The IT Nerd

I am tying this from India. But I wasn’t sure I was going to make it here. Let me explain what happened and how this almost went horrifically sideways.

I was booked on a flight via Air Canada to Newark New Jersey to catch a United Airlines fight to New Delhi. It was supposed to leave at 4:55 PM on Sunday. But it didn’t. It instead got pushed back to 5:45 PM. But then, we were informed that we would have to wait on the the far corner tarmac of Pearson Airport until 6:30 PM as that was the earliest takeoff and landing slot that they had for us. The reason for this is that they needed the gate for other aircraft. Nobody was thrilled about this at all and people on the plane were openly cursing Air Canada. In my case, it made my connection extremely tight. There was a chance that I would miss my flight to New Delhi, my checked bag would miss the flight, or both.

#EpicFail

But to Air Canada’s credit, we were airborne at 6:34 PM and we got to Newark about an hour and a bit later. But I had a new problem to deal with. I landed at terminal A in Newark. My connecting flight was in Terminal C. So I asked the Air Canada what was the fastest way to get to Terminal C. They told me to exit security and take a train that connected all of Newark’s terminals and re-enter security. So I did just that, getting a good amount of cardio in the process by sprinting from place to place. When I got to security at Terminal C, the TSA officer asked me why I was out of breath I told him what happened and he shook his head and said this:

“Air Canda does that to their flyers all the time. There’s a bus that goes from terminal to terminal that keeps you within security and is a bit faster. I really wish that they’d tell their passengers that.”

My opinion of Air Canada, which was already low at that point took a huge nosedive. I told myself at that point that I would avoid flying them going forward as this is completly unacceptable.

So, after clearing secuirty, my gate was very close by and I made the flight with 10 minutes to spare. But what about my bag? Fortunately I had a Tile Slim inside it and I used the Tile App to mark it as lost. That way I would get an alert when it was within proximity to my iPhone. 15 minutes after I did that (as they held the flight for 20 minutes for reasons they did not explain), I got an alert that my bag was close by. That was a relief. While I do carry a spare pair of contacts and solution in my laptop bag, I didn’t want to be seeing a client in clothes that I had been wearing for a full day.

The flight itself was uneventful. I have to admit that this was my first time on United Airlines and I was very impressed. The cabin crew was top notch in terms of being attentive and professional. While my experience is based on a sample size of one, I would fly them again without hesitation. The fact that the 13.5 hour flight was uneventful was welcome because everything up until that point was stressfull. I did get about 90 minutes of sleep, but nothing more as I don’t sleep well on flights.

After landing at Indira Gandhi airport, getting through customs was easy and quick. So was picking up my bag thanks to the Tile Slim which made it easier to find. And I was met at the airport by a driver from the hotel that I am staying at for the next couple of days which is the Le Meridian in Gurgaon’s Cyber City. This is an extremely upscale hotel that is above and beyond what I usually stay at in India. Which is usually very upscale. Check in was easy and professional, and I was impressed from moment one. I booked a small room and this is what I got:

Everything is from the top shelf. My work area is great as well:

I was able to set up my MacBook Pro as well as the USB charger for associalted devices. It’s a great place to work.

I found this writing next to the clock radio. I have no idea what it says. If someone could translate this for me, I’d really appreicate it.

But once again, I’ve found a hotel that has a 30-pin dock connector for in room entertainmet. Sigh.

Oh, the WiFi is 2Mbps a second if you want it for free. If you pay for it (at very reasonable prices I might add), you can get 4Mbps. I can live with 2Mbps for free.

Tomorrow, I start two very long days with my client. But you’ll still see an update from me as to what’s going on before I move on to Frankfurt Germany. Stay tuned!

I am flying to two countries this week. First I am flying India to do some work for a company in Gurgaon. This is a company that I have not worked for before and I have two days to get things done so that should be interesting. From there, I will be flying to Frankfurt Germany where I have 24 hours to do some work for another new client. Thus this will be a pretty intense one week trip.

Because of my need to get on the ground, get stuff done, and move on, I will taking this route:

• I leave today from Pearson Airport in Toronto to fly via Air Canada Express to Newark New Jersey. From there I will catch a United Airlines flight to Indira Gandhi Airport in New Delhi India. Now you’re likely wondering why don’t I just take the direct flight from Toronto to New Delhi like the last time I was there. The answer is that I need to be on the ground and getting to work for Tuesday morning. So rather than fly on Friday night and spend the weekend in Gurgaon, I decided to go this route. The total flight time is 15 hours and I will be doing the Newark to New Delhi leg on a Boeing 777.
• Very early on Thursday morning, I will be flying out from Indira Gandhi airport via Lufthansa to Frankfurt Germany. I will then be picked up and driven to the clients office where I will quickly get to work. I will stay overnight in the city. I will be doing this leg on an Airbus A380
• On Friday morning, I fly back to Toronto on Air Canada on another Boeing 777.

