London Ninja

My hometown team, the San Diego Chargers are coming to London to play the Saints on October 26. If you recall, the NFL had a shit game this year of the Giants vs Dolphins earlier this season, which the Britons enjoyed. I had no interest in that game, even though the Giants made the Super Bowl this year. The Chargers did not but put up a good fight against the best team in the history of the NFL.

Anyone want to go to a Chargers game in London?

7. Ladrones
Ladrones deserve their own section when talking about Barcelona. It is highlighted in all of the guidebooks but I think deserve particular attention for Barcelona. Our first major encounter was at the Golden Arches. Yes, we had McDonalds in Spain…but Big Macs in Europe just taste that much better than they do in the US. There’s no piece of home like getting some good old American grub and a full stomache for cheap.

So we were all sitting there chomping down on Frites con Mayo when a McDonalds worker came by and asked us if my camera bag was mine. I said si, unsure of what she wanted. She then went to another side and asked if another bag belonged to a lady two tables down. The worker then came back, signaled for us to look at the bag and said “ladron”. We were trying to figure out what was going on and realised there was a man that had come and sat right next to us that was not eating. We did not think anything of it because we were stuffing our face with Spanish Big Mac con frites. I was certainly pondering the way the silky mayonnaise contrasts with the deep fried crispy texture of the frites as it comes in contact with my tongue. The ladron, who I think was Asian, came and sat down and managed to go through the front pocket of my camera bag. Because a true ninja never leaves his stars in grasp of the enemy, there was nothing in that pocket but if the Mcdonalds worker had not come by, el ladron very well could have taken the entire bag. Bollocks.

I would guess I had roughly a thousand quid worth of photography gear in my bag. Yes, I’m a wanna-be paparrazzi…keeping an eye out for Li-Lo and Brangelina the whole time on my holiday. After that scare, my family and I spent the rest of the time playing “pickpocket”. Actually a pretty cool game…try to steal your mum’s wallet from her purse without her noticing. In concluding that the outside pocket of my camera bag is not secure, I considered putting something nasty in there for the ladrones. Nasty as in feces…from my own arse. That’s gross.

So that same night, we meet up with some of my London co-workers that all happened to be in Barcelona on the same weekend. Big crew of Britons in Barcelona…fab time. Only downside? Ladrones. At one bar, we all hung out at two tables. Being a Friday night the place was packed. At one point in the evening, someone in the group asked if anyone had seen his jacket. I think it was clear at that point that a ladron had come around and gotten two jackets that were on a chair, one containing an iPod and the other belonging to a chick in the group. The only positive in that story was that it was kind of an out-of-style denim jacket that the dude lost. Now, I’m not saying I’m P-Diddy or anything but I’m pretty sure denim jackets aren’t cool. I’m a big retro guy, but I haven’t received that memo that says denim jackets are back. And certainly not for blokes. The part that does suck though is that he had his iPod in his jacket. I’m not an Apple guy, so I’m not crying a river but I can feel for someone losing his music collection.

Tips for safe travel:
1. Put all bags in front of you, on top of the table. If you put it on your sides, it will be gone. If you put bag underneath the table, it will be gone.
2. Clip your bag to something where possible. Many places have something you can clip your bag to. If there is none, use your own bag and clip around table. This especially applies to securing your bag on trains.
3. Always keep an eye out for dudes with a loose jacket being carried on one shoulder.
4. Do not take your jacket off at bars. If you do, keep it on your lap or tie it to something.
5. Do not wear denim jackets as a man. Ever.

So this travel blog is long overdue as is some of my next couple of catch up travel blogs. The reason is very simple for the backlog…it takes much longer to pick out pictures from trips than just highlighting my normal trips to the pub.

So for the second part of the European family travel when my folks came out, we hit up Barcelona, Espana. I had been to Barcelona before but it was much different going with my familia.

First impressions:
1. Barcelona is a big metropolitan city with lots of life, culture and, soul.
2. Public transportation is the best I’ve been on and it’s cheap. Much better than the Tube in London. They had the digital displays counting down train arrival by the second.
3. Ladrones.

Highlights of my trip included:
1. Park Guell. Amazing park designed by Antoni Gaudi. A lot of excellent structures and incredible views from up top.

The main stairway with the fountain and stairs.

Views were great, you just have to climb a bit.

2. Segrada Familia - It’s very simple. You go to Barcelona, you see Segrada Familia. Kinda like if you’re black, you vote Osama…I mean Obama….Hussein Obama. (London Ninja’s political views do not necesarily reflect those of Antoni Gaudi)

yes, London Ninja rises the the occasion.

3. Tapas at Ciudad Condal - I am adamant that those of you that visit Barcelona should not just find go to any tapas joint you see on the street. You will be eating sausages made of lips and arse garnished with the pubis of mang. I assure you this is not what you want. Instead, do your research and go to a place like Ciudad Condal and taste delicacies like cuttlefish, razor clams, and rabbit paw.

