Category: Travel

Travelog 3 – long storm journey

On By cjx07sterIn Australia, Simple Stories, TravelLeave a comment

Wednesday afternoon 1 June Houston, Tx.

Nothing like a black cloud dogging your travels.  Even though the summer is coming, it’s flooding in Paris and Texas and yes, you look up in the sky and there it is, just out there in the afternoon.  Low hung black and uncool. Everyday another 6 inches of rain and then the sun comes out and then more rain. So every step of the way these past few days, it’s been a black clouded weather issue.

Normally getting to Australia from Texas is not an issue.  It takes a few hours and one connection in Dallas, with plenty of hours of layover to make sure bags and everything including the mind, make that never-ending leg from Dallas to Sydney.

Of course, yous start out hopeful, checkout the handy travel app, says all is ok and on-time.  Check out from the hotel, say goodbye to the hotel staff and pack everything in your bags and your bags into the boot of the rental, to check in and forget about until two days hence landing in Sydney.

Having arrived at Houston airport car rental, plenty of time to spare, got my reciept and caught the shuttle over to terminal A.  I had a 6pm flight to Dallas which seemed on time and even though the newspapers were full of reports of TSA inefficiencies and queues, managed to scrape through TSA-PRE in a matter of minutes and get over to the gate.

On the way, I saw Chilli’s and having had no lunch thought a grab it while you can approach might work.  In this case, a seat at the bar, with my back to the window and the ominous weather, a few margaritas [house economy] and the queso dip should do the trick.

About halfway through the first margarita, the lights went out.  Strange for an airport, but then the lightning flashes through the window into the twilight of the bar seemed to indicate a cause.  Conversation subdued, we all hoped to was temporary. We being the born again loud guy two seats down, the loud lady 4 seats down and round to the left with the laptop [an Apple] and the South of the border bartender with a friendly smile, but suddenly no cash register.  Naturally I made a joke of it, telling friendly bartender that it was all bartender B’s problem, being so tall and standing too close to the refrigerator.

Some time passed, and the sun went down into the west, the room got darker, so dark I had to use the little iphone torch app to find the way into the restroom. I’m pretty sure that was a first.

I had waited over an hour to get my check, pay the bill and get to the gate. In the end I gave up and had to pay in cash and didn’t get a receipt, and no doubt people will talk about my shady transactions in cash in a dimly lit bar in Houston airport for some time to come.

when the power goes out blink

cash tills can't think

how quiet the world is of late

at the dark waiting air gate

Finally my predicament became really obvious.  Out at the gate was a plane, due to leave some hour before but still there, full of people and stuck due to the lack of power at the gate.  We had first for the power to come back, the plane to leave, our plane to arrive, get cleaned and then be boarded.  I chatted to the people next to me. I dozed off, I woke, dozed off again and… Finally some 3 hours later, I left Houston for Dallas.

Naturally you get to land in the rain and wind and trundle to the new gate in Dallas, off load knowing that nearly everyone in the plane must’ve missed their connection that night.  Approaching the gate staff in Dallas, I enquired about the now most probably useless boarding pass in my hand [Dallas-Sydney].  I didn’t even ask a hopeful question.  Just handed it over to the gate attendant and watched her type into a helpfully powered computer.

Long story short, had to stay the night in the airport hotel and get a new flight in the morning.

The clouds of dogging kept it up the next day.

Thursday 2 June DFW

I checked into my flight for 11am to Los Angeles, but then found it had it’s gate changed and that it was going to be late as well. An hour late.  No biggie, I would have had many hours free of layover in Los Angeles.  I sat down and chatted to a young would be rock star from Missouri… looking for a big break in Los Angeles and who just wanted to hear how anyone could fly on a plane where the trip lasted longer than 3 hours.

The black clouds came nearer and soon the rain was coming down fast.  Outside I could see our plane had arrived and well turned up at the appointed hour and started boarding.   We crawled down the taxiway in a queue of planes hoping to ‘get the hell out of Dodge’ but that was easier said than done.  It turned out only getting out flying North was working, due to the storms in the South West.  We finally took off, with  the rain streaming past the windows and straight into the cloud layer and beyond. I’d gotten a book to read.  Crime novels in paperback are plentiful and low cost. After about 71 pages written the pilot came on and informed that we were in fact the last flight out of Dallas before the DFW airport had been closed.

Announcing pilots attended

when you are travelling late

stories of lucky last takeoff,

your predicament now seems great

By now my next flight scheduled to leave LAX at 10:30pm is late.  Not minutes late. Hours late.  We’re now expecting to leave the confines of the very relaxing Qantas lounge at LAX by 2:40am.  One quick way to find out what happened is to check the flightaware website. Turns out the aircraft forming QF12 left JFK way late and at 11pm is still only halfway across the country and wont even land at LAX until well after midnight.  A quick check of the arrival weather in Sydney shows the bad weather closing in from the northwest with a notorious ‘east coast low’ developing.  Could be pretty crazy for the flight arrival Saturday.

Thursday June 3 LAX

Another casualty of delayed flights, particularly long ones are the faint possibility that someone booked on the flight, checked in, and frustrated after one or two too many martini’s just got up and left the airport.  It’s a risk and the longer the delay, the more likely more delays start happening once the people all get on board.

