Category: Travels

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Eating Out Travels

Another Day, another Breakfast – 1

It is said that the first meal of the day, the breakfast is the most important meal of the day.


I think they are correct, but how many of us go without breakfast? We seem to put the priority of meals on their head, by putting the importance of the best meal as the evening meal.


During a normal night in our sleep, the body shuts down, and the plasticity of the brain, the learning of the brain takes place. The body does not need much fuel, (for the food intake, what we eat is fuel for our body), to operate during sleep. When we wake-up, we need the fuel to kick start our day, to run our body.


What do we do? We have no fuel intake, no breakfast, no boosters to get us going, perhaps just a coffee to give us that high of caffeine, thinking thatn s good. Then at lunch time we may have a sandwich, a light snack, to see us through the afternoon. In the evening we perhaps go out to meet with friends over a meal, perhaps not meeting until 8pm, and sit down to a three or four course meal, a soup or starter, a main meal, and then a dessert, all sold to us by an eager waiter, trying to get our bill (invoice) as high as possible, as the restaurant is there to make money.


The undigested food sits in our stomach waiting to be broken down into the chemicals needed to power our body and brain, which it does whilst we sleep, the very time the chemicals and nutrients are not needed. So we store them in the body, leading to high cholesterol, fats, heart disease, diabetes and indigestion.


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Travels

Different Beds

My lifestyle, my work takes me to many countries and places. It is rare that I stay more than two weeks in the same place.

That means different beds.

That means different sleep.

That means my body clock is never the same as I travel around the world.

I learned a trick from an airline pilot I taught on a PhotoReading course to adjust my body clock to the time of my destination, say India, when my body is used to the UK time. Before getting on the aircraft at the departing airport, adjust your watch time to that of the destination airport, and start living that time. At no time try to live your home time. It works.

I also never sightsee, have a day to adjust to the new time zone, I like to arrive, and go straight into the training course, even the same day of arrival. My body, my mind has no chance to complain of time changes.

But I need sleep.

I can often work for 21 days without a break, 9am until 6pm, plus the set-up time in the morning, the computer, aids to help me teach, water, and the strip-down, packing the computer away, tidying-up, participants leave behind them a real mess, moving chairs into the correct places. That expands my day by another couple of hours.

So I am tired, I need sleep.

It is rare that I go out in the evening, as I need rest, my body and especially my brain.

A participant once said to me I am like a theatre. I am the stage manager, I am the producer, I am the writer, I am the director, I am the actor, I am the musician, I am the cleaner, I am the caterer, I am the usher. I do all the jobs.

I need my space, I need rest and sleep.

Some people may find that hard to accept, as I am very alive during my courses, very extrovert, always watching, planning, calibrating with the participants.

I get back to the hotel or place I am staying, and let go. Looking forward to something to eat, and then sleep.

I empty my mind, not dwell on the day, allow the mind to relax, and go to bed, giving my inner mind instructions to wake-up at a specific time, say 7:30am, to prepare for the next day, to give me something special to do for the next day, and to give me a good sleep.

This last one is often difficult to achieve as I sleep is so many different beds.

Beds that are hard ones, soft ones, big ones, small ones, wide ones, narrow ones, short ones, long ones, high ones, low ones, lumpy ones.

Then you get the bed clothes. Hard sheets, soft sheets, duvets, blankets, just bed covers. Pillows, some feathers, some foam, big and small, lumpy, and different heights.

It takes a lot to adjust to the beds, let alone the bedrooms, and the different sounds coming from the next rooms, snoring, banging, flushing of the toilets, running of the showers, parties, and other bedtime games. 

Tonight I pack my bags, as tommorow I move to another bed.

Oh Poo Poo. click to read.

Categories
English Courses NLP Travels

Istanbul – Too Hot

I am in Istanbul this week, giving a NLP Master Practitioner course and three sessions of NLP to participants learning English. This means I am in-front of the participants from 9am till 7pm, with under an hours break for lunch.

This is enough to make anyone tired, but on top of this the weather is so hot, above 30 I believe. Add to this thirteen people in an enclosed space makes it even warmer, too much for the air conditioning to cope well.

I have now resorted to wearing sandals, and yesterday I got myself a pair of shorts, now the participants can see my short, fat, hairy legs. What a sight I must look, but I must keep cool, and none of the women wear socks and have bare legs, therefore I too can have. Equal rights for men.

