Robbie Williams - Under the Radar Live in London

You know it's going to be a special night when pop's greatest showman gets on stage and says, "I've left Robbie at home tonight, I've only brought Rob."

And still, it was the most incredible Robbie Williams show I've seen. Every show he does is great, but this was its own special kind of amazing. There were no hits -- no Angels or Let Me Entertain You like every other show -- just a lot of songs from the three Under the Radar collections, and some 'deep cuts' from the other albums that our Robstar never gets to sing in the stadiums full of casual followers.

The big night came about as an idea a couple / few years ago, when Rob wanted to throw a concert in his garden, with just the inner circle, to sing the songs we never get to hear live. More recently, it turned into a show based on the UTR records, still invite only, but in a concert venue like a regular show. When all the plans came together, invitations went out just to specific folks, and those of us who got them were thrilled to be included in such a special, once in a lifetime, event. I woke up at 4am to ensure I got a ticket as soon as they became available, and gave up time at the RWC in Japan to make sure I could attend.

But with less than a month's notice, many of the invitees couldn't make it. Tickets were cheap, so I'm guessing the venue's more than 3000 person capacity needed to be filled for the RW team to break even. Unbeknownst to Rob (I'm not sure he didn't know, but I'm pretty sure), tickets were next offered to basic members of the RW app, then to anyone who's ever bought anything on the Robbie website, then to any rando passing by on the street. Not quite the intimate friendlies-only show originally planned, but Rob still treated it like it was. He was so relaxed and just himself -- the him we see offstage -- telling stories, smiling, laughing, having the best time. And so were we.

I heard from a few folk sat at the back that they were surrounded by stone-faced miserable people annoyed they'd paid for a bunch of songs they'd never heard before. But since they let the original invitees in first, we were all right down front, and for us it felt like it was just the inner sanctum. It was a 2 hour musical group hug between Rob and the friendlies.

Oh, and by the way, I went out in public in pajamas. In London. I rode the Tube in pajamas. Me, the world's worst joiner. I guess there was some discussion about a sleepover and pillow fight in the original gig idea, and Rob set a dress code of pajamas for the Roundhouse... himself, band, and crew included. Most everyone who showed up played along, but I'm not sure everyone knew why.

When I got back to the hotel, I was so abuzz that I was awake until 2:30am chatting with the other Rob mentals who were also unable to sleep, and am subsequently useless today. I have a gig hangover (not actually hungover, because I didn't drink, although I might be dehydrated, since the venue was boiling), physically broken and mentally useless today.

Both during the show and right after it ended, Rob kept saying he wants to do it again. Yes, please! Name a time and place, I'll drop everything and be right there.

After last night, I'm sleep deprived, my voice is croaking, my head hurts, my body aches from hours of standing, and I can't concentrate because my brain is stuck in a memory loop of the show's best moments.

I can't wait to do it again.

Tokyo to London

I woke up (way too early) yesterday morning in Tokyo, and ended my Saturday evening in London. It was a long day. Literally.

As mentioned before, I was originally supposed to be in Japan for two weeks, seeing a game in Tokyo today, and then two more in the coming few days. But Robbie Williams happened. As luck would have it, in my 20 year Robbie-versary, he finally arranged the fan-only, no hits concert he’s been talking about for the last couple of years, and I got an invitation. And had to change all my plans because it’s happening in London 5 days before I was supposed to leave Japan. So here I am, more thrilled about seeing Rob tomorrow than disappointed about missing the Rugby World Cup, but still a bit bummed.

By the time I'd reached Tokyo, I’d seen all the rugby I could and had no real agenda for my free day in the city. So I spent it shopping. Because I wasn’t willing to stand in the giant queues at the game merchandise stands, my first stop was the Rugby World Cup Megastore, which was a bit of a disappointment. From the last two RWCs, I've got a tradition of buying a mug with all the teams on it, a mini rugby ball, and then t-shirts and/or scarves for the three teams I always try to see.

The Megastore had just one of these. The only mugs were silly ones featuring the tournament mascots (in Japan, everything has a mascot), none with the teams. No mini rugby balls, only full sized. No scarves. The t-shirts for Scotland and New Zealand were all sold out, so I got magnets for them, but I was lucky that one of the 5 remaining Canada t-shirts was my size. I tried to find some other generic RWC tees, but the only sizes left in the ones I liked were XS or XXXXXL. So I grabbed a tea towel (the only item with all the team logos on it) and called it a day.

My next stop was a high end shopping area called Ginza, which is apparently Tokyo's most popular shopping district, but which I chose because it was only 2 subway stops away from my hotel and had a giant Uniqlo store. Just lucky, I guess. My luggage was already too overstuffed to shove much more in, so I spent most of the afternoon just browsing, but I did pick up a few small things. 

When I was finished with my shopping, I stopped back in at my hotel, and then went to see the 15^th century Hie Shrine right behind it, got some dinner, and went to bed early for my 5am wakeup.

I had a 10:10am flight from Tokyo to Zurich, but given that Narita airport was a 90 minute bus ride from my hotel, I had to check out by 6:30 to catch the first bus of the day heading out there. Unfortunately I'd only slept about 4 hours overnight, though, since I was so stressed that I'd get bumped off my 12 hour flight and be stuck another day. SwissAir's booking system had decided I wasn't allowed to reserve a seat before, or even during check-in, despite many being available. When I dropped my bag at the check-in desk and she handed me a boarding pass with the word standby on it, the conversation went about like this:

"Why does this say standby? I'm not flying standby, your reservation system has just been refusing to let me select one of the many open seats, for no reason."
"It's because business class is totally full. The gate agents will call your name if they can give you a seat."
"But it wasn't full when I booked it, there were a lot of seats, it just wouldn’t give me one. I shouldn't be punished because your system didn't work correctly for me."
"I'm sorry for the inconvenience, you go through security over there."

Grrrrrr...