Yes – in our case, said person didn’t turn up for whatever reason and his bags had to be taken off the plane.  On an A380 this can take some time.  Let’s say another 30 minute delay, sitting on the plane.  Not a problem, quickly review all the movies that I might watch to put me to sleep as soon as having had a quick bite after takeoff.

After takeoff, you know that up to 17 hours of weather will happen around the world and surprise you a bit on landing to show you just how well you can forecast it.

SYDNEY Jun 4-5 Weekend

In Boston they have the Nor'Easter

In Sydney the East Coast Low

Either way its double trouble

For people who come and go

Alien snow dogs on vacation – Hyderabad 

On By cjx07sterIn TravelLeave a comment

I’m here this week out at Gatchibowli. A suburb near the HITEC city of Hyderabad.  It seems almost impossible to see the planning of Hyderabad, what used to be a city which I thought I understood many years ago is now even part of a new state called Telegana.  The rapid expansion through Hi Tech is truly amazing but frighteningly embedded in the fabric of the older city, roads and infrastructure.

So rather than deal with the traffic to the office in the morning.  I stay out in Gatchibowli, do exercises on the roof top under the watchful eyes of the vacationing arctic docs on the roof of some other building across the noisy street below.

 

Travelog 4 – London – Crafty Beer Names

On By cjx07sterIn TravelLeave a comment

From Sydney, I’d been sent to Coventry, UK for engineering work. I had arrived there by bus from Heathrow a few days before. It was the end of the week and definitely time to get back to my roots of the ‘The City’. There are places to go and although I’d spent time in the UK before, this time that I would definitely look at London as kindred homeland somehow.

No need to bus or drive to London in their A or M style roads, which can really drag on a Friday afternoon.The trains are direct and fast if you need them.  All trains definitely seem to lead to London in this case.

Train then, Coventry ticket office, single fast train anytime please. About an hour from Coventry to London Euston, through green landscapes in the setting sun, with long shadows flicking across the windows. The train tilts as it rounds the bends and your ears either suck out or in going into and out of the tunnels at speed.

Naturally I checked out the carriage, 3 levels of emergency exit.  Level 1 – the door to the next carriage, Level 2, the door to the outside, Level 3- the emergency glass break windows.  Just the day before there were reports of Police evacuating Baker Street station IN LONDON and doing ‘controlled explosions’ on a panel van seemingly abandoned in the middle of the road just outside.  In the wake of the November 13th terror and carnage in Paris just the week before, everyone in London must have also been a bit on edge.

Well, needs be I might make it out the emergency window, but Level 3 type emergency exits are a bit of a jump to the ground. Might be breaking a bit more than the toughened glass at my age. Thankfully, we arrived Euston safely with no breaking or jumping required.  I retrieved my pretty worn luggage and exited the station.

I taxi ranked a quick cab and check-in to my hotel nearby.  Switching from late Spring to Autumn cool, I added a pullover for warmth and went back out into the early darkness.  Actually right outside the Euston station are several pubs to attend.  The first one, All Bar One, seemed upmarket and was a cross between bistro, winebar and pub.  All people going to and from the train station with roller luggage and overcoats, dropping in for a quick pint.  There were some obvious locals who seemed to know everyone, introducing themselves to strangers, slapping people on the back, somewhat intrusively I observed.  Lots of really tall well dressed people. Not me of course.  Somewhat short and shabby compared.  I thought shabby chic for chillin’ dudes from Australia.  That’ll do.  Of course short people get lost in the crowd in anycase.  Beer London Style.  Good.

Afterward however the Euston Tap bar seemed more interesting.  Enclosed in a 19th century gatehouse at the entrance to the old Euston Square Garden, a small door leads you into a welcome heated space with a bar and a craft beer wall and chalkboard arrangement behind it. At least half dozen bartenders crammed in a space of around 20 square feet. The only women in the bar were behind it or upstairs perhaps at the end of the mysterious black wrought iron spiral staircase.  Everyone of those drinking downstairs at least seemed young, relatively happy, and their conversation sharp.  The ‘Tap’ could be the local watering hole for those from the University across the road perhaps.

I ordered ‘Half Mast’.  How would I know what it tasted like, it was listed number something on a chalk board just above some other sophisticated craft been name.  The only clue was that it had alcohol of a calculated percentage and was on the ‘KEG’ side of the room rather than the ‘CASK’ side of the room.  Tasted good.  I drank the whole pint — ok slowly — taking some time to read Time magazine found in the lobby on the way out.  Craft beers, kegs and casks of specialty brew shipped in from somewhere. The lifetime of any of them depending on the number of drinkers.  As Casks were emptied, their chalk tap numbering designation rubbed out like the way our teachers rubbed out the workings and started something new in the space.

Can I have a pint of ’20 please’ he asked, the guy next to me.

‘Sorry mate, It’ll be around 10 minutes or so’ the bartender said, as her colleague in black quickly rubbed out it’s space on the wall.

‘OK then perhaps number 15, thanks’.. he replied.

So then, beer by numbers and crafty names at the cool bars in London. Who thinks these names up ?  Is there a standard dictionary of ‘Craft Beer’ names.  Perfect for trivia nights back in Australia perhaps.  Category.. London Craft Beer Names.  I thought of a few more crafty beer names, promptly forgot them and went back to the hotel to sleep off some jetlag.