Normal Service Is Resumed.
Thu, 2005-05-26 01:34
#1
Normal Service Is Resumed.
Sorry to disappoint those that thought maybe I'd been assassinated or run over by a bus.
I've actually been in Los Angeles for a few days, visiting Disneyland (something I swore I'd never do), and attending a dedication ceremony at the site of the Beach Boys family home, or rather the site where it was, before it was bulldozed to make way for a new interstate highway some years ago.
I had a good time with friends from Nashville, one of whom, Fred Vail, used to be their manager and now runs a recording studio. Fred was the MC for the event which was covered by TV and national press. He managed to get me into the VIP enclosure and even got me a press pass so I could wander around and take photos at will. I got to meet Brian Wilson and his family, Al Jardine and his mother, David Marks (who was a Beach Boy and on the first three albums), Jerry Schilling (one of Elvis' Memphis Mafia) and John Walker of Walker Brothers fame.
There was a social evening in a popular restaurant on Thursday evening, the dedication on Friday morning, followed by a reception and concert in the afternoon. On Saturday there was a beach party at the site of photo-shoots for Beach Boys albums (Paradise Cove adjacent to Malibu and also the site used in 'The Rockford Files' as the place where James Garner's caravan was parked) followed by another concert in the evening. John Walker performed at this event along with Buzz Clifford (of 'Baby-Sitting Boogie' fame).
The whole trip was brought to a climax when I boarded the plane home. It appears that a guy checked in with two suitcases that got by the security checks and were loaded aboard, but then failed to board the plane. He tried to leave the terminal by way of an alarmed security door and all hell broke loose. He wasn't caught, but the authorities refused to let the plane take off with the cases still on board. This was a Boeing 747 with over 400 passengers, and they insisted we stay on the plane whilst they went through the hold looking for the cases. This took an hour and a quarter, by which time there were 400 very pissed off passengers, including a honey-mooning couple who burst into tears as they would apparently miss their connecting flight to Stockholm, to join a cruise around the Norwegian fjiords.
I'm now very jet-lagged and living what my son calls 'musicians hours'.
mississippi
Dunno about the engines, Denver, but the service is crap. I flew United Airlines to San Francisco and back to London from Los Angeles in March and they starve the passengers half to death. Hell, they even charge for drinks!
This last trip I went British Airways both ways and the service is brilliant. As soon as they're airborn they give you cocktails, then a three course dinner with wine, followed by coffee, all in the ticket price. They also allow you to have what ever drinks you want in between meals and have a 'tuck box' in the galley filled with choccy bars. You can help yourself to sweets and juice. Then they give you a breakfast before you land. I was even given a sponge bag filled with toiletries; a spare bag from first class.
What's more they were the cheapest carrier I could find for the flights I wanted. Even cheaper than Delta, the worst airline this side of hell!
Radiodenver
The last time I had a meal on a flight (like they are all that good anyway) was on the flight to Honolulu which was some 6 hours long. Anything less than 3 hours in the US and you're lucky to get a bag of simulated pretzels and yelled at by a flight attendant. I have to fly again in June to Maryland, can't wait to see what that will be like.
Jasper
Errrr....were them suitcases 'Ayers Rock Roo hide' or 'Cape York Crocodile'?
*sniggers under breath*...next time, Sludgey poo.... *< Evil laugh here >*
Brian Wilson...)))))) swoons (((((...is he still writing?
Radiodenver
I hope you took some pictures with that new Canon Digital SLR!
justyn_thyme
Sounds like a great trip. I can post fotos when you're ready.
archergirl
"Wouldn't it be nice if we were older
Then we wouldn't have to wait so long
And wouldn't it be nice to live together
In the kind of world where we belong?" - Brian Wilson
I read about the opening of the memorial, Missi. I'll have a look and see if I see you in the piccies...
Rachel
It was flying in the US that gave me my complete fear of flying: one emergency landing in San Diego (seemingly happens all the time, very difficult airport to land in according to pilot friend of mine), one lightning strike in Orlando and one "Vibration problem" in Miami. All in the space of three weeks.
Speaking of dodgy passengers, my brother and I were in Ethiopia a few years ago, where they always have armed, undercover sky marshalls on the flight. Normally, because flying is so terrifying there, we would amuse ourselves by playing Spot the Sky Marshall but on one particular flight we couldn't sit together to play. So we asked a particularly stern looking man if he would move so that we could be next to each other. He just looked at us, scowled and pulled back his jacket to reveal his gun, which really ruined our game on that particular flight.
archergirl
Oooh, Rachel, I'm jealous! Ethiopia? I'd -love- to go to Ethiopia. I used to work with Ethiopian refugees in Tucson. Lovely people. Lovely country, endless troubles aside!
Dan
I normally fly Virgin to the states and it's very changable, if you get a spangly new airbus with the thin seats and personal movie channels it's great, but sometimes you get an older clapped out thing with surly unhelpful stewardesses. The food is always pretty good though.
We flew Continental down to San Juan recently and I was presented with a limp soggy object wrapped in clingfilm that I eventually identified as a tuna sandwich and didn't eat. All the other passengers applauded when we landed safely, which made me wonder if sometimes they didn't.
The flight from San Juan to Tortolla was in a ten seat Cessna, there were no drinks or sandwiches, but the fattest passenger got to sit by the pilot. Unfortunately, being brits travelling with mostly americans, we weren't even in the running.
