I have just booked flights to go to Octocon. The costs look roughly like this:
- Fares: £7.50;
- Additional charges from RyanAir to be allowed to do things like pay, check in and take a bag: £40.00
- Taxes: £61.00
What a strange world we live in.
Travel
A Tale of Two Movies
I seem to have been quiet for a while. Saturday and Sunday were mainly spent traveling, though I did have a 4-hour conference call to California for a World Fantasy Con committee meeting on Sunday night. Things never slow down. I did get quite a bit of reading done while I was on the move, but unusually I also watched two movies: the in-flight entertainment on the trans-Atlantic flight included the new Star Trek movie and also Galaxy Quest. They proved an interesting combination.
Everyone seems to have been saying really good things about the Star Trek re-boot, and I have to admit that I was rather disappointed. It was cute in places, and amusing in places, and I do like the way that the new versions of the minor characters have so much more personality than the old ones. However, if you strip away all the bits that meant so much to people who have been watching Star Trek for 30 years you are left with a rather poor film with a silly plot that felt horribly artificial in places. (For some reason the scene where the Enterprise crew are loading photon torpedoes as if they were on a WWII submarine particularly annoyed me.) When the new cast get a film of their own it may be a lot better, but this wasn’t a patch on Watchmen or, I suspect though I haven’t seen it yet, on Coraline.
If you don’t believe me, try watching it back-to-back with Galaxy Quest. That’s also a film that means a lot more if you have spent a lot of time watching Star Trek, but I think it also stands on its own. It is much funnier, and being a comedy it can get away with not making a lot of sense at times. Indeed, the whole meta-narrative that it is indulging in cries out for it to do the sorts of silly things that the TV shows it parodies are famous for — for example the bit where Gwen and Jason have to dodge through the moving pillars.
Of course I still expect the new Star Trek to win the Hugo next year. Worldcon members are nothing if not sentimental. But I won’t be voting for it.
So Glad to Be in Boston
Well, that was an experience I don’t want to repeat.
Continue reading
We’re Going Electric
Today’s news is full of the story that the Great Western Railway is to be electrified. A £1.1bn project will bring faster, more environmentally friendly travel to Paddington and lines to Bristol and Cardiff. As this is a service I use a lot, I am naturally interested.
On the other hand, most journalists don’t use trains save possibly for commuting into London, so their knowledge of the route isn’t necessarily good. I read the reports (Guardian, BBC) with some suspicion. Electrifying the line from London to Cardiff makes some sense, though they’ll have an interesting time with the Severn Tunnel. Whether they go into Temple Meads or not is another matter. The BBC’s map says that they will, but to do that they have to do something about Box Tunnel. In any case the electrifiction won’t, as the Guardian says, allow GWR to retire the aging 125 fleet, because those trains are also used on the London-Taunton line, and from Bristol all the way south to Penzance.
Of course when the Tories win the next election (which they surely will) they will cancel the project, so it is all moot anyway.
Spaceport America Breaks Ground
Virgin Galactic has begun construction on the world’s first purpose-built commercial spaceport in New Mexico. The BBC has a report. The spaceport is due to be finished in 18 months, so with any luck they should be able to have an exhibit at the Reno Worldcon (hint). In the meantime you can see some artists’ impressions of the spaceport over at the Foster & Partners web site.
New Zealand Video Diary
Between the two conventions I did a bit of touring around New Zealand. The video from that is now online. It includes visits to the site of next year’s NZ Natcon, to Rivendell, and to the Weta Cave. More importantly, there are three very cute kittens.
Melbourne Photos
Finally I have a few photos from Melbourne. These are mainly of the new convention center and of useful things at Melbourne airport – all for the benefit of folks considering traveling there next year for Worldcon.
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Adelaide Photos
The next stop on the tour is Adelaide, where there are photos from the Australian Natcon and also a few tourist shots. Costumers may want to check these.
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Wellington Photos
Moving on now to Wellington, I have a collection of tourist photos, including some from Cuba Street where next year’s NZ Natcon will be held. There is a brief excursion to Middle Earth along the way.
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Auckland Photos
Slowly but surely I am getting the trip reports processed. Here are the photos from Auckland, which include both the convention and some touring around. Also there are cute kitten shots.
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Travel Almost Done
Airport security rules continue to confound me. Every other country I have visited has removed common cosmetics such as lipstick and mascara from their “dangerous terrorist weapons” list. Not so Australia. And yet their screening guys do not require you to remove shoes or even coats. Go figure.
