view from two hotel windows

The view from my hotel window at Gatwick airport didn't look quite so interestingly techno-noirish in the cold light of dawn.

One of the advantages for staying at this particular airport hotel: I left hotel reception at 6:45, walked to the automated bag drop area, used the machine to check my suitcase, walked up to departures, was processed through security, and was in the departure lounge by 7:00.  I could have had another 15 minutes sleep!  (But there would have probably been longer queues by then.)

Then we spent 45 minutes sitting in the plane at the gate, while they fixed a dodgy-looking seal.  Sitting on the tarmac at Gatwick on my way to an Artificial Life conference is getting to be a tradition.

We landed at Lyon, and I got the express tram to the city centre, then another tram to my hotel.  As I walked up to it I realised I had been there before.  Same strange decor; same helpful friendly staff; same lack of a hotel restaurant because it's Sunday.  The view from this window is a little more typical than this morning's:

The conference starts tomorrow: I'm looking forward to it!

view from a hotel window

At Gatwick Airport, ready to catch an early flight to Lyon tomorrow, where I will be attending the European Conference on Artificial Life.  This is the techno-thriller-like view from my hotel room window:

view from a hotel window

I arrived in Cancun, Mexico, yesterday evening, ready for the ALife conference starting on Monday.  There were several ALifers on the flight...

The flight landed a 6pm local time, only half an hour late.  (I say "only" because we took off an hour late from Gatwick, despite being all boarded on time.)  Then there was a long queue at immigration.  Then outside (bam! the heat!) to find the shuttle bus.  "It will be the guy wearing an orange tabard, holding a sign."  Am I grateful for that, as there were a zillion guys with signs, but only one with an orange tabard.  Then off to the hotel, in a gloriously air-conditioned shuttle bus.

I was a bit zonked by the 10 hr flight, and 6 hour time difference, but 8 hours sleep plus breakfast plus coffee, and I'm feeling human again.  Human enough to take the traditional photos from the window.

view from the window (at an angle)

view from the end of the corridor

Now off to slather myself in sunscreen/insect repellant, then explore the beach/air-conditioned restaurants.

Taormina

Monday: the first day of the European Conference on Artificial Life (ECAL). Sunday was all travel: from home to ECAL’s location in Taormina, Sicily, by taxi to the station, train to Kings Cross, tube to Victoria, train to Gatwick, shuttle to North terminal, plane to Catania, and taxi to Taormina, about 10 hours travel time.

It was dark on arrival, so my first view from the hotel window was in the morning:

looking out on the cacti

looking down to the hazy sea