Wednesday, June 3, 2009

The Start

In December I received an email which I thought was an advertisement for the forthcoming European Bridge Championships. It contained a PDF attachment and I almost deleted it but thought I would just check the dates.

Imagine my surprise when the attachment was an invitation to be one of five journalists at the tournament - the other four being most notable bridge writers. I think it took me all of fourteen seconds to respond and accept - well it wasn't that quick because I wrote to one important client explaining I could be away for four or five weeks and whether it would be a problem - after he said no problem it took all of fourteen seconds.

I confess to being a little nervous about accepting this invitation. while I am very comfortable writing bridge articles this audience is mixed with regard to language, abilities and expectations. For example when I proposed to the editor that I could do a bridge profile each day he said that would be alright for the first day but after that it would be hands. I don't necessarily agree with that strategy but I am in their hands.

While I would have liked to use my mileage to go to Nice this would have involved going through cities in Europe as a gateway so I opted for Emirates Sydney-Dubai-Nice which includes my first experience on an Airbus 800 which i am told is quite an experience.

My recollection of San Remo was an ordinary seaside town on the Ligurian Coast so this is one time that I am hoping me memory has failed me.

As is usual with my overseas travels a 16 day tournament turns into a five week holiday. My itinerary is as follows:
  • Dubai - 2 days
  • Mougin (30kms north of Cannes) 4 days
  • San Remo 17 days
  • Pierreverte with Michael and Vivien Cornell 6 days
  • 4 days uncommitted but I would like to get into a timeshare in Cap d'Ail near Monaco which is a beautiful part of the world
So here I am Thursday morning all packed - in fact I simply moved things from my last trip into a new suitcase for this trip - saves refolding. More from Dubai

Best...XD

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