Wednesday 18th August

After interviewing some candidates for a position in my department all morning I headed over to Manchester airport where because I did not book the short stay multistory car park far enough in advance had to go to the long stay where I needed to catch a bus back to the terminal. I went through security without a hitch, got something to eat and boarded my KLM flight to Amsterdam.

In Amsterdam I had a quick layover so went straight to my gate, I was planning to grab some dinner but there was not anything good to have in the area I was in so just grabbed a water and hoped the restaurant in the hotel would still be open when I got there.

After I arrived in Warsaw I get some cash from the ATM and get a taxi to my hotel, the Holiday Inn in the centre of the city. I have stayed here before so know what to expect. I also got upgraded to an executive floor room which is always a bonus.

I made it just in time before the restaurant closed so was able to get some dinner before going to sleep.

Thursday 19th August

Got up, got ready and then caught a taxi over to the marketing agency I came over to Warsaw to see. After a couple of hours I went back to the hotel to do some work on my laptop. I went for lunch in the shopping mall opposite the hotel and then back to the hotel to carry on with work.

When I had finished I caught a taxi to the Old Town area of the city where I walked around for a while taking lots of pictures. I went to a restaurant recommended by one of the people at our agency; unfortunately it was full and the guy there recommend to get reservations next time. So I walked around for a while longer looking for somewhere to eat.

I ended up at one of the outside cafe’s in the Market Square, I went for the cheapest one which in hindsight was probably a mistake as the food was not very high quality.

I walked around for a bit longer before heading back to the hotel to try and get an early night before my flight tomorrow.

Friday 20th August

The alarm goes off at 4am (3am UK time), I got ready and head to the airport. The taxi driver makes me feel like I an in a computer game with his driving at high speeds around the deserted early morning streets of Warsaw.

I check in for my flight and head over to the gate. The flight is smooth and I am able to sleep for a bit of it. At Amsterdam I grab a sandwich for breakfast and then return on my plane to Manchester. When I arrive I am so glad that I signed up for iris recognition a while back as the line for passport control was huge, the longest I had ever seen it, it would have easily taken over an hour to wait in it, luckily I walked straight though the iris machine with no one in front of me.

Thursday 24th June 2010

Left the house at 06.45 and got to Manchester Airport a little under an hour later. I checked in went through security and then got some breakfast, I don’t know why I always go for the greasy offerings they have here as I never enjoy it or learn my lesson.

Flight takes of without a hitch and takes a little over an hour to get to Paris Charles de Gaulle airport. Most of the flight is spent trying to ignore the two guys next to me talking loudly about the financial performance of an automated milking company (really interesting).

At Charles de Gaulle I need to go from terminal 2E to terminal 2F, not as easy as you would think mainly due to industrial action taking place at the airport, it took around an hour with the bottle neck being passport control between the buildings, the immigration officers would just decide to get up and leave with no warning leaving everyone in their queue to then push into another.

I grab a drink and sandwich and then board my flight. When I get on the plane we are told we will be on the ground for at least an hour until air traffic control give us permission to take off, it is quite warm on the plane but luckily I have the whole row to myself. It ends up being one hour 20 minutes before we take off.

I get to Milan Linate airport later than planned and was quite shocked that there was no form of immigration, I just walked out of the exit without showing anyone my passport which I was a bit gutted about as I don’t have an Italy stamp in my current passport. I wait for about 20 minutes for the hotel shuttle and when I get in he starts to read the newspaper and eat a banana.

I get to the Crown Plaza hotel and check in, they upgrade me to a superior room because I am a Priority gold card holder which was nice. The room was clean but a bit cramped, although it did have a big comfortable bed.

I connect up to the Internet and start working for a few hours to get all the latest changes to my company’s website live ahead of tomorrow’s product re-launch, I finish that by 20.00.

The Crown Plaza Hotel

I go down to find out what is the best way to get into the centre of Milan. I am told to go to the closest subway which is a 15 minute walk away, which I do. I get the subway to Duomo station, as soon as you walk up the stairs you are greeted by the setting sun covering the facade of the Duomo Cathedral. As usual I take lots of photographs of everything and walk around for a couple of hours. I have dinner at one of the restaurants on the street and have a veal chop with gelato for dessert.

