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Montenegro Rocks!

By Michele Neylon on June 30, 2010 7:39 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to spend a couple of days in Montenegro.

So how was it?

The simplest and clearest answer is Montenegro rocks!

Over the last couple of years I've been travelling quite a bit - more than previously. I've been to several European countries, the US, Australia and Korea. Each country that I've visited had its own charm, but there is something truly special about Montenegro.

The countryside is breathtakingly beautiful. The weather, in June, was simply gorgeous.
The people were all incredibly nice and very helpful and pleasant to deal with.

I'd be hard pushed to think of anything negative to say about the place.

Admittedly my visit to Montenegro was as a guest of the .me registry, who were incredible hosts. From the moment I arrived at the airport in neighbouring Croatia they made sure that my every need was catered for.

I was staying in Budva, which is on the coast and has spectacular views. Although my stay was very brief (I had to cut it short to go to Brussels for the ICANN meeting) I did get to see some of the country and it was gorgeous.

So now I'm trying to work out how I can get back there again - this time for at least a week!

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Off to Montenegro!

By Michele Neylon on June 15, 2010 10:51 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

Image via Wikipedia

I'm heading off to Montenegro for a couple of days as a guest of the super nice people from the .me registry.

I've never been to Montenegro, but the photos I've seen are very picturesque. So as long as the weather is pleasant I suspect I'll have a good time!

I'll be staying in Budva, which looks amazing.

Hopefully I'll get a chance to tweet / facebook or blog about it while I'm there, but if not I'll definitely be taking as many photos as I can!

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Airplane Passengers Are Sheep

By Michele Neylon on June 9, 2010 1:54 PM | 4 Comments

People in planes and airports are like sheep.

They also do things that make absolutely no sense to me whatsoever.

Typical scenario goes like this ..

Plane lands in airport and taxis to wherever it's going to stop. It stops. The doors do not open immediately, as they have to wait for the groundcrew to their thing. Even if they're using their own steps there's usually a delay of a couple of minutes between the plane stopping and the door opening.

This is not novel.

This is normal.

So what happens with the passengers?

This is the bit I don't get.

Bearing in mind that the doors are CLOSED.

They all stand up and start getting themselves tangled up trying to get off the plane (which still has closed doors).

Why is that?

Or what about when they're in departures?

Even if the gate is CLOSED, they'll all stand in a line waiting to get on the plane - even though:

the gate isn't open
the plane isn't going to go anywhere until they've got on board

Are they all sheep or is it just me?

Personally I prefer waiting in my seat in the plane until the people who are "in a hurry" have got out of the way. I'll see them when they get stuck in customs anyway ...

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Brussels Here I Come!

By Michele Neylon on May 15, 2010 1:48 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

I'm heading off to Brussels tomorrow morning on the early morning flight.
Eurid's registrar board, which I am a member of, is meeting on Monday, so I'll have Sunday to spend exploring the city.

The last time I was in Brussels was over 10 years ago when I was doing a job for the university.

I'm looking forward to the trip, as I should be able to get to see the latest Luc Besson film, as well as being able to enjoy some good Belgian cuisine.

A couple of useful sites I've come across so far include a restaurant guide and a cinema guide.

Although I'll be back on Tuesday it looks like I'll be spending the rest of the week at events and meetings, as I'm scheduled to speak at the IPv6 summit on Wednesday and I'm also shortlisted for an award at the IIA Net Visionary Awards on Thursday evening.

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Returning to Milan

By Michele Neylon on April 24, 2010 7:13 PM | 1 Comment | No TrackBacks

I'm currently in Milan for a few days.
I hadn't been here since I left in August 2003!
Wandering around the city today brings back a lot of memories - some pleasant, others not so much.
The area around the cathedral (duomo) is still popular with loud tourists and annoying street vendors.
The beggars on the metro, however, seem to be more Italian than I remember.
Esselunga, Italy's answer to Tesco, still sells an incredible variety of pastas of all shaped, sizes and colours.
While the cafes still charge less than a euro for a proper espresso.

Would you expect anything less in Italy?

I guess not, but when you compare prices with those you'd pay in Ireland it's a bit frightening.

Of course Milan is also a city of extremes and contradictions.

While you can easily buy the latest haute couture in many shops, the guy serving your beer probably makes less than €1000 a month.

This in a city where property prices are as high as Dublin or London.

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Another Hectic Week

By Michele Neylon on November 2, 2009 5:36 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

I got back from Seoul late on Saturday night and am still trying to deal with the jetlag. I'm off to London, however, tomorrow, as I'm speaking at the Nominet registrar conference the following day.

