After our amazing adventure in Nairobi and safe flights to London and Lisbon, we met Paul at the airport in Lisbon and headed into town for a while. We drove to St. George’s Castle which was the main castle for Portugal and walked around with the rest of our group before we headed over to one of two elevators in the city.
The city is very much like San Francisco and has huge hills in different parts. To help people traverse the hills they built elevators which are part of the city’s mass transit system but because of their construction they offer great views of the city. We walked back to the hotel where the rest of the group stayed before going to the airport to catch our flight to Sao Tome.
We approached the runway only to see people and stray dogs on either side of the runway watching us land. The airport is not entirely fenced in and we would come to find that there are stray dogs everywhere. Our day was filled with running errands: buying groceries, getting cell phones and SIM cards (my number is +239 933 182), picking up 94 laptops at the airport (6 have walked off) and meeting our contacts at STeP UP. We ended the night making dinner back at home and relaxing. This weekend we are going to continue settling in and will start work on Monday.
-XO Mike
Showing posts with label Flights. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Flights. Show all posts
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
The Best Flights of my Life
Our flights got off to a rocky start but ended quite well. We woke up on time at 3:30am after only three hours of sleep and went to the lobby to grab the airport shuttle at 4:20. Keep in mind that our flight takes off at 6:30am. The shuttles only operate to terminals 1,2,3 and 5. We are flying out of terminal 4 but the concierge and the driver assure us that we can go to 1,2,3 or 5 and take a short tram to terminal 4. We arrive at terminal 2 around 4:40 and head down to the train.
The doors to the station were locked and there were no signs about when the trains would start so we started to get a little nervous. We decided it would be best to grab a cab over to terminal 4. We hop in and the driver doesn’t move. He tells us that the trip is 4.5 miles (not kilometers oddly enough) and that it will cost 22 pounds. We only have 22 pounds and the smallest US bill we have is a $20 but at this point we don’t really have another option. We take the ride over for 22 pounds, tip roughly 12 pounds ($20) and get dropped off at what looks like an abandoned construction site. The driver tells us where the elevator is and says he has no idea what’s beyond the doors.
We take the elevator down and head into a deserted airport terminal. Eventually we find a line of people over 200 deep for the bag check and jump in line. We make it to our terminal with only a few minutes to spare and we were off to Amsterdam.
The flight to Amsterdam is 45 minutes by air. KLM is the best airline to fly. We were served sandwiches (bread and smoked gouda and another cinnamon raisin roll) and beverages. When we got on our 747 for Nairobi there was service like you wouldn’t believe. During the usual safety video they advertise that we can go to the galley whenever we like for a beverage or a snack but within minutes of the seatbelt sign coming on they were serving our hot meal. On European flights all beverages, including alcoholic, are free of charge. I toasted a glass of wine with the gentleman next to me. I eventually fell asleep and apparently missed ice cream (and another round of drinks). I woke up to them serving another fantastic meal and another round of drinks; the man two seats to my left ordered a beer and brandy (separate). I was seated in the exit row (ahhhhh legroom) and we faced the flight attendant during takeoff and landing and as we were on our approach I was telling her how wonderful the service was and that it’s nothing like this on US flights and she looked baffled and asked me, “what do the flight attendants do?” I have no idea Elona.
Our final flight from Nairobi started with a 2.5 hour layover in Nairobi. Nairobi inside the terminal was pleasant enough and we found two other OLPC teams waiting for our flight. We got to know them and when our flight arrived we headed out. There was no jetway, we walked straight onto the tarmac and started at two Kenya Air jets with no signage to differentiate which plane to get on. We eventually found a man to ask and he directed us to a third plane. When our 1 hour flight to Kigali took off we were again served a meal and had wonderful service from the flight attendants. Landing in Kigali was quiet at this time (midnight) and customs was quick and painless. Our luggage arrived safe and we were off to Chez Rose, our hotel for the trip.
-XO Mike
The doors to the station were locked and there were no signs about when the trains would start so we started to get a little nervous. We decided it would be best to grab a cab over to terminal 4. We hop in and the driver doesn’t move. He tells us that the trip is 4.5 miles (not kilometers oddly enough) and that it will cost 22 pounds. We only have 22 pounds and the smallest US bill we have is a $20 but at this point we don’t really have another option. We take the ride over for 22 pounds, tip roughly 12 pounds ($20) and get dropped off at what looks like an abandoned construction site. The driver tells us where the elevator is and says he has no idea what’s beyond the doors.
