Kiev

The genesis of this trip was formed enroute between ATL and DXB. The flight almost always passes over Ukraine and alot of other places and you get to wondering what it's like down there...so the next few days, I'm satisfying my curiosity.

I flew Air Arabia out of Sharjah to Kiev. Flight was 5 hours but passed uneventfully. When we landed I strolled into a very empty passport control. Of course, the woman behind the window informed me that I had not filled out an arrival card. So I went to a desk and filled out an arrival card. By now there were about a dozen people in line ahead of me...about a 20 minute wait. I got to the window again and was told, while I had filled out the arrival portion of the arrival card, I also needed to fill out the departure portion of the card...out of line again. Now, to fill out the arrival portion I had to list name, passport #, nationality, DOB, Visa type, Purpose of journey, flight #, and a local address, and a signature...to fill out the departure portion I AGAIN entered my name, citizenship, DOB, Passport #, and signed--ALL IDENTICAL TO THE ARRIVAL PORTION OF THE CARD.

Back in line, which is now about 50 people deep...about a 90 minute wait. They stamped my passport, stamped my card, and now I have to present both when I leave Tues...please pray I don't lose that card.

When I arrive in a new foreign city, the first 2 things I try to figure out are the local currency and the public transportation. ATM machine at the airport took care of the cash. Transportation was next. I hopped a bus at the airport that stops at a Metro station and then at the Rail Station, which, theoretically, also has a metro station. I decided to bypass the first Metro stop and stay above ground on the bus and enjoy the ride into the city. We passed alot of depressing looking soviet era high rises, but also some nice upper middle class neighborhoods, then crossed the river and wound thru the city. We passed a cemetary with a large flower market in front doing a booming business in grave arrangements. Also noticed alot of the stones had photos of the deceased imbedded in them.

When we pulled up at the train station there was a church across the street and the priest was pulling about 8-10 ropes to ring the church bells. This went on for several minutes, but not long enough for me to get my camera out of my bag. So far things were going well...but at the train station, there was no obvious signage to direct you to the Metro station. I walked a bit, asked several people--none who spoke English, and walked some more. I finally stumbled across a map of the station and found the metro--outside and a half a block down the street.

To buy tokens, you needed 2uah or 10 uah bills...I had 5s and 20s; so I had to go to a window and purchase tokens. There are no metro maps posted, but fortunately I had the Lonely Planet and it had a system map. I figured out which train to get on--and they were very crowded trains. Travelled about 5 stops and got off about 2 blocks from the hotel.

Nice stroll, walk up 8 floors to my room, and I have made it! The recptionist was very pleasant, spoke English and pointed out the highlights of the neighborhood--including grocery, nightclubs, and tourist sights.

Kiev was a very clean, beautiful city straddling the Dnieper River. There are many parks, monuments, Plazas; and it is a city still straddling the two eras before and after the fall of the Iron Curtain. Outside of the airport, their was none of the paranoid checking of documents that I was expecting--movement was pretty free (except for at the Mat Rodina, which was cordoned off for some ceremony--and I was told not to take photos).

Language is a huge barrier. English speakers are few and far between. I stumbled upon a restaurant with English on their menu, but was told they would not serve a single person--I needed someone else to help me occupy a table for two. I went back to pointing at stuff in the deli case.

I also saw alot of stuff--but have no idea what I was looking at since all the signage was in Russian or Ukranian.

The highlights were the park that flanked the river--it was very lovely and went on for miles. I wish I had time to walk around the island forest park that sits in the middle of the river (connected by a pedestrian bridge). Another curiosity was a wrought iron bridge covered with padlocks--apparently by newlyweds with their initials and dates painted on them. Surely this doubled the weight of the bridge as their were thousands of them.

St Micheals was beautiful...especially the unrestored parts which had held their beauty for over a thousand years.

The Larva Monastary was also quite a sight, though I didn't understand how all the buildings tied together.

It was a good way to spend a few days, but I was ready to go when my Aeroflot flight left for Moscow. And now I have an idea of one little corner of the world I'm flying over on my way back and forth from the USA. Enjoy the pics

Be the first in your neighborhood!

This billboard appeared a few days ago along the road as I exit the airport parking. I can have my own Mosque erected for as little as $7500. Of course, being in a 2 bedroom high rise apartment, I'm probably not going to be able to come up with the necessary space. However, Downtown Burj Dubai is a bit underserved in the Mosque department--as yet, none has been constructed. We only have prayer rooms at the mall and a make-shift mosque for the workers just outside my window--but no speaker system.

I thought it curious that the advertisement is in English, so it's obviously aimed at ex-pats like myself. It would be pretty cool to get on the speaker system 5 times a day, starting just before dawn and read the Holy Qoran calling my neighbors to prayer, or I could read them the baseball and football scores from last nights action. Or play some country music, which is sorely lacking here.

