I'm in DC for a long weekend with family and may not post much.
It was interesting to arrive at National Airport, and be greeted by a display at the t-shirt store of a shirt that said something like, “I Love My Country, It's My Government I'm Afraid Of.”
It wasn't very pretty, but I was still tempted to buy it.
What is it about ICANN meetings and lost luggage? Last year an airline lost my luggage on my way to an ICANN meeting. And here I am, a year later, stopping off in Durham on my way to this year's nomcom session … and a different airline lost my luggage.
I should say that Lufthansa's way of dealing with it was pretty impressive. American Airlines was just short of surly at the airport, the news that there was no info in the system about where my bag was didn't give me confidence, and now, well after the next flight came in, the online service still doesn't show any info about my bag. This looks bad, doesn't it?
Update (9:15pm): “Bag Tag Number(s): RDU AA xxxxxx has arrived and has been scheduled for pickup by the delivery service on Jul 07 at 11:00 PM local time. It will be delivered to the address you provided within approximately 6 hours* of pickup time.”
I'm going to have another little burst of travel: Saturday I'll be leaving for the Durham, NC area to drop off a camper (the two-legged, not the four-wheeled, sort), Monday I'll go on to Toronto to spend a packed work-week in a room with other members of the ICANN NomCom.
The NomCom's proceedings are covered by promises of confidentiality, so I won't be blogging about them — and if the meetings run late, which they likely will, I many not be blogging about much else next week either.
After that, it's back home for the rest of the summer.
PS. No substantive posts today because I spent the WHOLE DAY in a meeting (but not about ICANN).
Flying from Istanbul to Manchester today; long frequent-flier-ticket layover until tomorrow's flight to Boston, followed by long frequent-flier-ticket layover until evening flight to Miami. Many chances to lose luggage.
This is a fascinating city, but it feels like what we saved on the tickets we pumped into the Turkish economy in other ways.
We are enjoying Istanbul. Below is the night-time view of the Blue Mosque from the far corner of the roof terrace of our hotel, which hints at the grandeur of the best of the local architecture.
Indeed, given the number of mosques near here, we are well-placed to hear the muezzins' calls.
After that trip to the great identity conference in Italy, I spent a pleasant weekend at my 25th (!) college reunion. Then home for a couple of days, and now I am vacationing in the UK. Without luggage, which is still in Boston.
We used frequent flyer miles for this trip, which means we could add a second stop at no cost, so in about a week the family will go to Istanbul, which is a place I've always wanted to visit. Using the miles meant we had to take the flights available, and when you are a party of four, there are not many. So we are only staying five days, and then it will take us two days to get home.
Once I recover from jet lag, I hope to blog about my experiences with the passport office…
I will have some connectivity here in the UK, so I expect to post now and then. While I'm in Turkey, the site will be in the hands of a wonderful guest blogger, about whom more soon.
Jotwell Blenderlaw