The Long Haul
I woke, no not with a smoke, but a tiny watch alarm. I had been so concerned that I was going to sleep through it that I didn't even get to sleep until about 1am after the shower etc, and had considered powering through it... and I'm glad I didn't.
I didn't sleep all that much last night anyway, because I was up until nearly 2 am looking for a way to make it back home. I glaze over it all now, since it kinda sucked.
Number of times through security check points: 4
Number of times I had to take my shoes off: 5
Customs: 3
So, if you have any sense at all you're saying, "WTF?"
Eurostar France -> England
French Customs (They fucking stamped the wrong departure page AGAIN, fucking french!)
English Customs
Security & search checkpoint
Shoe search check point
London Heathrow airport -> LAX
English security checkpoint
American Security Checkpoint
Los Angeles International -> SJC
American Customs
American Security Checkpoint
There was a fuel problem on my Virgin Airlines flight 007 to LAX from LHR, so we were delayed for an hour by that and another 30 minutes on the tarmac waiting for a chance to take off.
When I finally got to LAX, I had 5 minutes to make my next flight, obviously I missed it. So they let me fly standby on the next flight, while waiting I wrote this:
I'm not sure what to call today. Because even if it's 1730 PST 10/8 we, and I'm told it is, it's still 10/9 Thursday at 230 am. And I've been up since ~5 am, and didn't fall asleep until 2 am. I think I slept for about 3 hours on my 10hr flight I'm a little hazy but what I do know is that a 1hr 30min delay due to a fuel problem at LHR made us 2 hours late... allowing me to miss my plane home, I'm excitedly awaiting a standby spot just now as I can't wait to be be home again: Drink some decent water, eat some good sushi, and have a nice strong ale. One thing I know is that through all of this, I have no desire to visit any cities (other than Vegas or incidentally) ever again.
I've pretty much seen everything the European cities have to offer, so unless I find myself anywhere in the East, or possibly somewhere in the southern hemi-sphere, I don't plan for any future trips to include any cities that don't lay in ruins. Well, at least not without reservations or some sort of fixed plan... and I can't see myself doing anything as rash as having a travel itinerary.
Last time I was up for this long, I was on Bivwak with an assault weapon in the army. That was actually more fun, plus I got to have hallucinations from massive sleep deprivation. This time I couldn't think clearly, and ended up waiting for 40 minutes at the old bus stop (where it was 3 or 4 years ago) instead of where it is on the new Airport.
I did meet an American/Russian couple with a kid who were screwing around taking waky pictures trying to kill time. First the mother pretended to smoke with an unlit cigarette, acting Hollywood and such. Then one of the eastern Europeans they had also met handed the kid a cigarette, which is somewhat funny so I said, "I'm pretty sure that's illegal in America."
She laughed and said, "Well, we're not American's so it doesn't matter."
Then the Eastern European guy lit the cigarette while she was talking to me, and handed it back to the kid. The child, immediately said, "Hey, Look at me!"
And she promptly went to slap it out of his mouth. He may have puffed on it, but didn't inhale, and clearly wasn't doing it right. So we instructed him how to do it properly, while she took the cigarette away. The kid looked up and said, "Why do people smoke anyway?" The mother says, "I don't really know honey."
And in a low voice I said ". . . cause it gets you hiiiiiiigh."
I didn't sleep all that much last night anyway, because I was up until nearly 2 am looking for a way to make it back home. I glaze over it all now, since it kinda sucked.
Number of times through security check points: 4
Number of times I had to take my shoes off: 5
Customs: 3
So, if you have any sense at all you're saying, "WTF?"
Eurostar France -> England
French Customs (They fucking stamped the wrong departure page AGAIN, fucking french!)
English Customs
Security & search checkpoint
Shoe search check point
London Heathrow airport -> LAX
English security checkpoint
American Security Checkpoint
Los Angeles International -> SJC
American Customs
American Security Checkpoint
There was a fuel problem on my Virgin Airlines flight 007 to LAX from LHR, so we were delayed for an hour by that and another 30 minutes on the tarmac waiting for a chance to take off.
When I finally got to LAX, I had 5 minutes to make my next flight, obviously I missed it. So they let me fly standby on the next flight, while waiting I wrote this:
I'm not sure what to call today. Because even if it's 1730 PST 10/8 we, and I'm told it is, it's still 10/9 Thursday at 230 am. And I've been up since ~5 am, and didn't fall asleep until 2 am. I think I slept for about 3 hours on my 10hr flight I'm a little hazy but what I do know is that a 1hr 30min delay due to a fuel problem at LHR made us 2 hours late... allowing me to miss my plane home, I'm excitedly awaiting a standby spot just now as I can't wait to be be home again: Drink some decent water, eat some good sushi, and have a nice strong ale. One thing I know is that through all of this, I have no desire to visit any cities (other than Vegas or incidentally) ever again.
I've pretty much seen everything the European cities have to offer, so unless I find myself anywhere in the East, or possibly somewhere in the southern hemi-sphere, I don't plan for any future trips to include any cities that don't lay in ruins. Well, at least not without reservations or some sort of fixed plan... and I can't see myself doing anything as rash as having a travel itinerary.
Last time I was up for this long, I was on Bivwak with an assault weapon in the army. That was actually more fun, plus I got to have hallucinations from massive sleep deprivation. This time I couldn't think clearly, and ended up waiting for 40 minutes at the old bus stop (where it was 3 or 4 years ago) instead of where it is on the new Airport.
I did meet an American/Russian couple with a kid who were screwing around taking waky pictures trying to kill time. First the mother pretended to smoke with an unlit cigarette, acting Hollywood and such. Then one of the eastern Europeans they had also met handed the kid a cigarette, which is somewhat funny so I said, "I'm pretty sure that's illegal in America."
She laughed and said, "Well, we're not American's so it doesn't matter."
Then the Eastern European guy lit the cigarette while she was talking to me, and handed it back to the kid. The child, immediately said, "Hey, Look at me!"
And she promptly went to slap it out of his mouth. He may have puffed on it, but didn't inhale, and clearly wasn't doing it right. So we instructed him how to do it properly, while she took the cigarette away. The kid looked up and said, "Why do people smoke anyway?" The mother says, "I don't really know honey."
And in a low voice I said ". . . cause it gets you hiiiiiiigh."