Good Line Karma

 Food, Great Britain, Travel  Comments Off on Good Line Karma
Jul 122011
 

Well, I’m finally back home. Long day today. I got up at 5:15 a.m. after a 2 hour nap, got the last bits of packing done, had breakfast, and got out the door at 7 a.m. Base2Stay was a lovely hotel, and I thoroughly recommend it. Check-out was a breeze.

Off to Earl’s Court, then to Paddington, and grabbed the Heathrow Express to Heathrow.

Everything was going smoothly.

That is, until I got to the American Airlines terminal.

There were two people doing security checks, and a line was starting to build. The line kept building and building, and we were all waiting and waiting… and one of the security people just up and left. The other person stared at her as she walked off, and everyone in line sighed in the way that air travelers sigh when they realize that something simple has just become something difficult. Fortunately, someone else eventually stepped up and got things moving, but by then the line was ridiculously long.

I was glad I had gotten there early and made it to the front of the line. I had good line karma today. Even so, 30 minutes’ wait just to check my passport? Can’t the people at the desk do that when they take my bags?

I was also somewhat fortunate that my bag was under 50 pounds in weight, so no extra charges.

Then it was off to the security screening, which was a lot friendlier than the TSA. There was a person there in front offering plastic baggies for people with liquids. That’s a brilliant idea. And there was a place to dispose of things that would not be allowed in security. Also nice.

There was no silly shoe dance. I got to keep my shoes on, and there was no loss of dignity, either. Just a simple bag search.

I think the TSA could learn a lot from our British friends on how to conduct a search. All of the incidents and complaints swirling around the TSA come from some crazy policies that center on a basic fallacy– that humans, who are fallible creatures, can create a perfectly secure environment. It’s just not possible. Might as well do the best we can, and put more air marshals on the planes, instead of making flying a harrowing experience. It’s bad for business.

I headed to the Admiral’s Club and relaxed for a bit, then at what I thought was the right time, headed to the gate. Unfortunately, they hadn’t fueled the plane yet, so we had to wait 20 minutes to board the plane. Argh! I could’ve stayed in the club and enjoyed its calming atmosphere, but no such luck for me.

Even after I got on the plane, we had to wait to take off. Naturally.

The flight was long, and tedious. I listened to podcasts and dozed and stared at my watch.

Getting into RDU was interesting. I got off the plane quickly, and had good line karma at the US border, so I didn’t have to wait too long, and customs was just a matter of handing in my card. I guess they don’t search your bags anymore, huh?

So that was pretty much it for my London trip. Lots of fun on the whole. I saw a lot of former US presidents, oddly enough. The JLPT didn’t go as well as I planned, but I came away with some knowledge that I hope will propel my Japanese studies forward.

London is deceptively expensive, and can lull you into spending a hell of a lot of money. Those pounds can just fly out of your wallet if you’re not careful.

As a cultural center, it’s definitely worth a visit, although some places are more interesting than others. I suppose that’s a matter of personal preference. Going in summer is a bit of a mixed bag, because you have to deal with thousands of other tourists, but the days are really long, and the weather is generally good. (Low 70s, with a little rain here and there, but nothing too bad.)

Contrary to American stereotypes (which are usually wrong anyway), the food in London is excellent. Use a service like Google Maps to check out restaurants before going to avoid bad restaurants, and be ready to just try stuff out.

Hotels are expensive in London. I think of it as opportunity cost. If I have a decent hotel that costs a few pounds more, and has an excellent location, then I can save money/time in other areas.

I’ll put my London wrap-up in another post.

The flight from Heck

 Great Britain, Travel  Comments Off on The flight from Heck
Jun 292011
 

I made it to London safely, but it wasn’t without a few snags. For starters, the flight was overbooked because the Sunday flight was cancelled, and they were trying to cram as many people on board as possible.

There was no way a mere $800 voucher was going to lure me away from taking my rightful crummy uncomfortable seat on the plane.

