Jet lag ramblings
Well, it's 5:30am in DC and I've given up trying to sleep any longer (my body feels like it's close to noon), but it's also too early to go searching for a bagel and coffee, so instead I'll post some musings from my travels yesterday:
-- Riding the shuttle to the E gates at Zurich Airport, two young blonde Paris Hilton-wannabe types are sitting near me. Also sitting near me is an American dude, probably mid-40s, bald, wearing a safari vest, long basketball shorts, and sandals with white socks. Dude turns to one of the Hiltons, points at her shirt, which reads "BLONDES DO IT BETTER", and asks "is that really true?" She says yes, and he replies "well, I guess I'll have to find out...heh heh heh)". Ooooh, did I ever feel unclean after witnessing that exchange. (Later on the flight I could see at the very back of the plane that the same dude was chatting up one of the flight attendants, and all I could think is that they must have to undergo special training on how to repel the advances of creepy strangers in flight attendant school.)
--Watched Madagascar on the flight...not quite as clever as some of the other big animated films of recent years, but still worth watching, especially on a 9-hour flight.
--I've heard Miami is even worse, but Dulles Airport outside of Washington is a lousy "welcome to America," especially now with construction underway.
--When you get off the peoplemover at customs/immigration at Dulles, there are immediately announcements that use of cellphones is strictly prohibited, along with signs every three feet or so. Whether or not this actually makes sense is beside the point; if you learn nothing else upon arrival, you learn cellphones are verboten in that area. So naturally an American executive- or sales-type ahead of me had to be firmly admonished because he was chattering away on his phone while waiting to clear immigration. Welcome home!
--Getting off the plane felt like walking into a sauna, which I think says more about how chilly and wet Basel has been this summer because it was a pretty nice day (mid-80s and only moderately humid) by DC-in-August standards. I don't even want to think about my first full summer back here. I may never leave the house.
--It looked like fully half the planes at Dulles belonged to Independence Air, which I had never heard of. It's funny how little things like that remind you that things do indeed change in your absence.
-- Riding the shuttle to the E gates at Zurich Airport, two young blonde Paris Hilton-wannabe types are sitting near me. Also sitting near me is an American dude, probably mid-40s, bald, wearing a safari vest, long basketball shorts, and sandals with white socks. Dude turns to one of the Hiltons, points at her shirt, which reads "BLONDES DO IT BETTER", and asks "is that really true?" She says yes, and he replies "well, I guess I'll have to find out...heh heh heh)". Ooooh, did I ever feel unclean after witnessing that exchange. (Later on the flight I could see at the very back of the plane that the same dude was chatting up one of the flight attendants, and all I could think is that they must have to undergo special training on how to repel the advances of creepy strangers in flight attendant school.)
--Watched Madagascar on the flight...not quite as clever as some of the other big animated films of recent years, but still worth watching, especially on a 9-hour flight.
--I've heard Miami is even worse, but Dulles Airport outside of Washington is a lousy "welcome to America," especially now with construction underway.
--When you get off the peoplemover at customs/immigration at Dulles, there are immediately announcements that use of cellphones is strictly prohibited, along with signs every three feet or so. Whether or not this actually makes sense is beside the point; if you learn nothing else upon arrival, you learn cellphones are verboten in that area. So naturally an American executive- or sales-type ahead of me had to be firmly admonished because he was chattering away on his phone while waiting to clear immigration. Welcome home!
--Getting off the plane felt like walking into a sauna, which I think says more about how chilly and wet Basel has been this summer because it was a pretty nice day (mid-80s and only moderately humid) by DC-in-August standards. I don't even want to think about my first full summer back here. I may never leave the house.
--It looked like fully half the planes at Dulles belonged to Independence Air, which I had never heard of. It's funny how little things like that remind you that things do indeed change in your absence.
<< Home