When the gate agents showed up, they were at least helpful and got me a seat right at the front of business class... which was great until after dinner when I tried to lie down and found that the seat was broken and wouldn’t move more than a few inches. The cabin manager came and beat on it for a while, took a look around, then told me to pack up all my stuff because the only seats available were in first class. So I got to spend most of the flight in first class, which wasn’t bad at all, despite the plane being built during Jesus’ boyhood and never having been updated since. Not exactly the lap of modern luxury, but still pretty comfy. Take that, stupid booking system!

My flight from Zurich to London was delayed about half an hour, and then with the awful Saturday night traffic, I didn’t get to my hotel until nearly 8pm (already Sunday morning in the city I’d started the day in), but it didn’t matter. I’m just happy to be here, having a lazy Sunday before the big show tomorrow.

Oita

Technically I'm no longer in Oita, but I was there for such a short time that I'm only getting a moment to write about it now.

I went to Oita for just under 24 hours, to see my second game of the trip: New Zealand versus Canada. When I arrived on the train, I walked the 10 minutes over to my hotel to be told that I couldn't check in for another hour, which I kind of figured would happen, given my experience the previous day. Unfortunately the city wasn't big enough to warrant an entry in my guidebook, so despite my attempt to make a plan, I didn't have a plan... I spent the hour wandering around the shopping area between my hotel and the train station -- which was playing the anthems of the countries with games in town on repeat -- and visited the Rugby World Cup fanzone.

When I got back to the hotel at check-in time, there was a queue through the entire lobby. It took 25 minutes for me to get my key, pay the ridiculous rugby rate 3x as high as every other hotel on this trip, and get up to my room. And it was the worst hotel I've stayed in, maybe ever. Everything in the room was older than I am, and not in a cute antique way. In a shabby, falling apart way.

But at least the air conditioning worked, which was important given the ludicrous weather in Oita. I had woken up to multiple weather warnings for the area, none of which actually occurred while I was there. But it did manage to be both overcast and sunny, rainy and windy while also muggy and hot, and by the time the game ended in the evening, it was 100% humidity. Which just seems like some kind of joke. The upshot is that I dripped sweat, got rained on, and became slightly sunburnt, all at the same time.

The game was fine, the Canucks got walloped 63-0. It wasn't all that surprising, given that Canada barely qualified and the All Blacks are the All Blacks. I like both teams, so was cheering for either, but I did wear red instead of black, so I guess that's sort of picking a side. I don't have any more games to see now, which is a shame, since I originally had tickets to 5. The only one I'm really upset about missing is Scotland v Russia in Shizuoka next week. I somehow managed to get a front row ticket in the lottery, and was looking forward to seeing that pretty little city near Mount Fuji. I even tried to get a flight back just for the game, but with the time difference, there was no way to see a show Monday night in London and then a game Wednesday afternoon in Japan. Sad face.

Funnily enough, the most interesting parts of my visit to Oita happened as I was leaving it. I checked out of the hotel and walked over to the station to catch the bus to the airport, only to find that the tickets were cash only. I'd run out of cash the day before, so I went to the cash machine and discovered that the smallest bills it would give were 10,000 yen, around 100 US dollars. I didn't really need that much cash, and 2 days before payday, my account had slightly less than that in it anyway, so no cash, and no airport bus for me. As I was heading over to the taxi rank to see if any of them would take credit cards, I spotted a sign advertising currency exchange at the Information booth set up for RWC and remembered that I still had 50 pounds from Glasgow in my wallet. Easy solution! They told me they couldn't actually do an exchange, despite the signs, but that I could go to the head office of the bank... 10 minutes walk away, right around the corner from my hotel.

I had time before the next bus, so I schlepped back over there with all my luggage, to find that their currency exchange machine didn't recognize GBP from Scotland. The bank employees called the higher ups to ask for permission to exchange them, but they basically said that Scottish pounds aren't a thing. No matter how much I tried to explain that it's the exact same money as the English ones, they wouldn't do it. But the woman working at the bank wanted to help, so she walked with me over to another RWC Information booth (halfway back to the station where I'd come from) where they did currency exchange, to see if they could do it. I wish I'd gotten her name, since all told, I spent an hour with this woman, and she went WAY above and beyond good service.

At the Information booth, they couldn't figure out the notes from Scotland either -- apparently they have currency exchange books with pictures of the money in them, and it only has the English notes in it, so that's all they can exchange. But one of the employees started calling every bank in town to see if she could find any takers... she tried for about half an hour, bless her, but never succeeded. Meanwhile, the other folks at the booth started looking for ways to get me to the airport. Was I going to take the bus? Yes, but it's cash only. So they all talked about that for a while, and then someone suggested I could buy a ticket on my phone. They took my phone and pulled up the website (which I'd already tried and been stymied by). When they had no luck on my phone, three people got out their own phones and they all conferred about it for a while, but still no bus ticket. Then suddenly someone remembered that there's a hotel where you can buy the airport bus tickets at the front desk, and get picked up right outside. So the lovely bank woman walked me over to the hotel, and even spoke to the desk clerk in Japanese to explain what I needed. I got my ticket, and was on the bus 30 minutes later.

If I'd known the hotel (3 doors down from where I'd stayed) was able to do the bus tickets, I could have saved myself the sweaty hour and a half of dragging my bags all over town in 30 degrees C, and just gone there in the first place. But what an adventure in amazing customer service to get me there. It takes a village.

Once I finally got to the airport, who should come through security right behind me? The All Blacks. All the players (who are giants, by the way) and the staff. In all my celebrity sightings during travel, I've never seen anyone get so mobbed by fans as these guys. That is a whole other level of fame. They were on my flight (yep, the most famous rugby team in the world flies commercial!). I was stuck between two businessmen in a business class middle seat, but the entire row behind me was 5 giant men in matching blue tops. It was nice being surrounded by Kiwi accents, too... I love it, and don't hear it enough.

The flight was quiet -- the giants pretty much all slept through it -- and the entire Aussie team was at the gate when we disembarked. Enormous rugby men everywhere!!