Around Milan

After the meal I catch the subway back to the hotel where I prepare a short speech for tomorrow.

Friday 25th June 2010

The next morning I head down for breakfast, there was a large selection but to be honest the hot stuff was not very tasty, but the cold options were ok.

I check out and get a taxi to our customers’ factory, which takes about 30 minutes because of the traffic. Once there I do a bit of work on my laptop before the big balloon release to signify the re-launch of one of our products.

After the launch I get a lift to the nearest taxi station and get one to the airport. I have hours to wait there as I am booked on a late flight. The airline wanted to charge me to get on an earlier one (some airlines let you do this for free). I am not even able to work as the battery in my company laptop is useless and runs out in 20 minutes and I am not able to find a power socket. So I pass the time playing around on my iPhone.  I eventually leave on Alitalia for my flight to Charles de Gaulle.

Charles de Gaulle again surpasses itself in ineptitude, this time it is the food court in terminal 2E. No one was serving, how a whole food court can not have anybody behind the counters I don’t know. Eventually one woman did come out and after I selected my Chinese meal proceeded to put it in the microwave, great, sure I will not get a mild case of food poisoning from that.

Then to top things off I get to my gate only to be told they need to replace the airplane and don’t know how long it will be, great!

In the end it was only an hour delay, ten minutes of which was spent on a bus driving around the airport in what seemed to be a search for a free plane.

The flight was uneventful all the way to Manchester, for some reason I got upgraded to business class so got a free meal, yay!

Friday 11th June 2010

This is the second time I have attended a Starfury Convention the first being T1 last year where I filmed THIS video of Zachary Levy leading a group of attendies to Subway to help the TV show Chuck a third season.

So now to this year. Starfury T2 is aimed at the fans of Chuck and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles TV shows.

I drove down to the Thistle London Heathrow and check into my room, I then go and pick up my registration pack.

The welcome ceremony takes place in one of the large rooms and all the guests are introduced. Actors in attendance include; Adam Baldwin, Bonita Friedericy, Julia Ling, Thomas Dekker, Brian Austin Green, John Billingsley, Mark Sheppard and Brody Hutzler.

Welcome Ceremony

After that I attend a meet and greet with the stars as I was one of the first to buy a ticket. This takes the for of groups of fans sitting on a few tables and the guests circulating ensuring they meet and chat to everyone.

Once the meet and greet is over I head over to the bar where Adam Baldwin is enjoying a drink so I join him for a bit.

Saturday 12th June 2010

I get up and head down for breakfast. After that I start my photoshoots. The first was with Julia Ling then a group shot with everyone in attendance and then finally Thomas Dekker and Brian Austin Green.

Then the talks started, all of them were really good but the one that sticks out is the Bonita Friedericy and John Billingsley one, they were hilarious, running around the whole hall and recreating the moment they first got together.

Brody Hutzler Talk

Bonita Friedericy and John Billingsley Talk

Thomas Dekker Talk

Brian Austin Green Talk

Adam Baldwin, Julia Ling and Mark Sheppard Talk

After the talks I them went and got my autographs from everyone in attendance, everyone was really friendly during this and spent the time to add personalisation’s and special requests.

Autographs

After that there was nothing until a lot later when the fancy dress party starts so I went and grabbed some dinner.

I watched the fancy dress party which was delayed due to the England game and then after that went to the bar again with a couple of new friends, finally leaving about midnight.

Sunday 13th June 2010

Slow day today, I get breakfast and the go for my photoshoots with Bonita Friedericy. After that I spend the rest of the day attending all the talks before leaving before the closing ceremony and driving home.

John Billingsley and Brody Hutzler Talk

Julia Ling and Mark Sheppard Talk

Adam Baldwin and Bonita Friedericy Talk

Brian Austin Green and Thomas Dekker Talk

Friday 28th May

I started the drive down to Milton Keynes at about 5.40 and it took just under three hours to get to the MK Dons Stadium in Milton Keynes.

I will be staying at the Doubletree by Hilton which is actually built in to the football stadium. Check in was really smooth and they gave me a free chocolate chip cookie. The room was very nice, you could tell this is a new hotel as everything is still fresh and clean. My room even looks over the pitch.

