Tag: flight

Not so easyjet

Easyjet plane

I have just spent 15 days in the Netherlands, on the whole it was great but after 5 hotels and a generous friend it was hard work. A bunch of things happened which are hard to explain without a lot of detail, which I can’t go into. However…

There was a bunch of problems with my flights which had a knock on effect.

Sunday 18th June, I was booked, packed and had my boarding pass ready to get on my evening Easyjet flight to Amsterdam from Manchester. I just got back from the Northern Quarter after having brunch with a friend. Funny enough she asked me when my flight is and I joked it was 90mins from that moment.

On the walk back from brunch, I received a text message fr0m Easyjet.

We’re really sorry that your easyJet flight 2167 from MAN to AMS on 18-06-2023 has been cancelled due to poor weather. We understand that this will be disappointing news and we want to make it as easy as possible for you to make new plans.

What the hell I thought then when I got home I saw the email. 3 options were available.

  1. Switch to a new flight for free.
  2. Choose a voucher for the full value of your ticket
  3. Request a refund

I picked option 1 but there were no flights available to Amsterdam till late the next day. Meaning I would miss a lot of the first day of Mozilla House. With some authorisation and time running short, I triple checked KLM were still flying and booked that one for about a hour or so later than the original Easyjet one. I can’t even explain how stressful this was because I couldn’t leave till I had the boarding pass on my phone & gdrive. With a small amount of time I could only get a Uber to the airport check in with my cabin luggage (I can’t do 2 weeks with a small amount of luggage), get through security and board the plane.

When I finally got to Amsterdam, the hotel was completely automated by email, which I never answered due to the change of flights. Luckily one of the team saw my signal messages after midnight and let me in so I could actually check in.

2 hotels later and a great Mozilla House event in Amsterdam (more on this in another blog post). My plan to visit a friend in Rotterdam was thrown into chaos with Rotterdam upgrading its railways. This meant booking another hotel very last minute but I did end up going to Walibi Holland still.

Goliath x8 (not steel dragon 2000, but similar in construction)
Untamed x10 (first time I been on a RMC steel converted woodie and it was brutal)
Speed of sound x3
Loss of gravity x15 (not the smiler, but same maker and track style, not enough inversions)
Xpress platform 13 – x1

As I wasn’t spending 4 hours getting back to Rotterdam, I got to do a bunch of other stuff including watching the Flash with Dutch subtitles.

Anyway back to flights and travel. On my return to Manchester on Easyjet, I got to the Airport with plenty of time. My partner had joined me after the Publicspaces conference in hotel number 5 and we had booked flights a long time ago just incase. I spent a long time (30+ mins with the messaging system) cancelling my part of that flight and then moving my new flight seat next to my partner on the return. Worth noting Easyjet wouldn’t cancel my extra luggage, although I wouldn’t be on that booking any-more.

I get to the Amsterdam airport and try to check in to find my boarding pass isn’t valid. We try different ways to check if I’m on the flight but none of them work. I call Easyjet and the company who booked the flight. Its a long story but by the time I understand what happened, my options to leave were fading away to zero. I even considered the Eurostar and almost booked one of the last business class seats on KLM but they couldn’t guarantee I would make it to the plane in time.

Luckily my good friend Si had offered following me a room after having to book a hotel due to Rotterdam.

Finally after 15 days, 5 different hotels and 2 conferences; I was back in Manchester again.

The thing I learned is Easyjet cancels both flights even if you request to cancel only the outgoing flight.I gather this isn’t true for every airline but I don’t think they are the only one. Easyjet insists they sent emails to me but as I wasn’t the booker, it didn’t get to me. Although they did have my mobile number and email address. Right now we are going through this all to see what went wrong.

Dont get me wrong I had a amazing time in Amsterdam, worked really hard throughout but got the right blend of work and pleasure. However my credit card looks pretty damaged although I will get back the flights, some hotels are on me.

Flight shaming is taking off?

Flight shaming is taking off (nice pun), can travel be more ethical? Is something I read and think about quite a bit (the flying bit of course).

I’m guilty of flying a lot, for example a few months ago I flew to Amsterdam and back in the same day. Besides it being a bloody long day, I did spare a thought about my carbon mileage for the day. I did fly on one of those e propeller planes there and back, which I gather is better than a jet airplanes? But the flight shaming isn’t going away.

I think its a balance of understanding and conscious decisions. I agree with the writer of the guardian piece, that a family of 4 on a train to Spain isn’t at all practical and I personally can’t think of a better way to get there with kids. Yes going somewhere local is a nice idea but thats ignoring the cultural benefits of going to other countries.

