BenEurope2006

Coda

Wed, 05 Apr 2006 21:10:00 -0600

I've got all my notes posted. Some amusing stories didn't make the cut, and will probably only come out in conversation. I've just put up photos from the last week, starting at the end of page 7 of the gallery.

I intend to archive this blog in the next month or so. I'll probably leave it here with comments disabled, and create a single-page version for the main site.

Day Sixty One - Tuesday

Wed, 05 Apr 2006 20:15:00 -0600

Up early. The wakeup call never happened, but it didn't end up being a problem. Quick breakfast, checked out of the hotel, and then off to the tube station. For almost $25, I got a fast train to Heathrow (the alternative being a 60+minute subway ride with stops aplenty on the way. I figured it was worth it to sleep in), where I spent 95 minutes in line. I got there 2 hours before my flight left, and by the time I got to the front of the checking line, they were worried enough about the timing that there was a guy asking if anyone was still waiting to checkin for flight 1010. About 10 of us raised our hands, and got bumped ahead in line, though by that point we were all pretty close to the front anyway. Security wasn't a problem, and off I went. Schiphol was fun. The takeoff at Heathrow was over 20 minutes late so we landed in Amsterdam after when my boarding pass said boarding would start for the flight to Detroit. And it took forever to unload the plane, dinky as it was, because so many people had issues getting their ginormous bags out of the overhead bins. So I finally get to the gate, which is roped off and there's no way in. This confuses me for a moment, but it becomes clear that they're letting people in one at a time for some reason. I go in and a guy says "stand over there please". So over I go, put my backpack down, and am getting out some snack food when a woman asks me to "come this way please". So I go over there, put my backpack down, and am once again just reaching for my apricots when she asks me to come away from the window, something about the light. At that point it becomes clear that what they should have done was say "please wait here to be interviewed" way back when I first came through the roped-off area around the gate. Yes, I own all my stuff. Yes, I packed it myself. In my hotel. Last night. No, I'm not bringing bombs for other people. I list the electronics I'm bringing. This takes a while. Eventually I get a sticker and go sit down for a while longer. In response to questioning, I'm told that the "boarding time" listed on my ticket is a lie to get people to the gates early enough that they can interview 300 passengers with a minimum of airport personnel. Great. Eventually we board. The machine that reads boarding passes jams on the person two in front of me, but it's apparently a fluke, as it works fine after that. While I'm standing in line there waiting for them to clear the paper path, there's an announcement asking for anyone who can translate Russian into English. They're not asking for an airport translator to come over, they're asking if any passengers happen to speak Russian and English. Note to terrorists: bring any necessary planning docs in not-English and not-Arabic, and have a confederate on the flight to come forward and tell the airport people they're harmless. Further note to terrorists: do your planning ahead of time so you don't need any incriminating paperwork onboard. Note to airport security: why are you worrying about paperwork in Russian? My seat on the trans-Atlantic flight was in the third row of steerage, so I got off the plain in Detroit in record time, allowing me to clear immigration before the lines really got long. Not so lucky on baggage claim and customs. I did get chem-sniffed though. Nifty automated machine that puffs at you with a dozen or so nozzles, sucks up the air it dislodges, and analyzes it before letting you through. It's got voice messages for things like "ok, you can go now" and "please stand back" when the proximity sensors indicate the next person in line is a few inches too close to the machine. Also got asked for my boarding pass about 4 times. What is this US fascination with boarding passes? The rest of the world doesn't freak out about it. Note to FAA / DHS: you do know I can print as many boarding passes as I want, with whatever names I want, from the airlines' online check-in systems, right? I mean, the passes I was issued for my flight out of the US had reminders for security personnel to check my passport; I deleted them before printing because I didn't want to be hassled. It took a text editor and two minutes. When I got through the bureaucracy and looked for my flight out of Detroit, it wasn't even up on the departure boards yet, but I did see another flight leaving soon for Madison, so I rushed over to that gate. When I got there, they were just finishing up boarding, so I asked if there was a free seat. The person said yes, asked if I was on a later flight. I said yeah; she asked for ID and my boarding pass. She glanced at my passport, tore up my boarding pass and issued me another one, and I hopped on the plane. None of the BS my brother encountered trying to get on an earlier flight that you're not allowed to fly without your checked luggage. Just gave me a ticket and on I went. I was person number 2 in a row of 3 seats, so the flight wasn't bad, even though my seatback wouldn't stay up. Despite having to go back tomorrow to pick up my checked luggage, I'd call that a win since I didn't have to spend 4 hours in Detroit. Those being the hours of 1am to 5am London time. Got home, brushed my teeth, fell asleep.