At 9.00 I decide to go over to Ikea for dinner, the store is just next to the stadium. As I get there I see the opening times sign and it shuts at 9.00. All the other Ikea’s I have been to usually shut at 10.00. So go to KFC instead for a fully loaded meal.

I go back to the room and relax.

Saturday 29th May

I get up and go down for breakfast, it was a usual British buffet that you can usually find at a Hilton and tasted good.

I then go and wait in the general admission line outside at 8.30 and go in at 9.00. I quickly collect all the virtual tickets I need (virtual tickets let you come back at a later time when you number is called so there is no need to wait in lines all day).

The first person I meet is Robert Duncan McNeill, who is most well known for being in StarTrek but to me I prefer him as the director of Chuck. He was really friendly and talked about Zachary and Adam (from Chuck) coming over to the UK last year and was happy to pose for a photograph with me.

Next up was Barry Bostwick from The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Spin City. I told him that I actually attended the filming of one episode of Spin City ten years ago and he asked me questions about it and was dissapomted the production company did not feedme. We talked for a good couple of minutes and he was really nice to chat to and was happy to pose for a photograph with me. 

 Next I went and got an autograph from someone I was not planning to but then decided to on the spur of the moment. Kate Mulgrew from StarTrek Voyager. To be honest she did not seem friendly at all and did not make eye contact with me or talk. When I asked if I could take a picture with her she agreed but then told her helper to tell people can only take pictures of her when she is signing and not with her.

Next was Joe Flanigan who plays John Sheppard in Stargate Atlantis. He was chatty and seemed nice spending time talking to everyone.

Then I went over to Myanna Buring who has been in Lesbian Vampire Killers and The Descent. She was really nice spending a lot of time chatting with everyone so the line took a bit of time to go down but I don’t mind that if the want to do something over than sign their name and move on, she seemed genuinely happy to be there and was happy to pose for a picture with me.

The penultimate autograph for the day was Lance LeGault, he played Col. Decker in the A-Team and was a really nice guy to meet chatting and joking with everyone.

The final autograph of the day was Peter Kwong who played Rain in Big Trouble in Little China, the classic John Carpenter movie, he was great to meet and happy to pose for a photograph.

That was all the autographs I needed and it was only 11.00 so I go back up to my room for a bit.

I had three photo shoots today with the first one being at 11.50 with Barry Bostwick and he remembered me from earlier commenting again on the colour of my jumper.

My next photo shoots was with Patrick Stewart who was really busy, at least 400 people wanted a picture with him. The line took quite a bit of time to go down.

The final photo shoot was with Joe Flanigan, who was as friendly as ever (much friendlier than the photographer who had a right go at a few of the girls who where working there).

And that was it for the show today, I drive to Milton Keynes Station and catch a train to London to spend the evening there. 

The train takes just over an hour to get to Euston and when I get there I take the underground to the Apollo Theatre where I pick up my ticket for “All my Sons”.

I then head over to the Savoy Theatre and wait to get the autographs of the cast of Legally Blonde when they come out after the matinee performance. Apparently Sheridan Smith had to stay behind for a meeting so only Duncan James and Alex Gaumond came out to sign for everyone.

I then went for something to eat at Mr.Wu; an all you can eat Chinese buffet, I have a few plate fulls and take my time as I still have some time to kill before my show starts.

I head over to the theatre at 7.00 and take my seat for the 7.30 start. I am right at the top of the balcony overlooking the stage, it is good job I brought my glasses otherwise I would not have seen anything. The play was good and well acted but a little predictable.

After the performance I went and waited at the stage door for David Suchet and Zoe Wanamaker to come out, after a while the guy who worked there asked if we would like to go in to meet them, this is the first time this has happened to me and when I went in I met Zoe first, she was very friendly and chatted to me for a while and signed my autograph book and theatre programme as well as posing for a photograph with me. A few minutes after Zoe I met David and he was also very friendly and chatted to me for a while, signed my book and programme and had a picture with me.

I then went back over to the Savoy Theatre in a hope of meeting Sheridan Smith, luckily she was still outside signing autographs so was able to get her to autograph my picture of her. She was great to meet spending lots of time with everyone who was there.

I then went back to Euston to catch my train to Milton Keynes. I got back to Milton Keynes train station a little after 1am and drove back to the hotel and went to bed.

