Uncle Travelling Matt » Arabia http://www.uncletravellingmatt.com The often irrelevant musings and travel journal of an itinerant web developer Mon, 11 Jan 2010 01:07:36 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 In The Land Of Magic Lamps http://www.uncletravellingmatt.com/archives/2007/in-the-land-of-magic-lamps?utm_source=RSS+Feed&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Uncle+Travelling+Matt+Blog http://www.uncletravellingmatt.com/archives/2007/in-the-land-of-magic-lamps#comments Thu, 19 Apr 2007 23:39:02 +0000 Matt http://www.timeshifting.com/wp/blog/in-the-land-of-magic-lamps

After delayed departure Milano and a brief stopover at Roma, I’m back in Dubai again. This time it’s only an 8 hour layover, not quite as bad as the 11 hour one last time. It’s been a busy few days this last week in Italy. After getting back from Positano late Sunday night, I worked Monday and then took the train up to Bologna for 2hrs to catch up with Anna & Agnese for a few drinks, before catching the late train back to Firenze. Tuesday/Wednesday I met with possibility new clients, everyone was very impressed with the quality of my work, but the general feedback is we don’t have any work right now. However they’ll have a face for the name when I do a follow-up in a couple of weeks. For now all there is do is wait and avoid the shops. Too much duty free, and too much time… but I must resist the temptation ;-)

]]> http://www.uncletravellingmatt.com/archives/2007/in-the-land-of-magic-lamps/feed 2 Sand And Horses http://www.uncletravellingmatt.com/archives/2006/sand-and-horses?utm_source=RSS+Feed&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Uncle+Travelling+Matt+Blog http://www.uncletravellingmatt.com/archives/2006/sand-and-horses#comments Wed, 08 Nov 2006 09:12:21 +0000 Matt http://www.timeshifting.com/wp/blog/sand-and-horses The trip back to New Zealand was nasty. Long, too long—47 hours in total—and due to the freezing weather I had come down with a cold, less than ideal for flying.

  • 45min walk to train station
  • Train: Bologna – Milano
  • Subway: Milano Central – Milano Nord
  • Train: Milano Nord – Milano Malpensa
  • Plane: Milano Malpensa – Dubai
  • 10 hour wait
  • Plane: Dubai – Singapore
  • 1 hour wait
  • Plane: Sinapore – Brisbane
  • 1.5 hour wait
  • Plane: Brisbane – Auckland
  • 2.5 hour shuttle bus to Hamilton (delayed)

As you can probably tell I’m not in a hurry to do this particular trip again any time soon… lol

]]> http://www.uncletravellingmatt.com/archives/2006/sand-and-horses/feed 1 Please Open The Hatracks With Care http://www.uncletravellingmatt.com/archives/2006/please-open-the-hatracks-with-care?utm_source=RSS+Feed&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Uncle+Travelling+Matt+Blog http://www.uncletravellingmatt.com/archives/2006/please-open-the-hatracks-with-care#comments Thu, 12 Oct 2006 17:58:19 +0000 Matt http://www.timeshifting.com/wp/blog/please-open-the-hatracks-with-care Good Morning, the local time is 6am, Friday 13th of October, Welcome to Arabia! Possibly not the best day to be flying over Iraqi airspace, but we’ll find out! lol.

The Middle East is one of the most amazing places I’ve every been. The land of the horse lords, desert oasis’s and ancient cites. The buildings here are unlike anything I’ve ever seen. I had the fortune of sitting beside a local on the plane, who explained the interesting places to see, the names of mountains and what it is like to do business/live in this part of world—apparently it’s not a good place to have a credit card, as the interest rate is 43%!! This is definitely one place I intend to return to the explore, as my time here on this trip is very brief.

If you’re wondering about the title, when the Arabic was translated to English on the plane, the Arabic word for “Over head locker” became “Hatrack” in English—however I seemed to have left my bowler hat at home!!

The view at 40,000 feet

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