Pamela Louderback, Day 101

My trip from Belfast City airport to Cardiff International Airport went well.  After arriving, I had just enough time to change my Bank of Ireland pounds before catching the shuttle bus to Rhoose station where I got the train to Bridgend.   Once at Bridgend, I had an hours wait before the train to Swansea arrived.  The train was delayed about twenty minutes due to mechanical issues (soon after leaving Paddington Station earlier in the day).  After arriving in Swansea, a short taxi drive brought me to the White House Hotel, a bed and breakfast near City Centre.  The White House is ideally situated for the bustling city centre of Swansea with its many atrractions, for the picturesque village of Mumbles, the gateway to the Gower.  Their brochure claims they pride themselves in a high standards of customer care paying attention to the smallest detail.  I would soon discover this to be true in a variety of ways.  My host - Mike Jones (no relation to Angela) helped me with information from timetables to tidetables and shopping to island hopping (situated only 2 minutes walk from the Uplands shopping centre that has banks, Internet cafes, restaurants, gift shops, and a late night supermarket. 

Angela Jones picked me up around 6:45 to join Professors Jon Roper and David Terry-Anderson at a Middle Eastern restaurant as it enjoys an excellent reputation.  I had a plate of kebabs (chicken, lamb, vegetable) with rice and carrots which was quite tasty.  We talked about a variety of topics ranging from Brad Henry (and his visit to Swansea), our research and administrative interests, and a bit of the history behind and charm of Swansea and its people.  We made an early night of it, wrapping up around 9:30 p.m.

Upon returning to The White House, I had planned to revise my Powerpoint slides a bit but had difficulties gaining Internet access on my laptop.  The proprieter, as well as a couple of boarders, attempted several times to hook my laptop up to the B & B's Internet service, without success.  After trying several things for about an hour, we all gave up and called it a night.  I have found that the Welsh are very helpful and service-oriented; this is yet one more example of service excellence!