The Westozy's visit to England

[Westozy]

Hi all,
Leonie and I arrived safely in the UK a couple of days ago flying Malaysian Airlines. The first leg Perth to Kuala Lumpur was my first ride in a B777 which was very quiet and quite a comfortable ride, the 5 hours passed quickly with the individual entertainment system doing it's thing. The second leg from KL to Heathrow was 12.5 hours in a packed B747 and we had the centre aisle seats with no windows - groan! That was a very long leg and we arrived rather weary to the crisp London morning. I have made contact with Joe Lavery and Ian Sissons and I will be meeting Joe next Wednesday and Ian on the Thursday, I'm looking forward to these visits very much. Joe will be receiving a hand delivered Aerosim Solutions throttle base, not my usual method of delivery! I have also arranged a meeting with Leo Bodnar for the following Monday to discuss some "business", I wonder if I can claim this trip on my next tax return hehe!
We are staying in the beautiful town of Winchester and yesterday we climbed the tower of Winchester Cathedral, it was amazing and a must do for anyone visiting Winchester.
More soon......
Cheers Gwyn

[Matt Olieman]

Hey Gwyn, thanks for the update. I wish you'll have a wonderful trip, wish you all the luck. I look forward toward your updates :) :) :)

Matt Olieman

[Holclo]

Joe, Leo and Ian in one visit - WOW. You are soooo lucky. Enjoy - I'm sure you will.
Bill

[Neil Hewitt]

Sounds like a real tour of the country. Sadly, the weather's just turned cold for your arrival - September is an odd weather month in the UK, we've had daytime temps up to 24C even last week, but the night-time temps are getting really chilly as autumn really sets in. Fingers crossed for some final warm days this week.

Winchester is lovely, very historic of course as a mediaeval capital of England, but do spend some quality time in London if you can. There's no other city quite like it in the world. I've been here 15 years and I still haven't seen half of it.

Enjoy the trip!

[No Longer Active]

I second that, London is where it is all at and where it's all happening, you have to visit London if you come the the UK.....

Im not far from London at all, its a great place.....but blimmin expensive!

Also visit Duxford in Cambridgeshire, it's an aviators dream!

Alex

[ian@737ng.co.uk]

and actually gwyn, as you are coming to me, travelling back, you'll pass the RAF museum at Cosford (on the M54). go take a look
at that. well worth a couple of hours.
good luck mate and looking forward to seeing you.....
cheers

ian

[Westozy]

Thanks guys,
I had a bus ride to Southampton today and I've bought some Antarctic clothing, the shivering has stopped! I must be walking 5 miles a day as we never seem to stop shopping, apparently Australia doesn't stock the right shoes Leonie says. The English folk don't seem to mind the aussies and everyone seems so friendly, it must be due to all the free cricket lessons we give them! I'm not much of a drinker really but I just love the English pubs, the food and hospitality is outstanding. Winchester is beautiful and I can see why Leonie's family have chosen to live here. We climbed the tower of Winchester cathedral which was an amazing experience, over a thousand years old it's hard to believe I'm actually here!
I confirmed the hire car this morning so the road trip begins on Wednesday, I'll soon post pics of the visits to Joe, Ian and Leo. On Monday the 4th after seeing Leo we are going to the mecca of Duxford, this was always on the agenda and that will be a big buzz. Thursday the 7th might be a day trip to Paris on the Eurostar train, still not confirmed, it depends on how many pairs of shoes Leonie buys!!!
Cheers Gwyn

[Neil Hewitt]

Hi Gwynn. A quick tip for Paris, if you end up going there, and plan to use public transport (and who doesn't - it's fast and efficient) - buy a couple of carnets (a pack of 10 single tickets) on the Eurostar itself, in the onboard shop. The queues at most Metro stations (particularly Gare du Nord) are always horrendous, the machines are often incomprehensible or out of order, and the staff like to play a game of 'bait the foreigner' which gets incredibly frustrating. If you run out you can buy another carnet from most convenience stores and avoid the queues that way.

Unlike London where you can get pre-pay Oyster cards, the Paris pre-pay smart card system, Navigo, still requires you to register and show ID etc, so it's just not worth it. You can get a 24-hour pass but unless you're going outside the central zone it isn't worth it.

If you're only there for a day it's not worth spending half of it queueing for the Louvre (overrated) or the Eiffel Tower (made me rather queasy), but an overlooked attraction that you can normally get straight on is the elevator ride to the top of the Montparnasse Tower, the tallest building in France, which is located outside Montparnasse metro station. From the viewing gallery there you can see across the whole city better than you could from the Eiffel Tower. And as many point out, it's the one place where you can see the whole city without seeing the Montparnasse Tower itself (it's really rather ugly).

