will return back to Dallas. Texas.

Mobility is everywhere

I wrote in my previous blogs that it is time for independent software vendors to start innovating around mobility. It is obvious to me that people around the world are just waiting for more applications they can use to drive business. I was amazed last year how widespread the cell use and GRPS was on the Carribean islands.... This year it is even more obvious with lots of new handheld devices.

Borders Bookstore want to go out of business?

I am amazed how badly Borders bookstore keeps it premises. I thought it was just one place in Dallas, but the one here in San Juan, Puerto Rico is worse and to the point that I do not want to visit the place anymore. Borders will lose its clients at least that I represent.

Prisoners of our own habits

This is the second time in San Juan and yesterday when we arrived, we visited three places that I hate to admit we did. First of all, we decided to have Starbucks coffee.... secondly my kids wanted to visit Hardrock Cafe San Juan.... These are not even close to be Puerto Rican, so why are we humans so used to our own habits.... Of fear? Of convinience or what... The third place was something we from the past... A local bar with the very good Medalla beer that was refreshing.

The thing we all have to learn from Puerto Ricans... They are very polite, nice to talk to and I would be very happy to spend longer times here in Puerto Rico.

First night over in San Juan, Puerto Rico

This is a wonderful city, we spent last night in downtown San Juan and our hotel (Sheraton) is very exclusive with good service. Today we are headed towards Plaza de la Americas where we expect to do some shopping. The weather yesterday was humid with a couple sprinkles of water but today the sun is shining. Our luxury cruise is departing tomorrow evening and the first stop is going to be Aruba (close to Venezuelan coast).

San Juan, Puert Rico here we come

It is the time of the year where we are headed again to the Carribean. Our flight from Dallas Fort Worth to San Juan which is the beauitiful island of Puerto Rico. We are sitting in the beautiful D terminal in the brand new Admirals Club that is worth every penny!

Week in Denver, Colorado is over

This was probably one of my most busy week ever. The Microsoft Worldwide Conference 2007 is over and I had the opportunity to meet people from all over the world and nothing beats that! Last night we had a nice end of conference party at the large Coors baseball field. I am now sitting in the American Airlines Admirals Club with a beautiful outlook over the airfield. Also, the architecture of the main terminal is very interesting and reminds me of northern part of Finland. The flight to Dallas is less than 2 hours so I have a change to get home in time.

Microsoft WPC 2007 is here again

The Microsoft worldwide partner conference started today and this is my third conference. The first one was in Minneapolis, then in Boston and now in the beautiful Denver Colorado. This is the first day an I am sitting here in the huge convention center listening at the first keynote.

Denver here I come

I am on my way to Denver, Colorado for a conference with a golf tournament tomorrow Sunday. We have made history here in Dallas when it comes to rain... It has been pouring water for a month now and whole mobile home parks have been swept away. This morning at 06.00 AM the sun was getting up and now we have one of the most beautiful mornings one can have. The flight from Dallas to Denver is less than 2 hours, so this time I do not have to sit here for long.

Beautiful night in Chicago

Chicago nighjt is beautiful with its lights and around 27 centigrades. Sometimes travel is fun, even on business as one gets to see many interesting places around the world.

The rain keeps pouring - to Chicago again

I am on my way to Chicago and I was lucky. It has been raining again heavily today and the executive platinum desk called me and told that they can acommodate me on anm earlier flight so I would be in Chicago around 11.00 PM, not 2.30 AM as my original flight would be due to delays in weather an other crap. Thank you American, you showed again why I fly with you guys when I can.

Life of a traveler

The life of countinous travel can be tiring and the race for standby lists is harsh. I seem to shoot straight to the top each time I try to get to Dallas. Today my trip takes me from Chicago to Dallas and thank god it is Friday.

Chicago again

I am back from Europe and on my way to Chicago for just one night. The weather in Dallas has been very rainy with lots of water all over the map. This has also hurt construction work in the area as everything is just extremely wet.

Finnair uses same terminal as American Airlines

Very convenient to transfer to the American Airlines gate.... Just the security controls are between.... This 767 has the new full bed seats... sweet...

Return to Dallas via Zurich

It is early Sunday and I am on my way back to Dallas via Zurich. The good news is that I have been upgraded to business so the flight will be more pleasant than in the coach class.

