Skyscanner Flight Search Engine

Before I take off to US (3 ½ weeks vacation!), I would like to introduce a new flight search tool I have added to my blog. It is not a secret that Skyscanner has the quickest and most convenient (at least in my opinion) search engine online. And the fact that they are not travel agency but independent search engine (you get a link to a travel agency or directly to airline/hotel) is a major plus point.

The End of a Benelux Era

“Bonjour monsieur”… “Bonjour madame” … “Comment vas-tu?”

It is over… it is finally over! For the last two month I was working most of the time in Luxembourg and Belgium, and boy… they all speak French! It is not like I have any problem with it, I just don’t speak the language… and I’m a bit tired of living in hotels.

Last week, instead of flying to London, I took a train from Luxembourg to Brussels to spend the weekend there. Since we already been in Brussels and out friend were busy on Saturday (during the day), we went to Bruges (couple of photos here: http://picasaweb.google.com/john.markh/20081213WeekendInBelgium).

That evening we were in for huge surprise: Christmas festival on the Brussels main squire. Although it was packed with locals and tourists, the music, lights, dances and the atmosphere were brilliant! I took two short movies with my new (and green, literally green) camera: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1228114364154268444&hl=en http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-73156388038689574&hl=en Then, after the festival (well, we didn’t really stay till the end – it was too cold), our friends (N & A) took us to a local gem: a pub with history! The place is run by Moroccan grandpa who collected “stuff” (there is no other word to describe the collection) and randomly placed in through the floors. It includes paintings, posters, broken sewing machines, statues, lamps, etc. And, they serve delicious raspberry flavoured wine which can make you really “happy”...

Well, time to go... John.

Acer Aspire ONE

Not so long ago, I have bought a new netbook... and now, my wife is following my steps. She wanted to have a pink version of Acer Aspire One , but since pink is nowhere to be found we had to go for the white version:

Formal Proposal for a BEng Dissertation

It is a second week I'm trying to come up with a proposal for my BEng dissertation.

So far, I have two options: Information Exchange in Multi Agent Systems based on a military hierarchy structure Design and Implementation of an Information Security Monitoring Tool using Modern Software Design Patterns & Methodologies

Most probably, I will go for the first option, as it is more academic (and that what people in academy like).

John.

P.S.: I would love to have ideas/links which are relevant for both of the subjects.

A Beautiful Autumn in Wiener Neustadt, Austria

Just 6 hours after we came back from Israel, I flew to Wiener Neustadt, Austria for a short project. It is a small town located south of Vienna and it is absolutely gorgeous!

Check out the photos at http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/john.markh/20081008WienerNeustadtAustria#.

Enjoy, John.

Rosh Hashanah in Israel

You know, the Jewish people are the chosen one. Otherwise, how can you explain that from mid September till (almost) the end of October there are holidays! First of all, you have Rosh Hashanah (a Jewish new year), then the Yom Kippur (judgement day) and finally, Sukkot festival.

This year, my wife managed to convince me to go Israel for Rosh Hashanah. Of course it involved a lot of eating, then eating and finally, eating. There was some kind of competition between my grandma, Alyona's grandma, her uncle and my dad who can feed us better (or more). The first couple of days would more or less as usual when you are visiting long-no-see relative (chit chat, food and some swimming), except my dad scheduled a high class flying demonstration of himself (check out the photo album here). I've got him a “Pilot for a Day” package and he waited for me to come to Israel to fly with him. For those who doesn't know, my dad is an experience pilot, on a highways on Israel...

Then we had the Rosh Hashanah dinner with all the relative squeezed into uncle's apartment where we had some more food, wine and card games (with younger cousins).

On the next day, we made a short trip to Mount Sodom and the Dead Sea where Alyona (and my dad) experienced firsts handed a mud treatment to “renew and rejuvenate” the skin. After this trip, we took the car and drove north, to do some hiking (Gilabon falls and Ein Tina) and meet with my old friends (check out the photo album here).

Enjoy, John.

Farming Tourism In Riga

Last weekend, we went to a quite vacation in Riga, Latvia to relax and to release everyday stress (after all, we do live and work in London). As the expression “Arbeit macht frei” goes, I had released my stress by working… working hard!

Take a look at the photo album at @ http://picasaweb.google.com/john.markh/20080914FarmingTourismInRiga

Enjoy, John.

P.S.: If someone is interested, I can arrange (a small administration fee will be charged) a weekend (full boarding) at the “farm” where you will be able to release stress and breath fresh air into polluted lungs of yours.