Sunday 30th May

Got up late today as there was no great rush. Went down for breakfast and had the same as yesterday then went back and checked out of my room.

Walked around Collectormania for a bit and picked up my photo shoot pictures from yesterday.

After that I went over to The Centre: MK and did a little shopping and had some lunch before starting the long drive home.

After what seemed like a really long flight due to lack of sleep when in fact it was around seven hours I arrive back in Manchester airport at 7.30am. I pick up my rucksack at the carrousel and meet my parents at arrivals who give me a lift back home.

TOTAL TRAVELLING TIME FROM EASTER ISLAND TO MANCHESTER 38 HOURS 44 MINUTES (Without Sleep!)

Due to the large amount of people who have arrived and left their cases in the line area of the Copa Airwarys check in area (by removing all the barricades) and then walked off, they did not stay in the area. In any other airport in the world security would have removed these bags and destroyed them with the help of the bomb squad, I mean who leaves their bags unattended in an airport, that is one of those rules you just don’t break!!!

It tool almost an hour to check in so I do not go through security until about 1am, I get some duty free and then find an area that has a free wifi signal and surf the net for a bit until I board the plane.

The Copa Airways flight is very uncomfortable and the people next to me have no concept of personal space, constantly leaning over to me to fart, very nice!

I can’t sleep on this flight at all and it seems to last for ever.

When I arrive in Panama it is a very quick layover before switching to my Continental Airlines flight to Newark. I am hungry so decide to get a hotdog and Gatorade. I then go and join the line for my plane which is boarding.

After being in the very slow line for about 30 minutes (they are searching everyone’s bag) I get to the front only to be told I need to get in another line to get my boarding pass stamped, what a joke. I then wait in this other line for ages and only get it stamped with about five minutes to spare, then have to join the original line again to get searched. They take my Gatorade off me which I don’t understand as it was purchased this side of security so does not pose any sort of risk, absolutely ridiculous.

The flight is full and cramped and the worse part is if you want to watch the in flight entertainment you have to swipe your credit card and pay $6,, has it come to this that airlines have to charge you if you want to watch the TV?

When I arrive in Newark I go through immigration, collect my bag and then check it in again. I get something to eat from the food court and then wait just over three hours to board my final flight back to Manchester.

Santiago Airport

Panama Airport

Newark Airport

I get up the usual time and head for what will be my last breakfast on the Island at 8.30. Today I have fried eggs, sweet potato and bananas. I check what time I will be taken to the airport and pay my bill.

I have enough time to go into town for one last time and get a Rongo Rongo tablet from the Rapa Nui foundation. I go back to the hotel and get a lift to the airport at 11.00, as I arrive the plane is just landing and just manage to film it. At the airport I check in and then wait to depart. The airport is very small, basically just two rooms.

When it is time to board we walk across the runway to the plane and when I get on the plane is virtually empty, I have my row to myself and am very happy about that. The plane takes off smoothly and takes a little under five hours to reach Santiago.

At Santiago I plan to check in straight away for my flight to Panama, get something to eat, go through security then get a few hours sleep, unfortunately it does not go as smooth as that. I arrive at 7.30pm and will not be flying out until just before 3am, I head over to the Copa Airways desk but it is closed so get something to eat from La Pausa in the airport.

I have a cheeseburger and chips, I am not joking the chips did not even fill ¼ of the plate, if I was serving I would be too embarrassed to present this to a customer as a meal. I ate them all in a few seconds, I then turn around to see them cooking other peoples burgers, the chef was handling the raw burgers without any gloves and then when she was done just wiped her hands on a towel, she did not wash them or anything. Great I think to myself, I will get food poisoning in the morning.

After the less than satisfying meal I go and sit by the Copa Airlines check in desk, after all it should be opening soon?

Well it did not open until after midnight, what a waste of time.

Tauraa Hotel

Mataveri Airport

Flight from Easter Island to Santiago

Santiago Airport

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Got up and went for breakfast as usual at 8.30. Today I had ham and cheese with a mixture of fruit. I sat with Deb, Laurie and Cheryl and after breakfast said goodbye as they were leaving for the airport straight after for their flight to Santiago and then on to a tour of the vineyards.

