Osama’s Blog

I just added my books to librarything, I already had a CSV file created with a barcode scanner, so I Just imported it…

I just posted a few photos from this trip on flickr…

still sorting and tagging them…

I have noticed that some companies do not put the telephone numbers that the customers need to call.

Regency

For example, when I wanted to reserve a ticket (before the electronic ticket problems) I wanted to call Regency Travel, Q-Tel’s information directory at 180 usually takes a long time to respond so I visited their website, clicked on Contact Us, where it lists many numbers:

• The General Manager’s Office Number.
• Four Mobile phone numbers of Managers and Supervisors.

The problem here is that I was at the office, and my mobile’s battery was dead (my office phone does not call mobiles).

I called the General Manager’s office, got an answering machine and hung up, I remember they used to have an easy to remember number, so I called directory assistance. The number they gave me 4344444 is not listed on the website!

Qatar Airways

I wanted to reconfirm my return flight to Doha, I had a ticket on Qatar Airways and visited their website,

I scrolled to the bottom of the page, clicked on the tiny Contact us link at the page footer, then clicked I want to contact a local Qatar Airways office:  click here, then chose Egypt from the list. then clicked the almost invisible link Cairo, then I get 7 different phone/fax numbers sales? cargo? airport? and some cryptic information about check in closing time (yes I know what it means but the average traveler would not).

That’s 4 clicks from the homepage.

Qatar Airways has a 5 digit short number in Cairo 19950, this number is not on their website, and there are no numbers labeled confirmations or reservations, you can only see it on billboards in Cairo.

I just called their main number in Doha.

I went to Chilli’s the other day for lunch/dinner (it’s a meal I try to have once a day), it was packed and no tables were available, I agreed to sit at the bar.

I ordered a Quesadilla Explosion Salad, and a diet coke, the server asked me if I wanted it Kenz or Normal.

The word Kenz is Arabic for treasure, and I gave him an expression full of question marks, so he repeated the question.. ???? and then he repeated again … kanz (also gestured with his hands) or from the machine… he meant do you want the diet coke as a Can or from the Draft machine….

I told him to forgive me, my English is not that good … and I could not understand him…. Give me Kenz!

The people here in Egypt always use fancy names, I don’t know what they tell people who speak English (do they just say Sir?), but in Arabic,it’s more complicated your Sirness, your Excellency, your Excellency the Pacha … and many elaborate titles… I’m sure someday, someone will call me your majesty…

A funny thing happens in cinemas here in egypt, something I have never seen in cinemas in Qatar, Dubai, Bahrain, France, USA (where I’ve been to a movie theatre)…

In the middle of the movie, while your concentrating on the story, the screen says “We now pause for a break” and the lights turn ON!

Some people go out, and when they return they smell like smoke.

The movie continues like nothing had ever happened.

This is bizarre!

I had a problem right now renewing a few domains on godaddy, whether I used paypal or my credit card number the system refused to continue, saying “unable to process, click here to go back “.

I saw their support phone number on the page, and decided to call them using skype (it’s much cheaper than by normal phone).

Press 1 for existing customer, enter account number followed by #, sorry all our reps are currently busy, if you prefer to wait without music, please press # now…etc.

I then got a reply by a friendly guy named chris, he reconfirmed my account number, name, and last 4 digits of my CC number and asked about the problem.

He asked if he could test it from his side, and if I’d like to use my credit card on file,  yes.

He asked if he could check the “I agree with the terms and conditions checkbox”, yes.

It worked from his side, maybe it has something to do with me connecting through my hotel Internet connection?

Anyway. within 5 minutes, the problem was solved. Thanks, Chris.

Today, I took a long walk in Cairo, Egypt.

I have a training course here, and I want to exercise by walking instead of using taxis for anything nearby.

I have my Garmin eTrex Venture Cx GPSr with me, and used both Google Earth, and Wikimapia to store waypoints for the training center as well as nearby restaurants, supermarkets, and computer shops.

Yesterday evening I walked to a McDonald’s close to my hotel, and found a supermarket on the way, Today I went to my training center and stopped on the way at chilli’s for lunch.

I was wandering around, and saw I was 2km NE of my Hotel, so I used “Find Waypoint” to navigate my way back… Walking around in a city you know nothing about with a GPSr is easy!

Do you speak Chinese? Arabic? English? French?

The internet is full of content that you may or may not understand, and google has found a solution to this problem, Google’s Translation Search is impressive.

What it does

You choose the language you want to read, and the language you want to search in, Google will translate your search query, and search for it, it will then translate the search results, as well as the sites themselves to your chosen language (it’s extremely difficult to explain it… just go there and you’ll understand)
I think the people who will get most benefit from this are:

1. People who don’t speak English

Many Arabs for example (this also applies to many others) do not speak (ok, I mean read) English, and most of the content online is in English, for example:

• Researchers (of all ages) …. A high-school teacher wants a report about the industrial revolution, there are a very few arabic books on that subjects (probably), and a student is online and does not have easy access to a library. She could use this to search English-language websites, and she will be able to read everything in Arabic…
• People who have hobbies and interests that are not that popular in their region, and for which there are no sites in their language.

2.People who speak English

This is the second group of people, Some possible uses are:

• News about an Italian calcio club in Italian.
• Reading what Arabs think about terrorism.
• Finding information about Chinese companies without English websites.

Current limitations

The limitations of this service are bearable (at least to me, I speak Arabic, English , and French) and this allows me to search in many more languages, but some people will not like these limitations:

• English is the base language, Google’s translation translates from and to English, you cannot translate between Arabic and Chinese for example.
• The quality of the translation is not that good, but most of the time you can understand what is written.

I visited the website of my travel agency today and used their online reservation system (they use Amadeus), and reserved a ticket on Qatar Airways (The agent for Amadeus in Qatar) … I paid for the ticket online with a credit card… and got a confirmation code…I had previously bought electronic tickets from Air Arabia, printed the ticket from their website, and took it to the airport for immediate boarding… but something felt wrong here… there was no option to print a ticket … just a confirmation code…I called the travel agent, and they told me to come by this evening to collect the ticket.

When I visited them, after going from employee to employee with my printout, every one of them looking at it for 10 minutes, calling a phone number, and transferring me to the next one… they finally told me to go to Qatar airways, and that they will issue the e-ticket.

So off I go to Qatar Airways’ offices, and waiting for some time (it was crowded), I was referred from one employee to another.. until they told me that the card was charged, and they have a confirmation code, but that since this was done today, a ticket number has not been generated yet they said come tomorrow …

My rants:

1. Shouldn’t an e-ticket be available without going to their offices… ?
2. Shouldn’t it be available immediately….?
3. Why is it easier to reserve a ticket the old-fashioned way?
4. Why do they call this thing an e-ticket? because there are no carbon copies?
5. …. ???