Weirdly enough this came up in Re:publica, which I need to blog about fully. Johan Rockstorm’s talk was super sobering and someone asked him how it got to Berlin for the conference (maybe consciously or non-cons iosuly) flight shaming him.

He’s reply was good and balanced.

…so how can you get you know the world to transport itself in a sustainable way I think that the that the solutions is therefore not to go out and simply say stop flying I mean that that would be like the only message because I think that that just just creates a deeper rift between the aware environmental movement and everyone who just says oh no I’m not gonna I’m not gonna sacrifice that and therefore I rather put my head in the sand and and create my own little fake news story of something that will somehow make this not happen so therefore I think the solution for us to succeed to really have even the in does indifferent majority to surf along with us is to you know show that sustainability is the entry point for a better life that we can achieve better quality of life not just through by consuming and unnecessarily flying when we don’t need to yeah of course of course as in all forms of excessive consumption…

Latest Pacemaker mix: The Amsterdam speedy hop mix

Its my first travel abroad trip of 2019 and of course that means anther pacemaker device mix while up in the air. unfortunately it was a round trip to Amsterdam in the same day. No real time to relax but it beat missing the last third of TedXManchester 2019.

Its pretty trancey mix with some modern classics, bit of weird one but its not a bad one and fitted the short hop from Manchester to Amsterdam.

Enjoy the mix… the photo comes from jmhutun.

  1. Communication 2 (Armin remix) – Armin Van Buuren
  2. Homeward – Ferry Corsten
  3. Fallen (Gabriel & Dresden Anti-gravity remix) – Sarah McLaclan
  4. Southern Sun (Moe Aly remix) – Paul Oakenfold
  5. Anahera (extended mix) – Ferry Corsten presents Gouryella
  6. A new dawn (virtual vault remix) – Steve Forte Rio
  7. Rewind (Mikkas remix) – Emma Hewitt
  8. Tears (Protoculture remix) – Markus Schulz pres Dakota
  9. Opium – Jerome Isma-Ae & Alastor
  10. Rheinkraft (Full original mix) – Oliver Klein
  11. Talk (Dave Aude vocal club mix) – Coldplay
  12. Unchained – Diego Morrill
  13. Grotesque (Alex MORPH and RAM mix) – RAM
  14. Strange World (M.I.K.E’s 2006 rework) – Push

The Skopje Jetstream mix

Another strange mix of trance from across the spectrum of trance. Recorded from Skopje (SKP) to Berlin (SXF) recently, I tried to pick a few different tunes but also double down on the obvious as I do currently love that tune. Sound levels are not idea along with some of the mixes but a good mix generally.

I have another mix from Skopje to come but that might take some time to upload. Till then sitback, ensure your seat belts are fasten and enjoy the smooth Skopje jetstream.

  1. Love (Vocal mix) – DJ Eco Feat Lira Yin
  2. Solarcoaster (Protoculture remix) – Solarstone
  3. The Obvious – Muhamed Sherief & WAAJII
  4. The Situation (Liquid life remix) – A Situation
  5. Please save me (push remix) – Sunscream Vs Push
  6. Tears (Protoculture remix) – Markus Schulz presents Dakota
  7. Perpertual Motion – Protoculure
  8. Take me away in the night (purple haze remix) – 4 Strings
  9. Torrent – Dave 202
  10. Winter Falls – Calgar C
  11. Time of Our lives (Paul Van Dyk club mix) – Paul Van Dyk
  12. Underlying feeling (Adam K & Soha Club mix) – Sylvia Tosun
  13. The Obvious – Muhamed Sherief & WAAJII
  14. Barcelona (Gene Xander remix) – Addictive Glance
  15. In and Out of Love – Armin Van Buuren feat Sharon den Adel
  16. Humming the lights – Armin van Buuren presents Gaia

Fuel on the burning fire mix

I recorded fuel on the burning fire, while on the plane back from FUEL 2018 in Brussels. Such a good time and lots of amazing people and upgraded to business class, giving me lots of room to stretch out and throw down another pacemaker device mix.

I’ve recently been including more and more rave/90’s dance music in my mix and this is no different. Enjoy from the sunny cabin of my flight back to Manchester.

Photo credit: Kartaba

  1. Kiss the Sky – Frequency
  2. 3rd Earth (heartbeat remix) – Solarstone vs Scott Bond
  3. Comet – Skytech
  4. One for you (oliver klein remix) – Oliver Klien
  5. Night in motion – Cubic 22
  6. Opium – Jerome Isma-Ae & Alastor
  7. Labyrinth (Paul Keyen remix) – Lee cassells
  8. Brush Stroke – Simon Patterson
  9. Running up the hill (jerome isma-ae bootleg) – Placabo
  10. Seven days and one week (club mix) – BBE
  11. Ultra Curve – Cosmic gate
  12. Southern sun (moe aly remix) – Paul Oakenfold

 

New mix: Into the outer space

Into the outer space mix by Cubicgarden on Mixcloud

Just uploaded my latest pacemaker device mix, the into the outer space mix.

