I am currently in London for a week to train and assist in the deployment of Street Fighter II Champion Edition. I flew into Heathrow Airport last night. The flight was roughly 5.5 hours, I then took a cab straight to my hotel which cost 44 pounds!! Thats 90 canadian dollars for a 12 minute ride. The cabs here are different, at the back you can seat 4 people and the two rows face each other.

Transportation

Im fortunate to be walking distance to the subway station or as it is known here “the tube”. Their public transit system is called The Underground and they have13 different subway lines compared to the TTC which has 3.

The Piccadilly line will take you straight to and from the Airport. There are special areas on the subway cars just for luggage.

My first stop was to Buckingham Palace. Its best to get off at Green Park and take the 5 minute walk. Its a very scenic walk and the trees are very old and massive.

Then I stopped by the Wellington Arch and finally at Knightbridge to check out the shopping. There were many designer stores such as Armani and reminded me of Queen St.

My last stop was Leicaster Square which felt like Time Sqaure but without all the bright lights. Chinatown was just around the corner and I found a Pho store called Vietnamese Resturant.

People

Its only been more then a day but I have noticed that people here dont smile! The service at restaurants and stores is poor and unfriendly. There are many differences in the way we talk also. Besides the nasally accent, sprint water is called still water, elevators are called lifts.

Food

It is not much different from North America here however I do notice many more pubs. England is very multicultural, you will find a range from Pho store to Lebanese. I just had to stop by a McDonalds for lunch to see if it was different. Indeed it was different, they have the M burger and a slightly lighter menu missing some of our favourites like filet o fish.

If you follow these rules, you will find the lowest hotel rates:

1. Use consolidators for research and planning

Use travel sites such as Travelocity, Expedia, itravel2000 to search for hotels which fit your needs, location, price range. They now have great tools and maps for research and planning. These sites are also known as consolidators and they charge a higher price if you booked it directly with the hotel.

2. Call the hotel directly

Visit the hotels own website and find their phone number and give them a call. They usually have the most current price over the phone. Be sure to call the local number and not their 1-800 number.

3. Extra discounts for members

Many hotels will give discounts to CAA and AAA members online or ask about member discounts over the phone.

4. Avoid Fridays, Saturdays and Holidays

Hotels charge based on demand and you will see the price on Fridays, Saturdays and special occasions such as Holidays increase by double or even triple the regular prices. Try to avoid these days or holidays when planning your trip or vacation.

The highlight of my trip was defintely the Extreme ATV Tour. The guide from American Adventure Tours was very cool and picked us up from our hotel. We drove about 20 minutes out into the desert beside the Women Correctional facility. This tour is defintely not for beginners and I would suggest to take their other tour and not slow down the pace for others.

The ATV itself was a 4 wheeler and we went all the way up the mountains and full speed across a dry lake bed to Buffalo Bills Casino in the middle of the desert! I was told that sometimes they bring you up to the mountain top to take in the view but because we had some stragglers we were not able to do that route.

Its an exhilarating experience and I recommend it to everyone.

The other highlight of the trip for me is of course all the gambling! However, being a Computer Science major I only take calculated risk and would rather play poker against other players rather then against the house. Ihad the pleasure of playing at the Wynn, Excalibur, Planet Hollywood, Treasure Island, Mirage. My only souvenir for this trip was 1 dollar chips from each of the casinos I played at.

So that was my Vegas trip, I miss the warm sunny weather already

I am back from my trip to LA and Las Vegas. I was in LA to visit the Capcom mobile office in Westwood. It was awesome to finally meet all the people ive worked with over email and the telephone for the past 2 years. Sitting in the empty corner office with a breathtaking view of the Beverly Hills was defintely memorable.

We took a early morning flight to Las Vegas and immediately got into a cab and headed to the Gun Store. Capcom held a carrier appreciation event where we made targets of zombies in our game and let our carrier affiliates shoot real guns and real bullets. I must say, if you have never shot an assault weapon before, it is very wild! There were 5 guns in total to take a crack at. My favorite was the Ar-15 which is a modified version of the M16, it has a laser scope and was super loud, the AK 47 had a mount at the front and that thing can blast anything up smithereens! You have to wear goggles and ear phones, sometimes the bullets go flying into the air and can land on you and the sound is deafening. We gave away an XBox 360 to the person who shot closest to the bullseye.

We then checked into the Wynn hotel on the strip. Now I have been to Vegas last year on vacation but was never able to stay in these high class hotels and I must say the rooms are worth it. But theres a gazillion things to do in Vegas, you wont even be in your room!

The main reason for the trip was the CTIA wireless convention which was held at the Las Vegas Convention Centre this year. It was my first time to a trade show and it was very well planned and organized. I was able to see a few products which were new but the majority of mobile phones I already have worked with for the past couple of months. Most of the booths were hyping WiMAX… I thought that was old news? LG had the best booth, really concentrated on mobile TV and they showcased 3 different technologies. Samsung’s 08 lineup of phones was awesome and will likely drive Motorola out of the handset business for sure.

We managed to catch a few shows while in Vegas: Penn and Teller and Spamalot.

Penn and Teller was very entertaining and was more show then magic. However I think Teller’s slight of hand is amazing and for a silent act he pulls it off. One of the coolest things about their show is that they sometimes explain or show you how they do a trick, but its so difficult you still wouldnt be able to do them without lots of practice. They were nice guys and were inthe lobby after the show to give autographs and talk to the audience.

The other show was a Tony award winning musical Monty Pythons Spamalot at the Wynn hotel stars John O’Hurley as King Arthur.I know him as John Peterman, Elaines boss in Seinfeld. The show was hilarious and over the top, with references to everything from Mariah Carey to the current political candidates Hillary Clinton.

The highlight of the trip however was the Extreme ATV tour across the desert. Part 2 soon.