Summer is in Helsinki

I love Helsinki by summer and the fact that it is light late in the evening already now and the lighter it will become until it starts to go the other way in mid June. Last night, a thick fog hit the downtown Helsinki which was very spooky....

On my way to Finland through Zurich

I am on the plane again, this time to Finland. They have upgraded the seats in business class, which is perfect! This plane has been outdated for a while so this type of upgrade is mostly welcome.

Dallas in the spring... It has been odd weather

I was lucky of taking the earlier flight as we have again huge thunderstorm and rain in Dallas... Hail, wind and lightening...

Chicago is hot

It is very interesting to note that Chicago, Illinois is as hot as Dallas this time of the year.... I am returning from Chicago and sitting on a MD-80 sweating like a pig.... O'Hare is a good place to return from as it is a major hub for American, and I was able to get an earlier flight.... Very cool... Getting home earlier than what I would have otherwise.

Chicago on my mind - May 2007

The spring in Dallas in in full swing. We had a Finnish golf tournament in Dallas on Saturday, with a beautiful green nature.

This morning, I am on my way to Chicago for a couple of days. I hope I will have a better luck this time than the previous when I had to stay for one additional night due to the weather.

What is going on - weather is strange in tornado alley

Getting stuck in Chicago is not fun especially if one has to get back home to Dallas. I had to stay for another night in Chicago and as the planes were stranded in Dallas due to tornado warnings and heavy rain, I could not get a direct flight to Dallas... I had to fly via Des Moines, Iowa (with 2 hour layover).

We have had lots of bad weather in Dallas the last month or so and this is expected to continue to June or so. This is the penalty of living in the Tornado Alley.

Wake-up in Kerrville - it is raining!

Same thing as last year happened today! It was raining the whole morning (like last year when we stayed over night in Kerrville) and we drove towards west in the rain. Our first stop was to visit the famous motorcycle musem with a nice cup of coffee and a chat with the owners. After this, we headed towards the intersection where we have been each year (will have to get later with the names when I remember them). We also visited Garven store like last year and some of us got some beef jerky.

Our trip continued through Fredricksburg, the traditional Willow loop and then north towards Dallas on highway 16. The trip was 907.5 miles this time, so the last day was very long but rewarding. Fortunately the sun was shining from noon until late evening. We arrived around 08.00 PM to Trophy Club.

Kerrville, Comfort Inn -second night

We decided to stauy our second night in a pretty nice Comfort Inn in Kerrville. We got the last three rooms and the receptionist told us that there are 300 bikers in the nearby hotel. We run into them and they were the Honda Riders Association.

We had our dinner at Branding Iron Hotel in Kerrville and the service was sloooooooowwwww.... but the food was good. We had dinner in the same restaurant, same table 2 years ago, so I guess we did not initially remember the slow service.

We drove around 250 miles today.

Next stops Kerrville, Medina and Bandera

We had a beautiful drive in the afternoon.... We did not find a hotel in Bandera, so we had to return back to Kerrville. A word of advice... Make your hotel reservation in time... Everything is fully booked!

Lunch in Fredricksburg, Texas

We had our traditional lunch in a German restaurant..... I had my sausage plate which was unreal.... An beer of course..

Luckenback Hill Country - everybody is somebody in Luckenback

We visited the famous Luckenback that has only 3 people living there around the year.... According to the street signs.

First stop Becker Vinery in Hill Country

We did a tour at two vine yards in the beautiful Hill Country. We also visited Canyon Creek vine yard. First time that I have seen a vine yard in Texas.

First day - 200 miles

First day was 200 miles, the weather in Marble Falls in the morning is beautiful.... Some clouds but that is going to burn away. We stayed at the local Best Western hotel. There are 8 of us on this trip.

Hill Country trip - first night in Marble Falls

Beautiful weather, and our first night is in Marble Falls, Texas. This is a good landing to Hill Country.

I can not believe it - it is snowing in Chicago

I am on my way to Chicago and just heard that it is snowing there. Dallas will have 80 Fahrenheit today, so talking about a difference in weather! This time of the year can be very different from rest of the country, and I did not even pack my coat with me...

