Singapore MVP Summit - day 1

So I've arrived in Singapore after around 7.5 hours flying. The flight left the Adelaide International Airport around 11:10am and arrived in Darwin a bit over 3 hours later. The flight itself was fine (Airbus A330-300) although the TV set for my seat didn't work at all so no movies (caught up on some reading instead).

Brief stop over in Darwin then back on the plane to Singapore. I was in a different seat and this one too had TV problems. Aparently this particular plane has more entertainment system problems than any other in the fleet so if you're boarding a Qantas Airbus A330 called “Esperence” don't get too excited about the movies as you could get disappointed.

I arrived in Singapore later than initially planned by about 40 minutes and caught a MaxiCab to the hotel. Costs a little more (set fee of S$35) but it tends to be a nicer drive.

The first thing I saw when arriving at the hotel were a WHOLE BUNCH OF FERRARIS!!!!! There's a conference in the hotel for Ferrari resellers by the looks and so there's just a few Million $$$ parked out the front. My mates Robert Lecons and Martin Baily would love it here - might have to take some photos for them.

Checked into my room (1118) which is quite nice. Of course the first thing I looked for was the cable connection for the Internet link - what a geek! This trip I've brought with me a little NetGear RP614 router and a Netcomm V-100 VoIP device plus a telephone I bought yesterday. Got myself connected to the broadband service and called Vivienne at home as I'd set up one of these VoIP devices there too. So I phoned her for free and the voice quality was fantastic. You wouldn't know it was across the 'net.

Of course she had friends over watching a video so will call me back later, but just being able to use the technology to call home for free is amazing. Visit www.myfone.com.au for more information on my new “toy”. Will be very useful for travelling and keeping in touch with home.. When I'm not travelling we'll have it setup in the office for cheaper long distance calls.

So, getting settled in and thought I'd update you. Tomorrow will be a chance for some shopping and looking around (plus drooling over the Ferraris outside) and get some work done without the mobile phone ringing every few minutes. The bulk of the other MVPs are arriving tomorrow and Sunday.

Signing off until tomorrow. G'nite :)

PS - just called my parents to say hi. The VoIP phone call to their PSTN service was only 60c for 6.5 minutes. Now that's amazing.