After a weekend in Valencia, last Monday I went to Madrid. Awesome high speed train from Valencia in the morning, business presentation, and a delicious Japanese lunch at Kabuki with my friends Juan and Alvaro. So good was the lunch and company that I almost missed my flight. It did not help that I went to Terminal 4 as usual, when my flight to London departed from Terminal 1, and in the Adolfo Suarez Madrid Barajas airport, it takes a long time to go from terminal to terminal.

I arrived in London Monday night.

Tuesday morning I had a meeting in front of the House of Parliament, where my business partners mentioned some interesting facts:

  • London has seen an increase of 12 million visitors after the Olympics
  • To prohibitively expensive cabs now you have to add the new cost of city driving zones
  • Product needs to be “localized” because the USA and the UK are “separated by a common language”
  • IBM London (South Bank) cafeteria has some good options but… you can’t pay cash or credit, “LOCAL employees only”

After my second meeting, I went to Gatwick airport, where the flight info screen system goes from “Please wait” straight to “Gate closed” when flight is delayed over half an hour, sending annoyed passengers into a frenzy. I am starting to hate airports without wifi but at least they have a great express train service and they don`t hide electric plugs inside a locked metal box, like they do in Valencia.

I flew back to Valencia for the night, and the next day I flew back to NY via Frankfurt.