This has gotten really long for such a short trip to a city, but before I go, I will include my Third Lesson from Japan: Stand right, walk left is not universal

It's been rocking my world to ride escalators in what feels like the wrong way all week. I had to share. That is all.

Fukuoka

It's Wednesday morning here in Fukuoka, and I'm almost finished with my quick visit. I was originally supposed to see a game here tonight, between the USA and France -- really just a filler game to take me to another city; I'm not particularly invested in how the Americans do in international competitions. But when my time in Japan got cut short, I sold the ticket for the game here and replaced it with a different game in Oita. Because the two cities aren't too far apart on the same island, I figured I'd take one night in each.

My only option for a flight to Fukuoka got me to the hotel around noon, where the very nice lady said, "Your check-in time is 2:00. I will hold your luggage, when will you be back?" I didn't have a plan for being told that early check-in on a Tuesday was a no-go... it's always possible to check in early on weekdays... So I consulted Maps for the nearest Starbucks, where I could drink a coffee and figure out what to do with myself for 2 hours.

It wasn't much. On top of the online guides not having a lot to offer inside the city, I had used up most of my remaining cash on the taxi from the airport, because Google erroneously told me my hotel was on the other side of town, not right next to a station where I could have cheaply taken the subway. So I wandered around for a while, sat and ate in a park, visited a shrine, strolled through a mall, and did some people watching, until I could get into my room and regroup.

After charging my phone and checking the guidebook, I decided to set out for the castle ruins, supposedly 15 minutes walk from my hotel. When I'd already been walking for close to 15 minutes, I came to Maizuru park and a sign that the castle ruins were 800 meters away. I kept going - it was a decent walk, along a lake or marshy area with tall plants growing all through it, and a crane (I think?) hanging out on the bank.

What an expert. Sign me up to host the nature programs.

Then after another several minutes walk, I came to Ohori park with lovely scenery, and a sign that it was still another 300 meters (uphill) to the castle. The humidity was 85% and the temperature about the same, and at this point I felt like I was becoming siu mai in the steamy air. So I took photos and trudged back to find some dinner and take a shower -- the view I got was good enough for me.

Today, the weather is about the same, only even hotter with thunderstorm warnings. I'm off to Oita next, which has the same forecast plus gale and high wave warnings, hooray! The sky currently looks calm and the trains are on schedule, though, so here's hoping the rugby goes on as planned...

RWC 2019: Scotland v Samoa

Last night I went to the first of my (now sadly only 2) Rugby World Cup games of this year's tournament, and it was... well, sweaty. But still a good time.

I don't suppose the 3 people who read (skim / glance at) this blog are rugby aficionados, so I won't get into the game itself. I will just say that it was an ugly one, lots of poor handling of the ball (presumably due to the heat and high humidity making the ball slippery from the aforementioned sweatiness). But in the end Scotland won 34 - 0, so it all turned out well for me. 

The game was packed, and the majority of the fans were not Scottish or Samoan. I always enter the ticket lottery for the highest priced tickets, because the chances are better -- most people are only willing to pay for the cheap seats -- but also tick the box that I will take less good seats if it's all that's available. Well, I definitely got the less good seats this time. I was only about 10 rows from the very top of the stadium, due to such high demand. 

 

It's great to see how the locals love the game and have embraced the tournament. A lot of the Japanese folk I saw were kitted out in their own team's gear, but many had on Scotland or Samoa tops. That means they didn't just buy a ticket to a game for a lark, they chose a side and bought the shirt. I love it. 

 

Second lesson from Japan: They are amazing at queue management here. 

 

Every lineup at the stadium -- getting in, buying food, everything -- had ropes to direct it in an efficient snake formation, and someone standing with a sign to indicate where to join the end of the queue. I thought the Brits were the champs of standing in lines, but nope, Japan takes this round.

After the game, I headed back out on the subway and decided to make one more attempt at finding the ticket office to get my Japan Rail Pass. This time I was successful, hooray! 

So all in all, a good night for me. Now off to another city... 

Kobe

Hello from Kobe, my first stop in Japan! It only took me two long haul flights and an hour and a half in a van to get here, another 8 hours ahead of where you last heard from me.

By the time I arrived last night, it was all I could do to shower off the airplane grime and crawl into bed. But after a long sleep, I got up at a reasonable hour this morning feeling mostly human despite the time change, and checked the guide book to find that it didn't have much listed here in Kobe. So after my morning dose of caffeine, my mission was to go to the one tourist spot that did catch my interest, to get my pre-paid Japan Rail Pass* and to find some lunch.

By some stroke of luck, the only place in the guide that appealed to me was the Ikuta Shrine, which happens to be right across the road from my hotel. I can even see it from my window! So I slathered on my sunblock, strolled over there, and took a look around. With very few exceptions, my preference is to stay outside and snap a few photos of religious buildings, so I did the same with this shrine. From outside the entrance it looks tiny, but from above you can see how big it really is. They believe this particular shrine dates back to 201, which probably makes it the oldest human-made structure I've ever seen. My mind can't even fathom a building of that age. Since I wasn't going in for a religious experience, I didn't stay long, but I did find the place very pretty and peaceful.

From there, I took off into the busy city streets. Given the high heat and 70% humidity, I wasn't too keen to do too much wandering; I just wanted to get my errands done and then get back to the hotel for an AC break. But I couldn't find the stupid Japan Rail Ticket Office, no matter how many different parts of Sannomiya Station I wandered through.

First lesson from Japan: it's annoying being illiterate after reading for 40 years.

I know that sounds weird, since I've been to a lot of places where I don't speak the language, but when you can read the letters, you can still figure out a few words now and then. You can at least make sense of street names to know where you're going, and make a good guess at what kind of business is inside a building based on what the sign says. Here, none of that works for me. Turn left on Bunch of Characters that Have No Meaning to Me Street? Ooookaaaaay... Aaaaaaand... I'm lost. There's not a lot of English here (at least in a smaller city like Kobe), spoken or written, so I'm just left wandering, looking at maps, gesturing, and figuring it out. I'm a road warrior, I can deal and will get along fine, it just feels wrong being in a world without any words or letters that I can understand, at all.

