Four hours into a six hours train journey up from Birmingham to Edinburgh to see some of Leah’s family members in Scotland. I’ve never been to Scotland before, let alone Edinburgh. I’ve always think that Scotland is way too cold for my liking but now that I’ve experienced New York winter (-19C the day before I left and -12C on the day I left I think Scotland winter is just mild!

Normally I would hate to sit in a train for six hours with nothing to do but read or sleep, but as I am traveling on a Virgin train (do you see the trend here?) there is laptop power socket so I’ve been working on ecto’s Help file, emails, and blogging away while listening to iTunes. In between I am almost finished reading the “Comm Check…” book but I’ve bought, on impulse the other day while in Bridgnorth, the next book in the Patrick O’Brien’s Arburey/Maturin series, Mauritius Command. That will do for the eight hours train ride back down to London in a few days time, me think.

So just under two more hours to go and still has lots to occupy my mind. The same cannot be said for the guy sitting opposite me though. He had been bored out of his mind since hour 3. He only has a car magazine and a CD player to help pass time. I guess not every one is seasoned traveler like Leah and myself who are well prepared for long journey with books, etc. or able to fall asleep on command.

Here I was on a Virgin train traveling from London to the Midland, where my parents live, and trying to blog. I’ve forgotten how bumpy British train ride is in comparison to Amtrak. So within 15 minutes of my eyes trying to keep track of the constantly moving text on the screen my inner ears complain to my brain and I started to get headache and my stomach starts to fill queasy. Better stop before I make a fool of myself…

My original plan for my east bound flight was to read my New Scientist magazine until dinner had been served then slept all the way until breakfast. Alas, with delay on de-icing the plane when we were on the ground we were an hour late taking off. That means I finished my magazine way before dinner was even heated up!

Before this flight I debated whether to spend the money on a air/auto power adapter for my PC notebook. (By the way, this is the first time in over 4 years that I travel without my trusted PowerBook.) As I mentioned before my plan didn’t include using the notebook on this flight so I didn’t spend the money (~$100) for the power adapter. But as I was sitting here bored, waiting for dinner to be served so I could go to sleep I remembered Leah and I have two more trips to the U.K. this year for friends wedding. So I decided spending the money on the power adapter isn’t such a waste of money after all.

It’s been over two years since I last flew trans-Atlantic with Virgin. Sure I had flown many times in the last two years around the States but those Boeing planes cannot match the Airbus A340-600 that I am sitting in right now. I am reminded by the level of details Virgin has put into the whole experience when I used the bathroom. When I closed the door the bathroom light does not just switch on like most plane. Instead, the Virgin way is to slowly bring the light level up so there is no sudden change of brightness. Same with the reading light or the cabin lighting. Then there is the smoothness of the ride. The constant hum of the engines are ever present. But my Shure E-3c headphones block 90% of the hum and the low level of vibration makes me almost think I am sitting on solid ground. Oh and the carbon fibre seat tray impresses the geek side of me too 🙂

So thank you for another enjoyable trans-Atlantic flight, Sir Richard.

So Leah and I are off to Washington D.C. tomorrow night for an extended weekend vacation. I can’t wait to visit the new National Air and Space Museum‘s hanger at the Dulles Airport, with the Space Shuttle Enterprise on display!

We are staying at a hotel in Georgetown so we will be fairly close to downtown. Well closer than where we stayed last time we were in D.C. which was in Crystal City. And the weather forecast looks Ok for the next few days so hopefully I will be able to take some decent photos too.