joyous journey

Observations while traveling from San Jose del Cabo in Mexico to Amsterdam in the Netherlands.

1/
Great concept!
Right in front of the airport building of San Jose del Cabo, also known as Los Cabos, a storage business has opened.
Called Anchor Storage run by Ignacio and Ileane Duarte.
It is the perfect place to park a car, a boat or an RV.
There is 24/24 security and costs for an RV just one US Dollar a day.
In Summer, 3 months for $ 50.
And this includes a 3 minutes ride to and from the airport with a shuttle.
For a small additional fee, the RV is completely cleaned a few days before returning.
And this cleaning includes washing all sheets and towels.

2/
Los Cabos airport is not as small and cosy as the Mickey Mouse one in nearby La Paz, but still it is relaxed and people working there very friendly and without stress.
Even the employees of security who seem not to be there to fight terrorism but to be nice to the travelers.
But it is strange that the restaurant in the departure hall of Los Cabos Airport closes in the late afternoon.
As of then, all passengers leaving can only eat from fast food shops.
Like a Dodger's hot dog shop or a Domino Pizza outlet.
Or eat a plastic wrapped pre-prepared sandwich from a coffee shop.

3/
The flight from Los Cabos to Los Angeles was with an old MD90 used by American Airlines.
Because the two jet engines are placed against the airplane body in the back, there is little noise while flying.
And then it was announced that the pilot's name was Maureen Something.
A woman flying the machine and having the lives of the passengers in her hands.
There was no noticeable shock among the fellow passengers hearing this piece of information.
Or they had not heard it, or it didn't matter or they had their own thoughts about it.
In general one can ask the question if it is an issue: a woman flying a commercial airliner.
And of course the answer is no.
Why would a woman not be able to fly a plane?
It would be something to worry when it was announced that as an experiment a chimpanzee was allowed to fly the plane.
For sure passengers would hear this and wish to leave the plane instantly.

Nevertheless, halfway flying north the Baja peninsula, Maureen suddenly made the plane turn to the east.
Towards Florida.
While the destination, Los Angeles, remained in the northwest.
A funny feeling this was creating and it was wondered if the pilot being a woman was allowed now to penetrate the thinking.
Because what is the logic to fly from the south to Los Angeles making a detour to Miami?
Before real panic could break out and the different fantasies of what was possibly happening could become too extreme, the plane eventually turned from going east to going northwest.
When coming near Los Angeles Maureen the pilot came on the PA system.
To inform that the plane had been going off course and that therefore it would land with a delay of over 15 minutes.
It landed safely and smoothly so who the worries about the pilot?

4/
Entering the arrival hall of Los Angeles International airport.
Where a passenger needs to meet an immigration officer.
To reply to several questions, have finger prints taken and a portrait picture made.
Just before entering the hall, about five Jumbo jets had arrived from the far east.
From China, Thailand, Japan and Korea.
There were over a thousand oriental people in line to meet an immigration officer.
And few immigration officers available.
As a consequence, it took one hour of standing in line before to be interrogated and fingerprinted.
The waiting by itself was already pretty annoying, but most irritating was that employees of China Airlines, with the consent of the Immigration officers, would organize preferential treatment for their Chinese customers.
They would be allowed to come out of the line and were put to the front to be serviced first.

5/
The night was in the Four Points Hotel near the LAX airport.
There was a line in front of the reception desk.
One woman had to check in all the guests.
In front waiting was a well dressed man.
Looking like a Columbian nobleman.
With beautiful shoes.
But he had a vague resemblance to Sadham Hussein.
When it was his turn he had to confess to the woman he had no reservation for a room.
And she explained that the hotel was booked full.
Due to a convention and graduations.
Obviously, the man was without a room to spend the night.
Because the woman said that all hotels were booked full.
It was realized that the room that was booked oneself would have two King Size beds.
The idea was born to tell the man to wait and after getting the key to the room to offer him that he could stay in the same room.
Getting one of the two beds.
The woman of the reception told the man to try the Renaissance Hotel next door and he left.
The impulse to call him and ask to wait was then in the balance.
He might be able to find a room in the other hotel, was a thought.
But the major thought was that it is very unusual to offer such a thing as sharing a hotel room to a complete stranger.
Very crazy idea.
But it is also a very good thought.
Now there is regret the sharing of the room was not offered to Saddham.

6/
The British Airways Jumbo loaded to maximum capacity with passengers left Los Angeles before official departure time.
And later the pilot proudly announced landing in London would be 20 minutes ahead of schedule.
Everybody happy.
But once near Heathrow Airport, the pilot announced there was no landing opportunity yet.
Over 20 minutes the Jumbo had to circle in the sky to wait for the landing strip to become available.
How much fuel is a Jumbo burning to circle in the sky uselessly and senselessly for 20 minutes?
How much more pollution is created in this way?
And once landed, the gate was not available and the plane had to wait on the tarmac for 15 minutes.
Final arrival time: 20 minutes late.
And the food on the plane was meagre and awful.

7/
The happiest moment of the journey was to arrive at Schiphol airport in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Waiting there was the Queen of Dreams who had been returning to Europe some days before.
Flying KLM, getting excellent food and arriving on schedule.

While arriving the national soccer team of the Netherlands were playing their first match for the world championship in South Africa against Denmark.
This is why many could be seen dressed in orange.
The Dutch national colour.
Or with decorations like Dutch flags in a hat on the head.
The orange mania again.
In the city, warm and in sunshine, many people enjoying themselves because of the soccer match, that was won with 2 to 0.
Many dressed in orange and singing and dancing.
Arrived in a happy country.





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