After the delay of sorting out who was going to get to board and who was not, we all got on the plane, and sat there at the gate.

And sat there.

And sat there.

We sat there for two hours because there were thunderstorms in the area, and the ground crews weren’t allowed outside to service the plane until the storms had passed for about 15 minutes.

So we sat there some more.

We finally got off the ground at about 8:15 p.m. or so– horribly late, but it couldn’t be helped.

I sat next to a nice guy from Kenya who was very big. Not fat, mind you, just a big, strong person. So we were both a little uncomfortable as we were crammed into those tiny little seats with our bulky bodies. And the guy sitting in front of me was headed to Afghanistan, so I agreed to let him recline a little. I know he’s not going to get much in the way of comfort for a while, so it was the least I could do.

Because no good deed goes unpunished, and I was sitting right in front of the bulkhead, I suffered for my kindness. I had all of 3 inches of reclining room. My knees were bruised when I got to London.

I’m never sitting in front of the bulkhead again.

Well, not in coach, anyway.

Arrival in London

We got to Heathrow at around 8:50 a.m. London time, completely blowing everyone’s schedules to bits, and causing just about everyone who had a connecting flight to miss it.

Lucky me, I didn’t have a connection to make.

Border control was uneventful. The line was long and moved slowly, but uneventful.

One thing you might want to keep in mind– they want the address of the place you’re going to be staying at in the UK for the landing card, so it would be useful to print that out, or write it on your hand, or something.

Customs was nonexistent. There was nobody there to check my bags for anything. I spent all of that effort to get all of those doctors’ notes, only to find out that nobody here cared.

Dammit, or is it yay?

Should I be upset that I wasted the effort, or I happy that I didn’t have to go through the frustration of having my bags forcefully unpacked again? Am I an idiot or what? Of course I’m happy that I didn’t have to go through the hassle of a customs inspection.

Sort of.

I suppose I should explain first. You see, I travel with a few medications. So in order to travel with this medicine without getting a nice pair of steel bracelets from angry border officials, I like to make sure I have all of the necessary paperwork done. The last time I went to Japan, even though I had the right paperwork, I still got hassled.

Before heading to the UK, I spent about 2 weeks trying to find out just what the hell the rules were, and got all kinds of interesting answers. I played all sorts of variations of phone tag, one version of which included a Home Office official claiming that the Home Office did not have jurisdiction over controlled substances.

This is the equivalent in the US of a DEA agent saying, “We don’t handle drug offenses.”

Eventually I found a web page on the Home Office website with some loose guidelines, and just closed my eyes and got as many notes and papers as I could.

Turns out it was all a waste of time, because apparently nobody in England cares about what’s in my bags when I get off the plane.

So while I was relieved that I didn’t have to go through a forced unpacking and lots of paper-shuffling, I was still irritated that I had wasted so much effort gathering paperwork.

One of my doctors even charged me $25 US for a travel letter, and wouldn’t even write the thing until I had sent him the money.

How Do I Get to Earls Court?

Getting to the hotel from the airport was a bit tricky, mainly because I had never done it before, so I was completely confused. I have to admit in a moment of honesty it’s kind of fun in a strange kind of way to be dropped in a strange city and have to figure out where to go next.

I found the Heathrow Express to Paddington just fine, but missed the first train. The second train pulled in, but we were told that we weren’t allowed to ride it unless we had first class tickets, which is just as well, because it turns out that it was going to stop at every station along the way. There’s no express in that.

Finally, I could get on the third train, which showed up after about 10 minutes total of waiting. Not bad.

I pulled into Paddington, and was slightly bewildered. So many places to eat. I was hungry, tired, and carrying tons of junk with me. I was glad I only had the one suitcase, but I was wishing the backpack didn’t weigh 35 pounds. It didn’t feel that heavy, just really bulky.

I finally figured out where the Tube was, and made my way there. Then I saw a sign that regretfully informed me of “Severe Delays” on the District Line, which was supposed to take me to Earls Court.

Well, that’s no good.