Pilgrimage to Scotland

It started with playing golf in 45C (114F) weather last week and a sudden urge to get out of the heat for a few days, as well as an excuse to build my Emirates miles to get to 25k. I looked at South Africa (too pricey), Bangkok (saving it for Emirates fam trip), Kuala Lumpur (schedule didn't work), Singapore (same), Jakarta (earthquake), Anywhere in Europe (too expensive), and India (no visa). So that left Colombo, Sri Lanka...until I stumbled on a sale price for a flight to Glasgow on the exact dates I needed to travel. Travel a day earlier or a day later and the price is more than double, so I decided it was time to try and fullfil a little dream.

There are a couple things I have always wanted to do, but just have never made the time, or had the means to accomplish. One is a pilgrimage to Cooperstown. To play a round at Augusta National. Another is a trip to St. Andrews to play the Old Course. Here was my chance.

I booked the flight, booked a B&B in St Andrews and gave myself 2 full days to get on the Old Course. The Old Course is booked months and months in advance, as well as tee times reserved for locals and members of the R&A. Then a daily ballot is used to fill any open tee times. As a single you normally can't book a tee time and you can't be in the ballot. The only way to get on is to show up at the Starter's window and wait for an opening. If you don't make it on, there are still 5-6 other courses that you can try to get on.

So I arrived at the Old Course just after 6am, first tee time is 7am. It was a clear, crisp morning, probably about 50F. I was #18 in line and my chances didn't look good--some people had been there since 3:30. We caught a break when the first tee time didn't show. A couple others got out with groups over the next 30 mins. Then the gentleman who was #7 in line got a tee time. And then a miracle happened--and everyone else between 7 and 18 had disappeared. In 2 minutes I went from sitting in the cold on the bench, to plunking down $210, grabbing my bag and stepping on the tee box to meet and greet 3 other players and 3 caddies, including mine, grabbing a club and hitting a tee shot cold...plus my driver was missing. I don't know if I left it in the car, someone stole it while I was waiting, or maybe it was in Dubai. There wasn't anytime to really do anything about it, so with all these wonderful swing thoughts and a some nerves, I teed it up and managed to top my drive (with my 3 wood) about 50 yds. The hole was a complete shambles of topped shots and shanks--two lost balls and a 3 putt at the end for a 12. But it was perfect weather and I was playing the Old Course. I took a triple bogey on the second. On the third, I finally stripped off the jacket and got over my fear of hurting the pristine grass and started playing better with 3 straight bogeys and then a birdie on #6.

My Caddy, Kevin, has been at St. Andrews for 6 years and he has seen it all, so I just followed his advice, tried to hit it where he aimed me. (Remarkably, Kevin had never actually played the Old Course; but was scheduled to play it for the first time that afternoon).

I never kept a scorecard, but best I can figure I probably fired in the mid-90s, with alot of pars and bogeys, 2 birdies (also birdied #14, the #1 handicap hole!), and a few Others.

The course was pristine and in immaculate condition. It's not an especially long course, but there are so many bunkers and splotches of rough and gorse to dodge, that you have to be thinking on every shot. And then you have greens the size of football fields with hills and valleys to deal with. I had a couple putts where I would have bet my paycheck that it would break one way but Kevin was telling me to play the opposite break...and you hit it and still can't believe it breaks that way. I had one putt where I was only 5 feet from the hole, but it was the wrong hole of the double green.

It was a wonderful 4 hours. I saw some wild carom shots out of bunkers (mostly accidental, but remarkable still), putts from 50 yds off the green (they say the fairways are cut to run at 14 on the meter during the Open), I saw a putt pass the hole, turn around and roll in, and I saw skulled shots (my own included) roll forever and wind up on the green. Sometimes you are hitting to wide open spaces (with invisible bunkers lurking) and sometimes you are hitting to a fairway no wider than a bowling alley (with invisible bunkers lurking). The rough was thick, but you could usually get the club on the ball and get it headed up the fairway--the Gorse (dark green bushes in the pics) is nasty and unplayable. I topped one tee shot and my caddy says "I think you're in the bunker" and I say to him "why would they put a bunker 75 yds off the tee?" Turns out I rolled about 200yds and missed the bunker (but there was still a bunker 75 yrds off the tee). It's a magnificent, quirky and historic course...I can't wait to do it again someday.

After my morning on The Old Course, I put my name on the list for The Jubilee Course. It looked like a couple hour wait (it was actually a shorter wait for the Old Course), so I went and bought a new Driver at a shop my caddy recommended. Finally teed off around 2pm. During the morning we were treated to an airshow with planes arriving for a weekend airshow at Leuchars AFB just across the water from St. Andrews. The first arrival we saw was a B52 which did a low pass before landing. My partners for the Jubilee course were two of the crew members on the B52. Good Show Guys!

