It’s Sunday, July 17, and time for me to make my way to Honolulu International Airport for the final leg of my trip. As things worked out, it took me two days to get home, but that’s all part of the adventure.
Recycling: As a place collector, I love keeping track of and thinking about the places I buy clothes and other things. On a trip like this, I cast off and acquire on a continuous basis. Here is how my pack has changed:
Shoes bought in Harrisonburg, Va.; left in Honolulu; replaced with sandals bought in Honolulu. Several pair of socks lost, none acquired.
Long sleeve shirt bought in Camp Hill, Pa.; left in Adelaide; replaced with a short-sleeve collared T from the Bridge Climb in Sydney.
Two short-sleeve Ts, both given to me by my son; one lost in London, one ditched in Melbourne; replaced with a short-sleeve T from Old Vic in Melbourne and a short-sleeve collared T from Malacca.
One leather belt bought in Marrakech, Morocco; ditched in Hong Kong; replaced with a leather belt from Hong Kong.
Two pair of long pants purchased in Salisbury, Md.; one ditched in Hong Kong, one ditched in Auckland; replaced with one pair of new pants from a Hong Kong street market.
One fleece purchased in Camp Hill, Pa., donated to the Heart Association in London; replaced with a winter jacket in Melbourne, donated to the City Mission in Auckland.
One pair of shorts purchased in Greenfield, Mass., and one swim suit I got as a gift; both coming home with me since I couldn’t find replacements.
One pair of boxer shorts found in the YMCA locker room in Hong Kong: finders keepers! Too much information, right?
One Tungsten backpack, purchased in San Francisco in 1999; coming home with me; showing signs of wear but still no new one spotted on the horizon.
Permit Me a Rant: I have been flying on a Round the World ticket issued by American Airlines. Until today, however, most of my flights have been with their OneWorld partners. I have flown British Air, Cathay Pacific, and Qantas. Service could not have been better. My flight from Honolulu to Chicago today, however, ranks as the worst flight I have ever taken. I am ashamed to have the name America attached to this airline, especially in contrast to the service that their international partners deliver. People coming to the US from Asia on Cathay Pacific, from Australia on Qantas, or from Europe on British Air must feel as if they are venturing to a less developed country. The trip took 8 hours; no food was served, not even peanuts or pretzels, not even the tiniest of bags. Furthermore, the only food offered seemed to be sandwiches, for which you had to pay. I will have to admit that the airlines didn’t push food sales; there was one brief announcement at the beginning of the flight and that was it. In fact, after they served everyone a complimentary can of soft drink, the flight attendants disappeared! Quite in contrast to flights on other airlines, we weren’t even offered water to keep us hydrated, though before we landed they gave us orange juice, which was still half frozen and slushy, plus tea or coffee. I can live without food, however, and probably should. But, I could hardly stand the cold. I had a seat in the exit row next to an air conditioning vent, which certainly didn’t help. AA gave us one blanket (full flight, don’t ask for a second!) and everyone around me seemed to be bundled up. I rang the attendant and asked if they could turn the air conditioning down. Never happened. I tried to sleep anyway, but (on this 8 hour flight) they gave us no pillows. I kept my feet warm by putting them in the one bag I had at hand. You see, I made a strategic mistake when I checked in. For the first time in many years, I actually checked my backpack and had no access to any additional layers that could have kept me warmer. Did they charge me to check my backpack? Yes. I reminded them I was on a Round the World ticket. They reminded me that I was back in the US and therefore I had to pay; free baggage only on international flights. Given long flights like this on any airline, I depend on two things to while away the time: sleeping or watching movies. I was too cold to sleep (but did catch a few zzz), and they showed one movie. On an 8 hour flight, they showed just one, one I had seen. Diary of a Wimpy Kid was good, but nothing you would want to watch twice. What’s more, they charge you for the earphones; mine were checked away in my backpack. They did show a few TV reruns, but then the flight map and info slides came on and stayed on for hours. I was seated close to the screen, and even with my eyes closed, the screen-to-screen flashes were annoying. Everyone was trying to sleep, so why didn’t they just turn off the ‘entertainment system’? My only airline hassles the entire trip have been with American. In fact, my AA flight out of Norfolk was cancelled, so they routed me to Philadelphia on USAirways, followed by a London flight on British Air. For my flight back to Norfolk from Honolulu, they didn’t even have my name in the system. As far as they were concerned, I didn’t have a ticket, but that’s another story.
Geographically Yours,
D.J.Z.
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