Feast your eyes out

4. La Padrera - I don’t like paying to go into buildings when I’m on holiday especially cathedrals but this building designed by Gaudi was well worth it. You see the intricate design and philosphy in Gaudi’s architecture in all of his work, which are based on natural lines and using the form and shapes inherent in Earth’s organisms and fauna. The open rooftop was the best part, since it gave views of the city as well as some incredible photographic opportunites.

5. La Boqueria on Las Ramblas - Fantastic assortment of fruits, sweets, seafood, and carcasses off of the main tourist street Las Ramblas. These pictures will tell a better story than I can.

I can handle fish heads but this is slightly out of my league.

6. Churros y Chocolate - We sampled a few places and it is quite a treat. Miniature churros dipped in thick smooth hot chocolate. Not much to argue with there.

So good.

7. Ladrones. See part 2.

My conclusion of Barcelona
Barcelona is an amazing city. It may cost you the jacket off your back, literally, but overall it is amazing. I enjoy Spain particularly because I can throw around some Espanol from my 6 years in middle and high school. I think it is required that you visit Barcelona when you go to Spain and there is just plenty to see and do there.

Looking forward to checking out more of Spain…Sevilla is next.

In case you are considering flying with British Airways, you may want to reconsider just a bit. One could say a complete power failure on a plane is a freak accident but I beg to differ. I think it was all the Beckham’s fault.

This is what you get for being cheap and flying coach.

On my last flight from Dublin on Aer Lingus, we had a landing that felt like we were going to be swimming in fire. I have never hit the landing as hard or as fast as this trip. It was pretty cool…cuz I get to blog about it. It was also one of the first planes with a female pilot I had been on. Please don’t read anything into that last sentence other than that it must be a pure coincidence that a female almost caused my plane to crash and my subsequent death. That’s all. Oh, and, we should take away their right to vote.

I finally got a new mobile. I had an old mobile that I was using here the past 6 months that has been excruciatingly old. It’s fat, slow, and just plain fugly. Texting was never fun on that thing.

In continually pursuing the easiest way to contact friends and family at home, the opportunity came up over the Christmas period to get a 3 Skype Phone, an innovative integration of 3G and Since becoming a Brit and foregoing the debaucle that is American presidential race. Hussein Osama, Hilary, Romney, Giuliani, Ron Paul?…I will allow anyone seeking refuge a week on my futon to get out of America…but I digress….phones…right. I’ve been using Skype extensively to talk with some friends and my family and it’s been great. In particular, Skype video chat is pretty amazing. I even purchased a shiney new webcam to get better quality video and so I don’t have to use a headset when I talk. I also broadcast live streaming video in nothing but my knickers for a small monthly charge to subscribing members.

The 3 Skypephone is basically a phone that allows you persistent connection with Skype and full phone integration to be able to call and receive calls with anyone Skype for a low monthly cost. Introduced in October, it allows one to IM/talk with anyone else that is on Skype for £10/month minimum top up on your Pay As You Go plan. That £10 is used for minutes and texts. That’s great. I mean, if you have a Windows Mobile or other platform that supports a Skype client, you already had this functionality but you also probably pay a lot more than £10/month for your service.

I just activated the Skypephone today and gotta say it is a nice change to actually have a phone that can do stuff like take pictures and play mp3s. The Skype part also works very well. You just sign in to your Skype account and you can IM/call anyone that’s online. Since this is the way I chat with my folks in the US, it’s a nice service to have. They are supposedly going to bring in SkypeIn and SkypeOut features to allow you to call and receive international calls with cheap Skype rates. You can even use it to call Londonninja Inc to subscribe to our streaming video feeds. It’s worth every pence, mi laddy.

If any of you were not aware, I am part Irish…at least according to my British mate Dom:

Dom: As an American you are also obliged to claim some sort of Irish heritage.
London Ninja: yeah…well…that is probably a stretch for me being born in Taiwan. I can claim to be a descendent of genghis khan, however.
Dom:No less true than the majority of Americans who claim to be Irish
London Ninja: Trudat. lol. zomg. xoxo. d00d.

I’m in Dublin for another weekend with endeavors to Wicklow and Newgrange with side trips to Shit and Load of Guiness. Cheers.

I will give a very quick Doogie Howser style recap of my most recent trip. (Yeah, I watched Doogie…who didn’t?)

Stockholm: Venetian-like. Has lots of potential. Will be back.
Tallinn: Most amazing medieval city I have ever been to. 2 days max.
St Petersburg: Top 5 cities in the world for sheer beauty. Bottom five for accessibility and attitude.
Helsinki: Beautiful modern city with friendly people and cafes. May be lacking in history but a great city.

Since pictures are worth a thousand words, here’s a beautiful one of St Petersburg at night for you. Will give more details on my amazing trip within 3 months.

St Petersburg at night.

For pictures of Tallinn, Helsinki, and Stockholm at night, please see above.