Anyway. A place that I did recognize by letters I can't read was Uniqlo, one of my favourite clothing stores for basics like t-shirts, sweaters, jeans, and chinos... which are most of what I wear day to day, let's be honest. Given the cheaper home country prices and favourable exchange rate on the dollar, I was tempted to buy an extra suitcase and fill it up. But a clearer head prevailed, and I just picked up one plain tee to break the excessively large bill that the ATM gave me. I may not do so well next time I see a Uniqlo...

At this point, I'd been walking for over an hour and was getting tired of sweating, so I popped into 7-11, where I got a beef udon bowl for lunch to go. Yes, they actually do decent hot food at convenience stores here! When I told my Japanese friend that I don't do sit-down meals much while travelling, she said that 7-11 and Lawson are where I should buy all my food... quick, cheap, and tasty. One lunch down, and so far she's right.

Tonight I'll see my first Rugby World Cup game for 2019, then tomorrow morning I jet off to the next city. Since I had to cut my time in Japan down to only one week, it's going to be mostly a blur, but I'm going to do my best to soak up as much as I can while I'm here...


*I was advised by a Japanese pal of mine to get a Japan Rail Pass while here, because you can go everywhere on high speed trains, and it would save me tons of money. But you can't just buy one from outside the country. I had to order a voucher that got mailed to me, which I then need to take to one of the official Japan Rail ticket offices, which only exist in a few cities. Then, upon filling out some more paperwork, they will give me the actual pass that I can use for riding trains. And after I'd already paid for it and started looking up the train times between cities I'm visiting, just to plan ahead, my Japanese train finder app basically flipped me off and laughed hysterically as it told me trains were unavailable or unbearably long for all but one of my journeys. Of course.

So Long, and Thanks for All the Haggis

It's my last morning in Glasgow, which I'm spending in my hotel room with the Rugby World Cup on TV, before embarking on an excessively long journey to see some of it myself in Japan. You might be wondering why I'm in Glasgow on my way to Japan... it's not exactly a convenient stop en route. Well, it's because of Still Game, one of my favourite TV shows of all time.

Quite some time ago, the Still Game stars and writers announced that they'd be ending the TV series, and would put on one last live show to close it all out. But since I had to apply for my for RWC tickets more than a year in advance, I was already booked to be in Japan at the same time they'd be doing the show here in Glasgow. So I accepted my fate of missing it.

Then the final episode aired. And I couldn't bear the thought of that being it. The moment it ended, I got online and looked for a way to see the live show. I found that if I got a ticket to opening night and flew out the next day, I could just barely make it to my first game on the other side of the world. So I did it, paid too much for a ticket because all the normally priced ones were sold out, booked a flight, and got excited.

Of course, that was far from the last of the changes to my RWC travel plans, but more on that another time.

So here I am, the morning after the big show. Still Game: The Final Farewell last night was pure joy: fun, and so funny, and such a great way to say goodbye to the show. I am so glad I came for it, despite all the extra travel. I can't imagine how I'd feel having missed it. It's sad thinking there won't be any more new content from those folks, but I know I'll forever keep watching the hours and hours of excellence they've already provided.

And Still Game isn't all I'm saying my farewell to in this visit. Much as I love Scotland, I can't keep making excuses to come here multiple times a year, when I have so many other places I haven't been yet. Yes, I've said this before. And no, I can't call it the final farewell, as I'm sure I'll have reasons to return... I'm just no longer going to use the I'm going to Edinburgh, just because Embra excuse.

I guess it helps that I've never had much (any) affinity for Glasgow as a city, so it's not like I'm looking around wistfully as I pack my bags this morning. Nope, I feel good about the run I've had with this most beautiful and charming of countries, and know it will always be with me.

And I'm so ready to go hang out in rugby land... let's go!

London / BST Hyde Park

Just on my way back from my latest time in London. It feels so homey here, I can't stop coming back. Once someone asked me how many times I'd been here, and I had no idea... And that was 5 or 6 visits ago.

I'm sitting in the lounge at Heathrow now, feeling awful with the cold that just keeps getting worse, but also in a fantastic mood, still buzzing from last night. I had originally planned to be in London until Saturday, but when I realised my main man Robbie Williams was closing a festival Sunday night, I updated my plans, got over my hatred of festivals, and bought a ticket.

The gig was BST Hyde Park, and yesterday was its last day of a few weekend concerts. Other acts on the main stage yesterday were Feeder, Texas, Keane, and The Black Eyed Peas. I've enjoyed both Texas and Keane in past, but given the aforementioned cold virus, wasn't sure how much time I could handle in a mega crowd. I left my hotel about 4 hours before Rob was set to hit the stage, which put me arriving just as Keane got started. From my seat in the VIP Garden, they sounded pretty good. Then I attempted to enjoy The Black Eyed Peas (meh), still in the Garden area, before making my way into the crowd in front of the stage for Mr Williams.

 

As always, the show was off the charts, and Rob seemed to be enjoying himself more than ever as the crowd of 65,000 sang his songs back to him... So much so that I also found myself grinning like an idiot for half the gig. Unfortunately with my cough, I didn't just lose my voice jokingly like I always say... I literally lost it completely after singing and cheering all night. By the end of the show, I opened my mouth, and no sound came out. As of today it's back up to a low croak, but I still sound pretty pathetic. Regardless, I wouldn't have missed it for anything. Call me the Little Mermaid, because I will happily give up my voice for this man.

Before the big show, I had a day and a half in my favourite city, which I spent doing lots of shopping -- my luggage is SO heavy today -- visiting the Saatchi Gallery, and soaking as much out of my V&A membership as possible.