I'll also be meeting up with at least one of our suppliers while in the "big smoke", so it should be fun.

At least I won't have any roaming issues in the UK!

I'm trying to deal with the backlog of emails that accumulated in my absence, but they may need to be put off until after I get back ...

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Vodafone Ireland Roaming Mess

By Michele Neylon on November 1, 2009 1:23 PM | 4 Comments | No TrackBacks

I'm just back from Seoul, South Korea where I was at the ICANN meeting (more on that later)

Before I left for Seoul I made a point of contacting Vodafone Ireland to check about roaming and handset support, as I knew Korea was a little bit different.

Vodafone assured me that they had a roaming agreement in Korea.

They also told me that that there would be no issue with my iPhone, as it supported 3G.

When I landed in Seoul I turned on my phone and nothing happened. People I was with that were using O2 turned their phones on and were able to make calls and send and receive SMS and use data. Meanwhile I was left with a useless iPhone.

I wasn't in Seoul for pleasure and had arranged various meetings with suppliers and clients. Since I'd given most of them my mobile number I was now left without any sane way of contacting them apart from email (when I could use wifi).

Talk about annoying!

The guys in our offices in Ireland called Vodafone support who again assured them that there was "no issue" with roaming in Korea. Yet I was in Korea and couldn't roam. Neither could two other Irish friends with Vodafone Ireland SIMs. Pretty much every other operator seemed to work fine, so why on earth was Vodafone different?

I'll be ringing them tomorrow, but no matter what they say to me it won't alter the fact that I was unable to use my phone in Korea.

On the plus side - at least I didn't get any stupid phone calls from people in the middle of the night!

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Organising Myself For Nominet Conference

By Michele Neylon on October 13, 2009 11:00 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

I'll be participating in a panel discussion during the Nominet registrar conference next month.

The panel will be talking / debating / discussing / arguing about the "future", though more specifically "The Future of the Internet". I'm not sure who else will be on the panel, as the speaker list is still a "work in progress", but it should be interesting regardless. I also feel quite honoured that they asked me to participate.

Since I'm hopeless when it comes to navigating London's geography I had to ask Nominet's staff to point me in the direction of a suitable hotel. If you're planning on heading to the conference the Danubius is pretty close. Booking.com's rate also seems to be pretty good compared to other sources.

I'm currently planning on spending a couple of nights in London and hope to meet up with a few people while there ie. maximise the trip's value. Of course planning to meet a bunch of people and actually getting to meet them all may not be the same thing ...

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Off To Slovenia

By Michele Neylon on September 3, 2009 10:41 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

I'm heading off to Slovenia in a few hours for the 2nd International conference for ccTLD registries and registrars of CIS, Central and Eastern Europe - imagine saying that after a few drinks!

The conference schedule looks pretty interesting, but like most of these events I go for the "networking" opportunities more than anything else.

Hopefully it will be a productive trip and judging by what I've heard the location is simply gorgeous.

I've never been to Slovenia, so I'm looking forward to it. Hopefully my copy of the Rough Guide will be enough preparation.

As for actual preparation - chaos reigns as usual. I'm definitely getting better at booking flights and hotels in advance, but I somehow doubt I'll ever be organised enough to pack in advance. It's always very much a last minute effort to cram clothes etc., into my bag!

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United Airlines Break Musicians Guitar

By Michele Neylon on July 7, 2009 10:27 PM

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Michele posted Montenegro Rocks!
Michele tweeted, "@fmanness Verisign is upping prices on .com and .net - not ICANN"
Michele saved the link Telecoms - Regulatory Framework
Michele tweeted, "Technicaljobs.ie: [full-time] Technical Sales Executive / Field Sales Executive – Lighting - VENTSE2807/CE at Cand... http://bit.ly/d7Ce5v"
Michele tweeted, "@drtaz ROFL"
Michele tweeted, "@jonathanwthomas yeah - but they'll lose your bags, so what's the point? :)"
Michele tweeted, "@drtaz You do realise that Next is a chain?"
Michele tweeted, "@kenschafer that happens to me all the time :)"
Michele tweeted, "RT @Nominet: UK Internet Governance Forum event, 7 July - register now! http://bit.ly/bRqO6O"
Michele tweeted, "@thejetset do we really need to know about commits?"

Recently in travel Category

Montenegro Rocks!

Off to Montenegro!

Airplane Passengers Are Sheep

Brussels Here I Come!

Returning to Milan

Another Hectic Week

Vodafone Ireland Roaming Mess

Organising Myself For Nominet Conference

Off To Slovenia

United Airlines Break Musicians Guitar

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