For a while now, me and my wife have been thinking of buying a holiday home, we usually go to Seton Sands in Scotland for Holiday, and they have these very nice homes (we call them mobile/manufactured homes back in florida) .. and we did considered buying there, but it’s a 4 hour drive, so it means we would only use it a few times a year.

Instead we decided to look at Blackpool .. it’s considered by many to the the Orlando of England (?), and when i visited, I did got the feeling it’s a Holiday town, lots of different parks and attractions .. maybe a mini-orlando is more precise
Blackpool is a mere 70 miles to us, and of those 60 are all Motorway miles (M6) .. so in less than one hour and fifteen minutes, we are there, it’s a very easy drive too.

Anyway, we looked at a few Holiday Parks, and some of the were just a bit busy for our taste, they where more targeted to people on a week or weekend holiday, vs holiday home owners .. therefore, it was very busy, but luck had it, we found one that was just what we wanted, not a “rental” focused park, but instead one that caters to owners .. therefore, it was extremely quiet and tidy.

Plus it’s in walking distance to the tram and the beaches
We bought this Place, it’s a 1997 model, it has 3 bedrooms, luxury interior (proper recliner couches, actual dining tables, etc .. not the “fitted” crap that these houses are usually associated with), the previous owners kept it immaculate, as it is right now it’s perfect, but we wish to do some work on the outside (the grounds) and put a nice big deck for some outdoor entertaining and a “skirt” all around it to loose that “mobile home” look, it is also currently missing the steps & rail to climb up to the doors, they will be in Monday.

Here are some pictures … we will be going there next Friday to spend the weekend .. the bonus for me is that the NNRC racetrack is just a couple miles down the road, so I’ll be racing there on their Summer & Winter series
It is great to have a second place to call home, it is also double nice to have a place to go if the wife ever gets mad at me and sends me to the dog house.

Technorati Tags: Holiday

Popularity: 38% [?]

I’m in the middle of the channel between Ireland and the UK .. surfing at speeds of 700kps+

Such is the beauty of technology these days .. even for a techie geek like myself, sometimes I am just amazed of how much we can do these days.

I am aboard a ferry heading to Dublin (from Holyhead) .. and to my surprise they had DSL speed internet access over wi-fi .. the price ? £4 per hour .. not bad at all !!

I have taken some pictures, and will post them later.

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My irrational stupid fear of flying is starting to get on the way of some greats trips.

Recently I closed a deal with the largest Telco in Brazil, the new deployment of our solution is to be unveiled on the 17th of this month, so they asked me to send somebody over for 4-5 days to make sure it goes smoothly, and preferably, myself, since I speak the language.

But after seeing the itineraries, it means I have to travel anywhere from 13 to 20 hours, depending on the carrier, with stretches over 12 hours on the plane.

Considering my last trip was just 30 minutes on a plane, and I was literally dying by the time we landed, 12 hours is just more than I can bare.

I know how it would be, within 10 minutes I would start to panic on the plane, and for the next 11 hours and 50 minutes, I would be puking my guts out and sweating of anxiety, not a pretty sight .. and then, 5 days later, do it all over again.

I cant understand or stand this fear I developed after many years of flying, unfortunately, it seems it’s the only way to cross the Atlantic these days, which leaves me with no choice but to send somebody else.

So there goes a great chance to visit Rio and Sao Paulo .. maybe one day I’ll take a cruise there, what a pain.

I wish there was a pill you could take and get nocked out, I haver try Benadril .. but it doesn’t do a thing for me.

Technorati Tags: fear of flying, Brazil, puppy, Work

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Hurray, we are out of the Eurotunnel (we survived).. it was amazingly quick .. and surprise surprise .. it’s Sunny in France (it was poring in England)

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I’m typing this from within the Eurotunnel itself, I must admit, I am not as hap as I thought i’d be, after al, we are hundreds of feet under water and land, I cant help but feel a little uneasy
But hey, it beats flying, we entered the tunnel at 11:35(London time) the crossing takes 20 minutes, it’s been almost 10, so we almost 1/2 way there.

I remember when I was living in the US. how I told myself that this is one of those crossings I had to do, you know, the “to-do-before-you-die” list .. I know for some people it’s routine, but for the majority, they will never experienced it.

I’m on my way to Brussels, for a short change over to a train to Cologne for the WebHostingDay conference.

As for the tunnel .. well .. it’s dark .. once we enter it I did notice the air smell got moldy.. you see an occasional flash of light here and there, and the ride itself is quite smooth inside it .. thats about it.

