Saturday, May 28, 2005
Handling a long layover in London
Have a long layover (read 7 hours plus) at Heathrow/London? You don't have to "airport window-shop" that entire time, or try to catchup on your sleep "half slid-down" in an uncomfortable chair. Why not take a quick jaunt around a selected London neighbourhood?
Here's one way of doing just that:
After going through passport control (which might take you an hour or more depending on this "thing" called luck), head towards the Heathrow Express station at any of the terminals - 1 through 4. Take this much vaunted fast train to Paddington station. Just buy a roundtrip 2nd class ticket - no need to buy 1st class unless you don't have any place to keep you're money (all it buys you is a shorter walk from the boarding station entrance). The roundtrip price is £26.
Buy a day pass for the London transportation system. Fare for a 1-day Travelcard good for all types of transportaion (buses, tube, trams, etc.) in zones 1 & 2 is £6. Walk out of the station towards the post office. In front of the the Post Office building, board bus# 7, 15, 23 or 36 to Marble Arch. Its the fastest way and also more scenic. Get off @ Hyde Park - cross the street using the underground walkway - you've transported to Speaker's Corner by the Arch.
Using the "direction posts/markers", take a walk through this infamous London landmark of a park, to Kensington Gardens.
There you can take in sights such as Royal Albert Hall/Place & the beautiful statue in front
Princess Diana Fountain with its huge swans lazing in the waters and/or sun
Kensington Palace and Orangery Gardens
You can also check out the Princess Diana Gardens.
From there walk to the nearest London Underground stop - Queensway or Lancaster Gate on the Central line. Then switch to the on the green/yellow Circle/District line at Notting Hill Gate station. 2 stops and you're back in Paddington. Using your return trip Heathrow Express ticket, you're on your way back to Heathrow in no time.
There's a train every 15mins. The ride takes 15mins on the Express (add another 8mins if you're travelling to/from Terminal 4), 10 mins to wait for the bus & ride to Marble Arch - a total of about 45mins - 1 hour. Leave about the same time or a little bit more maybe (to be on the safe side) for the return trip back to Heathrow. It will take 1.5 - 2 hours for the walk mentioned above, depending on how fast you want to walk.
Overall you get to spend time in London rather than being holed-up in an airport (however glamorous it is or not), use the very well-connected London Underground (and proudly wear your "Tube/Underground" logo'd shirt after actually riding on it), get a decent workout while taking in some nice sights, and hang out with Londeners' as you troop about town or get an exhorbitantly Euro priced cup of coffee in a local cafe or maybe Starbucks. There are always the shops near Marble Arch or Queensway, including interesting restaurants, like a dim-sum on the same pavement as Queensway station - if you can get in of course (I saw a huge queue in front of it).
Happy London "layover-ing"...
Here's one way of doing just that:
After going through passport control (which might take you an hour or more depending on this "thing" called luck), head towards the Heathrow Express station at any of the terminals - 1 through 4. Take this much vaunted fast train to Paddington station. Just buy a roundtrip 2nd class ticket - no need to buy 1st class unless you don't have any place to keep you're money (all it buys you is a shorter walk from the boarding station entrance). The roundtrip price is £26.
Buy a day pass for the London transportation system. Fare for a 1-day Travelcard good for all types of transportaion (buses, tube, trams, etc.) in zones 1 & 2 is £6. Walk out of the station towards the post office. In front of the the Post Office building, board bus# 7, 15, 23 or 36 to Marble Arch. Its the fastest way and also more scenic. Get off @ Hyde Park - cross the street using the underground walkway - you've transported to Speaker's Corner by the Arch.
Using the "direction posts/markers", take a walk through this infamous London landmark of a park, to Kensington Gardens.
There you can take in sights such as Royal Albert Hall/Place & the beautiful statue in front
Princess Diana Fountain with its huge swans lazing in the waters and/or sun
Kensington Palace and Orangery Gardens
You can also check out the Princess Diana Gardens.
From there walk to the nearest London Underground stop - Queensway or Lancaster Gate on the Central line. Then switch to the on the green/yellow Circle/District line at Notting Hill Gate station. 2 stops and you're back in Paddington. Using your return trip Heathrow Express ticket, you're on your way back to Heathrow in no time.
There's a train every 15mins. The ride takes 15mins on the Express (add another 8mins if you're travelling to/from Terminal 4), 10 mins to wait for the bus & ride to Marble Arch - a total of about 45mins - 1 hour. Leave about the same time or a little bit more maybe (to be on the safe side) for the return trip back to Heathrow. It will take 1.5 - 2 hours for the walk mentioned above, depending on how fast you want to walk.
Overall you get to spend time in London rather than being holed-up in an airport (however glamorous it is or not), use the very well-connected London Underground (and proudly wear your "Tube/Underground" logo'd shirt after actually riding on it), get a decent workout while taking in some nice sights, and hang out with Londeners' as you troop about town or get an exhorbitantly Euro priced cup of coffee in a local cafe or maybe Starbucks. There are always the shops near Marble Arch or Queensway, including interesting restaurants, like a dim-sum on the same pavement as Queensway station - if you can get in of course (I saw a huge queue in front of it).
Happy London "layover-ing"...
Tuesday, May 24, 2005
Meditation
In your sleep, you are devoid of all your identity, of who you are, your cravings, your aversions, your likes, your dislikes. You let go of all of them, and you simply rest. You don't do anything...
And this is exactly what is meditation: you don't do anything. Do nothing and let go of all that, like you did in sleep.
And this is exactly what is meditation: you don't do anything. Do nothing and let go of all that, like you did in sleep.
Monday, May 23, 2005
Traveling with laptops
About thieves targetting cars in crowded parking lots to break in to based on detecting a bluetooth laptop inside:
Here's the interesting part: every break-in in the past month had
involved a laptop with internal bluetooth. Apparently if you just
suspend the laptop the bluetooth device will still acknowledge
certain requests allowing the thief to target only cars containing
these laptops.
So, if you travel with a laptop and leave your car in a parking lot,make sure it is powered off and not just suspended. The same could go for bluetooth phones too.
Here's the interesting part: every break-in in the past month had
involved a laptop with internal bluetooth. Apparently if you just
suspend the laptop the bluetooth device will still acknowledge
certain requests allowing the thief to target only cars containing
these laptops.
So, if you travel with a laptop and leave your car in a parking lot,make sure it is powered off and not just suspended. The same could go for bluetooth phones too.
