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Mon, 17 Aug 2009


Don't use Jetbus Sydney if you want to catch your flight

    I had to take a flight a few weeks ago, and I thought I'd do the financially (and environmentally) sensible thing and use an airport shuttle service. Especially because the airport train in Sydney is so expensive and slow. I found Jetbus online, and paid with PayPal. The first time I used them they were just fine, but the second time was extremely frustrating. So frustrating that I wont be using their service again, as I value actually getting on my plane.

    Interestingly, Jetbus' Sydney office is across the road from my pickup location, so how badly can it go?

    I had a 4pm booking. I arrived at the pickup location 15 minutes early. The bus drove past me at the speed limit approximately on time. It did not slow down or stop. I rang the dispatch number to inform them of the error. The bus drove past about 10 minutes later, again without slowing down or stopping. I rang again. The bus didn't reappear. In total, I rang dispatch 5 times in an attempt to be collected. After the bus was 45 minutes late, I took a taxi to the airport instead, which cost $47, and arrived with only 15 minutes to spare.

    The only part of this whole thing which makes me happy? This is the first time I have had to use PayPal's dispute resolution system as I am not a big PayPal user. It was pain free, and gave me the outcome I wanted. That's interesting given that I hear so many bad things from other PayPal users.

    Tags for this post: travel(S) australia(S) sydney(S)

posted at: 16:32 | path: /travel/australia/sydney | permanent link to this entry


Sat, 26 Jan 2008


In Australia, alive

    So, after a somewhat traumatic 30 hour journey from America, I am now in Australia happy and well. I'm surprised by how not-jetlagged I feel, which is nice as well. Qantas in Melbourne were actually much better than Qantas in LAX about the missing bag. They were friendly, sympathetic, efficient and gave me $100 AUD cash to buy new clothes. So, I'm here and I'm alive.

    Tags for this post: travel(S) australia(S)

posted at: 14:01 | path: /travel/australia | permanent link to this entry


Tue, 31 Oct 2006


Getting ready to leave Sydney

    I haven't written much about the couple of weeks I've spent in Sydney. Nothing really exciting happened, apart from a trip home to see the kids (the Southern Tablelands were greener than I expected), a visit to CLUG another to SLUG, and a lot of time spent eating at restaurants on King Street in Newtown.

    I've decided that I like the Sydney train system, but not the trains themselves. The trains fall into several categories:

    • Millennium trains: the standard one would expect from any world class train system. There are hardly any of these, but they're the only ones with screens saying what station is next, and are in a good state of repair. It seems that they're mainly devoted to the tourist-centric airport runs.
    • Tangaras: about 15 years old I'm told. They're ok but nothing special.
    • Craptastics: these are the ones older than Tangaras but with retrofitted air conditioning. They must be about 30 years old from the look of things. They're crap.
    • Craptanics: imagine a Craptastic before it had the air conditioning retrofit. This is that train. At least you can open the windows, which helps let some of the reek of sweaty office workers and teenaged boys out. Some.
    • Stinktanic: if you get one of these, $DEITY hates you. It's a Craptanic, without windows that open. You're screwed. Enjoy the smell.


    So, that's about all I learnt of note in Sydney... To summarise: yay King Street, yay train system, boo actual trains except for Millenniums. Oh, and thanks to Grant and Lindsay for letting me stay.

    Tags for this post: travel(S) australia(S) sydney(S)

posted at: 15:29 | path: /travel/australia/sydney | permanent link to this entry


Sat, 14 Oct 2006


In Sydney!

    So now I am in Sydney, with Grant and Lindsay (old friends from Canberra). Newtown seems nice, in fact the house itself is very nice. However, the streets are pretty Victorian and built up, which is a bit oppressive. Then again, I am told there are a bunch of parks I haven't seen yet, so I'll delay any further comment until then. It appears it's only about 15 minutes on the train from here to work, which will be nice during the week. More news later...

    Tags for this post: travel(S) australia(S) sydney(S)

posted at: 00:47 | path: /travel/australia/sydney | permanent link to this entry


Beware the concierge at the Rendezvous Hotel!

    Heh, he cancelled my hire car booking without my knowledge or permission. Then when it was fixed, the car company tried to bill me $100 for cancelling. It took a while to sort out...

    Tags for this post: travel(S) australia(S) melbourne(S)

posted at: 00:44 | path: /travel/australia/melbourne | permanent link to this entry


Mon, 09 Oct 2006


Qantas site

    Is it just me, or is the Qantas website crazy slow?

    Tags for this post: travel(S) australia(S)

posted at: 15:57 | path: /travel/australia | permanent link to this entry


Wed, 04 Oct 2006


Melbourne

    This one took a couple of days to write up cause I am slack...

