January 2, 2010
Computer Travelese
In October, just prior to my trip to Spain, I made a list of many topics that I wanted to write about. My plan was to write while waiting to board my flights, while on the plane and also in the Hotel in the evenings.
Well toss all of that out the window; and here are the reasons why.
First of all, I knew that PDX has free wifi at the airport and I also checked Dallas and found out that they also have free wifi, so I packed up my little computer purchased just for the trip (and the chemo room) and took it with me.
PDX was great; there is free wifi available at almost every point in our award-winning airport. But I only had a few minutes to get online before my name was called for my first class boarding seat. No problem, I thought, I’ll nap on the way to Dallas, wifi at DFW and pay to wifi on the flight over to Madrid. Little did I realize that when leaving PDX, I was leaving the best computer experience that I would have on my entire trip for the nest 10 days!
The wifi at DFW is only available at certain kiosk locations and you need to have a USB port access cable. I tried to bring every accessory that I thought I would need for my little netbook, ( headphones, charger cable, European electricity adapter plug, serial numbers, etc.) but since this was my first outing with it, I never thought to include the small USB cable that I had never used and even had no idea what it was used for. So there it was at home while I needed it at DFW!
But I persevered. I discovered how to write some notes instead of accessing my blog on the internet; planning to copy the notes to my blog when I reached Spain so you would have something to read while I was gone. As you know, that didn’t happen either, because there was a period of almost two weeks where nothing was posted for you to read, because I couldn’t access my blog. Believe me, it was harder on me than it was on you!
My plan to blog on the flight from Dallas to Madrid was foiled because there is no internet service offered on International flights. That is the reason I ate, drank, and watched movies all the way to Madrid!!!
I figured that I’d catch up in the hotel which advertised free internet service in the room. Except they forgot to tell me that I needed … you guessed it… a USB cable. But… they would be happy to rent me a USB cable for 3 euros per day for my 3 day stay there! Not knowing what I might need at our time share on the Mediterranean, I decided that I might just be farther ahead to purchase a USB cable. I had seen an electronics store very near, so I went over there and purchased a 3 meter (long and very heavy) Spanish USB cable for 7.9 euros.
The internet access worked just fine in my Hotel room in Madrid, but I was unable to access my weblog for some ethereal reason. At the time share which charged an enormous amount of Euros for internet access for 24 hours (and where the noisy bar was the only place that you could access the internet) I also could not access my weblog.
Now I am starting to get caught up on some of the topics I wanted to write about. This was not going to be one of them, but I wanted to share my experience with you! Hope you enjoyed it! And be sure to take your USB cable with you when you travel! You know I will!
