On a Quest

Met Richard Quest (CNN anchor and alleged crystal-meth-in-the-park enthusiast) outside this club (pictured on Google Street View) last night after a wonderful evening seeing Stomp with my friend Sarah. He's apparently not famous in the UK.

That's Cricket

At my first match. Twenty20, not Test. (I.e. three hours, not five days).

Silver spoons

My most recent trip from San Francisco back to London was my first time flying as a British Airways "Silver" level member.  I got bumped to business class and had a personal greeting from the purser once one the plane.

There's a bunch of random things that come with Silver membership, but the perks I was most interested in are:

• Access to the BA airport lounges (which have good bacon sandwiches)
• Access to the Fast Track passport lines (which are sometimes not so "fast" but can often save a lot of time when trying to get back into the country)

Next stop, Gold.  It doesn't have many more perks I'm interested in, although I've been stymied by how difficult it is to use frequent flier miles on BA to get upgrades (Google only pays for economy class, so I need to snag an upgrade to have any hope of fitting into a seat for 10 hours).  I'm hoping that Gold might address that.

Loose change

Cashed in my loose change today, which I just collect in a tupperware container next to my door.

Had about £210 ($320), mostly in one-pound coins.  I don't use cash all that much, but it's obviously easy to end up with tons of pocket change here.

Double first class

An event happened today (well, is currently happening, since I'm still in the air as I type this) so rare that I don't have a name for it -- I'm in first class, with the whole row to myself.  The perfect flight! (Assuming it lands safely).

I love drinking with Friends

Proof of Switzerland

Spent the day in Basel, Switzerland, and here's the proof (was also in France today, but one hardly needs proof of that).

Passport stamps, 10 Swiss Francs, and Toblerone (impossible to get anywhere else!)