Safe in London

For all of you who still think business travel is glamorous, here is the short version of my trip here: Left Jacksonville late, circled Atlanta forever, ran low on fuel, diverted to Columbia South Carolina, took off ten minutes before the flight crew would time out, landed in Atlanta, missed my connection, ran to the back up flight from B12 to E6, made it and landed eight hours later in London.

Now the good news is that I did get to fly business class, so I slept for about five hours. Got to the hotel and worked on email for a bit. Then walked the fifteen minutes to the office for a meeting. I then came back, showered, and went to Windsor all by my lonesome for some dinner.

Funny story to show how strong jet lag can be: After dinner I took the train from Windsor back to Slough (it's only about 10 minutes). I got on the train, fell asleep and woke up to the doors closing as the train left Slough headed back to Windsor. So I got to do an extra roundtrip :-)

Tomorrow is an all-day meeting with an analyst. I better get to bed.

Here are a few pictures.

Coming into to London from the air:

Robyn, I found our house! A cute cottage not far from Windor. Rent is only about $6000 a month!

I actually wore sunglasses (I was the only one) on this nice sunny day (Slough train station) -- blue sky!

The flag shows that the queen is in residence at Windsor Castle. I knocked on the door, but nobody answered. It's a big place, maybe they didn't hear me.

The castle is massive. Much bigger than Buckingham Palace. This is just one of the entrances.

This is in Windsor. It is called "the long walk." You can see why.

I took this one just outside the Windsor train station at sunset.

I love you all!

Love,

Dad

Not coming out of the gate too well...

Well, this trip (New Zealand and Australia) didn't start out very well. Robyn took me to the airport for my 9 pm flight through LA. The flight left late and even with an hour and twenty minutes for the connection, I missed my connection (different terminal, delayed bus, closed Qantas ticket counter). So instead of the beautiful ocean surrounding Auckland, this is my view (ah, the Courtyard at LAX):

Next problem...running to catch the plane, my backpack zipper opens and the camera hits the ground. Lens rolling around. Shattered glass. Thank goodness for UV lens filters.

So the next flight leaves in 24 hours. So I'm all caught up on email just hanging out. Not much to do, then....I think, "It's Wednesday. Baseball teams play on Wednesday afternoon." I check online and the Angels are in town! But...the game started over an hour ago. If I left now, I could get there in time to see all the fans exiting the stadium. Sooooo..... not off to a good start, but appreciative for plenty of other things. I just need to keep thinking of those other things.

Keep watching the blog and I'll try to post more, hopefully with some good stuff.

Hong Kong -- Final Day

I'm at the airport with about an hour before I board the flight for home. Today was a good, but busy day. Lot's of meetings. Nothing too exciting.

I picked up the pants that I had made. I like them. Then I went and picked up Robyn's present that the shop owner had to order from another location.

Tonight just before I left for the airport I watched a laser light show over Hong Kong harbor. It was really cool. All the buildings light up and several shot lasers and spotlights into the night sky. They do it every night. It last about ten minutes.

So, I guess I'm a fan of Hong Kong. I'd like to come back again sometime. It is a fast paced city. Lots to do. Very interesting.

I'm glad to be headed home though. Of all the places I've been in the world, home is definitely my favorite. See you all soon.

Hong Kong Continued

Hi all. Today I presented to our conference (about 100 people) and had several smaller meetings. All went well. Then tonight we had a dinner that must have been 12 courses. Most were far beyond what I was comfortable with. So I kind of moved the food around, took a couple bites or conveniently got caught up in conversation and just happened to miss a portion of the food.


After dinner I did go take a look at some knock-off watches...just for a little Jack Bauer adrenaline rush.


It's now about 11 pm. I'm off to bed as soon as I finish this post. Tomorrow is an early breakfast meeting with consultants and analysts, several small group meetings and then our gala dinner (can't wait :-( After the dinner I head to the airport at 8:30 to catch my flight home. I land at midnight.


For my family who knows of my luck with celebrity sightings, Taylor Swift played Hong Kong tonight. I didn't see her, but figure she'll be on my plane tomorrow.


Here are some pictures that I hope you like. See you all soon!


Downtown Hong Kong is quite a bit like Times Square in New York.

So yesterday I wrote about how nice the Singapore Airlines business class seats are; well here is a picture of the advertisement for them. I wanted to take a picture in the plane, but then I'd look like a rookie :-)

I love this next picture. During dinner I'm struggling away with chop sticks and I turn to my right and the Chinese guy next to me is using a fork. I asked him about it and he said the younger generation never learned and aren't too good with chop sticks. "Fork is much easier."

I warned you about the food. You got it...that's a chick head alright. Yum!

Hong Kong -- February 2011

Can you believe I'm actually writing a blog post! So Hong Kong is a facinating place. I've enjoyed it much more than I thought. But before I tell you about Hong Kong, let me tell you about my trip over. Admittedly, this will bust the bubble that I slave through difficult times on these trips. Certainly not so this time.