The Victoria and Albert Museum is always the first stop for me in London, so last time I was here, I became a member. Well worth it. This time I saw all the current exhibitions, plus wandering the general area, and got a rare non-crowded second viewing of the Dior exhibit. Love it so much.

So I'm happy and sad about going back to America-land today. Miss my cat, but will miss London too...

Ljubljana

I very much liked Ljubljana. It's a charming small city, with beautiful surroundings, and their environmental focus doesn't hurt either (it won European Green Capital in 2016). 

Unfortunately, I woke up with a cold on my only full day here, and didn't have the energy to do as much as I otherwise could have. But I did rally enough to go out and wander for a few hours in the sunshine. 

 

My hotel was nice enough to provide me with access to a free guided tour and a phone set up to be a virtual tour guide around town, including maps and recommendations. Which is a fantastic thing for your usual traveler, but my response was, "ew, why would I want that?" Instead, I did my standard: look at a guide and map in the morning to come up with a general plan and orient myself geographically. Then leave them behind and see where I end up. Most times I still do what I planned to, but even if I get lost, there's always something to see. 

As usual, when I saw there was gallery focused on Slovenian modern art, I started my day with a walk through it. Nearby was the huge Tivoli park, so I went for a walk there next. 

The park was refreshingly unkempt, with flowers growing in the grass, all around the people lounging in the shade of big trees. It was a huge place, so I only walked part of it, but I still came across a couple statues and a pond with a few ducks paddling around the lily pads. 

Next I took a stroll through the ultra touristy old town, stopping for a few photos along the way. I had recently seen the episode of Travel Man where Richard and Eddie Izzard spent 48 hours in Slovenia, so I knew the trek up to the castle was far inferior to the funicular. There wasn't a lot to see in the castle grounds, but the view was unbeatable. 

After the castle, I could feel a sunburn coming on, despite my SPF-As-High-As-Possible, so I headed back to get something to eat, then to the hotel to crash and watch football. 

This morning I felt much worse with my cold and mostly wanted to stay in bed all day. But I had a flight at 5pm (now delayed) and a hotel without an ability for late checkout, so I had to vacate at noon. Given that I felt too crap to go back out wandering town in the heat, here I sit at the airport, waiting for someone to fly me off to London. 

If I felt better, I would definitely not be in such a hurry to leave. 

Zagreb

Now that I no longer have to spend all my time and money going to Scotland every few weeks, I've been diverting it back to seeing more new places.* My original idea was to spend around 10 days going all across a few countries in Eastern Europe, most of which were once part of Yugoslavia. When I do these kinds of trips, I usually like to fly into one major city and out of a different one, while taking trains around to points in between. Once I started looking into logistics, though, I found that my usual methods will not apply here. Flights are limited and connect somewhere out of the way, and trains are either extremely long or don't go at all, due to terrain or lack of demand.

So I settled on two major cities, with a train of just a couple hours running between them. First stop: Zagreb, Croatia.

When most people think of Croatia these days, they think of everyone's pretty pictures of the coastline and Dubrovnik, or the countryside. I'm definitely more of a city girl, and have seen stories that poor Dubrovnik's getting way overrun with more tourists than they can handle... plus, it's really hard to find flights there. So Zagreb, here we go!

As per my routine, I spent 2 nights here, giving myself one full day to see the city. My hotel is right on the main square, which makes it perfectly situated for me to just head out and see what I found. Just about everything listed in my guide book was within walking distance, so I headed out yesterday morning, figuring I'd pick my attractions by what I came across in my ramblings. I first wandered through about 3 blocks of parks (Park Zrinjevac and Park Josipa Jurja Strossmayera, per the map), which were busy getting set up for an 'open air festival' apparently coming soon.

At the end of the 3rd green space was the central train station, where I stopped to sort my ticket to Ljubljana for today. I'd tried to buy it online a couple of times, but the website told me I couldn't purchase it there. I had multiple online sources assuring me that the train does run, and tickets can only be bought in person, but I'm not the type who's okay with just rocking up on the day and assuming everything will be fine. Lucky that, since I discovered at the station that there are no longer any trains between the two cities. Oh boy, an adventure!

On the walk back toward my hotel, I popped into the National Modern Gallery, which features roughly 200 years of Croatian artists. It was great, definitely worth the price of admission... which isn't much anyway. I love seeing art in my travels, especially places like this where they focus on locals -- it's something I couldn't find anywhere else.

After a brief stop back in the hotel to handle my transportation concerns, I walked out to spend a good chunk of time at the Zagreb Cathedral (love me a fancy house of worship) and Tržnica Dolac (the farmers' market), then did some shopping around the main square. 

In general, Zagreb is familiar. As the capital of a country that found its way out of a communist past, it shares traits with similar cities I've visited. But flying over from the UK I was surprised to only have to change the time by an hour, and realised Zagreb is further west than Vienna and Stockholm. Geographically, it's pretty central, so I found it odd that it would be considered Eastern.... until I arrived and took a stroll through town. Now that I've been here, I get it; it's very much Eastern Europe in spirit.

I've eaten well here, but the interwebs couldn't agree on whether the water here was okay to drink or not. I've been pretty cavalier downing tap water in most of my travels, but still always do a quick search on arrival so as not to be totally stupid. In the end, I drank bottled sparkling water during the day (my preference anyway) and used the taps for my coffee and oatmeal in the morning. While I've had no issues from consuming it, my travel electric kettle did end up with thick sludge inside from a white powdery sediment in the water. I know the water is very hard here, so it's most likely just a mineral that's harmless... but fair warning, it's pretty unappetizing to see that crud floating around. Zagreb's tap water is not for the faint of heart.

In a couple of hours I will check out of my hotel and get on a bus (a BUS!) to Slovenia. When I found no trains available, my options were to fly (expensive at the last minute, nothing direct), rent a car and drive (more money and hassle than I'd like for one trip of less than 100 miles), or a cheap direct bus. Fine. Sold. It's only 2.5 hours, so I can suck it up... this once.