Technorati Tags: Eurotunnel, Train, WebHostingDay

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I’m going North on the M6 this morning, when the traffic starts to slow down, after a while of 20MPH speed I notice that for the past mile or two there has been no cars on the southbound lanes, it was quite eery .. a few minutes later I discover why, this car/trailer was overturned in the middle of the Motorway and the cops were not allowing any traffic by

What amazed me is that the car and trailer are pointing North in the Southbound lane, so not only the trailer overturned, it skid around 180 degrees.

I was swearing for not having my camera with me, when I remembered the phone also takes pictures
The people from the car were on the side of the road and looked unhurt.

Technorati Tags: Accident, M6, Motorway, RV

Popularity: 35% [?]

I have just booked my train tickets today, I’m off to Cologne (Germany) at the end of the month.

There is a WebHosting Day conference in Cologne on the 28th, this is the sort of conference that’s important for me to attend, so I started to look for the dreaded plain tickets .. after sorting it al out, I decided, just for curiosity, to see if I could get there from manchester by train instead.

Yep, I can, and for about the same price .. so I take off on Monday, 27th from Manchester to London Waterloo, get to the Eurostar train to Brussels at 10:43, arrive on Brussels at 14:05 .. then take the next train to Cologne at 14:28 in First Class (heck, it was just 5£ more) and arrive on Cologne at 16:45

The plain would have taken almost as long due to a long exchange at Frankfurt

I will then stay on a .. err .. Chinese hotel called “Hotel Phantasia” on Phantasialand

I then return on the 29th, once again First Class from Cologne to Brussels, leave at 12:14, arrive at 14:32 .. I then decided to take a few hours to check Brussels .. i never been there, so this is a good chance to sightseeing, later at 17:56 I take the train to London and arrive at 19:28 .. the train to manchester follows an hour later.

I’m very excited .. several reasons, this conference is a must be for us (PSoft/Comodo) .. and Serguei Beloussov (SWsoft CEO) will be one of the speakers and they will have a booth, it will be a good chance to rub shoulders with the competition and learn what they are up to … and of course, the chance to add Brussels and Cologne to my “Have visited” list.

I started a tradition of buying a Teddy Bear with the country I am on stamped on it somehow a while back, my task while there is to get one from Germany and one from Brussels to add to the French, American and Scottish ones I have … yep, I am missing quite a few

Technorati Tags: Germany, WebHostingDay, Travel, WebHosting Day

Popularity: 27% [?]

… to Manchester

Today (July 15th) we moved to manchester .. I went down to a local rent-a-van place were I got an Iveco white van to load up al our stuff, after driving the Iveco for 1/2 a mile I retuned back and asked for a different one, the steering wheel shaft was too close to the pedals, and my foot kept on getting stuck

30 minutes later and I was loading up a Fort Transit
I drove to Manchester by myself .. and the 3 hour drive would have been very pleasant, was not for a snag on M6 were it took me 1 hour to drive 500 feet.

I made it just on time to meet with the realtor and get the key .. after that I drove by the office were I dropped my computer, I made it back to Cardiff at about 1:00 AM

Then at 9:00 AM I returned the Van, packed the Multipla with the family and away we were to start a new life in Mancs

Technorati Tags: family, Manchester, Moving

Popularity: 27% [?]

For the past week or so, I have been extra busy with preparations for moving the family to manchester (we are moving next Friday) .. so today we decided to take some time off to enjoy the nice weather as a family.

And what a nice weather it was .. so we head out to Barry Island were they have a nice beach.

When we arrived, the whole place was packed, but not so packed to make one turn away, I got into a parking sport that was right in front of the beach, it was on a no parking area, but so were another 20 cars .. so I tough it was safe … I tough ..

Lovely Day

Technorati Tags: beach, family, fun, trips

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This past weekend, me and the family took the 170 mile drive to Manchester to look at a few houses.

My job requires me to move in the area ASAP, so last week I took into RightMove.co.uk and searched for a few homes within my set budget, once I found a few I liked, I phoned the realtors and set appointments for Friday the 30th and Saturday 1st.

We left Cardiff on Thursday (29th) at about 12:00, and Arrived on Lymm (South-West Manchester) at about 15:00 .. amazingly once again, the trip back took 20 minutes less … the familiarity with the roads and less traffic on a Saturday afternoon made it a breeze. We stayed at a local Travelodge, right on the Poplar 2000 rest stop .. I could have not picked a better location to stay, the hotel was clean and at only 45£ per night (internet special) .. it was cheap.

Technorati Tags: family, House Hunting, Manchester, trips

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