I flew direct from San Fran to Hong Kong on Singapore Airlines. The trip was almost 15 hours, but I slept almost 8 of those hours. I flew business class. The seat makes into a completely flat bed! The food was great. The flight attendants are in traditional Asia long dresses. They I get picked up at the airport by a Mercedes. He drives me to the Sheraton. As we pull up, they open the car door and great me by name (oh yeah, when I left the airplane, the guy at the door said, "Thank you Mr. Staples"). I'm checked in. Arrive in the room and look out on a view of the harbor! I really has been a bit amazing!!!


Okay, I'll drop in some pics now. Yesterday was a fogy day up the mountain in a tram to see a huge Budah statue. It was cold, rainy, and cloudy, but still fun. Then dinner last night (not my favorite). Then today was church at a Chinese ward and later up to Victoria Peak which overlooks the city. Still cloudy, but nice.


Work actually gets going in about an hour as we kick off our conference. I love and miss you all.

This is me with Martin Foo. I met him at church. He has an amazing story that I'll have to tell you about.
This is the view from my hotel window.

This is inside of one of the Budahist shrines.

This is a view of Hong Kong from on top of Victoria Peak.

This is a group of us on Victoria Peak.

This is a house on Victoria Peak. You need serious bank for something like this!

Again, a shot from Victoria Peak.

This is the cable car you ride to get to Victoria Peak. Cost is about .60 cents. They have been running cable cars to the top since 1888.

This is a picture of a picture of the giant Budah. Look at a photo further down and you'll see the cloudy view we got.

This will give you an idea of how cloudy the ride up to the Budah was...

The gates into the area where the Budah is located.

I love this picture. These are people lighting incense near the Budah statue.

Near the monistary...pretty cool pic with the cloudy fog.

Here is our group at the foot of the Budah statue. Gives you a perspective of how big this is.

And the Budah that we got to see (kinda) through the clouds.

Boa Tarde

This trip has been a lot of work, but a lot of fun. Sorry, still no pictures (can't read my SD card). Yesterday we met with our existing partner, interviewed a marketing candidate, and met with two potential PR agencies. I skipped dinner and just crashed. All the meetings except one were 90% in Portuguese and it is mentally exhausting to translate in my head for that long.

Today we met with three potential partners. All in Portuguese. I've gotten plenty of comments from people on my Portuguese, but I've also had times when its been really bad. One funny one (all happened in Portuguese)...This guy asked, "how did you learn Portuguese?" I said, "I lived here thirty years ago." He said, "how long did you live here?" I said, "oitenta mezes." He looks at me funny, then says, "oito mezes?" I reply, "Nao, oitenta mezes." He switches to English and says, "Eighty months?" Instead of saying "eighteen months," I had said "eighty months." I made many more mistakes, but I think most people I met with liked the fact that I tried so hard. Its rare for Brazilians to meet Americans that speak Portuguese. When I told one person that I learned as a Mormon missionary, she said "we had a great experience with a Mormon!" Turns out that one of their clients had been a Utah company that I know quite well.

Now I'm in the Delta lounge in Sao Paulo waiting on my flight. I'm excited to come home. My guess is that I'll come back sometime early next year.

One more story...most of the time we are in the middle of Sao Paulo, a city of 15 million people (Manhattan has less than 2 million), but for one meeting we were in a suburb. We had to walk a couple blocks. For whatever reason, I felt like a missionary again walking the streets. It was a "take me back" feeling.

That's it. Two posts in a short trip. Hope everyone is doing well.

Love,

Dad

Viva Brasil!

I'm here! Viva Brasil! After my last visit eighteen years ago, it is wonderful to be back. The flight (15 hours in total) was great. I think I got about five hours sleep on the Atlanta to Sao Paulo leg. That, plus the fact that the time zone difference is only three hours, means I've adjusted pretty easily.

Today was a series of meetings. Much of it in Portuguese. I could keep up with most of it. Thirty years is a long time, so I've lost a lot, but I won't beat myself up too bad because I can still get by. Asking questions, ordering at restaurants, light conversation, etc. is fine. Some of the business stuff gets challenging. We (Raul, Plinio, and I) are headed to dinner in an hour. More meetings the next two days.

The bad news is that I can't get my computer to read my camera's SD card. So sorry, no pics.

So here is something that is a bit serious, but heartfelt. Enjoy.

Thirty-one years and one month ago I first set foot in Brasil – called by a prophet of God to preach the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I was new, fresh, and green. My speech was flawed. There were so many things I didn’t know. Yet enthusiasm, desire, and faith seemed to overcome all my fears and inabilities.

Brasil was untamed and burgeoning. My mission area was the second largest geographic mission in the church. Thousands of miles separated small remote branches. Most Brasilians knew nothing of the Mormons. Curiosity was often their biggest motivator.

I witnessed as an apostle rededicated Brasil for the preaching of the gospel. I saw my own growth. Miraculously, in their initial steps toward eternal life, I saw dozens of people enter the waters of baptism – people, whose descendants now number in the hundreds. For me, Brasil was then, and is now, sacred ground. As I return, I’m filled with gratitude for the significance that the gospel has had in my life, appreciative of the companions who I served with, mindful of the people who I was able to share this eternal message with, and privileged for the opportunity to return.