Alef Arendsen

Well, praying maybe is a little bit too much, but I’m definitely hoping for that 20 – 23 knots to that’s predicted for the later afternoon to hold on. I’ve spent the weekend in Cairo, a trip I planned, but didn’t exactly fit in my schedule and also didn’t exactly turn out as I figured it would. First my flight to Cairo was canceled. Second, my hotel was canceled because of a no-show.

I did have a nice time though. I moved to the Intercontinental City Starts hotel, which is relatively new and supposedly the best hotel in town. Well, it sure is a great hotel.

I have a connecting flight to from Paris, which should safely get me to Amsterdam by 2pm. I left my car at the airport this time (normally I go by train), and kiteboarding gear is in there, so I can immediately drive to Muiderberg. That should leave me enough time for a decent session.

The earphones work very well by the way. The sound is just great. They do not block external sound as well as the Shures, but the sound quality simply is a lot better.

[update] no wind today and even if there was, it was an easterly, so no chance to do some boarding at sea–it’s an offshore direction. There might be some tomorrow though…

So I had to go to Cairo. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to be there, it was more that I didn’t want to go there. Yesterday I first presented at the Profict Wintercamp which was a very well organized, event with some great food. Robbie Vanbrabant spoke about Guice and I spoke to about Spring. We had a little bit of a panel discussion afterwards.

Straight after the event I had to fly to the airport. Well, not literally fly–I just had to be there very quick. My flight would leave at 9 and I left Loenen (which is about 75 mins from the airport) at about 6.45pm. Should normally be enough.

On my way to the airport, I listened to my voicemails and found out my travel agent had tried to reach me three times. Apparently my flight was cancelled!! He had rebooked on a different flight so I would still be able to get to Cairo in time to speak about the Egyptian User Group meeting. The flight out however was about 7.20pm, which I would never be able to make anymore.

After a few phone calls, we decided to try the 8.15pm flight to Rome after which I would have to get onto a 9.25am flight the next morning to Cairo. Problem solved… If I was able to get onto that flight.

Unfortunately, the trip to the airport didn’t go as smooth as I though and there was a little bit of a queue at the ticket counter. I’m a frequent flyer, but although that did help me a little bit to avoid the queue, it didn’t get me on the plane, ‘coz I simply was not in time anymore. So the lady tried to rebook on different flights but after five minutes, so told me there was no way she could get me to Cairo anymore before Sunday morning 3am. And I really had to be there on Saturday (today that is). All flights were full, there was simply no way to get to Cairo anymore in time, she said.

So while I walked back to my car, I called the travel agent to let him know that he cancel the whole trip. My agent told me to hold on and he started to look for another alternative. Within literally one minute he had an alternative flight ready for me, still with KLM (flights operated by KLM and Alitalia) that would get me to Venice that same evening (yesterday that is), to Rome the following morning flying out from Venice at 6.50am and to Cairo from Rome leaving at 9.25am. The flight to Rome would leave in 30 minutes, so I still had to hurry quite a bit!

I went back to the ticket counter and when it was my turn I told one of the KLM people that whereas they couldn’t get me onto a flight, my travel agent, who in fact is in Germany, could, so they’d better get me a ticket. After working like maniacs for 10 minutes to get me a FIM (Flight Interruption Manifest), I finally could get onto the flight. 20 minutes later I was on the flight to Venice. The KLM people were quite amazed and embarrassed. While they couldn’t get me on a flight anymore, my travel agent arranged it in literally one minute…

I have to say until two years ago, I never really saw the need to have a travel agent, unless you had to do an insane amount of traveling. Now, I do a fair bit of traveling, but I though it would only cost you. 5 minutes after I received my boarding pass for the KLM flight to Venice, I also received a text message with a hotel I could stay in and the additional flight details. So now I know better. Michael of Upper Level Travel: thanks!

Now I have to catch my flight to Cairo…

The title really says it all: home sweet home… I never knew it would feel that true once in my life (pffff, this really sounds like I’m getting old ).

Anyway, after three weeks travel in a row, I finally get to spend a little bit of time in Holland. I was in Stockholm first, in Malta after that where I had a fabulous time with the guys (and girls) I trained at a client of ours. Last week I was in Malmo, which was also great.