We take the elevator down and head into a deserted airport terminal. Eventually we find a line of people over 200 deep for the bag check and jump in line. We make it to our terminal with only a few minutes to spare and we were off to Amsterdam.
The flight to Amsterdam is 45 minutes by air. KLM is the best airline to fly. We were served sandwiches (bread and smoked gouda and another cinnamon raisin roll) and beverages. When we got on our 747 for Nairobi there was service like you wouldn’t believe. During the usual safety video they advertise that we can go to the galley whenever we like for a beverage or a snack but within minutes of the seatbelt sign coming on they were serving our hot meal. On European flights all beverages, including alcoholic, are free of charge. I toasted a glass of wine with the gentleman next to me. I eventually fell asleep and apparently missed ice cream (and another round of drinks). I woke up to them serving another fantastic meal and another round of drinks; the man two seats to my left ordered a beer and brandy (separate). I was seated in the exit row (ahhhhh legroom) and we faced the flight attendant during takeoff and landing and as we were on our approach I was telling her how wonderful the service was and that it’s nothing like this on US flights and she looked baffled and asked me, “what do the flight attendants do?” I have no idea Elona.
Our final flight from Nairobi started with a 2.5 hour layover in Nairobi. Nairobi inside the terminal was pleasant enough and we found two other OLPC teams waiting for our flight. We got to know them and when our flight arrived we headed out. There was no jetway, we walked straight onto the tarmac and started at two Kenya Air jets with no signage to differentiate which plane to get on. We eventually found a man to ask and he directed us to a third plane. When our 1 hour flight to Kigali took off we were again served a meal and had wonderful service from the flight attendants. Landing in Kigali was quiet at this time (midnight) and customs was quick and painless. Our luggage arrived safe and we were off to Chez Rose, our hotel for the trip.
-XO Mike
Friday, May 22, 2009
T-minus two weeks! (This time it's for real)
Two weeks from the time of the post I will be sitting on a plane headed for London.
Possibly my transportation across the pond.
Our team is still on track and my Portuguese is coming along quite well. The class is 1/3 over but I am learning enough to give me a strong foundation to build upon when we land.
Tuesday I will be training our team on how to care for, handle, and operate the XOs so that we are capable teachers. I have been playing around with my XO since receiving it and have learned most of what I know through play and experimenting.
An unexpected surprise this week came when Corey distributed a revised budget. In the budget our food and lodging expenses are covered and we ordered 180 256MB flash drives along with 10 administrator 1GB flash drives. This will be crucial for having effective deployments where the saturation of the laptops will not reach 1:1. Students will be able to store their personal documents on the (hopefully) 1:1 saturated flash drives which can be used on any computer.
This weekend I am practicing my photography skills with my dad at Meredith's nursing school pinning ceremony! Congratulations Meredith! The pictures will be uploaded to a separate flickr account but I will post some of the best on my own account (links will follow in other posts). Graduation party tomorrow at NaNa's and then off to Chicago to spend a night with the Four Brothers to celebrate Chris' and Mark's belated birthdays as well as Pete's pre-birthday.
Prepare for a flood of photos on my flickr account!
-XO Mike
Possibly my transportation across the pond.Our team is still on track and my Portuguese is coming along quite well. The class is 1/3 over but I am learning enough to give me a strong foundation to build upon when we land.
Tuesday I will be training our team on how to care for, handle, and operate the XOs so that we are capable teachers. I have been playing around with my XO since receiving it and have learned most of what I know through play and experimenting.
An unexpected surprise this week came when Corey distributed a revised budget. In the budget our food and lodging expenses are covered and we ordered 180 256MB flash drives along with 10 administrator 1GB flash drives. This will be crucial for having effective deployments where the saturation of the laptops will not reach 1:1. Students will be able to store their personal documents on the (hopefully) 1:1 saturated flash drives which can be used on any computer.
This weekend I am practicing my photography skills with my dad at Meredith's nursing school pinning ceremony! Congratulations Meredith! The pictures will be uploaded to a separate flickr account but I will post some of the best on my own account (links will follow in other posts). Graduation party tomorrow at NaNa's and then off to Chicago to spend a night with the Four Brothers to celebrate Chris' and Mark's belated birthdays as well as Pete's pre-birthday.
