First of all if you have not heard of Matt Harding check out his website at www.wherethehellismatt.com. Matt became an internet sensation a few years ago and one of the first “Youtube Celebrities” with his dancing around the world video.

Anyway a while back I subscribed to Matt’s mailing list for his next travels, a week ago I got an email from him saying he will be in Manchester to film a piece for his next video on the 14^th September, the only problem was I was due to be in Amsterdam that day for a few business meetings. Luckily my meetings got cancelled so I was able to go to Manchester.

I turned up at 17.00 and waited around for an hour before Matt showed. By that time over 100 people had gathered. Matt gave us some instructions and we started dancing.

We did four different styles of dancing and that was it, afterwards Matt stayed around for ages signing autographs, posing for pictures and dancing with people and I of course had to do all three.

His latest video should be out in 2012 and hopefully the Manchester bit should make the cut.  

Friday 8th July

I left Wrexham on the 13.00 train to Chester where I changed to the direct Virgin trains service to Euston. This train was about half the size of the usual one and to make matters worse the seat reservation service was out of order so it was a free for all. I was lucky to get a seat but a number of people had to stand all the way to London.

When I arrive I get the underground to my hotel the Hilton Olympia, it is a nice hotel but it is out of the way and awkward to get to as the only station is Kensington which has very limited service to it.

I Head over to Earls Court where The London Film and Comic Con is having a preview night, I was able to get some photographs and autographs early to save me some time tomorrow. I met Vivica A Fox who was very nice and friendly, as she was signing for me Brent Spiner came over to say hello to her.

 I talked to Brian Tochi from Police Academy and one of my favourite films Revenge of the Nerds for a while, he seemed genuinely happy to be there. Finally I got two free autographs from Jessie Cave who was in Harry Potter and Trevor Steedman who was in Aliens.

I left at 7.20 and went over to the HMV Hammersmith Apollo to see Steve Martin who was performing.

I have to admit I was expecting more of a stand up performance but it turns out to be all Blue Grass with him playing the banjo, but it was entertaining all the same.

Afterwards I waited to get his autograph which I did but unfortunately was not able to get a picture with him because he was swamped by people trying to get signatures. After which I headed back to the hotel for the night.

Saturday 9th July

It is going to be a busy day today, probably the busiest of any convention that I have been too as there is so many people I want to meet and get pictures with, so after breakfast I head over to Earls Court where London Film and Comic Con is.

There is a load of people queuing up when I get there but luckily as I have a Gold Pass I don’t need to wait in it.

After a short walk around, the first person I meet is Sandahl Bergman from Conan The Barbarian, she was really nice and came all the way around the desk to have her picture with me.

Next was Christopher Lambert, Highlander is one of my favorite movies so it was a real pleasure to meet him and to get him to sign a picture of himself as Connor MacLeod.

I them head over for a photoshoot with Vivica A Fox closely followed by Shawnee Smith.

I then meet Christopher Lloyd from Back to the Future and get him to sign my Back to the Future Poster and Chuck Poster, I have met him before so don’t need to get him to sign a photo for me.

I then get Robert Knepper to sign my Heroes poster before heading over to Stephen Furst best known as playing Flounder in Animal House. If I am honest I got a little star struck when speaking to him (something that never happens to me). Animal House has always been my favorite movie from as long as I can remember so this was a real highlight of the show to meet him. He was very gracious and we talked for a short while.

After meeting Stephen I went for my photoshoot with Lisa Marie from Mars Attacks and Ed Wood, followed by a photoshoot with Stephen Furst.

I then go over to get Tom Sizemore’s autograph and have a picture with him, he was moaning to Mark Sheppard (in a funny way) about all they give him at this place is coffee and water.

I then go over to meet Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa from Heroes, James Bond and many others. He signed my Heroes poster.

Then I went over to meet Corey Feldman and have to say I was a little disappointed, after turning up late he would rather speak to his entourage and text on his phone than look at his fans, I am also a little annoyed that he would only personalise things which I don’t mind on my photograph but would rather not on my Gonnies Map as I prefer cast signed items to be un-personalised as it saves space and makes it look neater.

I then head over to Jeffrey Weissman and Ricky Dean Logan and get them to sign my Back to the Future poster and get pictures with them. Both were very friendly. Quickly followed by Lea Thompson to sign it, I have met her before so just get her to sign my poster.

Next up was Joel Gretsch from Taken and the 4400, and he has to be one of the nicest stars I have met at a signing show. After asking me where I was from and my family we talked about my son Matthew for a good couple of minutes and what it is like to be a father, a genuinely nice guy that I would happily meet again.