So I stared at the sign, in hopes that some more useful information would come forth.

It didn’t come forth.

I stared some more, because I was jet-lagged and feeling a bit dumber than usual.

It still didn’t come forth.

I saw a window with a sign that said “Tickets and Assistance.” “Well,” I thought, “I could use some assistance.” Naively, I stood in line. Then I overheard a woman complain bitterly in German that the people behind the window were very “unfreundlich.”

I lowered my expectations appropriately, and the man behind the window did not fail to disappoint. When I asked him how I should get to Earls Court, he said “Go to platform 1 and take a bus.”

And that was that.

I have no idea what lies at platform 1, or which buses I can take, so I stared stupidly at the bus map for 10-15 minutes until giving up, grabbing a Tube map, and just figuring out that if I ride enough trains, I can go around whatever is clogging up the District Line.

So I did just that. I rode the pink line, whatever it’s called, to Hammersmith, and caught the Piccadilly line there to go to Earl’s Court.

By the way, there are no lifts at Earls Court for luggage right now. Fun.

I highly recommend not traveling at all with luggage if you can possibly swing it.

I’m serious.

I have been party to some pitiful scenes, and seen many more pitiful scenes of others like me carrying bloated, obscenely heavy suitcases through places they were not meant to be carried.

Places like Earls Court train station.

Or JR Nara.

But there are far worse places than those two.

All Your Base2Stay Are Belong to Us

Anyway, I made it to the hotel after 2 hours of fumbling around on the trains, and managed to dump my bags there and freshen up in the hotel’s WC.

Then it was off to Gourmet Burger Kitchen for lunch, which was a chicken sandwich, chips (fries–whatever), and lots of lemonade with no free refills, and then off to Marks & Spencer’s for foodstuffs.

After check-in, the nice folks at Base2Stay had kindly moved my bags into my room for me (thank you very much), so all I had to do was drop off a few things, and head to Car Phone Warehouse to pick up a Vodaphone pay-as-I-go SIM card for my phone.

That evening, I found a little Italian place that made a decent cheese pizza, because I like to eat pizza when I’m jetlagged.

The sun sets at 9:45 p.m. or so, and rises at around 3:45 a.m. Very weird. It’s making me goofy already.

Returning and Recovering

 Japan, Travel  Comments Off on Returning and Recovering
Nov 242007
 

It’s been 10 days since I got back from Japan, and I haven’t had much of a chance to post on my flight back and on readjusting to the U.S. again.

On the flight back, I met a nice guy, Dave, who shared similar gaming interests as me, so we chatted away in geek mode for a few hours. Then I had to rest my throat, because the desert-like atmosphere of the airplane just kills it.

So I went into cocoon mode, where I put on my noise-canceling headphones, listen to podcasts, and try to doze off in between meals. The food wasn’t bad, but for some reason I just can’t bring myself to order the fish on an airplane.

I spent a lot of time adding up all the various things I bought to fill out my customs forms, too. The last thing I wanted to do was submit anything that looked weird or out of place. I hadn’t really done the U.S. Customs arrival thing in a while, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I figured I’d prepare for anything.

OMG America

When I arrived in Chicago at 3:00 p.m. the same day, my slightly scrambled brain had to deal with being back in the U.S. all of a sudden. It was a weird feeling. I’ve spent the last month or so trying to adapt to Japan, and suddenly having to be an American again was a bit jarring.

Immigration was amusing in a way. When I arrived in Japan, the huge line was for foreigners coming into Japan. When I arrived in Chicago, the huge line was for Americans coming home. I guess it makes sense. After I got processed, I had to go pick up my luggage for customs. One thing to keep in mind– the signs say no cell phone use or camera use. They aren’t messing around. Turn off your phones and put them away.

Now, the whole time I’m going around here, I’m lugging my two backpacks, and my back is hating me the whole time. We’re talking, “I’m gonna get you when you sleep,” hate. This underlines my resolve to change the way I travel from here on out. Keep chanting, “One bag, one bag…” until I remember to carry just one bag.

