London and India Part I

WARNING NO POKER CONTENT

Via the marvels of the Internet it may not be obvious but I’ve been traveling quite a bit recently. I’ve got writer’s cramp from filling out so many landing forms. I spent a week in London and then headed over to Hyderabad, India for a week. All in all, close 12,000 miles in two weeks time. I’m still not done though. I have a funeral to attend back in Los Angeles so I’ll be planting my butt in another airplane seat this week for another 12,000 miles and a whirlwind three-day weekend in LA.

So here’s my itinerary:

Left Gib Oct 29th on the 7:15pm flight to Luton. Took a bus from Luton into London.

I’ve been to London many, many times and have always enjoyed myself there. It’s quite expensive though so it’s not a place you can get too fond of if you’re staying in a hotel. Here’s a good rule of thumb for London hotels; a good one is priced the same as one in the states except the price is in GBP which means multiply the cost by 1.9.

I ended up in a Radisson near the British Museum. I also happened to be there over Halloween so I had the opportunity to see how they celebrate it over on this side of the pond.

I tried to see a sneak preview of the new Borat movie in London but every showing sold out long before I even got to the theatre. I know that it’ll be months before it comes to Gib (if at all) so that was a bit of a disappointment. I guess I’ll have to try and cram it in during my US trip.

Worked in the London office Monday – Friday and then caught the 7:05am flight from London to Frankfurt. Short layover in Frankfurt and then I’m flying non-stop to Hyderabad, India., India.

I arrived at Hyderabad International around 1am Sunday morning. Having been to Bangkok a few times in the past, the warm stench that hits you when the doors to the plane open was not new to me. Polluted cities mixed with extreme humidity just take on a smell which can’t really be described but you know it if you’ve ever been.

I grabbed my bag and proceeded out into the night expecting to see a semi-orderly line of taxi cabs waiting to whisk travellers off to their hotels but was instead greeted with a chaotic scene which made what was to happen next come as absolutely no surprise. I approached some taxi drivers and negotiated a rate of 250 rupees. That’s about $6. I jumped into a beat up old cab that took several attempts to start. As we travelled down the dark streets towards the hotel (I hoped) the driver shouts over his shoulder “You give me $100 tip? I have big family.” I laughed but I knew he wasn’t joking and my mind immediately started racing through possible scenarios and how I would get myself out of this jam.

When we arrived within the compound walls at the Marriott Hyderabad I realized how incompetent of a shakedown artist I had encountered. The doorman grabbed my bags from the vehicle and took them inside. I pulled a 500 rupee bill out of my pocket (the smallest I had) and told the driver to give me back 200 rupee which would have left him a 50 rupee tip (20%). He demanded, “No you give me 4000 more tip! I have big family!” I just laughed at him. He got a bit of a pissy look on his face and then I reminded him of the fact that I was at my destination, my bags were in the hotel, and he was shit out of luck. He angrily slapped a 100 rupee note in my hand and claimed he didn’t have any more change.

The next morning the curse of the cleaning lady rears its ugly head when I hear tapping on my door at 9am. It’s freakin 9am on a Sunday. I only checked in 7 hours ago! And so the dance begins.

Oh sorry, sir. When should I come back to clean the room?

You don’t need to clean it. I just checked in at 2am this morning. [head still buried in the pillow]

Oh. Okay.

Of course, ten minutes later the phone rings.

Hello?!?

Yes, this is house keeping. We were wondering when it might be okay to come back and clean the room.

I told the woman I didn’t need the room cleaned today.

Yes, so maybe later this afternoon?

No. Not at all. Come clean it tomorrow.

Oh, okay, sir.

More to come . . .

No related posts.

Site	Rackback	Sign Up Bonus	US
Absolute Poker	30%	150% up to $500
Ultimate Bet	30%	111% up to $1100
Cake Poker	33%	110% up to $600
PKR Poker	30%	100% up to $800
Paradise Poker	30%	200% up to €1,000
Players Only	33%	100% up to $650
Fortune Poker	30%	200% up to €1,000
Betfair	30%	$1500
Aced	30%	100% up to $500
Virgin Poker	30%	100% up to £300
Poker Heaven	30%	200% up to €1000
Poker Nordica	30%	100% up to $200
Carbon Poker	30%	150% up to $1000
Red Star Poker	33%	110% up to $600
True Poker	27%	100% up to $200
Action Poker	35%	100% up to $2500
Cellsino Poker	40%	500% up to $500
Minted Poker	40%	100% up to $400
Power Poker	33%	110% up to $600
Interpoker	30%	200% up to €1000
Doyles Room	33%	110% up to $600
Gutshot Poker	33%	110% up to $600
Full Tilt Poker	27%	100% up to $600
Fat Bet Poker	40%	1000% up to €500
NoiQ Poker	30%	100% up to €5000

Site	Rake Race	Rake Chase	Freeroll
Doyle's Room	$35,000
Cereus Poker Network*	$7,500	$10,000	$10,000**
Cake Poker	$60,000
Party Poker***		$50,000
Red Star		$23,000
Eurobet***		$21,000
Players Only		$16,400
Tower Gaming***		$15,000
Full Tilt Poker	$10,000
Carbon Poker		$12,000
Betfair Poker		$12,000
Boss Media Network****	$5,000
Cellsino Poker		$5,000
Power Poker		$5,000
Poker Nordica		$5,000
NoIQ	€1,500

* Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet (UB) ** May not be available to all players *** Poker Heaven, Fortune Poker, InterPoker, Paradise Poker