The last two signatures of the day was Shawnee Smith who was great, I just wish they had some different pictures other than from Saw as I am not a big fan of the movie as I much prefer he TV days in Becker. The I met Lisa Marie who did not really talk and had a no pictures policy which I did not understand as there was no body waiting for her, I got her to sign a Mars Attacks picture.

I then had a photoshoot with Christopher Lambert.

My first talk of the afternoon was Brent Spiner and he was very entertaining. Followed by Corey Feldman, the acoustics for this was terrible and I don’t think he could hear anything.

I then sat through a bit of the Karen Gillian talk before heading over to the Corey Feldman photoshoot.

During this shoot when it was my turn to have a picture with him he decided to have a conversation with one of his entourage, again I think this is very rude and to be honest I have always liked him and his work but he has gone down a little in my estimation since meeting him this weekend.

I leave the show and head back to the hotel to drop off my bags and freshen up before going into town.

I go to the Comedy Theatre and get a ticket for that night’s performance of Betrayal staring Kristen Scott Thomas and Ben Miles. I then go to he stage door of Much Ado About Nothing in a hope of getting David Tennants autograph but I am too far back and he best I can do is a picture of him.

I get some dinner at a cheap Chinese restaurant before going to see Betrayal.

Betrayal is a story of three people two of which are married and the other who is having an affair with the wife told as short snippets of their life regressing in time to the initial point of their relationships to one another. If I am honest I did not like it and thought the acting was a little clumsy with poor dialogue.

After the performance I went around to the stage door and was able to get autographs from the stars; Kristen Scott Thomas, Ben Miles and Douglas Henshall.

I then went over to the Garrick Theatre and was able to get Diana Rigg, Rupert Everett and Kara Tointon before heading back to my hotel.

Sunday 10th July

No need to get up early today so stay in bed for a while then go down for breakfast which was as awful as yesterday.

I then head over to Earls Court and get an autograph from Beatie Edney who played Heather in Highlander and she even took a picture of us both together, she seemed a really nice lady and was genuinely pleased to be there.

I then watch a bit of the Hellraiser talk before getting a photoshoot with Christopher Lloyd in the Back to the Future Delorian car.

Finally I attend the talk of Tom Sizemore before leaving for the station and my train home, before which I make full use of the First Class Lounge at Euston.

On the train I am a bit annoyed as the wifi is not working in First Class, it is during the two hour train ride that I usually upload and write this blog to save time when I am at home but not this time the conductor did not know how to fix it. The free wifi is one of the main reasons why I pay the small weekend supplement for first class.

Today I just went over to Amsterdam for the day to look for some venues for an event we are going to hold there later in he year. It was a long day with a 7am flight that I got up at 4.15 for and a 10pm flight back so I got home at 23.30.

We got to see quite a few venues and as there was a public transport strike on the day we needed to walk to most places.

When we walked through Chinatown we past a stereotypical prostitute window were I saw the ugliest, fatest and most slobby looking Chinese women I have ever seen, I can’t

think of anybody in their right mind who would pay to be with that, even if they paid you I don’t think they would have any takers!

Here are some of the pictures I took around the city.

Friday 24th June

After a four hour drive I arrive at the Radisson Heathrow only to be told that the hotel is overbooked and I needed to go to the Park Inn down the road for the night, although I am a bit annoyed at this I come around when they tell me that I will only have to pay for one night and they will give me the second night complementary.

I get to the Park Inn and moan a bit at the reception desk and they give me complementary internet access and parking, the room is also better than expected as some of the Park Inns I have stayed at previously have been dives!

After I unpack I head back to the Radisson for the start of the convention. It is running late and we don’t go into the main hall until 9pm. We are then introduced to all the guests how are there; Julia Ling, Mark Christopher Lawrence, Stephanie Jacobson, Ryan McPartlin and Thomas Dekker.

After the welcome I head over to the meet and greet stopping for a drink of Coke along the way, a pint of Coke cost £5.06, what a rip off!

At the meet and greet I got to talk briefly to each of the guests and found out that Ryan McPartlin had actually seen my YouTube video form Starfury T1 of Zachary Levi going to Subway in Birmingham If you want to see it click here >>>.

After the meet and greet I head back to my hotel to get some sleep.

Saturday 25th June

Got up early at 7am and went down for breakfast, checked out by 8.30 and headed over to the Radisson for the photoshoots that were taking place.

I had my picture taken with Ryan Mcpartlin, Mark Christopher Lawrence, Julia Ling, Stephanie Jacobsen and a group shot with all the guests.