Heavy rain in New York is bad news

Here we go again.... It has rained thew whole day.... Very heavy and this is always bad news for business travelers. Multiple delayed flights, many cancelled ones and I am getting home to Dallas much later than expected. Well, better to get home than having to sleep in a hotel.

New York close to Eastern time

If you plan to be in New York close to Eastern vacation, expect to pay big bucks for everything.... My trip from Newark airport to Manhattan was around 65 bucks, my hotel room cost me 350 US and the room was like a small closet.... Cosy but small... If you want to visit a restaurant, make sure to leave plenty of time for your meal as everything was packed.

New York on my mind - Meeting in Manhattan

This morning I am on my way to New York Manhattan for a meeting. One night in my own bed was sweat and now my hotel life continues, fortunately only for one night.

The mold levels in Dallas are very high this time of the year and this causes lots of allergic reactions to people. However, with 80 Fahrenheit each day and green grass.... Nobody can beat that.

Flight from Zurich to Dallas was eventless

The flight back to Dallas, Texas went smooth and I have to say that flying in business makes a big difference. The flight was almost 11 hours and one thing is for sure... If I do not get upgraded on transatlantic when flying Boeing 767, I will fly something else... The coach seates in American Airlines 767 flights are unhuman.

Charles de Gaulle - I can not get used to it

We were in time on the airport, but the confusing terminal 2 caused us grief.... The 200 meter line in the Swiss counter was horrifying and the same thing in the security lines. I am not sure how people that travel frequently can take the hassle. Let's see if our bags will arrivve to Dallas the same time.

Sunday in the beautiful Paris

We walked propably 20 miles in the beautiful Paris and the city was full of people trying to enjoy the sun that finally came after a couple of rainy days. The city architecture is amazing even if I have seen it multiple times and the Latin Quarter with Sorbonne is my favorite place of all. The day went by very quickly and we decided to spend the final night in Holiday Inn at the Charles de Gaulle airport. Clean and nice hotel but nothing around the hotel such as shops etc.... Purely for business travel.

Buddha Bar Paris - some feedback

The very famous Buddha Bar in Paris is a very interesting place and is very close to the Concord Place and hotel Crillon that Lance Armstrong used when he got his 7th consecutive win in Tour de France. The Buddha Bar has a Finnish founder (former model) and I have to congratulate her on the accomplishment!

However, I was not happy with a few things... I spent around 250 US in our dinner and the appetizer and my main meal did not taste anything and it was in fact very bad. I am by no means a culiranist, but they should do better with the money I spent. Also, the place is so dark that you can not read the menu and some people used thei cell phones to get some more light. And finally, they have a restaurant in New York which I have to test out to see how that is. I am not giving up on them yet.

Market Restaurant with a famous chef

We had a chance to visit the famous restaurant Market with a famous New York chef with the known "Black Plate" appetizer. Overall, very nice restaurant and we even had a chance to sit our dessert in the chefs table, which is very rare opportunity. Make sure you are prepared to spend serious cash when visiting this restaurant.

Hilton by Eiffel Tower, Paris - feedback

The hotel is built propably in the 70s, but has been renovated and is very nice internally. I had a corner room with a view of the Eiffel tower, so what can be nicer than that? The only "bad thing" is that it is pretty far from my favorite place which is the Latin Quarters close to Sorbonne. Other than that, very nice hotel and they also had very good service, polite and correct.

Paris, France - how to get to town with 20 Euros

I have never used a Yellow Airport cab when traveling from Charles de Gaulle to downtown Paris. I stayed in Hilton by the Eiffel Tower.

France has issued a luxury tax on business class seat

A surprise at the DFW airport.... France has issued a luxury tax on business class travelers.... Guess what, I had to pay an additional 50 US to get my boarding pass.... Something that Expedia did not have a clu about....

Flight to Zurich in economy (this is torture)

I have had the luxury of flying in business class for the most part, but today I "enjoyed" the pleasure of a crammed economy seat. Before our departure, a guy in front of me took down his seat and I felt my knees go to pieces. American Airlines (the company I love) used to be known of the space in the economy class... Now they have reversed their decision and gone to the other extreme. There is no way that one can work with a laptop, so I am sitting here for 10 hours with my knees in my mouth. Wake up American Airlines.... This is not the way to treat a 2 million miles plus customer of yours....