The whole mix is space themed and has a narrative running through it. Most of the tunes have a space flight theme.

Enjoy!

Liftoff Space Shuttle Discovery

  1. Dark side of the Moon – Ernesto vs Bastian
  2. Orbion (Max Graham vs Protoculture Remix) – Armin Van Buuren
  3. From the Earth (Breakfast remix) – Andrew Bayer
  4. Rewind (Mikkas Remix) – Emma Hewitt
  5. Airforce One (igor S mix) – igor s
  6. F16 – Simon Patterson
  7. Intruder – Armin vs MIKE
  8. Tomorrow 2006 (Jamx and De Leo) – Dumonde
  9. Stellar – Driftwood
  10. Everythings been written – 8 Wonders
  11. Dark side of the sun – Rory Gallagher
  12. The Legacy (club mix) – Push
  13. Hole in the sky (Arctic moon remix) – Tonny Nesse
  14. Higher State – Above and Beyond
  15. Constellation (John O’Callaghan Remix) – Thomas Bronzwaer
  16. 3rd Earth (heart beat remix) – Solarstone vs Scott Bond
  17. Airwave (21st Century mix) – Rank 1

Off to the land of the rising sun

And the craziest crossing in the world… I actually won’t be staying that far from there even.

Sometimes I wonder…

I’m currently sitting in Manchester airport terminal 1 (at Starbucks) waiting for the flight to Dubai’s gate to open. Sucking down on a tall mocha frappichino, while considering what I’m about to do.

7hrs to Dubai and then 7hrs to Japan, that’s a lot of flying and its the reverse of my preferred way to fly the earth (prefer east to west). I’m very conscious I know little to no Japanese and may have checked in too much stuff for a 2 week trip (26kg in one suitcase).

The accommodation is a worry as its airbnb and although I have hosted people, I have never actually stayed somewhere let alone the other side of the world! I feel slightly in prepared for the culture shock and the problems I face with food allergies. I keep saying if I had a little more time? But there will never be enough time, isnt this the point?

Regardlessly I decided to just do it and theres many reasons but mainly the importance of living life. How ironic that its almost 5 years since my brush with death.

Anyway time to stock up on chewing gum (makes the descends bearable on my ears) and some food for the flight (you don’t want an allergic reaction on the flight)

Bon voyage! I’ll hopefully be tweeting and posting to flickr.

53° 21.681 N -2° 16.515 W

My perceptive tracks end in Istanbul

My parents were deeply worried that I was doing too much again. Specially after what happened to me with mybrushwithdeath almost two and half years ago. I can tell you and them that my blood pressure is normal…

So what have I been up to…? Because my blog has also suffered due to the hectic schedule.

Generally I’ve been up and down the country and beyond telling people about Perceptive Media. The later part of that schedule is coming to a close but I went to Oreilly’s Tools of Change conference in Frankfurt and Nemsummit in Istanbul. Istanbul wasn’t what I was expecting in anyway. Although it marks the furthest I have been east in the world, before that it was Sweden.

Istanbul

Along with being chased by a big wild dog, hating the food, avoid nuts/fish and not really feeling very comfortable with the conference, I just didn’t get a sense of wow I’m out of Europe and in the middle east. Which was a shame and I’m sure if I went back it would be different. To be honest I didn’t get out of the tourist part and check out the old town part of Istanbul.

Istanbul

What shocked me was the food. I was expecting lots of lovely meats with lots of seasoning and the like. What I experienced was a diced chicken which was boiled and had never seen any kind of seasoning, at one part of my trip. This won’t have been so bad if I wasn’t so bloody hungry after suffering the nut filled flight from Zurich to Istanbul for 2hours.

Istanbul

I was expecting something like you get in Turkish restaurants but got something boring and plain everytime. Someone did say I was in wrong part of Turkey for good meats and the like. Instead this part was best known for sea food (which I can’t eat either). Breakfast was also very tricky because a massive part of the food had nuts involved in someway, so I kept to breads, cheeses and plastic looking meats.

Even at the conference there was lunches with cheeses and the like but with nuts thrown over the top. Nightmare!

Although I’m grateful to go to Istanbul for work, I just wasn’t feeling it at all. It might be down to the conference rather than the country. NemSummit was nothing like Tools of Change or anything that level. It makes you realise what a hard job it is getting the small things right…

I think to be honest if I’m going east again, I’d rather skip over the middle east and head to Asia. Japan, Korea and even China…