As you can see, this is an intense trip where there is not a moment to spare.

As for the tech I am carrying, here’s what I have on this trip:

I will be carrying my trusty MacBook Pro With Retina Display. One thing that I really like about this computer is the fact that it is light and easy to carry. This is important when you’re carrying it through airports. It has a custom skin from skinit.com and yes, I don’t play nice with others. My teachers said so in grade school.

Now this case by Case Logic has a whole lot of stuff in it. It usually includes iKlear travel wipes and a microfiber cloth to ensure that my MacBook Pro is always clean. To the right are mini DisplayPort to VGA and DVI adapters from Apple. That way I can be sure I have what I need to connect to an external monitor or projector. There’s also a Ethernet to Thunderbolt adapter for the times where I need to connect a networking cable. Below it from left to right are two USB sticks. One has a bootable image of macOS in case I need it. The other is a 16GB USB stick with Disk Warrior in case I need it as well. There’s a USB hub and a bunch of USB cables from Lightning to mini and micro USB cables.

This case holds my Olixar Travel Adapter With 4 USB Ports my keep my iPhone 5S and other tech charged. There’s the Apple World Travel Adapter Kit for use with my MacBook Pro when I travel internationally.

When I travel on business, I like to unwind to some music in my hotel room. Thus I travel with the Veho VSS-009-360BT – 360° M4 Bluetooth Wireless Speaker as it has good sound and good battery life and charges via a USB port.

When I’m on a plane or just around town, I use the RHA MA450 headsets as they are a quality product with nylon cables and aircraft grade aluminum that deliver quality sound.

Inside this Case Logic case is a 1TB Western Digital Elements hard drive that I use to backup my MacBook Pro when I travel. Because backing up your data is very important. It is packed separately in my checked luggage to ensure that it is safe.

All my luggage has these Tile Bluetooth transponders in them so I can find my luggage easily in airports like Indira Gandhi Airport in New Delhi, or Heathrow in London UK.

As for transport to the airport, my wife took care of getting me to Terminal 1 at Pearson Airport. I got to the airport just under three hours before my flight. That way I can check in and go through security at a casual pace. Checking in and going through US Customs took about an hour and I appreciated the fact that they had an automated machine to speed the check in process. Once I was past customs, I made a stop at the CIBC banking center in Pearson Airport to grab some foreign currency. Since I am a CIBC customer, this saves me money in currency exchange fees. While I was able to get US dollars and Euros, I was not able to get Indian Rupees. I suspect it has something to do with the fact that 500 and 1000 Rupee notes have been taken out of circulation by the Indian government. I’ll have to figure out how to get Rupees when I land in New Jersey or New Delhi. I also leveraged the free WiFi, though I had problems posting this story using their WiFi and had to switch to using my iPhone’s Instant Hotspot feature.

The last thing that I should mention is that I will be trying out Rogers Roam Like Home roaming feature. Now frequrent readers of my blog know that I have said that you will get the best price mobile voice and data abroad by skipping your Canadina cell carrier entirely and using a local SIM card with an unlocked phone. I still stand by that and I will recommend that option to anyone who asks. But I have gotten numerous requests to test out how well Roam Like Home works. Thus since I recently switched to Rogers from Bell as they are currently the least worst option for Canadian cell phone carriers at the moment, this gave me the oppurtinty to be a test subject for this and report back. I expect to be paying $10 a day for all the destinations that I will be going to this week. But I will be interested in seeing how easy it is to use. While I was sitting and waiting for my flight to Newark, I registered for Roam Like Home by texting “Travel” (without the quotes) to 222. I got this in response:

We’ll see how well this goes this week.

My next update will come when I land in New Delhi and get to the hotel. I’ll also detail what my layover in Newark was like. Stay tuned!

UPDATE: Seeing as my Air Canada flight to Newark is delayed due to air traffic, this gives me an opprtunity to add one more piece of tech that I am carrying with me:

To keep my iPhone charged, I keep this Asus ZenPower 10500 mAh battery pack handy. It has more than enough power to last through layovers or tours. But it is light enough to carry around without feeling it. Looks like I will need it as Air Canada has once again made travelling a bit more difficut than it should be. Good thing that my connecting flight isn’t until 8:50 PM tonight. That gives me a reasonable shot of making it.