The trip back to the UK was not nearly as convenient as the one going out, sleep-wise. After a domestic transfer from Melbourne we left Sydney at 5:00pm. That’s too early for sleep. We arrived in Bangkok at 2:00am, Sydney time, by which time I had got a few hours of sleep, and then had to be woken up to get off the plane. Sleeping on take-off was so easy I actually missed the food service (which was a Thai fish curry), but somewhere over Pakistan it became morning in Sydney and I was wide awake, even though it was midnight in London. That was BAD. Thankfully I have managed to sleep a bit more on the rest of the journey.
Bangkok is a weird experience. They encourage you to get off the plane while it is cleaned, but also encourage you to leave all of your cabin baggage behind due to delays at security. I guess if any of the cleaners tried to open one of the overhead bins it would be very obvious to the cabin crew. Anyway, all of my stuff was still there when I got back.
And now I am in London. There is a Tube strike on today, but thankfully I don’t need that service. I booked a midday train from Paddington, giving myself plenty of time for the flight to be late, but now have several hours to kill. As the toilets are Paddington are not accessible to people with luggage I’m staying at Heathrow. Starbucks has its uses.
QANTAS had Watchmen showing on their (very excellent) on demand movie service. Given what I have heard about movies cut for aircraft, I was rather surprised to see that most of the sex and graphic violence had been left in. Unfortunately the screen is much to small to allow you to look for interesting things in the background. That will have to wait for the DVD.
I also re-watched the music documentary, “The Roxy Music Story”. This reminds me that that the new album, which the boys were working on back in 2006/7, is still not out. Anyone know what has happened to this? Also has anyone else noticed that Eno is now the best-looking of the lot of them? Funny how age works, isn’t it.
Heading North
I’ll be heading out to the airport shortly and will be on planes and trains for the next day or so. Don’t expect anything from me until Thursday evening, UK time (Thursday morning US time). I’ll tweet when I can.
The trip has been great fun. It has, of course, been a financial disaster, but I hope I’ve managed to avoid wingeing too much about that. The last few weeks have also been very bruising psychologically, often for things not connected with the trip. And of course this amount of traveling is very tiring. However, I have got to meet, or re-connect with, a whole bunch of wonderful people, attended two good cons, and see a lot of two very beautiful countries. I have eaten too much good food, and got a fabulous new coat at a bargain price. I also, very unexpectedly, got to laugh at Australians about cricket. I can’t ask for more than that.
Hopefully the information I have been gathering about travel down here has proved useful, and will encourage more people to make the trip next year. There is a lot more to come, and it will appear slowly over the next week or so as I get time to write/edit/post it all. If you do find it useful, please link to it. There are lots of fans who don’t read my blog and who have no idea I’m doing this.
I’d like to give special thanks to Carolyn & Tasha, and Daniel & Kelly, for being so kind to me in NZ; to Terry, Sally & Alan and Medge & Bean for making me welcome in Melbourne & Adelaide respectively; to Donna, Russell and Julie & Roger for being great company at both conventions; and to both convention committees. Also a huge thanks to Hilton who gave me free upgrades for all four stays I had with them.
And now, it is time to finish packing and check out. After that: Sydney, Singapore, London.
Transport from Melbourne Airport
I have been over looking at Melbourne Airport. Please note that things I have seen may change by August 2010, but hopefully most of them will not.
Firstly, for the benefit of Kevin, the gaming area has four pinball machines: The Addams Family, Batman, Indianna Jones and The Simpsons.
For everyone else, the Vodafone cellphone rental shop in the International Arrivals area is still there. If you need a phone while you are in Australia you can rent one for the duration of your trip.
And now, transport. This is where you need to be clever, because Melbourne Airport is a trap for the unwary tourist.
If you come straight out of International Arrivals (Terminal 2) you will see no options for transport except a taxi. Do not take this option unless there are at least 3 of you. It costs AU$51 for a ride to the Hilton South Wharf, and there’s a AU$6 surcharge if you pay by credit card. Instead turn left and make your way to Terminal 1 (QANTAS Domestic), which is in the same building and a very short walk away. There you will find two additional options.
The VHA Airport Shuttle is a classic SuperShuttle-style service. It is AU$25 single or AU$40 return to the Hilton South Wharf (cheaper for some other hotels), and it will deliver you door-to-door. The first shuttle runs at 6:00am, which is just about right for flights from London.
