No sooner back from Rio - I landed at 1720 on Sunday - than I was whisked away by car to the flat and then back to the airport after a quick change and to leave my suitcase, back to the airport and off to Paris on the 2015 Air France flight!
A night at the CDG Sheraton was the go as I only arived at 2230 but at least I was in bed by 2330, much better than riding into Paris and finding a hotel after midnight.. The Sheraton was OK but very pricey and wanting money for everything despite charging EURO 200 for the room alone. In the morning I eschewed the 35euro breakfast and it was down to the RER station and off to IRSN in the far south of Paris and a day long meeting then back to the airport for the last Austrian flight of the day back to Vienna at 2015. I finally got back to the flat at 2315 to start unpacking!
The meeting was the final session to agree the report of a committee I have been working with for nearly 3 years looking at remediation of oldcFrench uranium mines. After so many meetings we still had quite a bit to do but the day went well. The final document will hopefully be handed to the relevant Ministers in France early in March.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Brazil 23 January to 5 February
Well the Brazil mision was hard buuut fun and we were a team who all got along well together.The mission started in Salvador, Bahia. The group assembled over the weekend and then flew to Guanambi to get a bus to Caetite which was our basefor the next 10 days or so. We were reviewing oerations at the mine there and although we had a log drive to and from site each day the peopelwere very helpful and good to work with. At the weekend we were driven to a reort in the hills 3+ hours away and had a less formal series of discussions as well as a chance to see different countryside with mountains and waterfalls. Fascinating.
Then back to work and on Wednesday we flew to Rio in the same small turbo prop Bandierante. Not pressurised and we went up to 12000 feet at one point; we landed at Rio's domestic airport which gave us a view of the Christ statue at Cocovardo on the way in and then a chance to watch planes taking off towrards Sugar Loaf Mountain from the general aviation park next to the runway while we awaited ground tarnsport-that was fun!
Rio was busy as the build up to carnival was in full swing but we finished our work in time to do a visit to Cocovardo and Sugar Loaf on the Friday afternoon. The hotel wa s close to the ebcah at Copacobana and so a couple of the team went swimming but said it was bit rough ans colder than they expected. Sadly I was working most of the team as the team coordinator and having to tie up loose ends with our Brazilian hosts somy visits to the beach were very brief..
Then back to work and on Wednesday we flew to Rio in the same small turbo prop Bandierante. Not pressurised and we went up to 12000 feet at one point; we landed at Rio's domestic airport which gave us a view of the Christ statue at Cocovardo on the way in and then a chance to watch planes taking off towrards Sugar Loaf Mountain from the general aviation park next to the runway while we awaited ground tarnsport-that was fun!
Rio was busy as the build up to carnival was in full swing but we finished our work in time to do a visit to Cocovardo and Sugar Loaf on the Friday afternoon. The hotel wa s close to the ebcah at Copacobana and so a couple of the team went swimming but said it was bit rough ans colder than they expected. Sadly I was working most of the team as the team coordinator and having to tie up loose ends with our Brazilian hosts somy visits to the beach were very brief..
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Currently I am sitting in a lounge at Frankfurt airport having found out that if you are leaving from certain "B" gates there is no lounge access unless you pass needlessly through passport and security control twice in B terminal. On the other hand you can sit in A terminal and go to your B gate via the long walk in the tunnel with no need to pass security and with no risk of missing your flight through getting stuck in one of those long, slow queues that Frankfurt is famous for.
Of course nobody from Lufthansa will tell you this. As always LH ground staff have been arrogant, surly and generally unhelpful; as for asking if I can print one page from my computer !!! no interest in helping and no suggestions. The value of the Senator Gold Card seemingly devalues with LH day by day. Also you have to pay for wifi here whereas in Lisbon today TAP gave it for free. This was the only saving grace however for an arline whose initials obviously stand for Totally Average Performance or perhaps Terribly Aged Personnel - the cabin crew were the oldest I have seen in years, nobody under about 40 I am guessing.
I have been in Brazil for 2 weeks reviewing operations in a team at a mine there. The main story can be found on the INB or IAEA websites. We were 5 people from all over the world and had a lot of work to do but it all went well.
The full tale will be told later but it included a couple of flights in a Banderainte 110C twin turboprop, which were fun.
I will do the main post next week sometime as I have to turn round fast in Vienna tonight and go to Paris on terh 2020 AF flight ready for a meeting tomorrow! It never stops...............
Of course nobody from Lufthansa will tell you this. As always LH ground staff have been arrogant, surly and generally unhelpful; as for asking if I can print one page from my computer !!! no interest in helping and no suggestions. The value of the Senator Gold Card seemingly devalues with LH day by day. Also you have to pay for wifi here whereas in Lisbon today TAP gave it for free. This was the only saving grace however for an arline whose initials obviously stand for Totally Average Performance or perhaps Terribly Aged Personnel - the cabin crew were the oldest I have seen in years, nobody under about 40 I am guessing.
I have been in Brazil for 2 weeks reviewing operations in a team at a mine there. The main story can be found on the INB or IAEA websites. We were 5 people from all over the world and had a lot of work to do but it all went well.
The full tale will be told later but it included a couple of flights in a Banderainte 110C twin turboprop, which were fun.
I will do the main post next week sometime as I have to turn round fast in Vienna tonight and go to Paris on terh 2020 AF flight ready for a meeting tomorrow! It never stops...............
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