Pour trouver un chemin
After a rough start of my plane being delayed in Oklahoma City due to weather and a long layover in the Detroit airport, followed by a long rough flight to Paris, I managed to not let any stress get the better part of me once I arrived. It used to a lot, but I quickly found my luggage, got some cash out of the ATM, located the info to the bus I needed to catch and eventually found myself feeling a bit relaxed on a bus ride into city center. I was pleased to see my iPhone was working here and glad I prepaid for the 20MB of data usage while traveling. Otherwise it would cost a fortune to use and the GPS map will probably be a good friend over the next week.
Roisseybus to the Paris Opéra took about an hour but the views were nice and the sun was shining down very brightly in the window, it felt good and made me smile. I saw the Basilique du Sacré Coeur in the distance and drove right past Le Moulin Rouge, both reminded me of my last visit to Paris and I kept thinking how much has changed since then. When I got to the Opera, I got off the bus and met up with my friend Donna who was kind enough to take off from work to wait for me at the stop. We got on another bus to head to Rue de Bac. Donna gave me a tour of the apartment and let me put my things in my room, showed me around the neighborhood, then went back to work. I went back up stairs, butchered the French language to a person sharing the elevator with me, went to my room, unpacked a few things, then literally passed right out. It was close to 4 pm Paris time.
I woke up a little after midnight and started putting things away, charging batteries and organizing my stuff for the week. I should be trying to force myself to sleep some more, otherwise it will hurt tonight, but I am wide awake and its now 6:40 am. I think I may shower, grab my camera and go see what Paris looks like at sunrise in a few hours.
The lost art of an adventure
So, as a boy, I remember getting on a plane for the first time and waiting for the plane to take off, the thrill of zooming down the runway into the air, the wonder of the clouds as seen from the other side. It was as if you were as important as the astronauts before you because you were seeing a sight unknown to man for most of civilization.
And then came growth, bad management, and well, everyday American greed.
Today I was supposed to fly out with my son from Oklahoma to Chicago to New York City. He's been looking forward to coming back with me for a long time and today was the day. He was excited, anxious and ready to go travel like an adventurer and see the big city. The excitement was squelched a bit when we got through all of the normal security process and saw the insane line of people at our gate. Then the announcement came to tell us this wasn't our line, it was another flight and our flight was delayed. They'd let us know more when they could.
Two hours later they are telling us very little except another hour or two and they might have more news. I tried to talk to someone at the counter but they said they can't do anything for me until the flight had been given a status as to how delayed or canceled. So, we wait some more.
After checking on the internet, two things are discovered without the help of the people behind the counter with access to all sorts of radios and gadgets for gathering information; First, there are no more flights I could connect with to Make New York tonight after missing the Chicago connection today. Second, Southwestern Airlines does not honor that now famous passenger bill of rights contract where they have to find you a flight on another airlines, in fact, beyond getting you on the next available flight, they wont do anything else. Not even get you a hotel room like say in Chicago if you arrive there and no more flights are leaving out. But they don't tell you this until you demand to speak to someone and get just enough irritable to get attention but not to overdo it as to shut down their customer service abilities altogether.
My son's big adventure today was spending almost five hours in the Oklahoma City airport and doing nothing only to have to collect our bags again and head back to the house and try again tomorrow morning as a standby on another flight.
Tomorrow is going to be a long day.
Holding Pattern
Is is me or did they take the fun out of flying?
Three flights to get back to New York. Houston to Atlanta, no big problems, even rated an empty seat next to me.
Atlanta to Detroit, Sat on my plane for an hour without being told why. The crew finally announces they can't get the cargo door to close and we can get off the plane for a bit if we want. I get off the plane and they are saying at the gate that the flight has now been canceled. I was told which gate to go to, to see if I can get on that flight. I do, the lady freaks out at that gate because thirty people are standing in her line to get on their already full plane and starts getting an attitude and there was me, first in line. Meanwhile, this tool in a long coat jumps up next to me asking if he can upgrade to First class with his miles. The lady to the right says politely that First Class is all booked up. He then asks to be at least upgraded to an exit row. The lady looks up from her terminal and points to my grumpy lady and says "You have to talk to her". He got upset he had to actually wait in line since he's the bestest customer ever with NW Airlines and has like one billion air miles with them. I thought about accidentally kicking him in the ankle when I left.
Eventually I get a new boarding pass and get on the plane. Flight goes fine. The airline informs me they have already rescheduled my connecting flight in Detroit that I had already missed.
Detroit to New York, the plane sat on the tarmac for over an hour after we were boarded. This guy about two rows back had not only a distinct nasal voice, but because he never shut up the entire time on the plane, I can tell you that he has a lazy kid going to college in upstate New York, He's in Real Estate and has one funny story about Richard Dreyfuss involving a real estate deal gone bad, he's traveled to Egypt, Belese, Bali, and many states in the U.S. He can tell you how to paddle a kayak correctly on the Hudson river and many many more things I can't remember to tell you. The lady next to him was trying to get a few words in but was rarely successful.