Prepare for a flood of photos on my flickr account!
-XO Mike
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Background
As most of you have heard by now, I am a part of a team of 4 other students who applied for an internship with One Laptop Per Child (OLPC). OLPC is an international organization with the idea that by giving kids laptops and the tools to educate themselves, they will be able to bring themselves out of poverty (similar to give a man a fish he will eat for a day, teach a man to fish and he will eat for life).
This is the first year that OLPC has offered this program and it involves giving selected teams $10,000, 100 XO laptops and 1 server (to be installed at a school). They want teams to pick a country where they will deploy with the equipment and work with an existing non-profit on location who can maintain the program after teams leave. All teams are required to have a deployment of 8-10 weeks, two members of each team must attend a 10 day kick-off and training session in Kigali, Rwanda and one member of each team must attend a convention in October at MIT to present a report about the project.
Our team applied to deploy in Sao Tome, an island off the west coast of Africa. Sao Tome is about the size of Champaign County with a population of 157,000. The country was colonized by the Portuguese and gained their independence in the mid 1970's. The primary language is Portuguese with a secondary language of French and a tertiary language of English. The country is dominantly Roman Catholic. Sao Tome has rich agricultural resources and lots of oil surrounding the country in the ocean, however the country lacks the technical skills and the financial backing to grow. The University of Illinois has been sending teams to the country for the past 5 years installing computer labs, training teachers and students to use the computers, and maintaining existing computer labs. I had planned to go on one of the U of I projects for approximately 4 weeks, but when the OLPC opportunity came about, I switched with the full support of the group organizing the shorter trip.
Our team is:
Last Tuesday night we found out that our team has been selected for the trip. Wednesday we had a meeting to finalize our commitment and we have started to book our flights. Please see the attached image to visualize the trip. My itinerary is:
Yes, I am nervous that our luggage will be lost . We are using London as our hub because the only reliable way to enter Sao Tome is through Lisbon, a short trip from London and the only reliable way to get to Rwanda is through London.
When we arrive on island we will spend the first week meeting the government officials (Prime Minister, Minister of Education, possibly the President, etc.), meeting our local partner, STeP UP, and taking inventory of the laptop shipment. Corey and I will update the rest of the team with any additional information we received in Rwanda. We will stay at a house we will rent for the duration of our trip. The country's library is located within walking distance of the house and has internet access where I will be able to send emails but it is unlikely the connection will be strong enough to Skype.
Over the next 6 weeks, we will be traveling throughout the island to each of the 6 districts where we will choose a school to deploy a set of laptops. Some of the schools we go to might not have power which would in turn mean they do not have internet. We are looking for affordable ways to charge the laptops using solar power. Even though the island is relatively small, because of the road conditions it will take approximately 2-3 hours to reach some parts of the island. We will be staying overnight on different parts of the island to reduce travel times and fuel costs.
The final week will be the hand off from our organization to the local partner. Once I return, I will have a few days to readjust to the timezone before I head to school on the 16th for section leader training and band camp.
I am getting very excited for the excursion but I am nervous of the security risks which I will face. I will be taking a two week course to jump start my Portuguese knowledge before we deploy. I hope this has answered many of your questions and feel free to forward it to anyone you think might be interested in the trip. I will be keeping a blog during the trip and will let you know how to find it before I leave. Feel free to ask me any questions.
11 Flights
7 Countries
5 Airlines
3 Continents
1 Team
Our proposal can be found here: http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPCorps_UIUC_SaoTome
-XO Mike
This is the first year that OLPC has offered this program and it involves giving selected teams $10,000, 100 XO laptops and 1 server (to be installed at a school). They want teams to pick a country where they will deploy with the equipment and work with an existing non-profit on location who can maintain the program after teams leave. All teams are required to have a deployment of 8-10 weeks, two members of each team must attend a 10 day kick-off and training session in Kigali, Rwanda and one member of each team must attend a convention in October at MIT to present a report about the project.