The first thing I do today is head over to the museum; it is a short drive out of town and contains artefacts from the islands past including the only Moai eye discovered. All the exhibits are in Spanish but they give you an English guide book as you enter and then you just use the description in the book with the corresponding number.

I set myself a task of buying a Moai this morning and go around all the artisan shops again and again struggling on which one to buy, in the end I decide on one from a shop recommended by my new friends the Canadian ladies.

My wallet considerably lighter I drive out of town towards Rano Kau crater, I take some more pictures and video there before heading up to Orongo, where the Birdman Cult was centred. I was hoping that the same vendor would be there that was there two days ago as I wanted to buy a Rongo Rongo tablet from him, but unfortunately he was not.

I continued to walk around but after only a few minutes it started to rain quite heavily so I went back to the car to wait it out, after 20 minutes it still had not stopped so I drove back down to Hango Roa.

In Hanga Roa I went for lunch at Hakahonu, the same place I went for diner two nights ago, I had a fruti de mare salad that had a mix of prawns, calamari, scallops and local fish, it tasted great.

I then went exploring the North road as the rain had eased off a little, the first place I came to was Ahu Hanga Kio’e. There was a single Moai there as well as two Ahu’s, it is believed that these were the last built on the island, in the mid 17th century.

Then I carried on driving for a while down some sketchy dirt tracks until I came to Ana Kakenga otherwise known as the cave of two windows. The cave is a lave tube of around 50 metres long.  To enter the cave you need to squeeze through a rather narrow opening into the pitch darkness, it is quite tight for a while before it opens up, luckily I was prepared and had a torch, but it was so narrow I needed to take the pack off my back. The cave divides into two with two openings that overlook the ocean, which is where the cave gets its name from. I stay here for a while before moving on along the road.

Next I came across Ana Te Pora, another cave system and this one was huge inside with a big roomy arch, it was used as both a shelter and ceremonial place in ancient times. When I was exploring the outside of the cave system looking for more holes in the ground it began to rain heavily again so I went back to the car to take shelter.

I drove over to Ahu Tepeuto see if it would stop and it did for about two minutes so I drove on.

Then I arrived at Ana Te Pahu, the banana cave, but as I had been here previously and when I walked down to it was greeted by a man urinating directly towards me (not a pretty sight) I decided to keep going.

It was getting late now and I had to return the rental car so I went back to Hanga Roa. After a bit of a rest at the hotel I went into town for something to eat. I ended up at Te Moana and have to admit it was not very good, definitely the worst food I had on the island. I had local fish and potatoes but the sauce on the fish tasted like parmesan cheese and the mashed potatoes could drain through a sieve. Very disappointing. I also hate to admit it but I felt quite lonely, I had been lucky the past few nights to have company at diner but not tonight.

After that I went back to my hotel room and packed my bag ready for my departure the next morning.

Hanga Roa and Museum

Rano Kau

Orongo

Lunch

Ahu Hanga Kio’e

Ana Kakenga (Two Windows Cave)

Ana Te Pora

Ahu Tepeu

Ana Te Pahu

Hanga Roa

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I got up the usual time this morning and went for breakfast at 8.30, today I had ham, egg and cheese with some fruit.

After breakfast I walked into town to go to the bank and change some US dollars into Chilean pesos and then continued over to the moai’s along the coast here to take some more photographs of them. On the way back I bumped into Deb, Cheryl and Laurie who were on their way to the Island Museum. I continued back into town and to Oceanic car hire.

I rented a 4×4 jeep to drive around the Island for the day to give me the freedom to go where I want when I want; it was good value only 30,000 pesos ($60) for the whole day. 

I then head over to Anakena Beach, as it is still early in the morning nobody is there yet. I take some photos of the moai there before continuing to Ahu Te Pito Kura the site of the small magnetic spherical stone.

After seeing the magnetic stone again I drive over to Papa Vaka, Papa Vaka is an extensive petroglyph site where large petroglyphs are carved into the lava. There are all sorts of petroglyphs here including chickens, canoes, fishhooks, turtles, sharks and octopus. Altogether there are 500 here and you walk around a path to see most of them, there are also some raised platforms to get a view of the carvings.

I then drove to Ahu Tongariki passing horses, pigs and other animals along the way. At Ahu Tongariki I take lots of pictures of the Moai and me pratting about with them.