*To an extent. I am bookending this trip with Edinburgh and London, but that's a different subject for another day.
 

Shanghai Noon

OK, in reality, it's just after 10am as I get ready to post this, but Shanghai Ten doesn't have quite the same ring to it.

I'm in my hotel room on my last morning in Shanghai, after a few days here for work. Before I arrived, several of my colleagues who'd been here before gave me advice and warnings from their own time in China. It was all over the spectrum, including one guy who loves Shanghai so much that he's trying to move here, and one at the opposite end who said I'd definitely get sick from the food and probably also get scammed. Most of the stories were somewhere in between, though, from lost luggage and no Chinese clothes fitting, to being afraid to wear sandals in the dirty streets, to getting fat from all the great meals. Seems everyone has a different time here, including me.

After all the fun advice, I was much more apprehensive than I usually am while travelling, but when I arrived, it was... fine. I landed Monday afternoon to a beautiful day. Hot, sunny, few clouds, but low humidity and decent air quality. I checked into the hotel, looked at the gorgeous view, and decided this place was going to be just like any other travel of mine. I showered off the residue of the long flight, sat down to look at my guide book, and... became incredibly tired. Given that I had to train people all week for work, I needed a good night's sleep, and put off the sightseeing.


Unfortunately, for the next 3 days it rained and rained... evidently this is the rainy season. Add that to this being a very busy work trip, and my sightseeing wasn't so much delayed as cancelled. With long days of work and crosstown commutes between flying in and out of town, my view of Shanghai has mostly been from the windows of the office, the hotel, and taxis. But I did see a fair bit that way.

The day before I came here, I finished the book How We Survived Communism and Even Laughed by Slavenka Drakulic. In one of her essays she talks about laundry, how in every Eastern European country she'd visited in the Communist days and shortly after, people still washed things by hand and hung them out to dry. But in all these places, when people moved into the flats in tall buildings of cities, they had no balconies for hanging the clothes. So the solution was to mount bars outside the windows and have their clothes dangling many stories above the sidewalk, dripping on the heads of passers by. As we zig-zagged through Shanghai in various taxis, I saw the same here, in so many buildings, all across town. A true Communist universal!

Speaking of the taxis... the traffic here is crazy, and every cab ride ranged from a bit jerky to mildly terrifying. Cars, trucks, buses, motorcycles, mopeds, bikes, and pedestrians are everywhere in the streets, going every which way, all of the time. The traffic lights and standards of driving seem to be general guidelines, more than hard and fast rules. But I was here working with a guy from India who said compared to his hometown, the Shanghai roads are well organised. I guess that means if I ever take a taxi in India, I should spend my time covering my eyes and praying to Elvis.

Anyway. So mostly I've spent my time here working, or being tired and going to bed early before another work day. But the local team here was very hospitable, and fed me well on Chinese food. The first day we went to a Shanghainese restaurant for a big family style lunch, and they asked if I was okay with chopsticks. When I said could manage, but wished I was better at using them, the team all cheered me on for managing to eat 99% of my food without dropping anything, and said I was a chopstick master. So they were clearly liars, but very nice people. They also took me out last night, to feed me coffee, pizza, and cocktails after a tour of the big Starbucks Roastery.

That was the extent of my tourism until this morning, when I was determined to do some exploring before heading to the airport. I got up early, had my breakfast, and headed out  for a wander. People's Park, People's Square, and a couple of museums are right near my hotel, so they were all on my agenda. But even leaving at 7:45am, it was already 28 degrees C and 77% humidity, with smog visible in the sky. As one of the locals told me yesterday, "Shanghai in summer is like a big steaming pot." So I got as far as strolling in the park for about 45 minutes -- amidst the groups doing Tai Chi or taking photos of the lotus flowers -- before I was sweaty, getting a sore throat, and wanting AC back. So I went to one of the museums, which didn't open for another half an hour. I gave up and came back, and am waiting for my ride to the airport indoors.
 
My biggest worry was that my generally cranky respiratory system would act up here, but until this morning it's been okay. My sinuses have been slightly problematic, but that's just typical travel allergies. I can't say I'm sad to be leaving before the air gets to me, but I do wish I'd seen more while I was here. Maybe another time...

Robbie Williams Live in Las Vegas, the Sequel: Once More, With Feeling!

Last time I wrote, I had just gotten home from seeing Robbie Williams Live in Las Vegas, and said maybe I should come back again... take advantage of the shorter flight and small theatre while I can.

And here I am 3 months later, for the second leg of the residency.

I was looking forward to the show even more than usual, since I've had rough times in life of late, and knew a couple hours of Rob's "showing off" would be just the thing for it. I landed in Las Vegas Thursday afternoon, checked into my hotel room, and went straight back out for a Starbucks visit and a wander around. But after getting blown in the face with a hot wind (it was 39 degrees C and windy, WTF is that about?!), I went back to the Wynn in search of more swag featuring my friendly neighbourhood pop star, and air conditioning.

On the way over to the gift shop for said swag, I walked past 4 of the guys from the Robbie Williams band, and started to feel a little bit more amped about the gig. Then when I bought stuff, the woman working at the store was all aglow telling me about her interactions with Rob and that "He's SO NICE!!" which made me feel even more excited about the upcoming show, as I headed back to my room. And then who should be riding up the elevator with me? None other than Poppa Pete Conway himself! We didn't talk... because I don't normally speak to strangers in elevators, and couldn't think of anything clever to say to Pete anyway. The only things I could come up with were Hey, I follow you on Twitter  and Your son's a good fella, which didn't really seem worthy of bothering the man. But after 26 floors standing next to him, I was beyond impatient for the show to get here, and I still had 24 hours to wait!

When the hour finally arrived, I got all dressed up -- making sure I wore heels I could stand in for the entire 2 hour show -- and headed downstairs to the theatre. Some of the other superfans were meeting up in a bar at the Wynn beforehand, and I was planning to head over and maybe make some new friendly friends... but when the time arrived I was stricken with anxiety and skipped it.