Our team applied to deploy in Sao Tome, an island off the west coast of Africa. Sao Tome is about the size of Champaign County with a population of 157,000. The country was colonized by the Portuguese and gained their independence in the mid 1970's. The primary language is Portuguese with a secondary language of French and a tertiary language of English. The country is dominantly Roman Catholic. Sao Tome has rich agricultural resources and lots of oil surrounding the country in the ocean, however the country lacks the technical skills and the financial backing to grow. The University of Illinois has been sending teams to the country for the past 5 years installing computer labs, training teachers and students to use the computers, and maintaining existing computer labs. I had planned to go on one of the U of I projects for approximately 4 weeks, but when the OLPC opportunity came about, I switched with the full support of the group organizing the shorter trip.
Our team is:
- Corey Brian Jackson - Project Lead
- Michael Stein - Infrastructure Lead
- Chika Charles Umeadi - Technical Lead
- Ashley Adams - Cultural Lead/ Portuguese Speaker
- Danielle Ross - GIS Mapping Project
Corey is a Junior at the University and originally found the opportunity. He will be traveling to Rwanda with me.
I'm going to be responsible for finding power and internet solutions as well as managing any hardware problems we encounter.
Chika is a Junior at the University and has lived in Nigeria. He works for the University's computer department and will help manage technical problems
Ashley is a Senior in high school and the daughter of my boss at PrairieNET. Ashley has traveled to Sao Tome before and is a strong Portuguese speaker
Danielle is a Junior at the University and received an internship with a GIS (geographic information systems) professor who planned a research project on island this summer. She will assist our project and enhance it by incorporating a mapping aspect to the project.
Last Tuesday night we found out that our team has been selected for the trip. Wednesday we had a meeting to finalize our commitment and we have started to book our flights. Please see the attached image to visualize the trip. My itinerary is:
My flight path. Green is part 1, yellow is part 2 and red is part 3. See the note for a listing of exactly where, when and on which airlines.
- Chicago to London
- London to Amsterdam
- Amsterdam to Nairobi
- Nairobi to Kigali
Part 1 - Chicago to Kigali - Green
Virgin Atlantic - June 5th
KLM - June 6th
KLM - June 6th/7th
KLM - June 7th
- Kigali to Nairobi
- Nairobi to London
- London to Lisbon
- Lisbon to Sao Tome
Part 2 - Kigali to Sao Tome - Yellow
Kenyan Air - June 17th
Kenyan Air - June 17th/18th
British Airways - June 18th
TAP or STP Airways - June 18th/19th
- Sao Tome to Lisbon
- Lisbon to London
- London to Chicago
Part 3 - Sao Tome to Chicago - Red
TAP or STP Airways - August 10th (Happy Birthday to Me!)
British Airways - August 11th
Virgin Atlantic - August 12th
Yes, I am nervous that our luggage will be lost . We are using London as our hub because the only reliable way to enter Sao Tome is through Lisbon, a short trip from London and the only reliable way to get to Rwanda is through London.
When we arrive on island we will spend the first week meeting the government officials (Prime Minister, Minister of Education, possibly the President, etc.), meeting our local partner, STeP UP, and taking inventory of the laptop shipment. Corey and I will update the rest of the team with any additional information we received in Rwanda. We will stay at a house we will rent for the duration of our trip. The country's library is located within walking distance of the house and has internet access where I will be able to send emails but it is unlikely the connection will be strong enough to Skype.
Over the next 6 weeks, we will be traveling throughout the island to each of the 6 districts where we will choose a school to deploy a set of laptops. Some of the schools we go to might not have power which would in turn mean they do not have internet. We are looking for affordable ways to charge the laptops using solar power. Even though the island is relatively small, because of the road conditions it will take approximately 2-3 hours to reach some parts of the island. We will be staying overnight on different parts of the island to reduce travel times and fuel costs.
The final week will be the hand off from our organization to the local partner. Once I return, I will have a few days to readjust to the timezone before I head to school on the 16th for section leader training and band camp.
I am getting very excited for the excursion but I am nervous of the security risks which I will face. I will be taking a two week course to jump start my Portuguese knowledge before we deploy. I hope this has answered many of your questions and feel free to forward it to anyone you think might be interested in the trip. I will be keeping a blog during the trip and will let you know how to find it before I leave. Feel free to ask me any questions.
11 Flights
7 Countries
5 Airlines
3 Continents
1 Team
Our proposal can be found here: http://wiki.laptop.org/go/
-XO Mike
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