And even cheaper option is Skybus. This is a bus service that runs between the airport and Southern Cross station in the city. It is AU$16 and AU$26 return. Southern Cross is around 15-20 minutes walk from the Hilton South Wharf, and isn’t an easy trip with heavy bags. In theory Skybus offers free transfers to hotels, but this is noted as “subject to availability” so you might have to wait a while, or you could get a cab which won’t cost nearly so much for that short trip. Service frequency is hourly through the night increasing every 10 minutes during the day. I would have used it to go shopping today if the weather hadn’t been so foul.
Melbourne Again
This is the final stop on my southern hemisphere tour. The Melbourne Airport Hilton doesn’t have a executive club (I suspect it assumes that most of its guests are QANTAS Club members), but they have upgraded me to a beautiful suite with a magnificent view south towards the city. When I arrived it was pouring with rain in Melbourne, but the squall appears to have moved off east towards the Dandenongs now.
I’ll deal with outstanding email now, and then head out into the airport again to get lunch and do some more checking of the facilities.
Adelaide
As reported on Twitter, my flight to Adelaide was a little delayed, but nothing serious. I am now safely settled in to the Adelaide Hilton where I have once again been granted an upgrade to the Executive Club. More free breakfasts. Yay!
The convention hotel is the Holiday Inn. It is a few blocks walk away, but there is a tram service that is free within the city center that goes most of the way. That’s just as well as it has been raining fairly heavily here today and that is apparently set to continue throughout the weekend.
I have caught up with a number of Australian fans (including Janice Gelb who is now officially an Australian resident). Julie has made it here from New Zealand, as has Russell who has clearly got the taste for conventions. For this evening, however, I have returned to the Hilton where I plan to take things easy and try to get my body onto Adelaide time.
Trudy arrived after I did. She’s apparently in the middle of deadline hell at the moment and doesn’t have time to tour chocolate factories. I’ll therefore have to find someone else to steal samples from. In the meantime, however, I have discovered the Central Market. Just outside my hotel is a vast underground market. There are over 250 shops, most of which sell food. There are several butchers (several specializing in sausages), several fishmongers (one with a fine selection of fish heads), and more cheese shops that I could count. I found at least one chocolate shop, and also managed to invest in some new Tim Tam varieties. More on that after I have done some tasting.
Sydney
I am here, briefly.
The good news is that there is now a hotel shuttle from Sydney airport to the downtown hotels. It only cost me AU$24 for a return, which is about half what a single cab fare would have been. But it does mean I’ll have less time this morning as I have to fit with the shuttle’s schedule, not mine. I was hoping to get an hour or so in the QVB (that’s the Queen Victoria Building – Sydney’s splendid Victorian shopping mall), but I may not have time.
The Hilton here is very luxurious. Thank you again, reward points. As with Melbourne they have upgraded me to the executive floor. The Internet connection is fine (and indeed I could have had it for free in the executive lounge if I hadn’t needed to download all that email). I’d love to stay here for a few days and just relax, but I have a con to go to and the program officially starts this evening.
Sadly I’m missing the early-bird chocolate factory tours. I may have to mug Trudy Canavan when I get there to get some samples. I don’t appear to be listed on any program items as yet, so for the most part I expect you will find me in the bar with Sean Williams and Jonathan Strahan consuming those famous pink drinks and watching the Twenty20 World Cup. Thankfully England are only scheduled to lose two games while I am here, and neither of them to Australia.
Wellywood
Many thanks to Kelly & Daniel for looking after me in Wellington. I have seen lots of things. I have been to the Weta Cave; I have been to the Cake Tin (Go ‘Canes!); I have been to Rivendell; and I have been to Te Papa where I have see the Colossal Squid. Surprisingly, despite all of the dire warnings I received from various people in Auckland, I did not freeze to death. The weather was actually rather good. I gather that I may have been lucky to see three consecutive days with no wind, but I did none the less.
Some compare and contrast is doubtless in order. Auckland is a large (huge by NZ standards) city that you probably need a car to get around. Wellington, in contrast, is small and compact and walkable. I did a lot of walking. You need a car (or bus) to get out to Miramar, where there Weta offices are, but there is a whole lot you can do around the city and, being the national capital, Wellington boasts some fabulous museums.