Paris, France; here we come

My travel takes me now to Paris, France via Zurich with American Airlines. This time I have with me my wife so it is going to be very nice mini vacation with some work. I will be opening the French IAMCP chapter with Microsoft France. The Zurich temperature is 44 Fahrenheit, hopefully Paris is different.

Tip for Silicon Valley travellers

If you ever have to travel along Silicon Valley, try the double decker train Caltrain.... It is cheap, you get to see scenery that you would not see otherwise and it runs smoothly. I took the train today from Palo Alto to Santa Clara to test it out.

Palo Alto - Stanford University and my favorite town

I am noty sure why, but each time I visit Palo Alto, I get to whitness a tremendous weather and the main University Avenue with bookstores etc is like heaven to me. I will visit this place often, that is for sure!

Santa Clara spring is beautiful

The Silicon Valley weather is very nice this week. Temperate weather, sun is shining and when compared with my hometown Dallas, this weather will stay moderate while Texas will get hot much quicker.

Silicon Valley, here I come again

My trip today takes me to the heart of Silicon Valley, San Jose California. The flight according to American Airlines is 3 hours 50 minutes, so even from European perspective.... you get far in that time.

Beautiful Coronado Island

Today, we had a chance to visit the beautiful Coronado island judt before we left for the airport. The housing on the island is beautiful, with lot's of small shops to spend time on. The only distraction is the landing and takeoffs from the militarybase that is also located on the island. The sound of jets every 5 minutes is mindboggeling.

Manchester Hyatt hotel - close to the San Diego Convention center

I stayed in the beautiful Manchester Hyatt that is very close to the San Diego Convention center. The other very nice hotel close by is Bristol where I stayed in the past. I highly recommend this hotel as it serves business travelers well.

Our Journey down to La Jolla, California

I can not believe how beautiful La Jolla is as a place. We stayed in downtown La Jolla in a beautiful hotel and this place was in a very centralized location. Our trip from Long Beach down to La Jolla showed us many very beautiful places such as Fountain Valley, Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, Monarch Beach, Dana Point, San Clemente, Carlsbad Del Mar and finally La Jolla. We had the chance to spend the evening in La Jolla and do some window shopping the following morning. The following destination would be downtown San Diego.

Marina del Ray Holiday Inn Express - our first night

Our first night was in Marina del Ray Holiday Inn hotel that is very close to the hotels where we typically stay. The hotel is recently renovated and had wireless connection, which is very important for me as I had to work with emails. The idea was to drive down to San Diego the following morning, which we did. Last year we had lunch in Long Beach local PF Changs and our kids requested the same thing this year.

Southern California - here I come

Two nights in my own bed... Vau... My allergies are killing me.... We are into spring in Dallas, Texas and some of the trees are just blooming..... Beautiful...

I am headed towards San Diego, Ca and then I towards LA this evening. With a car, that should be less than 3 hours.

Flight back to Sao Paulo - regional airport in the middle of the city.

We took GOL airplane back to Sao Paulo and it looked like it flew along the coast and then to west when it reached the level of Sao Paulo. The city is extremely large in area and according to my Mexican friend, he felt it was even larger than Mexico City (I will see if this is the case in April). There are thousands of skyscrapers on the route that the flight takes. GOL uses a regional airport when flying back and forth between Rio and Sao Paulo and it feels like landing in the middle of the city when comingv from Rio.

We stayed in Hilton Morumbi and according to locals, the US president is going to visit the hotel next week. This Hilton is byy far the best I have been in measured by any standard.

Brazil.... I will be back soon!

Second stop - lunch in a native place with ocean view

We drove for tens of miles along the coast towards south and ended up to have lunch in a native restaurant with no turists. The food was authentic, drinks unreal and the fish and seafood was very fresh. This is the way to eat in a foreign country!

First stop in Rio - Sugarloaf

We took the two stage cable car to the top of the Sugarloaf mountain and this gives the opportunity to take pictures of the Rio de Janeiro beaches, Copacabana and other famous places.

Landing to Rio de Janeiro local airport

The flight from Sao Paulo to Rio de Janeiro was short, less than an hour and the landing to Rio de Janeiro was unreal. We circled to get down to the very short runaway and this gave us the opportunity to see downtown Rio de Janeiro from air and with sun already in full force, it was very nice to get the first feel of Rio. The regional airport is Aeroporto Santos Dumont and it is really nicely located in the downtown area.