 After the photoshoots I headed over to the main hall where I had front row seats to all the guest talks.

First talk was with Julia Ling, she talked about some very personal and traumatic things which has happened to her family in the past which was very emotional.

Next was Stephanie Jacobsen who talked about her acting career from her start in Farscape and Home and Away, to more reent things such as Terminator and Battlestar Galactica Razor.

There was then a short break and I used that time to check into the hotel.

After I checked in I went to Thomas’ talk and was able to get front row seats again.

The final talk of the day was Mark Christopher Lawrence and Ryan McPartlin.

After all the talks I went over to get my autographs with the guests and then back to my room.

I did come down later to see the fancy dress party but it had finished before I did so I spent a bit of time watching some videos before deciding to call it a night and go back to my room.

Sunday 26th June

No rush to get up early today so I had a lie in. Went down to breakfast and it was pretty poor it was as if they had used the leftovers from the main breakfast room.

I went to pick up my signed group photo and found out that Stephanie was unable to sigh it due to time constraints, it is funny that she did not have time to sign that but she did have time to sign a batch of pics the organisers were selling for £10 each.

First talk of the day was Thomas Dekker and Stephanie Jacobsen.

The next talk was with Ryan Mcpartlin.

The final talk of the day was with Mark Christopher Lawrence and Julia Ling. After which I drove home.

In summary I really enjoyed meeting the guests and they could not be faulted but as for the convention itself it has to be the most badly organised one I have ever been to, the organiser clearly does not respect the attendees!

I was recently fortunate enough to take some Polish Journalists for a 4×4 driving experience around the Land Rover course in Halewood, Liverpool.

Here are some of the photographs.

My plan to come to London this weekend was to attend the Entertainment and Media Show at Olympia, unfortunately with just a few weeks notice the event was cancelled, so with train tickets and hotel already paid for (and non refundable!) I decided to make the best of it.

I was fortunate enough to get some of the last tickets available for the first preview night’s performance of Trevor Nunn’s latest show “Flare Path” at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket.

Friday 4^th March 2011

The day had arrived so I catch my usual direct train from Chester to London Euston, an uneventful trip where I could catch up on some sleep. When I arrive I go to check into my hotel and then head in to town, after a spot of dinner I head over to the theatre stopping along the way in Trafalgar Square where World Book night is taking place, I hear some readings from authors from around the world and even the London Mayor Boris Johnson.

Upon taking my seat at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket I notice I am sitting right behind the shows director Trevor Nunn, for a moment I contemplate asking him to sign my programme but decide against it as he is probably quite nervous with this being opening night.

The play is set in the 1940’s during wartime at a guesthouse on the outskirts of a British RAF base. Focussing on the relationships between the pilots and their wives and in particular an extra marital affair between Patricia Warren (played by Sienna Miller) the wife of Flight Lieutenant Graham (Harry Hadden-Paton) and the movie star James Peter Kyle (James Purefoy).

As this was the very first preview night there was some minor slip ups with the dialogue, but only minor ones which after a few more performances and the actors finding their timing should easily be ironed out.

My stand out performance of the night though had to be Sheridan Smith who played Doris otherwise known as the Countess. Fresh from her role as Elle in Legally Blonde she had a true stage presence that really captured the audience. Her timing, comic lines and portrayal of tragedy could not be faulted.

That could also be said for Harry Hadden-Paton during one scene where he had a breakdown after almost not making it back from a mission really made the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.

The comic element of the play was from a Polish Count affectionately called Johnny by his wife.

Another performance that needs to be mentioned is Joe Armstong who played Dusty, he embodied a typical Airman of the time doing his bit for King and Country despite his own physical pain, personal sacrifice and near death experiences.

If I am honest I would like to reserve judgement on the plays two main stars Sienna Miller and James Purefoy as mey maybe just waiting to find their groove, but I was not blown away by their performances as much as ome of the other characters.

My overall thoughts on the play was excellent and when the actors have settled in to their roles it will be a great night out.

After the show I went to the stage door and was able to meet a number of the actors and directors. The paparazzi was out in force and to my surprise they focussed more on Sheridan Smith than Sienna Miller, but that could be due to the fact she was more accommodation. I have been fortunate enough to meet Sheridan before and know how she loves her fans, that was true tonight, she did not leave before everyone who wanted an autograph and a picture with her got one.

I then head back to the hotel for the night.