I’m at home now, spending the week in Holland. Unfortunately it’s not an easy week though. This week, I’ve got a class as well and on Friday I’m speaking at the Profict Wintercamp to which I’m really looking forward. Straight after that event I’m heading over to Cairo, where I’m speaking at the 2008 Java Developer Conference organized by JUG leader Ahmed Hashim. I’m also really looking forward to being there (not to the travel though ).

After that I’m going to be at home for a week. End of March will get to me Israel after which there’s going to be 10 days of Italy spread over 3 weeks.

(listening to Skalpel – Theme from ‘Behind the Curtain’ while writing this… highly recommended)
I saw Joris Luyendijk for the first time in a talkshow called ‘De Wereld Draait Door’ with Matthijs van Nieuwkerk. Joris has written two books on his visits to Cairo that lasted for one and two years respectively. Both books are best sellers and challenge some of the common thoughts about Islam culture. For some reason, I didn’t like the guy very much. He came across as arrogant, all-knowing about the Islam culture and Egypt, just because he had been there for a couple of years or so.

I had just been to Cairo myself and to be honest, I got back with mixed feelings. Good feelings about the country and the people being so hospitable, but also weird feelings because I simply could not understand a whole lot about the culture. Had Joris Luyendijk done a better job at explaining that his book really is a good one to read if you want to know more about the differences between the western world and for example the Muslim culture in Cairo I would have definitely bought and read his book(s) earlier. For some reason though I didn’t do that and I promised myself to put Cairo on my ‘places-to-visit-again-list’, just to find out more about those differences that I didn’t understand back then (and of course to enjoy the country). I wanted to do that myself, instead of having this seemingly arrogant guy learn me something about it.

Don’t worry, Cairo still is on that same list, but in the meantime I did read Joris’ first book titled Een goede man slaat soms zijn vrouw (literally translated as: ‘A good man sometimes hits (or slaps) his wife’) and I have to be honest here: this book is nice and helped in my understanding of the culture in Cairo, Egypt! Of course the title is very provocative and that’s one of the reasons I didn’t like it a lot at first. I can’t help but get the impression when I see a provocative title that the book is bad and that the title is still trying to attract readers to the book.

Only in the end does Joris explain why he chose the title. I’m not going to explain that here. It’s not that the book would be any less interesting if you would know already. It would however be silly to try to explain the reasoning of the entire book in a single blog entry. If that would have been possible, reading the book would be a waste of time and it’s not!

On the contrary, how much I disliked him on TV, Joris is a good writer, has an entertaining style and seriously makes you think. The book is not a page turner, sometimes you’ll have to work your way through a couple of pages because some passages are a bit boring, but then again, sometimes skipping one of two paragraphs is not such a big deal–the book doesn’t have a plot whereby you cannot miss a single page.

Concluding: I’m glad somebody (can’t remember who) has recommended this book to me. It made all things Cairo a lot clearer. I’m looking forward (even more) to going there again!

Last April I visited Cairo to conduct a training session at a client of ours. I had a great time there with several people I trained and concluded the week with a two-day stay at the Sheraton hotel along the borders of the Nile. I stayed on the 25th and close to top floor, which had a breath-taking view over the Nile and the city itself.

Other than that the service at the hotel was excellent. I would rather have stayed at the Marriott in Cairo, which has an excellent reputation, but that was full already. The Sheraton however was a very good experience too, with arguably the best bed I’ve ever slept in.

I had one meal in one of the restaurants itself. The Japanese food they served was great. The other evening I had dinner in the garden of Marriott hotel. If you’re looking for a quiet afternoon in the heart of the city, the garden of the Marriott hotel really does the trick.

I would probably not go to the same hotel again anymore. Not because it hasn’t been a good experience for me, but because it wasn’t anything special. Next time, I’ll probably try to book the palatial Marriott.

Ah, and if you’re there, don’t forget to visit the Al-Azhar park and have a drink at Alain le Notre. Great atmosphere and one of those quiet getaways from the (very) busy parts of town.

Links:

• Sheraton Cairo Towers
• Marriott Cairo