I then go over to the quarry of Rano Raraku to take more videos and photographs of them. This time that I am here I get to spend as much time as I like and spend a couple of hours just walking around looking at each individual moai compared with being rushed around on a tour. I finish at the quarry by hiking up to the lake inside the crater.

I finish the day by heading back to Hanga Roa and walking around there until sunset and meeting the Canadian ladies at Au Bont Du Monde for dinner. I have local fish in a vanilla sauce and it tasted great, probably the best meal I have had all holiday.

I walk back to the hotel stopping to buy some water and chocolate along the way.

Hanga Roa

Driving Around

Anakena Beach

Ahu Te Pito Kura

Papa Vaka

Ahu Tongariki

Rano Raraku

Hanga Roa

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Woke up at 8.00 got ready and went for breakfast by 8.30. I had pancakes with pineapple and melon as well as bread and jam.

After breakfast I went for a walk around Hanga Roa and stopped off at the Post Office to get my passport stamped as they do not do this at the airport.

My tour today starts at 10.00 and is of the West coast of the Island and will be led by Bill the hotel owner.

First up is Ana Kai Tangata, a cave on the coast known as the cannibal cave. It is quite steep to get down to it and the sea is very rough bashing up against the cliffs. The cave is quite big and opens up to the coast, it is also very high but I don’t think it would have offered much shelter to its occupants.

Next up was the volcanic caldera of Rano Kau. We stop off at an overlook that looks down into the crater lake, Bill explains that years ago this is where all the women used to go once a year and stay for a week or two to do their laundry. From this viewpoint you could see the full circle of the volcano.

A very short drive up from here is the old village of Orongo. Orongo was the centre of the Birdman Cult and here you will find almost 1800 petroglyphs and numerous houses.

This is where the famous Birdman competition took place, basically the competition involved the strongest members from each Clan descending down the cliff, swimming a mile to the Motu Nui Island and them wait for the eggs of the Sooty Tern to be laid and bring one back to present it to his Clans leader, the leader would then become the Birdman for the next year and rule over the island for that time.

We then travel back down the road and reach Vinapu, Vinapu features a female moai statue although it is so badly weathered it is difficult to tell and some very fine stonework similar to that of the Inca’s. which has led some people to theorise that the Island was populated from the East rather than the West and Polynesia (although all the evidence points to the first inhabitants coming from the West). There is also a number of fallen moai and topknots here.

We then drop Deb, Cheryl and Laurie off in town before continuing on the tour. We then end up at Puna Pau which is the topknot quarry where the red scoria was extracted, carved and transported. There are a number of abandoned topknots around the quarry and some even have petroglyphs carved into them.

The last Ahu we visit on the tour today is Ahu Akivi, the first Ahu on the Island to be restored in 1960. the 108 foot long Ahu features seven moai facing the setting sun and is belived to represent the seven explorers sent to scout the Island before the arrival of Hotu Matu’a and is estimated to have been constructed around 1450.

The final stop of today’s tour is Ana Te Pahu otherwise known as the banana cave due to the fact that banana trees grow up from the cave floor. The cave was used in ancient times as a shelter, defence and storage. The cave has openings at both ends and extends for almost 100 metres. At one end there is a large water pool that you can hear drops dripping into it.

We then drive back to town and get dropped off at the hotel.

I go and explore the Hanga Roa coast again like I did last night and end up in the same areas with the moai with the eyes. I eventually go for dinner at Hakahonu Restaurant and have the local fish with stir fried vegetables and it was great. I then walk around the town for a bit visiting the artisan markets and the church before going for an ice cream which turned out to be huge, almost the size of my head.

To finish the night off I go to Kari Kari which is a traditional dance show, it lasts for almost an hour and is high energy throughout, they even get people from the audience to take part, I sink lower in the seat at that point hoping they ignore me, which they do thankfully.

I go to a store on the way back to the hotel to buy some water for the next day and go to bed as soon as I get to my room.

Tauraa Hotel and Hanga Roa

Ana Kai Tangata Cave

Rano Kau

Orongo

Vinapu

Puna Pau

Ahu Akivi

Ana Te Pahu

Hanga Roa

Kari Kari

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