Lessons learned - keep the right credit card and passport on your travel

We departed this morning very early to Rio de Janeiro. We had two issues on the airport. One in our group did not have his passport with him... and this should not have been an issue... but it was.... He took a cab to the hotel to pick it up.... he made it....

Secondly, keep your American Express with you as GOL airline did not accept international Visa or Mastercard, only American Express.... Typically it is the other way around. My friend had one with him so we got the tickets. These two suggestions are good to remember when you travel especially in Latin America.

Rio de Janeiro waiting on us

Tomorrow morning, I will be flying from Sao Paulo, Brazil to Rio de Janeiro for a quick one day tour. We will leave our beautiful hotel in the morning and fly with a local jet to Rio to withness all of the famous places I have seen in movies and TV. We will return in the evening and then fly back to Dallas as the flight is leaving late in the evening. Local flights to Rio de Janeiro are leaving from a municipal airport. This will be a cool trip with four good friends. One of them is from Mexico, one from Canada, one from Sweden. Talk about an international team

Sao Paulo, Brazil is beautiful - I have to get back here soon

Two days in Sao Paulo, Brazil has made me a fan of the city. Tonight, I had the change to whitness a 360 degree view of the city from a skyline bar late in the evening. I have now had the change to have dinner twice in the city and the qualilty and the taste is awesome. I will be back to this city for sure and I have fallen in love with the place and the people. What is also interesting is the fact that it gets light 6.00 AM and dark at 6.00 PM and this is kind of hard to adjust specifically as the mornings are more dark in Dallas as of now.

Landing to Sao Paulo Brazil International Airport was unreal

If you have not seen the Brazilian nature, make sure you get to see out from the window when landing Sao Paulo airport early in the morning. I have traveled in different parts of the world, but the view that I saw this morning was very different. Lots of small hills and houses everywhere. Very interesting. The trip to our hotel, Hilton Sao Paulo Morumbi took around 45 minutes and one could see different types of living on the way...

Sao Paulo, Brazil-here I come

It always feels strange to be leaving in the evening for a long flight, but that is the way it is with South-American flights. The weather in Dallas is like spring and that is very nice to finally have the kind of weather that a motorcyclist wants. The flight is almost 10 hours, but as one can sleep a regular night, it is different than compared with regular flights across the Atlantic.

Rainy weather in Zurich

This time the weather in Zurich is murky.... and the Dallas flight is delayed... which is the first time that I have had when flying out from Zurich.... My seat is 2A is the first row in business and unfortunately it is a seat where you can not have bags or other stuff in front of you.

Destination Zurich, Switzerland

Once again, I am on my way to Dallas, Texas via Zurich, Switzerland. The weather in Helsinki was -8 Celsius in the morning at 06.00 AM. The weather in Dallas has been very springlike with plus 80 Fahrenheit. On Tuesday, I will head towards South-America, Brazil.

Road trip in Finland on highway 2 towards Pori

I am on my way from Helsinki towards Sakyla, which is not that far from Pori. The highway two has a few known places that we are passing such as Karkkila, Forssa, Humppila, Huittinen.... The road itself is very, very boring.

Return flight from Vilnius, Lithuania - beautiful takeoff

The weather in Lithuania had been exceptionally cold, more than -20 centigrades. The flight departed around 6.00 PM, the sun was setting down and the Finnair plane was a brand new Brazilian plane and I have to say that this plane is very smooth and nice. What made the takeoff nice was a combination of cold weather, sun setting down and I could see the town of Vilnious clearly from the sky. I felt very unreal!

People in Lithuania are unreal

Two days in Lithuania and they have made an impression of life on me. Today, we had lunch at the beautiful hotel in the old town of Vilnious. I have to get back here soon! Highly recommended place for a visit!

Vilnius, Lithuania is a very beautiful city

I had the opportunity to visit the beautiful town of Vilnius today and I even got a roundtour by local businessmen that took me to a restaurant overlooking the old town and university and then finally a art exhibition in the national museum. This place is definetely a place worth the visit. I am staying in the highly ranked Holiday Inn Vilnius and I have to say that everything in this hotel works!

