Prepaid SIM card

April 30, 2011 2 Comments

What is the best use of the extra credit in the prepaid SIM card. You may answer by “Using it” but please think again. Many of us can’t stop using their mobile phones even during their vacations. I was using my original SIM card during my international travel but I learned (the hard way) that roaming services are very expensive once I mad it back home and got the first phone bill. I bought a cheap mobile phone and used it as a secondary mobile phone with a prepaid SIM card from the country I am traveling to. My international roaming service costs came down drastically, so I found myself calling home more often because of the low cost of the international calls when using the prepaid SIM cards. The only problem with such plan is the remaining credit on the SIM card during the last day of your travel. I noticed many people use up their credit by calling their friends and relative or somebody they just want to wast time with. They do these annoying calls in the airport boarding gates or on the airplane just before taking off. You will be tired and look for peace but people around you keep on telling their life stories over the phone to somebody in another time zone. The women next to me in the plane is giving a detailed report to her friend back home just to use up the prepaid credit. I know now what she did during her vacation to the last detail. And almost half of the airplane overheard her annoying conversation. When she hang up the mobile phone she asked her daughter if her phone also have unused credit?
http://blip.tv/file/5089525

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Different Kind of Coffee

August 10, 2010 2 Comments

Listen to this postOK, this is might be my third post about my love of coffee, but again who does not love a good cup of coffee with that delicious taste and wonderful aroma. I was visiting Kingdom of Bahrain and was walking in one of the many modern malls when I stopped for a cup of coffee. I was looking for the usual international coffee shop brand but I could not located. I think the caffeine urge had overcome the coffee search so I stopped at this coffee shop. It is called “Caffe Vergnano 1882” and I would assume that this brand of cafe is operational since 1882 as the number suggest in the name of the cafe.  So I got the menu and kept it aside because I knew what I needed. So I asked for my latte and I got this unusual set of hot milk and espresso. I thought of drinking the espresso first then the coffee but then I noticed the big spoon. Which meant that I should mix the coffee with the milk and the seer it up. So, the taste was ….. sensational, unbelievable and much better than what I used to drink at Star…ks (you know the name). I think I will be a regular customer to this cafe whenever I am in Bahrain and would look it up in every country I visit.


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Life Without The Internet

August 5, 2010 4 Comments

Listen to this postIn the past two weeks I had to experience few days without the invisible wireless service of the internet. One of the reasons was my personal vacation and I wanted to stay away from my daily routine, the 24 hours connectivity and the virtual social network. I tried to stay away from the internet but could not. Many of us are addictive to the internet. Most of us use the internet for work and professional uses but we socialize from time to time on the Internet even during the working hours just to break out from the stressful work environment. During my stay in the hotels I had to pay the expensive and unrealistic internet fees just to stay connected. What I paid for few days in the hotel is enough to get me connected on a high-speed internet at home for a month, but again I am addicted to the Internet. The second reason I need the internet is to continue my commitment to the readers of this blog. I maintained my “three posts per week” through my most difficult times and tried to make up for the days I missed if that rarely happened. The third reason I need the Internet is my daily access to the digital libraries for my researches. I usually use this third reason to justify my need for the Internet but actually I need the Internet for the other reasons also. I have internet service on my mobile phone, on my iPad and I got wireless serves at home and at work just to stay connected all the time. I do not know about you, but I am hooked on the Internet.

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Top Ten Signs That You Are In A Good Hotel

August 3, 2010 7 Comments

Like you, I have traveled a lot and visited different countries. Dying my travel I try to select the best hotel I can offered. Most of us select the best hotels for security and safety reasons then look for comfort and  services. he following is my personal guideline to distinguish the good hotels from the bad ones.

Good Hotel Bad Hotel
10 Food come pushed into the room on a nice table. Hot food is in small hot box under the table. The food is carried in a tray and placed on your bed.
9 Telephone is answered with “Good morning Mr/Ms. John Dow, my name is ______ how can I help you”. They do not answer but if they did it will be “Yes!”
8 The room has a table and a chair that can be used as a small office for you to work from. You will be lucky if you have a chair in the room.
7 Rooms are spacious and you can add an extra bed without feeling crowded. You can nearly walk around in the room
6 Good quality paper tissue boxes are available in the bathroom and next to the bed. One box of cheep paper tissue box is available in the bathroom. The box is usually have 3-10 tissues only.
5 The shower water is cold and hot with sufficient pressure to massage your nick and back. Shower drainage is open to take all the water you can shower with. Shower water is in room temperate with pressure enough to push the water our of the shower head. Water level is building up on your feed while you are showering.
4 When you ask for direction in the hotel, the person will ask you to follow him/her until you reach the place you wanted. You will be lucky to find somebody to point his/her finger in the approximate direction of what you ask for.
3 White clean towels in different sizes are hanging in the bathroom at you arm reach On big (and sometimes another small one) is available and you are doubting if you should use the.
2 You have a quite room to sleep or work with a beautiful view from the big window. You laugh at you neighbor’s noise in the bathroom, and then you wonder if he/she is laughing at you also?
1 You need to mention the hotel name to the taxi driver and he will smile and start driving. When you mention the hotel name, the taxi driver will ask you to get out of the taxi!

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Should I Travel First Class

June 16, 2010 6 Comments

Listen to this postThe prestige of flying first class is felt before reaching the airport. In your way, the taxi driver would ask you if you are flying first, business or economy. Once you replay that you are flying first class his attitude will change and he will stop telling you the usual story that taxi business is not so good and that live is difficult in this country, he was doing better in the other job …. ! So one of the advantages of flying the first class is muting the taxi driver. The first and business classes have their privet checking in counters where a representative form the airline would greet you in the way and introduce you to a friendly face who will check you in very fast. Then you move to the  fast-track security check. You would see other passengers waiting in a long que for their turn for the security check.

After passing through the necessary checks you would go directly to first class lounge which has comfortable chairs, big screen TV’s and free food and drinks. You would wait in the lounge until most of the passengers board the airplane then you will be called to join them few minuets before the Airplane’s doors are closed. The first class seats are wide, cozy and comfortable. On my last trip on the British Airways I watched a movie on the big LCD screen then I went to the bathroom. On my way the flight attendant asked if I would like to have my seat converted to bed, and I said yes. I found the seat became flat with bed sheet covering it and a fluffy cover on top of it. So I said why not try sleeping since we have 4 hours of flying until we reach our distention. I adjusted the soft pillow and closed my eyes. I thought I slept for short time when I heard the announcement informing us that only 30 minutes are left before landing. I must have slept for 3 hours without knowing. I went to wash my face to come back and find the bed set has been removed and the seat is back in the normal position.

I was asked if I would like something to drink before landing, so I asked for a late’ and something sweet to eat with it. I remember in the economy class that you will not get a glass of water or permitted to leave your seat if the plane is going to land within 45 minutes. The airplane landed safely and I was one of the first people to clear out of the passport control section and get my luggage in my way home. Does it worth to pay that much and travel in first class? I do not know especially when the cost of first class ticket is triple the price of economy class. Many of us pay one-third of the traveling budget for the airline ticket. SO should you travel first class this summer?

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