The Jubilee was opened in 1897 and is a bit tighter, but more straight forward than the Old Course. I think overall it was a bit tougher and stingier course for scoring.

The next morning I waited about 3 hours to get on the Eden Course (built in 1914), which was probably the most scenic of the 3 courses I played. A little more wide open and more forgiving. Again, the weather was perfect and we enjoyed a whole round of aircraft demonstrations.

I haven't walked 18 holes in probably 2 years, and I walked 36 on Thursday and another 18 on Friday (carrying my bag for the Jubilee and Eden). I was very sore but very happy with a wonderful weekend.

But I'm still 400 miles short on my Emirates miles!

Ramadan

Ramadan started last week. I was gone to England so I dropped back into a slightly changed culture. Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic lunar based year, is the holiest month of the year. For Muslims, this means fasting (no food or drink) and abstaining from smoking, sex, and other niceties of the world from sunrise to sunset. This is done to commiserate with those who suffer on a daily basis throughout the world. They are also expected to be charitable (2.5% of gross is recommended), visit family and friends, and reconnect with those they have lost touch with.

At work, we adjust our work schedules to allow our Muslim controllers to spend a majority of the daylight hours at home, so consequently, we westerners are coming in late in the mornings and going home early in the evenings.

As visitors in this country, we are expected to respect the traditions of Ramadan by refraining from public eating, drinking, smoking, and public displays of affection during the daylight hours. Many businesses close during the day and stay open til the wee hours of the morning. Restaurants will only sell carry-out, which you take home and eat in private. Many bars are closed and there is very little music or live entertainment.

Iftar is the breaking of the fast and is one of the more enjoyable parts of this tradition. Many places have awesome Iftar buffets in the evenings. The Muslims prepare large meals for the evening, so inevitably, alot of leftovers and treats wind up at work...nice! The donuts are deadly.

There are a few issues that we Westerners do wonder and worry about. For instance, since the fast is based on daylight hours, what about a pilot who wakes up in Sydney at 8am, fasts for the day until his 2pm departure time and then is fasting for another 14hrs on his flight to Dubai which gets in just before sunset. Is he/she really in the best of shape for flying after 20+ hours of fasting?

As controllers, we also have to know what time sunset is locally...pilots do ask!

It's a very interesting time to be in Dubai. I will also be in Cairo before the end of Ramadan and I'm curious to see if/how it differs.

Fortunately, we can still drink our liquids on the golf course, since there aren't many Muslim golfers out on the course during Ramadan.

Ramadan Kareem, Y'all!

What's in your wallet?

I have had alot of turnover in my wallet this past year. Clockwise from the top right:

Emirates Golf Federation Card: Used for handicap and discounts at many golf courses.

Dubai Driver's License: Always fun to pull out for rental cars and ID in the states.

HSBC ATM Card: which is only good for HSBC ATMs; I also have an HSBC Visa which I use for other ATMs and as a debit card.

Scan card for Apartment building (the white card covering my acct #)

Emirates Pilots Club: Discount club which is good for many dicounts around Dubai (and the world)...golf, restaurants, bars, tourist attractions, etc.

My Health Insurance Card in the UAE.

Airport Driving Permit: Let's me drive around the airfield just for fun, but not in the Tundra. We have a couple ATC vehicles with lights and radios.

Alcoholic Drinks License: Allows you to buy a set amount of alcohol every month. My limit is 1000aed ($270). And you better have it if you are driving around Dubai with alcohol in the car.

I also have my Airport ID (not pictured) and I am still trying to get Emirates ID card, which is required for every resident. I made my appointment in February, first date I could get was in November.

Curiously, I have handed out a myriad of passport photos for many of these IDs and not a single ID can be used for age verification--not one has my date of birth on it.

This and That July 2009

Just got home from work in time to watch the ninth inning of Mark Buerle's perfect game. Fortunately, I went to the TV before I went to my computer, so I didn't know the outcome (it's 1pm here, so it's a replay of last nights game). Anyway, great catch by Dewayne Wise in center to save the day--good theatre. I enjoy football, hockey, basketball; learning to enjoy cricket, rugby, and soccer; but Baseball will always be the best game there is. No matter what Bud Selig, striking and cheating players can come up with, the game always rises above it. Now if someone can just cool off the Phillies.