Anyway, After the long delay and de-iceing, The plane took off. An hour and 15 min later, we were flying over Manhattan by 9pm. We were then told the wind was bad and we were in a holding pattern until 9:23pm. We landed finally at 9:47pm and amazingly enough, they lost my luggage.
While reporting my luggage lost, the lady starts asking me why I switched planes in Atlanta, the plane I was on was not canceled. Apparently, It had finally been fixed and continued on but got in after my (new) connecting flight left Detroit so I would have had to have boarded an even later flight back to NYC or possibly stay the night in Detroit.
After a taxi ride back to the apartment, I go through my mail that had piled up, one envelope was from Northwest Airlines (the people I had just flown on all day). They wanted to say they are sorry for my plane delay on my return flight from Oklahoma last month and gave me 1000 air miles as an apology.
The Year in Cities 2006
The following list is my 2006 list of cities visited:
Crested Butte, CO
New York City, NY*
Boston, MA
Oklahoma City, OK*
Edinburgh, Scotland UK
St. Paul, MN
Windsor, England UK
Keighley, England UK
Oxford, England UK
Cities marked with an * were visited multiple times on non-consecutive days.
Cities that are italicized were my first visit ever to that destination.
This year started out a travel fest but dwindled down quite a bit soon after. It's been a busy year. On the other side of things, I took more photos of New York City this year than the two years before. Still, compared to 2005, 2004 and 2003 travelogue, this year was a uneventful for the most part at seeing new places. My first resolution of 2007 is to change that.
Leaving Oxford
Back in New York finally after ten days on the island of blighty. Beautiful wedding, some old friends, and I got a few good photos on the drives here and there. Oxford was hands down the most stunning campus I have ever seen. Such ancient buildings still being used for learning with the quad lawns enclosed for the students and plenty of atmosphere around to just inspire you to be smarter and do great things.
After a mad dash rush yesterday to find the hotel to return the rental car then jumping on a bus back to Heathrow airport, Virgin Airways informs me that even though security was just fine with a laptop backpack on one arm and a camera backpack on the other arm coming to London, that I was allowed only one of them to take on board for the return. Which renews my angry rant about having security standards so that people don't get screwed like this when they travel. Everything got back to NYC safe and sound but still it is irritating. The plane was full but got a front row seat with plenty of leg room. A slightly crying baby nearby but nothing the Boise noise quieting headphones couldn't cure. Watched Over the Hedge, Cars, and Click. Not all bad flicks. I was surprised how good over the hedge was and how much I didn't hate an Adam Sandler movie.
Seeing as how I went from Oklahoma, to New York, to England in a few days then throw in a time change and back to New York, my internal clock is now blinking 12:00am on a continuous loop.
Keighley, England
The name is pronounced "Keith-lee". It's very cold and wet here today, I managed to make it out a bit around lunch and find a pub that served a local beer and a Yorkshire Pudding. For those of you who don't know what it is, it's basically pork sausage with mashed potatoes, served with brown gravy on top and a pastry like pie crust around the edge. It was nice.
I'm cold and wet and now trying to get warm.
Windsor, England
My friends Sona and Phil who used to live in New York until recently, just got married yesterday in Windsor, England (nearby anyway) and it was a beautiful reception. After the wedding was the reception back at the hotel and it went on till well after 3am. Such an eclectic group of people that all call these two people friends and from all over the globe. I love them both. Congrats guys. Have fun in Mauritius (off the coast of Madagascar).
Went to do some sight seeing today but the weather changed and it rained all day long. Leaving for Leeds tomorrow and I think the weather will clear. Will try to get over and see York while I am there as I was told it is beautiful this time of year.
Will see how that goes.
England in the Fall
Heading to England UK tonight on a overnight Virgin Atlantic flight. A few nights near Windsor to see friends Sona and Phil get married, following a short trip to Leeds. Finally to Oxford and back to NYC. I hope to find the time for some good photography on the trip. I Will be working some though and driving across the island a bit, will be gone for about a week and a half. Leave your message at the sound of the click.
This just in: apparently, as just noticed on the map, there is an English town named "Biggleswade" and this pleases me.
waiting on a plane in minneapolis
45 min delay so far on the flightline trying to get from minn to nyc. perfect weather in nyc but too much traffic coming in.
no snakes so far.
update: Turns out it was the President arriving in NYC that delayed the plane from taking off to Kennedy Airport.
The Longest Day
Yes, I know. I seem to be slacking in the blogging these days. It feels sometimes like even when I have something to say, it's something that is meaningless unless you have me to interpret it so I just have been keeping it to myself.
Scotland was a beautiful trip. Much more colorful than I remembered when I first saw the place in 2004. I met much more Scots this time around too. All welcoming and enjoyable people.
I'm not as enthralled by traveling anymore. Maybe I have just gone to a lot of places and all of them are starting to seem like the same place. Or maybe, I am just re focused lately. I dunno. Maybe perhaps I am even growing up finally.
I am sure it's just a phase. Traveling has always been a thing in me.
UPS sent my framed prints of Australia from Oklahoma while I was away. They are now reduced to broken glass, wood, and paper. Who knows how long that's going to take before it is resolved.
29 hour day today with the traveling back against the rotation.
Seems like a waste to sleep off the extra hours that should be a gift.