I could go on and on, but you probably want to plan your trip yourself, right? ;)

[ian@737ng.co.uk]

The westozy does Oswestry..........
30th September 2010..... well the westozy and his luvly lady Leonie arrived here.
a real pleasure and and honour to meet up with Gwyn at last.
so we had to put him thru his paces didn't we. sent him LEBL to LEAL which he
hand flew most of the way flawlessly (he was obviously out to impress)
his reward, the best curry he's had in ages
it's a real pleasure to meet up with names you know from accross the world.
looking forward to his next visit, trust me, he'll be back
have a great weekend chaps

ian

http://www.737ng.co.uk/forsale/aussieteam3.jpg
http://www.737ng.co.uk/forsale/gwyn8.jpg
http://www.737ng.co.uk/forsale/leonie2.jpg
http://www.737ng.co.uk/forsale/gwyn4.jpg

[Westozy]

Hi all,
What an absolute honour it was to meet Joe Lavery and Ian Sissons and their lovely wives, I am a very lucky person! The hospitality of these gurus of our game was outstanding, Leonie and I were very spoiled by both couples, thank you again guys. Their outstanding simulators are out of this world and I thoroughly enjoyed my time in each one, I really have to lift my game with mine now, there is a lot of catching up to do! I am now convinced that Ian's has just been cut off from the front of a real plane, he didn't build it after all. I even think it makes your ears pop! I have taken the crown of Chris Danker and now hold the title of the furthest travelled visitor. To both sims I bet!
I am pinching myself, can't believe where I am and I'm meeting Leo Bodnar tomorrow. What a buzz England is - absolutely beautiful.

Cheers, Gwyn & Leonie

[Matt Olieman]

Absolutely a fabulous story Gwyn and am happy to hear of your wonderful experience. I envy you. :) :) :) Good luck on the rest of your trip.

Matt Olieman

[Westozy]

Hi all,
On Friday we travelled to the city of my birth Halifax to catch up with my own relatives. I didn't know that I had so many, my Uncle arranged for them all to gather at a pub and we had a great time. I had to learn the Yorkshire custom of "suppin' pints of John Smiths". The English beer is not fizzy like our aussie lager and 6 pints later I was the king of the Karaoke microphone! Leonie doesn't remember much of the night after my cousins kept topping up her vodka and coke. I can't wait to show her the video of her performance hehe!
On Monday we trekked to the city of York to meet Leo Bodnar. Leo had very kindly travelled quite a way south out of his way to meet us, he had taken a day off his very busy schedule. We met at the appointed time at York Minster which is a towering cathedral no doubt many centuries old. Leo greeted us both very warmly and the three of us wandered the streets of York until we found a Cafe with an available table, York was buzzing with tourists and it was packed. We ordered a light lunch and then spent the next 90 minutes discussing Leo's thriving business and the future development of Aerosim Solutions' plug'n'play throttle quadrants!!! More on this successful business agreement later!
I gathered very quickly that whilst Leo does have an interest in flight simulators, cockpit builders are a drop in the ocean for him. I won't divulge details of his current projects as requested, but it is obvious to me that he is destined for great things. He said he gets over 20,000 emails per year so you can imagine it is physically impossible for him to answer them all. We as cockpit builders are very fortunate that he checks out our forums and answers the odd question here and there. One thing I did get across I think was the phenomenal growth of our hobby and the number of people now taking it up.
Leo is obviously a very intelligent electronics/software engineer and also a very smart businesman yet he is extremely humble and an absolute gentleman. It was a pleasure and an honour to meet him in person and I am delighted to have secured a sound business relationship with a new friend!
http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/611/medium/Gwyn_Leo.jpeg

Cheers, Gwyn
www.aerosimsolutions.com.au

[drum4no1]

Its really awesome to put faces to the names and get to see the pictures of you together. In hobbies like this with people spread across the globe, you get familiar with names and user names but its a real treat to see the people together and getting to know each other personally. As time goes by I feel less "geeky" about my hobby as I read the stories here...

[No Longer Active]

Wow 20,000 emails per year that's nearly 55 per day, you miss one day where you don't check emails and all of a sudden you have another 110 to check and so on.....the poor guy having us banging on about how to wire a button (that's the last of his worries). At last a picture of the world famous Leo Bodnar, great to see a pic of the legend! Top stuff Gwyn....and Leo!

[Westozy]

Hi guys,
Tomorrow the UK visit ends and we will be trekking back to Australia. The trip has been fantastic and I am certain I will be repeating it in the not too distant future. Whilst it is sad that the holiday draws to a close Leonie and I have had some great news. We put an offer on a much bigger house before we left Australia and the deal has gone through, we will be moving soon. The new place has a 6m x 5m powered workshop and I just can't wait to start arranging it. There will be room for the much wanted second CNC machine and the planned expansion of Aerosim Solutions can begin at last. I've already got the beer fridge, a flat screen TV, air conditioner and a stereo system. My simulator will be going in there aswell and I will be able to commence the rebuild, I'm so looking forward to that job!
Cheers, Gwyn
PS Some pics of the tour coming soon after we get home!!

[Westozy]

Here is a couple of pics from my travels meeting my heroes!!!

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/611/Gwyn-_-Ian.jpg
Ian Sissons on the right with the 'Westozy', apparantly I am the furthest travelled visitor to his fantastic simulator!

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/611/Joe-_-Gwyn.jpg
This is Joe Lavery who writes for PC Pilot, I hand delivered a throttle base to Joe, that's $4,000 postage Joe!

Two great evenings with these guys and their sims, I'll be back to both for sure.
Cheers Gwyn

[Matt Olieman]

Gwyn thanks for your excellent reporting of your travels. I've enjoyed your reports of your events. I envy your venture. Thank You!!! :)

Matt Olieman

[Neil Hewitt]

Oh, good, so now the spammers are just copying and pasting from my posts for their 'convincing' text. The text above is from my earlier reply to this thread.

Mods, methinks 'davidwilsoon' needs to be banned.