Humidity has kicked in for the summer in Dubai. As the monsoon season swirls thru the Indian Ocean and India, some moisture is pushed up into our desert region. May and June were hot, 105-115 EVERY DAY. But it was a dry heat. Now in July, temps are down, 95-100, but with the humidity it can feel pretty nasty outside. Really, it's no worse than back home where I can remember bending over a putt and sweat dripping from the bill of my cap onto my golf ball. Guess this will be status quo for August and September. If I had the choice, I would take the heat over the humidity.

Someone pointed out to me that the soft drinks out here use real sugar...even Coke. Probably better than the high fructose corn syrup that is fattening up America. Brings back memories of New Coke in the 80's when they went back to the Original Coke, but with substituted corn syrup instead of sugar. I'm still drinking the yucky diet stuff most of the time anyway.

Here are the results of a search for flights between Atlanta and Dubai leaving Sept 13, returning Sept 27.

British Airways $716 fare $591 tax/fees $1307 total

Luftansa $856 fare $479 tax/fees $1336 total

United $832 fare $411 tax/fees $1243 total

Delta $1102 fare $45 tax/fees $1147 total

Now, if I look at these figure (keeping in mind, figures lie and liars figure) it looks like the cost (fuel, depriciation, salaries, and other services and expenses) of flying one seat from Atlanta to Dubai appears to be roughly $800; yet Delta can take advantage of a lower tax structure and charge $300 more...pure profit! Even a Delta flight connecting thru Amsterdam is only subject to $90 tax (+1102=$1192 total)

Considering most Delta flights between ATL and DXB are mostly full, there is no incentive for them to be more competitive (Ok, even though they have the lowest fare and it's non-stop, something doesn't taste right). Perhaps they can add another daily flight and lower their prices! It's just not much of a free economy when one player has a $300 advantage.

I brought a dozen books back from the US this month. Barnes and Noble is much cheaper than anything over here...typical paperback is $12-13 (and almost nothing is ever on sale). Anyway, a dozen books eats up alot of my wieght allowance in the luggage, so I took the books out of the boxes and bundled them in saran wrap (every ounce helps). Well, turns out this was a great move. I was flying from Boston and changing planes at ATL for Dubai (I know 2 hours of backtracking...but it was cheapest--see above). Our flight from BOS landed just before a Thunderstorm hit the airport but not before they closed the ramps due to lightening. We sat just outside our gate for about 2 hours waiting for the weather to clear. When we did pull in it was still raining and the luggage got a good washing. When I unpacked in Dubai, all the clothes were wet, but my books were dry! Sometimes you get lucky.

Helsinki, Finland

Helsinki was a wonderful place to spend a few days. The waterfront is beautiful and alive with boats and open air markets. The downtown Esplanade Park softens a lively, contemporary city. A transport system of ferries, trams, and a subway line make the city very accessible.

I stayed in a hotel that used to be a prison, third floor of the cell block. The cell doors were small, but opened into very nice accomodations. There were still bars on some of the windows in the common areas and the perimeter wall surrounded the hotel. They also sold handcuffs at the reception desk. The Tram stopped right at the front gate, so escape was easy and convenient.

Helsinki has a couple very nice museums. The Kiasma Contemporary Museum had some mind boggling displays. They also had alot of art created behind the iron curtain last century which was very interesting to see. Lot's of dark themes, worker themes, but also other's celebrating communism. Unfortunately, alot of the commentary about the artwork was not in English--it would have been cool to know the back story to some of the pieces.

The Finnish Museum had an awesome collection of art celebrating the Kalevala, the collection of Finnish mythology. These stories, set in verse, are held sacred and tell about how the world and Finnish people came to be. From what I gathered, it's a colorful story. There were also a few Picasso's and Van Gogh's on display.

Other sights around the city included Sibelius Park, The Church in the Rock, the Helsinki Zoo (an island of it's own) and Suomelinna (which means Fort of Finland), an island fortress set in the mouth of Helsinki Harbor. The Fort, mostly constructed in the 1700s, consisted of over 6 miles of fortress walls and more than 80% are still standing. It was considered an impenetrable Gibralter of the Baltic--but the Swedes and Russians both dispelled that reputation. Today the island is a beautifully presevered UNESCO Cultural Heritage Site and still home to about 800 residents who live in many of the original barracks and commute to Helsinki by ferry.

I guess the oddest sight, was the Carnival Samba Parade through downtown Helsinki which was loud, festive, colorful, and lasted for over 2 hours. There must have been 2000 dancers with accompanying floats and bands. Apparently, the weather in Finland isn't agreeable for a Mardi Gras parade in February, so they hold it in June, sponsored by the Brazillian Embassy and peopled by the hundreds of dance clubs throughout Finland. The costumes were incredible and would rival anything you would see in Rio. I have photos on my cell phone and if I can figure out how to get the downloaded I will post them.

I do have other photos if you want to take a look.