By the way, I could write a whole other piece about the annoying return of social anxiety that I thought I'd beaten over 20 years ago, and maybe I will. Later. For now just know that I'm irritated that it keeps getting in my way and we'll leave it at that.

Where was I? Oh yeah, showtime! This time I got a much better seat: orchestra left, 5 rows from the stage. Of course I knew it was way closer, but I still had that WOAH moment when our boy came out and it really hit me. The gig, as always, was beyond description. Rob changed up the set and the banter a bit this round, and put on his usual incredible show. I danced around. I lost my voice from singing and cheering. I put one hand in the air, two hands in the air, bounced, bounced, bounced bounced bounced bounced. I took way too many pictures, but I also remembered to put the phone down and enjoy it for real most of the time too.

I'm beyond glad I came back.

I also happen to be in London just in time for the Hyde Park show next month, which will make it a record 3 Robbie shows in a year. If I'm super lucky, maybe I'll even get to go to a fourth...

I realised a while back that I bought my first Robbie Williams CD in 1999, so this is my 20 year anniversary with the man. I think I'm definitely spending it the right way so far.

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Another incredible night with @robbiewilliams. Greatest show you'll ever see.

A post shared by Sarah Anderson (@wheresgirl2) on Jun 21, 2019 at 10:58pm PDT

Robbie Williams Live in Las Vegas!

There was a time in my life when I went to Las Vegas a lot. For any occasion that needed a serious party, Vegas was a relatively short / cheap flight away, and provided plenty of debauchery. So my friends and I spent many a long weekend dressed up as our Woo Girl and Douche Dude alter-egos, drinking copiously, wearing sunglasses indoors, dancing at the club until all hours... just generally being awful human beings, but having so much fun. Luckily for my liver, that phase didn't last long, and for the past several years I thought the next time I'd be in Vegas would be 40 years from now, when I'm a crotchety old biddy looking to play penny slots in a climate warm and dry enough to ease my aching joints.

But then Robbie Williams announced a residency at the Wynn. Just six nights in March.

I bought my ticket at the earliest moment my presale code would allow, booked a flight a few minutes
later. The shows sold out, so more were added in June and July, which also mostly sold out. I normally wouldn't do more than one show per tour, but after the experience on Friday, I'm now considering going back for one of those as well.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

After flying home from London and taking a day to adjust to my old time zone, I got back on a plane and arrived in Las Vegas on Thursday afternoon. That gave me over 24 hours to fill until the show, and given my lack of interest in all my previous Sin City activities, I didn't know what to do with myself. I stayed at the Encore, putting the theatre that provided the whole point of my visit less than 5 minutes walk away, without even going outdoors. So it's not like I needed to do a lot of exploring to find my way around. I (no exaggeration) went to bed at 10pm Thursday night, and filled my free time Friday before the gig shopping, and enjoying the slot machines at the Wynn. No big wins, but I did get 2 hours of entertainment and left the casino with $3 more than I brought in... which is a good deal, considering the Fashion Show mall got plenty of my money, as did the gift shop selling exorbitantly priced Robbie Williams Live in Las Vegas merchandise.

After gambling successfully and exchanging much cash for goods, as I was walking back through to the Encore, I thought I walked past someone familar... was that Rob's mother-in-law (Instagram star) Gwen? Nah, couldn't be. But it was, which I confirmed at the concert when she came out the VIP door to find her seat not far from me with Ayda Field (her daughter and fabulous woman, who happens to be married to Mr Williams). And their daughter. And Robbie's mom. I am a total Williams family dork, I think they're all fun and entertaining on social media, but I'd never bug them for photos like some others did. I don't remember where I read this line the other day: In the future, everyone will want to be anonymous for 15 minutes. So yeah. I'd rather enjoy the public postings and give them some of that of anonymity when they walk past me. But I'm just Gen X like that, I guess.

As for the show itself... Awesome. No words to describe how good he always is live. It was my 6th time at the Robbie Williams experience, and the Encore Theater was 1/10th the size of the smallest previous venue. The official website says the Encore's capacity is 1,845; the other arenas ranged from 18,000 to over 50,000 seats. Given that Rob could easily fill those giant stadiums with his showmanship, I was almost afraid it would be too small for such a big personality -- the opposite of the way some bands can't grow their performance to fill larger spaces -- but it was perfect. It was just as much Robbie without going over the top. I still got totally into it and put my hands in the air when instructed to -- as did all the people around me.

Rob mentioned online that 70% of the tickets were sold to people coming from the US, and the set list seemed to assume people didn't really know the music, because of that. He only played a few of the big hits -- which everyone did know -- mixed in with lots of covers and standards from the swing albums. If I had my way, the show would have included more of the originals, but the song selection didn't make me enjoy it any less. It was a great time, and I'm still buzzing two days later.

At the end of the gig, Robbie said he might do "a pointless tour of the US," not promoting anything, not even sure if an audience would turn up in any given city. It has been a topic he's brought up a few times lately, half joking, but I really hope he gives it a try. I've taken many long haul flights to see him in massive venues, and will happily continue to do so; he's the best excuse for a trip out of town that I have, and the shows are always incredible. But that being said, spending just two hours in the air to go to a small theatre gig is pretty damn good. So if the Robbie Williams Pointless Tour of North America doesn't get announced in the next couple of months, I just might be back in the desert again this summer, taking this rare opportunity once more before it's gone.

A Tourist in Edinburgh

Finished my latest trip to Edinburgh today. In my few days there, I did the usual stuff: rugby, shopping in the usual stores, eating food from the usual restaurants. 

The only new place I went was to Edinburgh Gin, for their Gin Connoisseur tour, which I highly recommend. For £25, and the foresight to book months in advance (they're always full), I got a history of gin, details on what goes into their particular formula, a close-up view of distillation, a tasting of 6 different gins, and a small bottle to take home. What a deal!