Last night after finishing with the English language participants at 7pm, I fell into a bean bag seat we have in the classroom, just to rest my legs and aching back. This next thing I remember was suddenly waking-up half an hour later seeing pink every where. Where was I, for a fleeting moment I had no idea where I was. For another fifteen minutes I lay on the floor wrapped in the bean bag, unable to move, the heat had drained my energy.

                                                      Oh Poo Poo. (click to read) That’s me. I will need to go home, to a cooler UK. If only I could.

Internet access is an issue for me at the moment. It is difficult to find the time or an access point, as I am working, preparing other work, people wanting my time, so my blogs are suffering. Apologies to those who follow daily. I will take time for myself to relax, unwind, rest and get some sleep.

Categories
Travels

Turkish Airlines TK1992 — A Chocolate Delight

Another flight, the same food.

On this flight, I had the choice of fish or pasta. There was no choice.

I opened the pasta to find a crusted offering, but the taste was better than the looks.

The salad revealed chopped peppers that my body does not tolerate well, so no problem.

                                          

The dessert offered a better offering, chocolate cake.

Now I was happy.

Categories
NLP Travels

Flashing Entrance into Istanbul

I traveled to Istanbul on Friday to give a NLP Master Practitioner course, but the aircraft arrived slightly late, at 10:30pm. I was worried that Salim the driver would be in trouble waiting for me.

I left arrivals hall, to be met by Salim, who speaks little English, saying something about ambulance.

Then I realised. Waiting for me was an ambulance to take me to my hotel in Kadikoy.

Down the motorways we raced, lights flashing, cars moving out of the way.

So I was not late arriving at the hotel.

Strange arrival.

Now I have to find an internet connection.

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Books Hypnosis NLP Stage Hypnosis Travels Videos

The War of the Worlds – H.G. Wells, Jeff Wayne

“No-one would have believed…………”

There are a few things in life that inspire me. Music. People. Places. Objects.

When I have those moments, those times, I know they are special. I will hold on to those, forever.

In music, there are very special tunes, songs, arrangements, that have captured my imagination, and after one hearing, they have stayed with me.

My college days at the Stafford College of Commerce in Wednesbury, when we, Philip Green, Paula Dawes et al, went into a coffee bar in Walsall, spending 6d (six old pence, read story, click here), to play The Animal’s House of the Rising Sun. It lasted the longest time, that was value for money.

When I first started work, say 1968, with the National Coal Board Computer Power in Cannock in the Midlands of the UK, the shift system we worked allowed me and my colleagues to have breaks of four days. One of these breaks I went camping with Pete to Barmouth in Wales, and sitting on a wall outside a pub, the sound of Mike Oldfield’s, Tubular Bells rang out. The haunting melody is in my mind now.

Simon and Garfunkel’s, Bridge Over Troubled Water was played in a house Pete and myself rented in Pelsall at the time, and I would entertain girlfriends in the front room. It was not my LP record, I never had a record player or LP’s, but the songs created a great atmosphere for romance. Well it worked for me.

Neil Diamond’s Beautiful Noise, was a song I heard driving my VW Beetle up the A52 from Bottesford to Grantham in the East Midlands one morning, and it made my hair stand up on my arms. It still does today, as I listen with such joy at the arrangement.

James Last, and his unique big band sound. Sitting in the front room of the first house I purchased at 13 Cox Drive, Bottesford, having created a stereo sound system from bits and pieces of equipment before the days of commercially available equipment, and trying to sit in the precise position between the giant homemade speakers so I could hear the dueling between the various instruments of his orchestra. I was later able to hear James Last live at Leicester’s De Montford Hall. Wow.

Around 1979, my life was influenced by another collection of words, songs and music.

Based on the story of H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, Jeff Wayne created a musical master piece. 

I can loose myself in the story as narrated by Richard Burton, sung by David Essex, Phil Lynott, Julie Covington, Justin Haywood, as the Martians invaded Earth, not in America as the movies suggest, but in the UK, the area I live, Woking, Horsell Common, et al.

The music creates images in my mind so real, as Peter and the Wolf, (click to read), I see the Martian’s machines as they rape the earth and humanity on their way to London, the sinking of the ship HMS Thunderchild, the eventual destruction of the Martian’s with the red weed. See the blog NLP now – Our Minds Eye (click to read).