Saturday 5^th March 2011

The next morning I check out, get some breakfast at the Wetherspoon’s across the road then head to Euston fro my train ride hone. After spending a bit of time in the first class lounge enjoying the free drinks I board my train back to Chester.

Confex 2011

Confex is an annual event held at Earls Court in London aimed at event organisers and showcases venues and associated services from around the world.

As I help organise events it is a great place to network and become aware of venues which might be useful in the future.

I would normally not write about something as mediocre as this on my travel blog but I am bored on the train ride home and want to try out the WordPress App. on my iPhone, so this entire post (pictures as well) was created on the iPhone, normally I use my laptop and camera as it Is a lot easier and the pics are a lot higher quality than this phone produces.

It was an early morning today, I needed to catch the 7am train direct from Wrexham to London, luckily I was able to sleep some of the way there. At London I grabbed some breakfast and got on the underground to Earls Court.

I spent a good few hours walking around talking to people, making contacts and collecting brochures. Everyone I met was very friendly (as you would expect from someone who is trying to sell you things). That is except for the Visit Holland stand, the guy there was actually quite rude, this was one of the places I wanted the most information from as I have an event in Amsterdam later in the year that I need to start planning for now, all he kept saying when I was asking him questions was look at our website. What is the point in them coming all the way over here to exhibit if that is how they help people, they must have sales leads targets to meet?

One of the perks for me this year compared to the previos one is I was a VIP which gave me access to the lounge which I made use of a few times throughout the day. At lunch time the layed on a free sandwich buffet and in the afternoon they had complementary cakes.

I did have a phone call from one of my cellegues saying that we have a problem with our Russian visa applications, apparently the invites are only for tourist visas and we need business ones. Three guesses what I will be doing tomorrow morning?

After i finished at the event I caught the underground back to Euston and had dinner in Nandos. The entire time I was there the girl next to me was on the phone talking to “Lewis” her flatmate who has not paid her any rent, this lasted for over 40 minutes, it turned out he even stole her handbags to sell on eBay to pay here the rent (you got to admire his logic behind that).

My train back was at 18.10 and is direct to Wrexham.

The ironic thing is I am coming back to London tomorrow to go to the opening night of Flare Path at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket.

P.S. The WordPress iPhone app. was useless at inserting images in the correct place so had to edit this page at home on my laptop!

5th October 2010

Up early this morning, 4am and left the house at 4.30am to drive to the airport.  At Manchester Airport I had a breakfast bap at the cafe which contained a fried egg, bacon and sausage all in one bread roll, so that is probably all my calories for the day just for breakfast.

My first flight is with Czech Airlines to Prague that I slept most of the way on and then after an hour layover another flight from Prague to Moscow.

After we arrived we got a taxi to the hotel which was the Mona Hotel in Lobnya which took about 20 minutes. The hotel was situated in the woods and was going for a very modern boutique look.

Check in took quite a while and I got overcharged and needed to be refunded.

When I got to the room it was small but clean, one problem was the curtain only covered half the window. So I thought I may be able to get a room upgrade if I mentioned it to the front desk. But, they just sent a cleaner with a ladder and pair of scissors who spent about 20 minutes cutting away the threads at the top so it can extend all the way across; it was like a comedy routine.

Later in the night we met up with some more colleagues and customers and went for dinner to a local Russian restaurant. We had a mixture of various traditional starters which included lots of pickled vegetables, fish, breads and fat (yes fat). For a main I had mixed meat in a creamy sauce with potatoes. Plus being Russia we had to have spirits and tonight we had a distilled horseradish which is made on site.

After that we went back to the hotel.

6th October 2010

Got up and went down for breakfast, this was a bit strange as even though it was a help yourself buffet you could only have 2 cups of tea or coffee any more and you will be charged, if you wanted orange juice you had to pay or if you go up for more fruit you had to pay.

After breakfast we went to visit our customer for an all day meeting. After the meeting had finished we drove into Moscow and although it was only a few miles away it took two hours due to the traffic which was virtually at a stand still the whole way.

In Moscow we walked through Red Square and saw a few of the sights before going to a traditional Ukrainian restaurant which had a very vast menu with highlights that included lard, salted lard and smoked lard for starters and beef lungs and beef heart for mains. Although I would have liked to order the lung just to say I have tried them I decided to play it safe and have the chicken cutlet which actually turned out to be what I believe to be chicken flavoured bread!

After the meal we went back to the hotel.

7th October 2010

Got up a bit earlier today, had breakfast and then checked out and went to visit our customer again for another meeting.

After the meeting we went to the airport and caught our flight back home changing again in Prague.

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!