Both cities have absolutely amazing natural scenery within an easy drive of the town center. I have lots of photos and video that I shall get on with processing as soon as I can. New Zealand is an extraordinarily beautiful place. I wish I’d had more time for just touring around (or indeed for just sitting on beaches watching the waves).
While there are a lot of Middle Earth sites that you can visit, most of them have been cleaned up, and a huge amount of the film scenery was CGI anyway, so there isn’t necessarily a lot to see. There are no elf houses at Rivendell, and no elves either, or at least if there were they were being very secretive. Also no one makes a great fuss of the sites. It wasn’t until we were inside the appropriate national park that we saw small signs saying “Rivendell”. You had to know where to go in order to get there.
The national museum, Te Papa, is a fabulous building and has all sorts of wonderful things ranging from moa bones (that was one big bird) to Maori cultural artifacts. The Colossal Squid is a bit sad these days, but the museum is very proud of it and as a result I now have my very own pet squid.
One thing you can’t do is tour Weta’s studios. There is way too much sensitive work going on in them, and they can’t have people traipsing around peering at things that Hollywood doesn’t want peered at. However, there are a few things that they do want us to see. Here’s a trailer that Norm showed at the convention. Look out for the marvelous steampunk spaceship.
Back Online
Hooray! I have a proper Internet connection at last. Thank you, Sydney Hilton. I had a great time in New Zealand, but next time I go I am going to make sure that I tell everyone I will be off email the whole time I am there.
Auckland to Wellington
Much of yesterday was spent buzzing around the hills around Auckland looking at absolutely amazing views. For the benefit of Australians, it was very like the Dandenongs, only much closer to the city (and without the wildlife); for the benefit of Californians it was very like the road from Willetts to Fort Bragg, except with vegetation out of The Lost World. And then there were the sea views. Fans of Xena and Hercules may remember this beach, which got filmed lots because Lion Rock is so photogenic.
After that it was back on a plane. Huge thanks to Auckland airport for being the only place I have found in NZ so far with a decent Internet connection. Sadly I wasn’t there long enough to clear my backlog and still have some 200+ messages to download.
I’m now in Wellington, in a small Mercure which is very nice except for the cost of Internet access. The city is build on the side of a cliff – in fact it may be inside a giant caldera. As a consequence the harbor is fabulous but there airport runway is very short and once you get a few streets away from the sea things get a bit steep. My hotel is on a street called The Terrace: the front door and reception is on the 5th floor, and my room is on the 3rd. This is normal for Wellington.
Last night Daniel and Kelly took me to nearby Cuba Street where the hotel where next year’s NZ Natcon is being held can be found. This is down on the flat, you will be pleased to hear. It is also crammed with interesting restaurants, bars and shops. We had a great meal last night, and there are lots of other interesting places I’d love to try. It really is a fabulous location for a convention, and I’ll get some photos and video today.
You will note the occasional sex shop and brothel in the area, and over the weekend one concerned NZ fan cornered me and told me that foreign visitors might find the area a bit scary. However, you should also note that prostitution is legal in NZ, which makes the whole process much safer, and also NZ is apparently the safest country in the world in which to live. As long as you don’t do anything silly like wear an Australian rugby shirt or insult a large and muscular drunk (of whom there may be quite a few) you’ll be fine.
Auckland – Day 4
I spent yesterday looking around Auckland harbor with a friend. It was a bit cold due to the wind, but clear and bright and absolutely beautiful. Hopefully I have lots of good photos, but it was kind of difficult to keep the camera steady in the wind.
Finding a decent Internet connection continues to prove difficult. We tried a few free wi-fi places yesterday, but they all proved to have really poor connections that would not allow me to download the ton of email I have piled up on the server. My apologies if I am not answering something important.
This afternoon I am off to Wellington where I will hopefully get to see Kelly & Daniel. However, leaving Auckland is going to be a wrench because my friends here have three young kittens who are absolutely adorable. They are tiny bundles of fluff, but also very energetic and determined to master the arts of killing sofas, swinging from curtains and climbing trees (or in the absence of trees, people’s legs). I have some video, but that will need editing and uploading so in the meantime you’ll have to make do with this picture taken from my iPhone. That’s Polly telling me that under no circumstances am I allowed to move from the sofa without her permission.
Oh, and the cats are all very keen to learn typing. I’m sure they will be on Twitter soon. They grow up so fast.