I went into Central London, and as always playing with Phillip’s Sausage, I saw that Jeff Wayne was to appear in Virgin’s Megastore, a massive CD music store in London’s Piccadilly Circus, signing copies of his latest release of War of the Worlds. 

                                                      Phillip with Jeff Wayne, London 2007

It was in Istanbul, walking up Taxim Hill after having a meal with my translator Asuman Yildirim that as I passed a previously unseen store, (D&R), my attention was drawn to the corner of the window, and there was the Collectors Edition of the War of the Worlds, something I never knew existed. I had to buy it.

It was at the beginning of the year when I purchased a newspaper I never really buy, that I opened the pages and there was an advertisement for Jeff Wayne’s live performance in London’s O2 Arena in December 2007 (click to visit). I had to book a seat. To book, visit www.thewaroftheworlds.com.

“No-one would have believed…………” that such things can happen, that we are presented with opportunities, chances, possibilities, but we are.

Synchronicity. The release of human possibilities. Breaking free of limits. It will happen if it should happen.

C.G. Jung describes synchronicity as “a meaningful coincidence of two or more events, where something other than the possibility of chance is involved.”

        2 CD selection     Highlights        Collectors Edition

Categories
Travels

All comes to those that wait

There is a saying in English, “all comes to those that wait.”

There is another English saying, “strike whilst the iron is hot.”

Here is another one, “if you have a problem sleep on it.”

The sayings above will all have their counterparts, or similar sayings in most cultures, as has proven in my trainings throughout the world.

Small world, isn’t it?

Many years ago in Carnaby Street, Central London, the birthplace of “mod” fashion of the 1960’s, the place to be seen with the rock stars, I came across a shop selling rings, and saw a special ring that caught my eye. For some time I pondered whether to buy the ring, but I never did, even though I returned many times to the shop, the eye stood out, but my hand never went into my pocket to get the money out to buy it.

One day, perhaps two years after initially setting my eye on the ring, I went back to Carnaby Street to buy the ring. The shop had changed. Now it was sports shirts, running shoes, no jewelry.

Oh Poo Poo. click to understand.

I asked in the new shop where had the old shop gone, no one knew. I asked in neighbouring shops, still no-one knew.

Perhaps I become obsessive with what I do. Yes I think I do.

When I want to know something, to learn something, I search for the information, go the best to learn from them, that is why I sought-out, Paul McKenna, Ormond McGill, Joe McMoneagle, Richard bandler, John Grinder, Paul Scheele, Dr Win Wenger, Tony Buzan, Gianni Golfera, Doug O’Brian, et al, then I can teach others.

When I have a problem, I know I can solve it, perhaps using technology, I will search for the solution, and not rest until I resolve it, for example the Dualphone 3088. (click)

I searched all over London for the ring. Nothing.

Asu joined in the search. Together we would scour the jewelry shops in the back streets of Istanbul only to be offered the Turkish eye. 

Asuman and myself, one evening in Kadikoy, following a strange meal in a square I think named after a duck, came across a shopkeeper that said he could get one, but next week.

I felt good, at last I had it. Or had I? No.

The Turkish Eye

My search continued, Italy, Turkey, Spain, England, India. Nothing.

Then last Sunday, always searching, always seeking the impossible, the missing, I was in Covent Garden Market, I asked a stall holder, and he told me of a shop just off Carnaby Street, The Great Frog, they had them. With hope in my heart, I went to the shop, only to find it closed and with a grill over the window which made it impossible to view the goods on sale.

Undeterred, I returned Monday, and yes they had one, just the one I wanted.

After all these years of searching, the shop was less than 100 yards (metres) from the original shop I had seen all those years ago.

 Yavaş Yavaş
Categories
Travels

Sunday – Central London

Sunday was a hot, humid day in London, and I had to catch-up of arrangements for future courses, which meant a trip into Central London.

Whatever is said about the Mayor of London, Ken Livingston, he has made great differences in the scene and transportation systems of the UK capital. More people are using areas of London which only a few years ago were devoid of people, especially the South Bank. New eating places, places to relax, walk, run or have fun none exist.