I think Air India used to do fantastic food, Air Jordan probably the worst, Austrian Airways was brilliant. On two flights with Iceland Air they served me with two identical looking bowls of goop. The first was delicious but the second was foul. I still have no idea what either of them were.
I once had a flight cancelled out of Athens because the ground crew drove the forklift into the side of the airplane. My parents, bored in Saudi Arabia, once tried to engage the guard in conversation, he must have thought they were taking the piss because when they got back there was a neat bayonette hole right the way through their suitcase.
The correct strategy for flights where they charge for booze, is to fill an evian bottle with gin n tonic.
archergirl
I've flown China Air from LAX to Bangkok: great food, great service, comfy seats.
Virgin Atlantic from LHR to Dulles (I think): the world's most uncomfortable seats, even though I bought an upgrade to business class for the bargain price of 250 quid. The seats had exactly one layer of 1cm foam more in the seat than the economy section seat had. The service and food were still mediocre.
I agree that British Airways probably does the best in terms of food/service. I always order Asian Vegetarian on their flights, as their curries aren't bad at all. BA were also the best as they were the only carrier that did a direct nonstop between Phoenix and Heathrow.
Kuwait Air was good, as well. The airport at Kuwait was a wonder of marble and glass.
justyn_thyme
I would never fly on a US carrier if there was any other reasonable choice. Since I haven't been to the US since 1998, I've been able to avoid the US carriers easily. Sadly, I have over 100k miles on Delta leftover from the old days when I was forced to fly US carriers by the company. Good news is I can use them on KLM and Air France now.
I have avoided British Airways like the plague as well. Maybe I over-reacted, but their seats are just horribly uncomfortable for me. Last time I flew BA was from London to Warsaw about four years ago, and they were using the same horrible seats they'd used in 1973 when I flew from NYC to London. The service was ok, but I wasn't paying much attention because of the uncomfortable seats.
Given a choice, I usually try to fly Lufthansa. In fact, I gladly paid about 10% more for my flight to Bangkok next week so I could fly Lufthansa. The ticket also allows one free change of dates on the retun flight. I flew the same route last year and it was wonderful. Contrary to the image of the stern, inflexible German, I found them very reasonable and accomodative--dramatically more so than any US or British carrier I've ever flown.
If you're going to the US, I would strongly advise flying on a non-US carrier for all the reasons mentioned. Besides, the US carriers generally hire American women as flight attendants--that in itself should be enough to send you running to the competition. You really don't want to spend 7-10 hours being shoved around and smart-mouthed that lot.
archergirl
Ha! JT, you clearly feel the same way about American women that I do about American men. Funny that...
Radiodenver
Justyn,
Funny you should mention uncomfortable British Airways seats. I flew in a British made prop commuter plane about a year ago in southern Mexico. The damn seat was the most uncomfortable thing I'd ever experienced. My ass hurt for 3 weeks from a 1 hour flight. The torture seat...
Rachel
French friend of mine calls it Petit Chairways.
Radiodenver
A tree stump whould have been better.
Smiley
It appears that it has - been resumed that is. Let's hope it stays that way :o)
archergirl
I think all airliner seats are uncomfortable, unless you want to fork out an extra k for 1st class.
John
Ho now missi. I don't think anyone on this forum would want you assassinated or bused to death. I think Jasper has been missing you.
From your post I can see you had another successful trip. Good, I'm glad you did.
As for the plain. Were you not shitting your self all the way back?
I bloody well would have.
Lou
Absolutely - you'd be figuring out how long the timer had been set for... tick... tick...
[%sig%]
Maxwell Eddison
I rem we went to orlando excactly one month after 9/11. In the departure lounge at manchester I got speaking to a man who was travelling with us and I mentioned to him that I'd already made a mental note of all the dodgy looking passengers "just in case." At which point he took me over to a group of men who'd already decided who they were keeping an eye on during the flight and had to admit that one of them was ME! LOL! Well, we all fell about laughing and there's me giggling, "me? me?" hearty har and you know what - when I came back from the loo during the flight, there were about six or seven heads all leaning out of their seats eyeing me as I walked down the aisle. It was THEM! They'd been watching me.
Not really. I made it all up.
mississippi
Shitting myself?
No, not me John, anymore than I'd allow a terrorist scare to stop me doing exactly what I want to. If the plane had been blown up I'd have been dead in seconds, at 6 miles up there isn't a lot to keep you alive.
Anyway I knew the feds had got the cases off.
When you think about it, there's probably never been a safer time to fly to the USA.
John
Good point!
Ely Whitley
Stewardess: ladies and gentleman I'm afraid the plane is leaking fuel and we won't make it to our destination
passenger: how far will we get?
stewardess: oh we'll make it all the way to the crash site.
John
hahahaha.
Good one.
John
passenger to stewardess:
And will we arrive on time?
Smiley
It's always the same on planes... time flies.
John
Pooo!
No, bad joke smiley.
Really bad!
Radiodenver
My daughter works for United Airlines, they are in deep doo at the moment. I don't think it's safer to fly in the US now, but not because of bombs. The people working for the airlines are angry as hell and morale is at an all time low. I wouldn't fly United even for the 50 bucks I can get tickets for, no telling how may wrenches are floating around in them there engines.