The Airport

After picking up my luggage at the Airport baggage claim and clearing customs (wow – it was a Right for declare and a Left for nothing to declare – the nothing to declare plopped you into the outside walking area – Left was pretty much a no brainer) I headed to the hotel shuttle area.  Once there, I was wondering how 15 people awaiting it, each with 1 to 4 bags of luggage, would all fit.  When the van pulled up it was obvious.  Someone had the idea to put in tow, a covered trailer. This is where all the passengers luggage went.  No more stuffing the van’s back doors or limiting the number of people. No charge per bag.

Escalators we have in the US.  The Swiss do it better.  First, the escalators only move when they sense someone approaching, or someone is on the escalator.  This saves wear and electricity.  Second, the escalator entrance and exit steps are flat when you start to get on them for about 4 steps and the go flat again when you step off.  Typically, in the US, it is only 1 or 2 steps.  The longer area gives more time to get on-board and then they start to raise.  They are also lighted at both ends with neon green giving them a clean appearance.

Tipping

Tipping is typically not required.  At first this felt odd to me.  Back in the states, the driver or waiter basically stands there with their palms out and open, or they look at you until you provide up the cash.  After dinner, in the US, we all try and figure the sum between 15% and 20% and I’ve seen family shouting matches if someone paying tries to short the waiter with a measly 10%.  Not here in Switzerland.  In Switzerland, the tip is engineered into the food price.  You pay for your meal and if you feel kind (or a bit awkward), leave a few CHF’s (Swiss Franc’s) but that is really optional.  As anyone coming into Switzerland will soon realize that nothing is inexpensive here.

Better Transportation

In one of the cities I visited, called Basel (pronounced Bah-zel), the central down-town is mostly devoid of traffic.  Beautiful, clean and well kept electric street cars (trolleys) are used in the city.  The Swiss are typically quite fit.  Seems all that Walking does wonders.  The trolleys run by the honor system.  Buy a ticket for your ride at the machine at any stop , and if you are very randomly asked for your ticket and don’t have one, you have to pay a steep fine + buy the fair ticket.  This makes the trolley ride much simpler, no exchange of money for ticket by the driver.  Their job is just to drive and keep the trolley safe.  This goes for their intercity train system too.  Another thing of beauty to get people to work.  There are cars, but parking garages are expensive and so is having a car here.

Bicycles Rule too.  I really think the Swiss climate is very similar to the North East US.  But, if you are in most US cities, there are a very limited number of business men and women that ride to work and back.  However, in Switzerland, this may have to do with the lack of outside parking, and gas prices being much higher compared with the cheap US cost (even if most American’s think that gas is way to high where they live)

Trains are set to leave at the time posted.  Make sure you are there ahead of the time posted, otherwise if the time is posted 9:59 Depart, the train will depart at 9:59 and you can miss your train.  Seems the city virtually runs on Trolley’s and Trains.

Safety

The streets are safe.  Very little crime for the large cities they have. You feel a sense of ‘I can walk anywhere and I should be OK’.  I walked around usually with some colleagues at dinner time, and we had no issues at all.  Also lacking were homeless people lounging around the train stations, near the city trolley areas, etc.

In the hotel I stayed (The Airport Hilton) they engineered a system for the electronic room key.  It controlled not only the access to the door, but a slot was placed inside the room, where upon inserting it, the lights would go on.  When you leave, just take the card, leave the room, and the lights go back out after a few minutes.  Returning, they will go back on to where you had them set.

Each room had a digital safe.  Super easy to use.  Placing your passport and other valuables, made you feel less vulnerable while away from your room.

Even with the best of trips, you never know when you might misplace your wallet, lose your luggage or perhaps you have a medical emergency.  I always take with me my “Secured Traveler” drive.  This is a drive purchased from Aspenologies on the web at www.SecuredTraveler.com .  It was very handy to have on the trip to keep a daily journal of my trips activities.  The drive is loaded with special software to allow inclusion of a backup copy of my passport, my medical information, credit card call numbers back to the state just in case, and the drive is fully secured as it has a biometric finger swipe to gain entrance.  It also has 256Bit encryption.

I enjoyed my stay in Switzerland, with lots more to see in coming years.  The people are friendly and hard working, the countryside and mountains are beautiful and you can set your watch to any train you hop onto – That Swiss efficiency!

One (1) “Grand Prize” will be awarded.  The Grand Prize winner (“Winner”) will receive: one (1) 4 day/3 night trip for two (2) people to Los Angeles, CA to attend the Rihanna concert at Staples Center  (show date:  July 21, 2010).

• The trip will consist of the following:
  • Round-trip coach air transportation for two (2) people from the major airport nearest Grand Prize Winner’s residence to an airport in the greater Los Angeles area, as selected at the sole discretion of the Sponsor or Administrator;
  • Three (3) nights standard hotel accommodations for Grand Prize Winner and his/her guest at a hotel selected by Sponsor or Administrator (one room; double occupancy and room tax only);
  • Two lower bowl tickets to attend the Rihanna at the Staples Center;
  • $500 cash allowance for ground transportation/spending money.
• Approximate Retail Value (“ARV”) of Grand Prize: $ 3,750.