    I flew down to Melbourne for the night the other day to present a beta of the NSLU2 hacking talk at the Linux Users of Victoria LUG meeting. It's good that I did, because although the talk was ok, I don't think it was up to standard for a conference, and it gives me some time to work out what was wrong and then fix it up in time for the real deal. The main problem is that some of the demos took too long to work because I hadn't factored in reboot time for the devices.

    Dinner afterwards was really nice too, and I am actually quite impressed with the high level of clue at the LUG. There also seem to be some pretty cool MythTV hacking projects happening in Melbourne at the moment too.

    Oh, and thanks to Stewart for picking me up from the airport, thus saving me a $50 cab fare.

    Tags for this post: travel(S) australia(S) melbourne(S)

posted at: 21:11 | path: /travel/australia/melbourne | permanent link to this entry


Mon, 02 Oct 2006


In Canberra

      Lefty tighty, righty loosey


    When Frank used to drive in the US when we were on business trips, he'd mutter "Righty tighty, lefty loosey" as he turned corners to make sure he ended up on the correct side of the road. Now that I am back in Australia, I guess I need to mutter the opposite when I drive around. I was a little nervous when I drove for the first time since returning today, but it was actually really easy. It's good to know that I haven't broken my brain permanently. Or at least not on that front.

    Today was lunch with my mother and brother, a wander around the National Botanic gardens, and then a quick trip into the city. It's interesting that all of Civic seems to be taken over by the Canberra Center (a shopping mall), which now consumes something like three more city blocks than it used to. Met Steve Walsh for beer, and then off to my mother-in-law's for dinner.

    Now I am at dad's house, finishing up my talk for LUV tomorrow night. Wish me luck.

    Tags for this post: travel(S) australia(S) canberra(S)

posted at: 04:14 | path: /travel/australia/canberra | permanent link to this entry


Sat, 30 Sep 2006


Back in Canberra again

    Catherine, the kids and I have made it back to Canberra successfully. The flight from SFO to SYD was actually pretty good. I was dreading the kids screaming the whole way, but that completely didn't happen. They were a bit fidgety by the end, but so was I so that's fair enough.

    Met by various parental units at the airport, had a quick look around our old house (which dad now lives in), off the Jaycar for emergency electronics (power supplies for slugs and wall socket converters), and then a big lunch at my mother in laws.

    More details later.

    Tags for this post: travel(S) australia(S) canberra(S)

posted at: 21:50 | path: /travel/australia/canberra | permanent link to this entry


Fri, 29 Sep 2006


Travel details so far

    So, it looks at the moment like my travel schedule for the next month will look a bit like this:

    • 30 September: Arrive in Canberra
    • 3 October: Melbourne for LUV meeting
    • 4 October: Return to Canberra
    • 10 October: Melbourne for AUUG conference
    • 13 October: Sydney
    • 26 October: Canberra for CLUG meeting
    • 27 October: Return to Sydney, SLUG meeting
    • 2 November: Return to Mountain View


    Let me know if you're interested in meeting up when I am around.

    Tags for this post: travel(S) australia(S)

posted at: 15:50 | path: /travel/australia | permanent link to this entry


Sun, 30 Jul 2006


On a bunker kick

    Now that I am back on my bunker kick dad points out that there was a bunker in Canberra (my home town) as well. Some references I can see online make it public now, including this heritage list. I'm wondering if it's the same as the Bunker Theatre in the same building now. That would be cool...

    Tags for this post: travel(S) australia(S) canberra(S)

posted at: 19:32 | path: /travel/australia/canberra | permanent link to this entry


Sun, 02 Oct 2005


Frank Arrigo discovers Steve Walsh's free wireless

posted at: 16:54 | path: /travel/australia/canberra | permanent link to this entry


Sat, 10 Sep 2005


Back from Perth

    The Vines resort (where the Jonny Walker Classic is played) is nice, if you like early 1990 architecture, and golf. Just don't try to have a shower in your unit, as the hot water system is the size of a thimble. Hire cars are good, because they take you away from the Vines. Freemantle and Perth are both good, with the Halo resturant in Perth being the producer of one of the best meals I have had in a long time. Photos online soo...

    Tags for this post: travel(S) australia(S) perth(S)

posted at: 19:43 | path: /travel/australia/perth | permanent link to this entry


Sun, 04 Sep 2005


Perth for a conference

    The TOWER Asia-Pacific annual conference is later this week in Perth (Wednesday to Friday). I have a couple of free hours here and there, mostly in the evening. If there is anything interesting happening in Perth later this week, could people drop me a line and let me know? Failing that, if you have a free day in Perth, what would you see? Rottnest Island?

    Tags for this post: travel(S) australia(S) perth(S)

posted at: 23:50 | path: /travel/australia/perth | permanent link to this entry
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