Okay, so it’s Tuesday morning here (30 Oct 2007) and I haven’t updated from Sunday or Monday yet. It’s been a busy two days, from walking around the local town (East Grinstead) to a concert to running around London yesterday. The next post will probably have to be on Wednesday, when I can catch up a bit … right now I’m running a bit behind for packing and getting to the airport.

Here are some of the photos from the previous days.

Yes, you can have dinner with a companion while you cross the Atlantic at 35,000 feet (at least, on Virgin Upper Class you can):

Breakfast in bed …

I didn’t spend much time trying to get a perfect shot of the seats … but this one gives you somewhat of an overview:

Read the rest of this entry »

Well, I’m back, just a few minutes later. Apparently there was a time change last night (in the US, too? Or only Europe? I’m not sure) … and I was unaware. So I was nealy an hour early for breakfast, rather than late. That means I can download some photos and fill in the Saturday details.

We (we being Linda – a book editor – and her husband Mike) got up for breakfast in the hotel. As I mentioned earlier, the “traditional breakfast” is a meatfest. So Linda asks for her breakfast without meat, and it arrives: eggs, tomato, beans … and a sausage. I’m not sure if they (a) don’t consider sausage meat here, or (b) figured she meant remove all the meat EXCEPT for the one sausage, or (c) couldn’t fathom a breakfast without meat, and therefore left the sausage as some kind of protest. It shall forever remain a mystery.

We sat next to this 78 year old lady who was staying at the hotel because Read the rest of this entry »

On Saturday we went into London, then returned to Saint Hill for an amazing dinner. I’m now late for breakfast (Sunday AM), but I’ll get the details up soon.

Tonight’s black-tie event was a spectacular production … a gigantic (and luxurious) tent that seats thousands, featuring a wood floor and chandeliers, a gigantic stage, and the best sound and visuals you could imagine … it was much like being at the Academy Awards (including a gaggle of “A List” celebrities seated nearby), and all from an incredible vantage point … quite nice.

Tomorrow is an early train trip into London proper, followed by a large formal Ball in the evening. More then …

(26 Oct 2007) So this morning I got up and ordered the “traditional breakfast” in the hotel. It seems the local traditional breakfast is a meatfest … sausage, ham (which they call bacon*), another sausage (blood sausage, kind of gross), eggs … and of course, baked beans and hash browns. (What would breakfast be without baked beans?) Oh, and a small tomato and a grilled mushroom. Not exactly healthy, but it was good. And of course — this being Great Britain — the tea was great.

We then got a tour of Saint Hill Manor, one of the Church of Scientology’s most important locations. Beautiful place, and very interesting…

From there we headed out to the local mall … not terribly different than in the States, but there was a great store there called Lush. It was full of bath stuff that I didn’t need nor care about, but quite beautifully displayed.

Anyway, it’s time to get the tux out of the suitcase, make sure I have all the accessories, that things are clean and not wrinkled, etc … for tonight is the first black-tie event of our weekend here.

*I’ve been kind of confused about the bacon. In the states we have bacon — the crispy strips … and we have Canadian bacon — warm ham. But, if you’re in the UK, “bacon” refers to what we call “Canadian bacon.” So, is Canadian bacon really just British bacon, and we’re being Amero-centric? And if I wanted crispy strips of bacon, would I ask for American bacon? Or is it called something else? Anyway, not a big deal … but if anyone knows the answer, I’d like to hear it.

So I have arrived in the UK. I’m not sure how much sleep I got on that previously mentioned flight, but the flight seemed VERY short. Normally I kill my laptop battery right away, in a couple of hours. I didn’t even have time to run down this battery, as the 10.5 hour flight seemed at most 3-4 hours.

It took an interminable time to get to the hotel, then we went to the local British pub for fish & chips and a taste of the local flavors. Haven’t seen much, but that should change tomorrow. For now, I’m off to put on my new “VA Sleep Suit” (yes, the Upper Class pajamas — don’t laugh, they’re comfortable!) and try and get my schedule back on normal. More later…

By the way, the weather here is miserable… it’s at best 50 degrees (probably 45), and damp and drizzling with low, thick fog-like clouds. Bad photography conditions…

… and it’s only 35,000 feet up.

Nestled among the clouds is a heaven, of sorts. In it, you receive phone calls while eating your delicious 4-course meal served on a linen-covered table, from within your own private “suite.” The interactive TV screen plays the newest Harry Potter movie (heaven isn’t perfect: I couldn’t get my first choice movie to work).