Prize Winner List AND OFFICIAL RULES: For the name of the winner (available after July 15, 2010) or a copy of these Official Sweepstakes Rules, mail a self-addressed, stamped envelope (VT residents need not affix return postage on requests for rules) to:  “Internet Explorer 8 Sweepstakes” Winner’s List or Rules, 100 East Pine Street, Suite 201, Orlando, FL  32801. All requests must be received by August 1, 2010

Contest End Date: Wednesday, June 30, 2010 at 11:59 AM PT

Official rules here:

http://creative.myspacecdn.com/design/myspace/ie8/ie8Sweepstakes_officialRulesNew.html

Adventure 6: The Secret of the Butteri

See the adventure from the Bertolli website which continues here: https://yahoo.promo.eprize.com/bertollisweepstakes/

What makes this drive so cool?

1. 256Bit Encryption
2. Fast Read speed 28 MB/S
3. Fast Write speed 23 MB/S (let’s see any IronKey do that!!)
4. Biometric
5. Swing drive (no cap to get lost)
6. Lighted when in use
7. Solid Stainless Steel
8. Lanyard attachment ability
9. 8GB Capacity
10. Encryption/Decryption for ALL of your PCs file using the flash drive (cool feature)
11. Backup password available
12. Scan 10 fingerprints (or have your Lawyer be one of them)
13. Target price less than $100 on Secured Traveler site in July 2010
14. Single Secured Partition
15. Only Aspenologies has this drive and it should be available on the SecuredTraveler website in mid-July.  Check back with us then for even more information.

http://intotheheartofitaly.yahoo.com/

Your chance to Win an Amazing Trip to Italy!

The Secret of the Pollaio

See the adventure from the Bertolli website which continues here: http://intotheheartofitaly.yahoo.com/

Facebook Videos Posted by Bertolli Adventure 3 The Secret of the Pollaio [HD]

Have a picture to win it all?
Send us a picture to be used on Lending Club’s web site any time before midnight (Pacific Time) on April 30, 2010.   On May 3rd, the Lending Club team will announce the 10 finalist photographs and will post them on our Facebook fan page for a public vote.  The photographs with the most votes by May 31, 2010 wins the contest.

Submit breathtaking photographs that somehow (this is where your artistic awesomeness comes in) showcases Lending Club values:

• trustworthy,
• transparent,
• professional yet friendly and accessible.

Prizes:

• One  grand prize winner will receive$1,000 by American Express gift card
• One second place winner will receive $500 by American Express gift card
• One third place winner will receive $300 by American Express gift card
• Up to three honorary mentions: $100/each by American Express gift card

How to enter?
Simply leave a comment on this blog post with your email, name, and link to the image.  You may also leave a short explanation of why you think the submitted picture is right for Lending Club’s site.

Qualifying pictures/licenses
We’re looking for breathtaking photographs that somehow (this is where your artistic awesomeness comes in) showcases Lending Club values: trustworthy, transparent, professional yet friendly and accessible.  Check out some of the photographs we have used in the past on our background images page.

For complete details on qualifying , please see contest rules.

Tweet & win too
During the time of the contest (from Monday, March 22nd and April 30th), we will randomly pick a tweet that mentions the photo contest (containing a link to our post and the hashtag #LCphoto) to win a Lending Club t-shirt or messenger bag.
Send us your best shots.  Good luck!

• Copyright: By submitting the picture, you agree and acknowledge that such picture will license to Sponsor under a creative commons attribution copyright licenses. You will receive no royalty or other fee (other than the applicable prize fee) if Sponsor uses your submitted picture.
• Eligibility: Open to any photographer who is resident in the USA.
• Entry fee: Free
• Entry deadline: 31 May 2010

• Picture must be available online (such as photo sharing sites or stock photo libraries)
• Picture must have one (1) focal point, as well as no more than three (3) dominating colors.
• Picture quality must be at least 2000×2000 pixels
• Picture must be in PNG, GIF or JPG format
• Blurry, damaged, out of focus or inappropriate images, as determined in Sponsor’s sole and absolute discretion, will be ineligible
• A maximum of four (4) entries are allowed per person.

Got anything like this in your photo bag: http://www.anders.com/pictures/public/04-views/49%20-%20Glacier%20Lake%20-%20Iceland.jpg

Check out this URL for original blog posting and complete rules: http://blog.lendingclub.com/2010/03/25/lending-club’s-photo-contest-2500-in-prizes/

What happens when Rocco DiSpirito, Marisa Tomei, and Dan Cortese set out to uncover the secrets of Italian passion for food and life? Bertolli’s new web series “Into the Heart of Italy.”

In every episode, our trio will be given a series of clues which will lead them to one-of-a-kind Italian Culinary Artisans who will share the passion and heritage of the cuisine of Italy. From there Rocco, Marisa and Dan must unlock the secrets to Italian Passion and the artisanal culinary techniques which have inspired Bertolli’s line of frozen meals.

See what they uncover, answer the question correctly and you could be going into the heart of Italy, too!

How to enter:

STEP 1

Watch the latest episode

VIEW EPISODE > http://intotheheartofitaly.yahoo.com/#18448076

STEP 2

Enter your Email Address here: https://yahoo.promo.eprize.com/bertollisweepstakes/