Day Sixty - Monday

Wed, 05 Apr 2006 19:58:00 -0600

Wandered around London one last time. Had a Cornish pasty ("hand made in Cornwall" and "baked fresh daily") for lunch, and went to the Tate Modern museum, but couldn't find postcards of either of the two things I liked there. To be fair, half of the museum was closed for renovation and whatnot. Checked on my flight tomorrow. Or rather, tried to, and couldn't get nwa.com to tell me about a KLM flight (hint to NWA: I don't give a shit whose name's on the plane. You sold me the ticket, you tell me whether the plane's going to be there), and couldn't get KLM to tell me about it either. I think the KLM site was supposed to give me the information but I'm not sure since it repeatedly crashed Firefox. Bad Firefox, no biscuit. Do not trust the bits that come in. Do not let them push you off your rocker. I'm paranoid about oversleeping so I set up a wakeup call for departure time - 2 hours checkin / general airport bureaucracy, paranoia, and inefficiency - 30 mins estimated walking time from the shuttle stop to wherever I need to checkin, since I'll have to do it in person - 15 mins claimed shuttle time - 15 minutes general wasteage - 30 mins breakfast - 30 mins wake-up / shower / packing the last 5 things / checkout. That's 7 hours from now, so I should go to bed.

Day Fifty Nine - Sunday

Wed, 05 Apr 2006 19:55:00 -0600

Walked around downtownish. Saw the London Bridge (not the one that's in Arizona!), and got caught in a brief rainstorm on it, huddled against one of the big pillars on one side. Walked along the Thames for a while, past the restored Globe Theater. Hyde Park and environs was pretty last night, though of course there had to be a few rain squalls while I was there. Not, however, while I was near the gazebo. Got some neat photos of swans, etc.

Day Fifty Eight - Saturday

Sun, 02 Apr 2006 05:33:00 -0600

Laundry day. Last one (yay). The closer, and cheaper, laundromat was closed "due to an emergency", so it took a bit longer than I anticipated, but I've got clean things to wear now, and all is well. Finally got around to a fish and chips lunch, the first I've had since Gibraltar last year. And not as good, actually. Maybe I'll have a chance to try again, but the days are definitely counting down. Hopefully I'll get a chance to head back toward the Thames to check out some gardens and architecture today, as it's forecast to be a blustery and rainy next couple days. But I have to head over to the internet point this afternoon and get this stuff posted because otherwise it just won't get done. Though maybe I should put it off until tomorrow - I think they'll let me check my flights 48hrs ahead of scheduled departure, which should be about 11am tomorrow morning, and I could get both errands done at the same time. That might be best, since the internet point folks are sophisticated enough to take into account that many people will be traveling with laptops and just want that ether cable. Which is a polite way of saying they're clued-in enough to be assholes about it, charging more for bare ether than they do for ether + a dodgy Dell box and LCD. [Update Sunday: it's a very respectable LCD though - 20ish inches and widescreen]

Day Fifty Seven - Friday

Sun, 02 Apr 2006 05:31:00 -0600

Pretty similar to yesterday, actually. I got up later but got going earlier, and despite sleeping in I ended up napping for several hours before dinner. I hope I'm not getting sick. Quite a few phone-sex operations advertising during Letterman. I happened to glance up during one of the ads - they want almost $3/minute. It's been a while since I've seen the back of an Onion, but I thought 99c/min was the going rate. Triple that is really expensive. There are cheaper prostitutes advertised in the Amsterdam phone books.

Day Fifty Six - Thursday

Sun, 02 Apr 2006 05:31:00 -0600

Back to the War Museum. I got there about 12:45 or so, and stayed until they started shooing people out at 6. There's a ton of stuff there. Back to the hotel; arranged to stay longer; asked about a laundry and net access; nap; dinner, and vegging out for a while.

