Day 1 and a Half: Travel to Toulouse – 07.14/15.2008

So I left LAX today headed for Toulouse for work. This time I am headed off to Toulouse today to support a 3 day meeting known as a PDR that occurs from the 22^nd thru the 24^th of July. A PDR is Preliminary Design Review and occurs before you get too far along on a design. Usually, it’s a top level meeting, with a bunch of preliminary design data full of estimates and sketches and block diagrams, but nothing too specific. We have to present the design to Airbus later next week, so I thought I’d fly out a little early to prepare the presentation with the Frenchies and make sure we are all on the same page. We were supposed to be sending a whole team, but since travel costs are astronomical the CEO called our team and said only one guy is going out there, and guess who gets to be that guy? Yup. I am the only one from my design team from Torrance coming out here and I will be presenting the entire design by myself. YIKES!!!

Again, I’m flying business class since its over 5k miles (company policy), and its freaking awesome!!!! This time I made it early enough to get to the business class lounge sitting above the normal folk in the Tom Bradley terminal. I am flying Luftansa today and wow, business class is the only way to travel. No joke. Check out the difference in lines from business to the regular folk. I waited about 4 minutes to get help, checked my bag, and went through security in less than 15 minutes. It was outstanding. I tell myself I’ll never fly internationally in coach, but we all know what a lie that is with this ticket costing upwards of $9k. yes, that’s nine thousand dollars, that wasn’t a mistake. But let me tell you, Moog should be happy that I’m sucking everything I can from the airlines. Lol.

The economy check-in line sucks.


But the business class line is much better!!! No wait!

So the lounge at LAX in the Tom Bradley terminal is much better than the one I used coming back to LA in March. Check out the pics below. I had a bunch of fried rice, sushi, and a few smaller sandwiches, along with a Kirin, ok ok, TWO Kirins. So here are a couple shots of the food in the lounge. Not bad.

Before getting on the plane, I had to sign this paper asking if I’d like to notify someone in case of an emergency and to list their contact info. Kinda scary, not something you want to think about right before getting on the plane.

So we boarded the 747-400, which is the same kind of plane I was on back up in Seattle when we visited the Boeing headquarters. We are building the new 747-800, which is a bit of an upgrade to the one I flew on with new wings that are supposed to increase fuel efficiency by 20%. Either way, wow, this plane was nice.

Also, I never noticed before, but the first/business class skyways are separate from the ones in economy. After we took off, I realized I hadn’t seen any of the rest of the people get on the plane. Weird.

The seats on Lufthansa were all motorized, had fatty TV screens that had a big movie/music/game selection with a remote control that when you turned over looked like a PS1 controller. So, I played about 30 minutes of tetris before I got a little car sick. Lol.

Again, champagne and food galore. I even got a nice little cup of Haagen Das before dozing off.

Wow, the wings are freaking huge!!

So I got about 6 hours of sleep on the way over. I didn’t fall asleep right away, and I didn’t get a fancy first class kit with an eye mask and socks this time, so I gotta remember to bring that the next time for sure.

Upon landing in Frankfurt, I hit up the Nike store again. I saw this tshirt and I wanted to get it for Wes, but damn, $80 for a tshirt? PFFFFTTT…Well you know what they say, it’s the thought that counts. Sorry Wes.

My 10EU lunch. That's about $20. Not much for $20. Ham and cheese baguette with apple juice.



In Frankfurt, they have these little smoking booths where you can smoke. While I have to say I think its pretty damn cool, it must suck to be a smoker. I cant imagine smoking in a box is any fun, not to mention how nasty your clothes must smell afterwards. Gross.

I had to take a bus out to this Lufthansa regional jet CRJ-700 (I worked on a nose wheel steering computer back at BAE) to Toulouse. The ride was nice, and again, more food. Yummy.

More snacks!!!

I picked up my fancy rental Puegot with navi at the Hertz booth and proceeded to the Hotel Palladia where I’m staying.

It was a 5 minute drive (since I know the area now) and the weather so far has been beautiful. A little hot, but it stays light forever!

Finally at the hotel.

Here are a few shots of the hotel and the room. Again, note the toilet in a separate room from the sink and shower. I guess this way if you drop bombs you don’t have to smell them while you shower afterwards? I know, that was crude. Sorry.

I took a short nap after arriving and then headed out for a walk around the block for dinner. I decided to try this small mom and pop Vietnamese place that I drove almost every day when I was back here in March. The pho and springrolls were good and the Tsingtao was refreshing.

After dinner, I took a small walk around the neighborhood and realized I’m within walking distance of a McDonald’s (good for late night eating) and the Carrefour (the big Walmart type place). So I’m excited that I am not staying in the hood anymore and there is stuff that relatively close by. Supposedly there is a bus that goes straight into downtown Toulouse, so that would work out well for dinners and shopping later in the week, so I’ll let you know how that goes.

The internet in the room isn’t working at all at the moment, so I actually wrote this last night, but wasn’t able to upload anything until this morning. Sorry for the delay.

Anwyays….its late here and my internal clock is all messed up, so it’s time for bed. Hope all is well!! I miss you guys. Take care!