I think ahead a bit. Soon I will put on my supplied, comfortable, even stylish pajamas. (I already have on the socks with the red toes, and have placed my shoes in the shoe bag.) As I put on my pajamas, the attendant (yes, of course heaven has attendants, and they are cute, blonde, and with British accents) … she will flip my luxuriously large seat completely UPSIDE-DOWN … and it will amazingly turn into a full bed. She will place a duvet on it — not a cheap blanket, mind you — a feather duvet. (One that appears fresh & clean, I might add.)

And then, somewhat oddly for heaven, she will ask me to make sure my seatbelt is fastened over my body, so she doesn’t have to wake me up in case of turbulence.

Yes, “heaven” is Virgin Atlantic’s Upper Class service. Forty-eight of the most amazingly creative, futuristic first-class seats I have ever experienced. (In fact, I first considered calling this “The future is now.”) I have been trying to think what I could compare the experience to, but this is one of those rare cases when “incomparable” means truly that — there is simply NOTHING to compare to it.

The suite consists of a large leather seat faced by a smaller little footstool/second seat. The second seat is very comfortable to rest your feet upon, but is also amazingly well thought out in that your friends or companion can sit there and talk with you. (It’s so well planned, in fact, that when the linen-covered dinner table came out, many people chose to sit facing each other, having dinner over the same table.) At the touch of a button, the seat magically flips over (providing different sleep/sit surfaces) and turns into a fully flat bed. Yes, this, on an airplane, somewhere over the Atlantic.

There have been so many other little touches. The masseuse — a wonderfully sweet Scotsman (no, Scotslady? What do you call a female Scot?) … the masseuse came by to schedule my massage. The walk-up bar has snacks out, and serves a wonderful little Virgin Bellini (the brand Virgin, not the “no alcohol” virgin) … and there has been more swag than at an ASI convention: pens, hand lotion, lip balm, earplugs, the socks and shoe bag, a toothbrush and some Crest, a water bottle, laptop power cords (which unfortunately don’t fit my laptop), and some loaner noise-cancelling headphones.

Even the lighting is the model of perfection … red lights glow in the footwell of the second seat. An LED provides lighting as necessary in the suite. When opening the coat closets, the lights slowly glow up, in a multitude of colors. And same in the cabin … no white boring light, but a mix of lavenders and purples that somehow slowly change (or maybe just change on different “mood” setting by the cabin crew.)

There is a phone to call your friends in the other suites (and you can also text message them, which shows up on their TV screen), and there is a console for watching movies (Tivo-style, with pause and rewind) and playing games. All-in-all … I’m blown away.

I’m a consummate traveller, and I guess it would be more professional, more worldly to just pretend it all didn’t matter … that this is all normal for me, no big deal. But I have to say, in my mind heaven does exist, and it’s at the low altitude of 35,000 feet in the exquisite Upper Class cabin of Virgin Atlantic.

So … I’m desperately trying to finish calendars before I leave. I have to pack my tuxedo and other formal items for the trip to London (St Hill, actually) tomorrow. And if I don’t sign house papers to purchase my today, then things are in a bad state — and yet, I can’t sign them because the papers aren’t ready. There are fires burning everywhere, including one that I saw dramatically cresting over the hill about 1/2 mile from my house. A good friend just texted me and said that her she has a bunch of friends & family at her house because their houses are under mandatory evactuation — and now HER house is under voluntary evac, with 911 continually calling her. Another good friend is on the stand right this minute for a life-changing trial (a good one). Finally, I got word that special guest, with a very special delivery, is on the way to the office (wish I could say more). It’s just one of those days.

Update 1: As of 3pm, the loan issues have been worked out and I’m signing tonight.

This actually might be the busiest month of my life. The Muscle Car 1000 was last week, and I’ve been catching up on The Calendar Factory’s busiest season ever. Now, courtesy of a very kind design client, I’m heading to London “on business.” (Of course, there’s not really any business to do there, which makes it the best kind of “business trip.”)

I’ll post here and there from London, although I’m not sure about the internet situation nor how much time I’ll have … but I’ll post from Thursday on again.

On the move front, you may know that I was scheduled to move my home last week, and my office … hmmm … tomorrow. That isn’t going to happen due to some funding problems (the lender messed up — not “officially” my problem, but of course, completely my problem now.) So that’s been delayed indefinitely. It’s not the delay that makes it so challening … but the “indefinitely” part. I wish I just had an answer so I could plan! But it should be soon…

Although I don’t yet own it, the flooring has been installed in the new place. Here’s a “real” image…

Here’s ROUGHLY what it will look like after it’s painted and the curtains are in … I say “roughly” because I didn’t actually go look at the paint colors we choose. (We = me and my friend/Interior Designer Hillary … much thanks, Hillary!)