travels

Me In Detroit


I have decided that I like the U.S. I am now sat in Detroit airport for the umpteenth time over the last few weeks. The people are genuinely friendly. I was in LAX last night, flying over Los-Angeles at dusk was brilliant. Wow! What a city, it is absolutely huge, I haven't been so impressed landing at a city since the old Hong Kong airport(although planes do still fly over the city sometimes). I had a great view from the business class seat of my Philippine airline flight(that sounds better than the reality, they still only have 2 movies!), as the plane flew right over downtown LA, and then over most of the city to LAX. Of course I was imagining all the guns, cops, and Hank from Californication in the streets below. I was just as starstruck as I took off 3 hours later for Detroit. I did manage to mingle, and people-watch as I smoked myself to death outside the airport for an hour. I found the people and staff much cooler(in a positive sense) than those in Atlanta, Detroit, or Chicago, although San-Francisco is still up there. So California is definitely on my list for a longer visit. I have been surprised by the sheer number of people here, and of course the size of the country. It's a little like China, but with white people, and black and brown people. The sheer myriad of peoples here is astounding-Indians, Filipinos, Russians, Africans, Chinese.....A lot of people are still trying to live that American dream. It makes Europe feel small. I haven't met any yobs on the streets or trains or in the airports-unlike the UK, where yobs rule every public place. The people here seem to be nice to each other and surprisingly intelligent, of course Europe is like that-just not the UK. Next time you are in Heathrow, Gatwick or Manchester airports, have a good look around and listen to the people there. Listen to the language and have a peek in the bars. Don't even bother with the train stations, bus stations, cinemas, supermarkets, or other public places-it's just too depressing. It is nice to blend into the hotchpotch of people and not get noticed. Yesterday I was in Manila, which can be a bit much sometimes, with people stopping staring and pointing-and even taking photos(think it must be because they think I look like Jesus 'Mummy why does Christ our Lord smoke so much?')!
Me in Chicago


I am glad that we don't have the same crime as they do here, but I have my doubts as to how that affects everyday life here, not as much as low-level violence affects life in the UK I think.
I'm waiting for a flight to Chicago now, and hope to get downtown again for a couple of hours, and then it is back to Manila via Seoul, and then I'm not joking, probably back here to Detroit. Seoul has very fast free-wifi in its airport, and I should be able to post this and any pics when I get there, and call my boys and wife on messenger who I miss very much. I spent a very boring week hanging around Mui-Wo last week, it's no fun when it's cool and rainy ,I would rather be flying.
Update(7hrs later)-I am now at Chicago O Hare airport, waiting for a flight to Seoul which is 8 hours away from now. It is nearly 6pm, so too late for me to head downtown so i will wait here. At times like these it is hard to stay awake-it is 6am Hong Kong time. I will now go to Hong Kong from Seoul and then onto Penang in Malaysia, from there I have no idea. I am never too sure how bad I look as the days pass, i have not had a chance to take a shower or sleep in a hotel yet, which is not too bad as it is only 48 hours since I left Lantau. A border Guard called me 'young man' earlier, but he looked younger than me, it must be a sign of getting old(or vain) when being called young gives you a boost.
Eruptions.
I have seen at first hand the chaos caused by the volcanic eruption, which is causing almost as much trouble as it is to try and pronounce the bloody thing! Hong Kong airport was eerily quiet and calm on Sunday, a lot of flights head to Europe from there, but as it's easy to get to from the city, most passengers had simply stayed away. Manila was as manic as ever, but that has nothing to do with the volcano, they don't really have direct flights, it is always manic. In fact it is the worst airport in the world, lazy immigration guards, surly ground staff, very few people working there seem to want to be working there. I asked 5 security guards/porters how to get from one terminal to the other last week, and every one of them told me to take a taxi, and denied the existence of a shuttle bus which I eventually found. If a management team was to try and improve Manila airport, it would have to fire 90% of the staff there for incompetence and corruption. I digress- but it is the pits.
I could see some big queues in LAX(immigration and customs were a joy by the way, including the large number of Filipinos working there!) but I wasn't really taking much notice. It was only in Chicago that I have seen the full effects, Chicago being one of the main European hubs for North America. At all of the airlines serving Europe, the queues were massive, full of very worried people pushing and shoving, shouting and crying. The main problem being that it seemed to be airlines themselves dictating policy, for example United Airlines were flying to London, but BA wasn't, although they did have one flight to Glasgow-best stay in Chicago really. Scandinavian Airlines were flying but Air France were not. This may of course have more to do with where the cloud is than the airlines choice, but I can see flying to Europe being hell for the next week or so. I wouldn't have minded getting stranded in London myself, or if you were on holiday in Cyprus or in Australia, being a week late back to the UK surely would have been a bonus.
As you can tell I am pretty bored, and actually I am just trying to stay awake, so on that note I'll go and have another fag.
Update(another 3 hours later) I have just nipped into the toilet to change my socks, noxious is an understatement. I'm airside now and only another 2 hours before the flight, and then 14 hours up to the Arctic and down again to Korea. I don't think I'll see much this time, I was fascinated last time and stayed awake the whole time, as I thought ' well, this is definitely a place I'll never visit so I may as well watch it from above' . Didn't see any polar bears though!
Heard on CNN that the UK are using naval ships to get people back home, very exciting indeed. It's just what Gordon Brown needed a couple of weeks before the election, sending in the military to help stranded Brits from the perils of France. D-day again, this time rescued from bad wine and rudeness, I can see Gordon winning a huge majority, unless they accidently rescue the thousands of Iraqis, Afghans and other illegal immigrants camped out near Calais.

Just heard about a man in the UK who has been accused of bestiality with horses and cows. The judge refused him bail as he said the defendant didn't have a stable address. True story!
Update-Just landed in Seoul, internet access- yeah!!
Me in Manila!