At customs, I declared my Pocky, and then breezed on through without having to pay. I think the agent said that my books weren’t subject to duty, so I was under the limit. (Woot.) Then they took my bags and moved them on to the connecting flight right there, so I didn’t have to recheck them.

Now the fun part. Back through airport security. One thing I noticed that kind of irritated me was that first-class passengers had a different line for TSA screening. Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but I thought the TSA was a government agency. Why is the government playing favorites for first-class passengers? Meanwhile, the rest of us in coach are standing in a 40-minute line. Some poor guy with diabetes passed out twice in line. It doesn’t seem fair. We have to suffer in cramped seats, we pay these guys’ salaries in taxes, yet we suffer in line? I don’t get it.

After doing the TSA shuffle, it was off to find the Admirals’ Club. It’s totally worth the $50, because it’s nice to have a comfortable place to recover from your flight while you wait for the next one.

The club in Chicago wasn’t as nice as the one in Tokyo, though. The one in Tokyo had free food. The one in Chicago had one of those nut mix things you get in bars, and some broccoli. I think there were apples, too. But everything else was a cash bar. Tokyo’s Admiral’s Club had free sushi and free drinks. That’s tough to beat.

My flight to Raleigh was only 40 minutes late departing. I wish I had spent those 40 minutes in the Admirals’ Club, but like a dummy, I went to the gate early. No, I don’t know why. Since I was in group 5, I was the last person on the plane. I don’t know how I got put in group 5, but that’s where I had been put, and I wasn’t going to get on the plane any sooner.

My goal for my next trip is to get the hell out of group 5, and move up a bit.

On the flight, I met another nice person, and we chatted about the news and current events before arriving rather quickly at Raleigh-Durham. After that, it was standard stuff. Met my girlfriend at baggage claim, sprained by back getting one of my heavy suitcases, and limped on home.

Home Again Home Again, Jiggity Jig

I would have posted sooner, but I was busy recovering. When I got back, I felt like hell. They say that it’s harder to travel east than it is to travel west, and based on my experience, I agree. Coming back to North Carolina after being away for five weeks also had another effect. As soon as I got back on the ground at RDU, every single allergen that I had escaped for the last five weeks attacked me. I noticed it when my eyes started itching like mad on the ride home, and then the next day when my Eustachian tubes started acting up, too.

The other main problem I had was sleeping. I couldn’t. It took me about a week to get back on an almost-normal sleeping pattern where I could sleep for more than 5 hours a night. I still get very sleepy at weird hours.

Of course, coming back right before Thanksgiving added a certain amount of stress as well. Hey, it’s Thanksgiving. Everything has to be perfect, right? So trying to recover while also getting ready for Thanksgiving had its own impacts.

Finally, the hardest thing to get used to was the change in lifestyle. I was so used to walking a lot and riding trains, and suddenly I’m back in my car, muttering at the other drivers just like every other American. That was a jarring experience. To be honest, it’s the one part of coming back that I liked the least. I’ve gone from feeling like going out and rubbing elbows with millions of people to being in my house-pod, jumping into my car-pod, then doing my shopping in Controlled Shopping Zones, and scuttling back to my house-pod, with precious little unnecessary interaction.

Having a car is handy for carrying groceries, but I’m wondering at what cost.

I’m also not walking nearly as much as I used to, and I’m not even looking forward to going out to walk. It’s weird.

I do know one thing, and that is that I really want to go back to Japan, and spend some more time there. Despite the pain, frustration, and stress, I haven’t had so much fun in a long time. It was probably one of the best experiences of my life, and I’d highly recommend going, even if it is a difficult thing to do.

I think the difficult things are probably the best ones for us to do, anyway. You have to break out of your habits and get over yourself every now and then, you know?

Later, I’ll post some info on what I learned, travel-wise, for a trip to Japan, and for traveling in general. It’s not like I reinvented the wheel or anything, but I figure that if you’re willing to read this, you’re looking for any kind of information you can get.

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