Day Fifty Four - Tuesday

Sun, 02 Apr 2006 05:30:00 -0600

Well, that was fun. I picked up my ticket at the train station and headed up to the departure terminal. There's a separate area for the trains to London, since that's outside the EU and you have to go through customs and whatnot. I go upstairs, get in the non-UK, non-EU passport line, and get my departure from Paris stamped in there. Then I go about 15 feet and hit the entering-UK passport control place, where a surly Brit asks if I have something. I can't hear him, so he repeats "do you have one of these?", holding up a card. "No." "You have to have one of these. Fill this out and then come back. There's a table over there." Well, 'over there' is through a line of people that's intended to be one-way, and I don't feel like salmoning over there, so I just use a conveniently nearby wall. I put my name on it, nationality, etc. It asks for an occupation, which I put a dash through. It asks for a UK address, which I also put a dash through. I'm thinking this could be problematic. And sure enough, it is. The guy's already pissed off at me for the card thing, though I don't know why, unless there was a big sign that I missed somewhere. He asks my occupation. I say I'm unemployed. Just graduated university and am traveling. This fails to impress, and he continues reading the card. He asks my UK address. I say I don't have one yet. He asks why not, in an accusing tone. I say I'll find a hotel when I get there. This is the wrong answer. He asks if I have a ticket out of the country. I say yes. He asks to see it. I say it's an e-ticket, so I don't have a physical object. He doesn't seem to understand (or maybe just doesn't care). He demands to see my ticket out of the UK. Asks if I actually want to go to the UK. Uh. Yeah. My plane leaves from London, and I have a train ticket to get there from here. Kinda indicates I'd like to go. I say none of this. I haul out my laptop, hunt up the email, and demonstrate that I'm leaving from Heathrow, to Amsterdam, Detroit, and to Madison. Meanwhile, he asks how I'm paying for my trip to the UK. It's unclear what he means; I tell him the ticket went on my credit card. Maybe he thinks I'm planning on maxing out my card and winding up in debtors' prison or something. He asks how much money I have access to. I tell him. "Do you have any proof of that?" Well, no. I didn't happen to bring a notarised copy of my latest bank statement. He asks if I have traveler's checks or something. Oh. Yeah. About $1000 worth, and some cash. Of course, he wants to see those too. So I dig them out, half in my luggage, half in my wallet. I've been trying to get rid of them - about 3 weeks ago I counted what I had left, divided it by the number of weeks remaining, and set that as a target. I've been paying for hotels and stuff with cash rather than my credit card like I usually would, just so I don't end up stuck with a bunch of them back in the US. It's a good thing I fell behind in my schedule, I guess. The surly guy's writing something on the back of my immigration card. It being upside down and me still being busy with the e-ticket confirmation email (it's a damn good thing I've told Thunderbird to locally cache all my mail from the imap server!), I don't catch what all it says, but it looks like he's noting his examination of my traveler's checks. He says he has to go talk to someone, and takes my passport and immigration card with him. Several minutes later, he comes back and lets me through. Egad. I know the dollar's not the world's awesomest currency these days but I'd think they'd welcome tourists anyway. We do tend to splash money around the local hotels and whatnot. I'm glad we didn't reach a point of needing to call the bank. Clerk guy'd be pissed off that I don't have a mobile, and I didn't see a phone behind his desk either. Besides: "Uh. Hi! This is me; I'm in Paris; I need to convince this officious oaf that I can afford a week in London. And first, I probably need to convince you that a random caller from overseas really is me. Can we get right on that? Thaaaaanks." Probably wouldn't go over too well. Then we get to personal and baggage security. I put my suitcase and backpack on the belt, toss my coat after, and reach for my flashlight, which I've been carrying on my belt in an experiment to see whether it bugs me or not. It's not there. I have no idea where it ended up. Probably still at the hotel. Well, on the plus side, that means a lot less metal that I'm carrying. I go through the gate, which doesn't object to a pocketful of change and some nail clippers, so off I go. Now sitting in a departure lounge, griping and watching the local terminal downstairs, which is policed by "security" people (railway police, I'd guess), and military people. I thought it best not to accost French soldiers and ask what they're doing, so I can only surmise their purpose. They weren't here when I was through this station a few days ago, so either they're on random rotation or French intelligence has decided there need to be more assault rifles in this part of the city. I'm in London now, and it's just started raining. And I have a problem. The UK's got this chip and PIN credit card system now. I guess it's catching on in France too since the train station automatic ticket vendor machines won't take magstripe credit cards. But you can go to the hu-mans and they've got machines to read magstripe cards, and all is well. Ditto Gibraltar: automated things want chip and PIN cards; manned readers will take either. According to the barkeep at the pub where I'm staying (more on that later), it's going to be nigh on impossible to use a magstripe credit card in the UK. And since I have no PIN and my credit card has no chip, this could be problematic. I'm going to investigate more tomorrow, but if it's true, then I probably have to stay here with the weekly rate (half price) because I won't be able to afford leaving. Eep! Ok, so I end up in Waterloo International. Yeah, that's what they call their train station. Yes, it's on Waterloo st. And yes, you can get to !UK destinations. Well, at least one: Paris. I'm not sure you can actually get directly anywhere else... It's also a tube stop, national train depot, etc. I look for change booths, and save myself maybe $3 comparison shopping. Whatever. Off to find a hotel. Only there aren't any. I wander all the way around the train station (it's elevated so there are streets all the way around on ground level) and see some restaurants but mostly small apartments and houses. I wander some more, heading toward larger buildings. When I get there, I'm pretty sure they're dorms. There seem to be various school bits in the area, and some of the shops advertise student discounts. Finally, after over an hour of dragging my suitcase over damned unfriendly sidewalks, I see a place advertising accomodations, short- and long-term. I head into a the pub with the sign on it and inquire of the barkeep. Yeah, that's here. Yeah, they take credit cards. Then he sees my inferior magstripe card and says that won't work. Crap. So I give him cash, about $100 for the room and a $20 deposit for the key. Which I guess I can understand since it's got 2 keys and an electronic lock fob on it. There were signs near the station advertising various attractions, so this isn't a completely boring university section of town, but it's not exactly the surroundings I'd expect for a big train station, either. I am going to go get something to eat and have a chat with the barkeep about this London situation.

Mon, 23 Jan 2006 21:53:00 -0600

My Europe 2006 Gallery