Walking across the New Hungerford Bridge, linking Waterloo Railway Station, The Royal Festival Hall and the London Eye, to Charing Cross Railway Station and the Embankment, across the River Thames, the vista of London is there for all to see. 

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Downstream Waterloo Bridge, with the nude men (click to see) standing guard either end, St Paul’s Cathedral behind and the new Gerkin building, and cranes indicating more construction underway.

Upstream, the London Eye, the Houses of Parliament, and i the distance, the MI5 building made famous by the James Bond film.

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  In Covent Garden, a popular eating and meeting place, that once used to be the wholesale market for London’s fruit and vegetables. Here was a special celebration for the formation of Malaysia fifty years ago, and there were a variety of displays and dancers for the public to see.

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Travels

Today is Better – Stage Hypnosis gets closer

Today, Sunday, is a better day.

I have awoken early, and feel so much more alive. For the last few days I have been aching, my chest, my neck, my legs. Perhaps I do do too much, put too many hours into each twenty-four hours, trying to achieve too many things.

But, at long last I have the internet working. Me the computer “expert”, taking so long to solve the problem. I still cannot send emails via the new ISP, but that is something they will have to solve on Monday.

Today I well go into Central London to start the arrangements for the up and coming Stage Hypnosis Course in September.

It is a course I love. To take a participant who has never been hypnotised, and in two days get them on the evening of the last day on stage, having gained all the skills to perform a live stage hypnosis show.

                                                            

That is gratifying, and has been for many years since Chanel 4 TV and Discovery Chanel filmed my course and shown it world-wide. To this day I am seen on TV, and people sign up now.

                                                      

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Travels

Flight BA118 Bangalore – London. The Joy of Flying

By the time we had finished the Mind Map course at 6pm, packed-up, un-picked the course, had a meal, it was nearly midnight. My flight was at 6am back to London. That meant an early start to get to the airport, 4am. I still had to pack my suitcase, shower and book out of the hotel.

So, very little sleep.

The Bangalore airport is very small, Gate 1 seeming to be the only International departure point. The buildings appear to be being renovated, but I think like other cities, they will be moving the airport way outside the city boundaries, perhaps adding another hour to the journey.

I remember as a school boy, going on a school trip to visit London’s Heathrow airport, I would expect in the 1960’s. There were field all around the airport grounds, it was in the countryside. Now, as you fly in looking down, the vast amount of housing below, just shows how people move to be near the airport.

This same people now complain of the noise of planes taking off and landing.

Why did they move to the area in the first place? They knew the airport was there. They knew the noise would be there. Why complain? I expect they are glad they are on the doorstep when they want to fly.

So it is with most airports, people move towards the airports to live and work, then complain. Milan’s new Melpensa takes 50 minutes. compared to Linate which is 10 minutes from the city center. Kula Lumpa KLIA takes 1 hour, instead of a few minutes.

OK, the new airports are bigger and have more facilities, but still people drift out to live near the new ones, then complain.

My flight was delayed by over 2 hours, so what, just sit back and relax, do not go to sleep, even if the eyes need to close, you may miss the flight. Oh, I am so hungry, but I can wait for the meal on the flight, no I can’t, I am thirsty too.

I went to the little coffee bar, and get a muffin and tea, only to find out that they are complimentary of British Airways, because of the delay, but they made no announcement. Still that means that they did not spend so much, meaning more profits, and as a share holder of BA, that means more returns on my investment, if they pay anything out that is.

Eventually, we get on board, and I get my window seat, 27K. Strange, not a few hours earlier I had “checked-in” on-line on the internet, and booked seat 16K. I asked why my seat had changed, and I got the answer that they had changed the aircraft. What? Halfway through the outward flight from the UK?

I could not move from my seat during the flight due to the rather large ladies sitting in the two seats next to me, good job I have a strong bladder.

We had two meals during the flight, no choice really, non vegetarian or vegetarian. Yes, I could have ordered a special meal on booking the ticket, but I do not like to make a fuss.

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You too can enjoy exotic food on a plane too.

As we took off late that meant we arrived late into terminal 4 at Heathrow. The taxi waiting for me. I can get home and rest.

But then I was charged extra for waiting time of the driver, but he kept me awake on the drive home, as we talked about his home country of Sri Lanka, and my experiences of giving training in Columbo.

Oh the joys of travel. Let me sleep.