Saturday, September 20, 2008

Some Quick Trip Observatons

Sometimes you have to travel half way around the world to make it in time for your daily blog post.  Its around 11pm here in California.  I made it to Jonathan and Dewi's wonderful home in Los Altos Hills after 24 hours of travel and was immediately made to feel most welcome.
Some trip observations:
  • I lose the ability to speak coherently when I get jet lag.  I know what I want to say, it just does not come out right.
  • Why is it that people have such trouble with the bathroom doors on planes.  On the way from TA to London, I sat by the bathroom and was amazed at how many people could not work out that they just need to push where it says PUSH and the door opens inward. Countless people broke off the ashtray near the bathroom door (a remnant of earlier more carefree day when smoking on planes did not kill on the spot) in their fumbling attempts to find something to pull in order to get into the bathroom.
  • Kung-Fu Panda, Speed Racer, Zohan,  a Bollywood movie called Krazzy 4 and the insulting new Indiana Jones, played over and over in a loop could be used at Guantanamo for torture.  My VOD movie selection was busted and hence I only had 6 movies to watch.  At least Keira Knightley is Audrey Hepburn hot in Pride and Prejudice.
  • My dollar rent a car is so low end that it has no central locking, power windows or movable side mirrors.  Its some sort of American car company that I think went out of business years ago. Oh, it smells of cigarettes.
  • The GPS and I are now buddies.  But, it still has trouble finding satellites in the Bay Area.
  • The light and air here is wonderful.  It feels clean.
  • I bumped into Martin and Gun (with two dots on the u) waiting for the SFO flight.  Its cool to find people you know when you least expect it.  It was great to see them again.
Enough, I must sleep!

2 comments:

Marc said...

The was one thing that I forgot to mention about creating that nice concoction that gets you through travelling in a tin can close to the speed of sound at a ridiculously high altitude: drink a lot of water. Usually, I board the aircraft with a 1.5 litre (0.4 US gallon) bottle of water. I drink this pretty much in one go, then walk to the back of the aircraft to request a refill. I get a glare from the stewardess, which I swallow with embarrassment. After downing the sleeping tablet and the two half-bottles of wine, with the meal in between for safety's sake, I take a swig of water and fall into a forgetful slumber.

Now here's the thing. I drink a lot of water for two reasons:

- To stay hydrated, especially given the alcohol consumption.

- No matter how good the sleeping tablet is, I have to go to the toilet at regular intervals. Getting up makes the blood circulate, which is good, because I'm paranoid that the blood will coagulate in my legs and killing me at some inopportune moment.

And here is the point. When you have drunk that much liquid, and then you need to go to the toilet, you really need to go, and with the lights dimmed and your eyes blurry, I'm pretty sure you could have caught me on occasions with my legs crossed, hassling the bloody toilet door to open.

But hey, I get to my destination quicker having slept most of the way.

Marc

Anonymous said...

Peter dear,
Such a pleasure to have you here with us. I think you are hilarious Peter!
J&D