But what was really new was the way I was visiting Edinburgh. It was my first time in almost 6 years staying there like a tourist, instead of like I live there -- spending leisure time, staying in a hotel, eating out. Rather than shopping to fill a kitchen and make my own food, being domestic, and working 8 hours a day. But I still felt like I lived there. It will always be some kind of home to me, and it's going to be difficult to adjust to not spending 1/4 of my life being there. 

Recently there was a British Isles dialect quiz going around, and since I pick up words and pronunciation everywhere I go, I took it just for fun. The result was that clearly I'm not from here, but my dialect was similar to people from the areas highlighted in the map... a map with red blobs not in Edinburgh where I spend all my time, but in the areas where my ex-fiancé has lived, and where his family comes from. It was a pretty big reminder that my experiences here since 2013 have been inextricably linked to him, and so the place has been as well.

But my connection to Scotland started long before I met him. My interest in the country started when I was a tiny child, called out as a true McCorkindale by my grandmother's visiting relatives. My relationship with Edinburgh was born a decade ago on my first visit. I've been supporting Scotland rugby since the 90's, going to Highland Games since the 2000s, followed Aberdeen FC for 7 years... and the list goes on. 

So I will continue to love all things Scottish, and miss Edinburgh when I am away from it. I will continue to include it in travels as much as I can, and probably still feel like I'm coming home when I see the Forth bridges from my airplane window. Maybe I will still end up living there one day. 

But for now, I'm working on separating Scotland from the Scotsman, and getting back to knowing Edinburgh on my own terms. I just might need a few more visits...

Forty Hours in Lisbon

I left Lisbon this morning, after spending less than two days there. My original idea back in around 2016 was to spend 5 or 6 days touring across Portugal, but then I wasn't able to take the time off when I had planned to go. So that got postponed to the next year, and then the next, until I finally settled for just a quick detour to Lisbon on my way to Edinburgh.

Of course, with so little time to spend, I arrived right in the middle of bad weather. Well, bad for Lisbon. When I landed, it was 16 degrees Celsius, cloudy off and on, raining now and then, with a gusty wind. The locals were all bundled up as if a blizzard was on its way, telling me I'd missed the normal (hot, sunny) weather by a day. Given that I've lived my whole life in places where clouds, rain, and wind are the standard, my general attitude was shrug, at least it's warm.

The weather wasn't the only less than welcoming moment I had Tuesday night. Fresh off the plane, I approached the woman at passport control in the airport with a smile and a 'hello.' She didn't respond or even look at me, just scanned and stamped my passport without saying a word... to me... she was busy chatting on the phone the whole time. Then later, when I got to the hotel, there were two guys working the front desk; one helped me, while the other checked in an older Englishman who'd arrived before me. During this process, the Brit said something that I didn't hear, but which I gathered was something inappropriate about me, because his desk clerk glanced at me and chuckled in that awkward you're terrible but I have to be nice to the customer sort of way, and my desk clerk gave the Brit the side eye. After Mr Creepy had gone off to his room, the guy checking me in gave me my key and said, "You'll be staying away from the gentleman, in room 405." I joined him and his colleague in a little relieved laugh, and wished I'd heard the questionable comment that started it all.

I can't say it enough these days: I am so fed up with straight middle-aged (and older) white dudes, and all their bullshit. Over. It.

Anyway. Back in Lisbon. After an entire day of travel, I did nothing but sleep Tuesday night, and set out to see everything I could on Wednesday. It didn't quite turn out to be as much as I'd hoped, but I think it was enough to catch the spirit of the place.

Most of the things I found interesting in my guidebook were close to each other, in an area pretty much straight down the main road from my hotel. For my money, the weather was perfect for a wander -- sunny, few clouds, warm but not hot -- so I walked the 25 minutes or so to my first destination, the Museum of Design and Fashion. Which was closed for renovations.

No matter, I kept walking past it, through the very picturesque Arco da Rua Agusta and down along the water in the vast open space of the Praço do Comércio. When I'd soaked up enough of that, I took a walk over to the impressive Ingreja de Santo Antonio da Sé. I love a Cathedral, and stopped to photograph a couple others in my wanderings, but the Sé was by far the most impressive. It was originally built in 1150,  so it very much looks of its time, but has been restored and improved over the years. Despite the belief of many that I'll burst into flames upon crossing the threshold of Jesus' house, I checked out the inside and came out unscathed. With photos, even!

After my foray into the realm of the holy, I decided it was time to head back into the shopping area for wine and lunch (in that order). Right as I was considering how perfect the weather was for all my walking, a cloud broke open and bucketed down for about 10 minutes, then went back to sunshine as quickly as the rain started. The local solution seemed to be to find an awning and wait it out, but I just put up my umbrella and kept moving, not sure where I would end up. As it turned out, right as the rain stopped, I found myself at the Elevador de Santa Justa, which I marvelled at but didn't visit, and then a circus-themed sardine shop, which I marched straight into.

By the time I finished the uphill hike back to the hotel, I'd walked over 5 miles already, and the rain was coming more than going, so I wasn't too keen on doing any more sightseeing. My only further excursion was to get something to eat later in the evening, then early to bed for my morning flight.

My general impression of Lisbon is that it's exactly the right time to visit for people like me: who like visiting cities that make it easy for you, but hate the flash and price gouging of places where tourists are their primary cash flow. Portugal is still an up and comer in the tourism game, which means that businesses have made adaptations like adding English translations to menus or selling a few souvenir trinkets. But they haven't gotten to the point of making every run down store front into a tourist attraction or hassling you on the street to buy something you don't really want for twice what it's worth. Lisbon's very inexpensive to visit, relative to other Western European cities, with plenty of amenities and gorgeous scenery to take in. In short, go. Go now, before it gets ruined.

And if you don't dig cities, I was told by a local that the beaches outside Lisbon can't be beat. Just don't go there in summer, he told me, unless you love a crowd.

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A post shared by Sarah Anderson (@wheresgirl2) on Mar 6, 2019 at 7:03am PST