Helsinki weather in the end of February

Hesinki weather this week has been beautiful, but very cold..... Reaching -25 centigrades and that is very cold according to any standards. What is also interesting is the change in amount of light that Finland experiences when compared to last month the same time. It is like day and night.... and days are getting longer each day going forward.

Lithuania, here I come

This is the first time I get to visit Lithuania. I am flying from Helsinki to Vilnius and according the flight schedule, this is a 1 hour 45 flight. The flight is operated by an ATR propeller plane.

DFW terminal is the most beautiful in the world

If you have not, it is time to visit the brand new D-terminal in Dallas Fort Worth International airport. I am here again, overlooking the planes from fifth floor of Admirals Club. Awesome weather, awesome place an soon I will board flight 38 to Zurich..... Boeing 767 with nice business class.

American Airlines - second time this week a cancelled flight

Here I am again.... My flight to Dallas was cancelled and I had to be re-booked. This is where Executive Platinum comes in play... Not only did they re-book me, they also called me to let me know the change...

Back on the airport - now on my way to Atlanta

It was a quick trip home and I am on my way to Atlanta, GA. I have to say that the weather in Dallas is becoming more and more spring like and we had 70 Fahrenheit yesterday which translates to around 21 Celsius.

Chicago O'Hare not a good place during winter

Here we are again.... It is very cold in Chicago and it is snowing.. So three flights to Dallas were cancelled... One of them is mine.... Tomorrow I will have to be in Atlanta, so I hope my flight gets to Dallas tonight so I can catch my very early flight to Atlanta tomorrow morning.

Brutal wake-up to reality at 4.40 AM - Chicago here I come

I am here again at DFW airport, this time I will fly to Chicago O'hare and stay in downtown Westin hotel. According to the news, it is pretty cold in Chicago.... we will see...

Finally home in Dallas, Texas after 770 miles

The rest of the trip went quickly and the weather was georgious. We spent 770 miles on the road and I have to say that FORD Expedition is comfortable for the driver. Tomorrow, I have to get up 5.00 AM to get to my Chicago plan that departs around 07.00 AM

230 miles in one go- Eastland McDonalds stop- 130 miles left

We are having a stop at a local McDonalds place in Eastland, Texas. This is the choice as we did not see any good steakhouse on the Interstate 20... so our hunger took power and anything would do at this point in time..... And once we have our luch, the nextdoor Starbucks will take care of the rest....

Waking up in the beautiful Odessa, Texas

The second morning in Odessa, Texas is a beautiful one... the sun is shining and I thing it must have been almost 0 Centigrades (32 Fahrenheit) during the night. Today, we will have to drive back to Dallas.... we are looking for 6 hours trip.

I am in the center of oil wealth - Odessa, Texas

If you have not been, you have not seen what oil business is all about. Odessa is pretty close to New Mexico South-East corner. We arrived here very late last night, after midnight, and when we woke up in the beautiful sunny morning.... The place looked pretty nice. One thing that sticks in my mind is the smell of oil refineries, it is unreal an I am sure not healthy for anybody..... I guess it is the money that smells...... Out hotel the Fairfield by Marriott is very nice with excellent service.

Dallas- Abilene- there is nothing there

We are on our way to Midland/Odessa and Abilene is our midway stop. They have a nice Chili's restaurant here and I can get my Citrus Fire Chicken &Schrimp. We drove around Abilene... There seems to be a couple of universities... This is the first time for us in Abilene. The road here from Dallas is interstate 20

Winter is back in Dallas - we have snow

Talking about changes in atmosphere.... The decision-makers claim that nothing has change in the atmosphere... How do you explain the continuous snow falls in Dallas, Texas.

Dallas - Houston - Dallas with the car - was it worth it?

I decided to drive down to Houston from Dallas on Tuesday as I calculated that the time it would take me to drive to the airport, take the plane, fly to Houston, check the luggage, rent a car and get to the meeting I would have spent more time when compared to driving. The milage from my house to Houston was almost 300 miles and it took me almost 5 hours in each direction. When I returned last night, it was raining, lots of traffic and I have to admit that I was tired when I returned to Dallas. The question is.... will I drive there next time.... I do not think so... Ten hours in the car... it took me down..