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Published: October 6th 2006
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Our time in South America had come to an end, we had had our last tango lesson, eaten our last empaƱada & were flying to the States.
Checking the
BBC's website in the afternoon we saw that bomb scare on american bound planes might cause delays for us & seeing a news report from Buenos Aires airport we decided to get to the airport early.
There were long queues at the airport & additional security checks that meant all liquids had to be checked but the staff were prioritising everyone making sure that noone missed their flight. We had our shoes x-rayed & couldn't take any drinks on the plane but there was no delay to our flight. It was our first flight with American Airlines & we won't be choosing to fly with them again.
Some of the overhead lockers were left open as they had space in & if you needed to stow something it was much easier to locate some free space this way. Most airlines before takeoff would send the crew down the aisles checking seatbeats & closing any open lockers. With American an announcement was made that we wouldn't takeoff until all the lockers were closed
by the passengers who were already buckled up after a previous announcement, which didn't make a lot of sense to me. The flight was to be about eleven hours to Dallas & for the entirety of the flight they had only one rubbish film about Antonio Banderas teaching some kids to dance, luckily the small screens located in positions you couldn't see saved us having to watch it. Quite a few of the airlines in America would effectively be out of business but for some special ruling are still operating & this has had a knock on effect to the other airlines who are trying to make more money by cutting back wherever they can. This was evident from the safety film at the beginning of the flight where they explained that there were no life jackets onboard in the event of us landing at sea but instead we could detach our seat cushions & use them as a flotation device. I checked the seats & they were noticably devoid of any whistles, beacons or fluorescent reflectors, maybe they've decided that if you have to land at sea that there is little chance of your survival & you would have difficulty getting yourself out the door holding your seat in a crash senario anyway. With the least legroom of any of the flights we have been on there was great difficulty getting up & down with the plane on the tarmac let alone floating on the Pacific. We had been told at check in that no special meals were available but onboard people were being given kosher, gluten free & vegetarian meals except for us who were told next time to ask at check in. The last fourteen flights we had been on had provided vegetarian meals even in South America where vegetarians are unheard of. Any alcoholic drinks would cost us $5 to have with our meal, so much for supplying extra drinks that we were unable to bring on the plane from duty free of the airport because of the new rules.
Most big planes fly themselves pretty much & can land in fog when the pilot can't even see the runway but our captain knew better. He announced that the computer had an estimated arrival time of 5:45am but he thought that was wrong & could get us in earlier, obviously a straight line isn't the shortest distance between two points.
Late in the night over Columbia the seat belt light came on & we started flying a bit higher, looking out the window flashes could be seen below. At first I thought it was the planes lights reflecting off the clouds but as got closer it was clear we were flying over a thunderr storm. We got so close to lightning I was waiting for the plane to be struck but we escaped unharmed. The lighting was beautiful & jumped between the fluffy white clouds making them appear as if out of nowhere in the dark sky.
We landed in Dallas Fort Worth early as the captain had predicted probably as we took no detour round the thunder storm but we still had to wait for nearly an hour while they got the gate ready. Obviously the ground crew were going by the computer.
It was a relatively short flight to LA but American Airlines were charging for all food & drink this time & still no life jackets but we were flying overland this time so it was understandable.
We were prepared for big city mentality in LA but were pleasantly surprised by the friendlyness of the Los Angelenos. On the bus a guy started telling us what's good to see in LA & that the stars on Hollywood Boulevard are overrated (which they are). Our hostel check in was at two so we had a few hours to kill in Santa Monica so we hit the beach to read the newspaper. There was miles of golden sand that was cleaned daily & strict rules about rubbish & dog walking on the beach. Lifeguard huts just like those in Baywatch were dotted all the way along the beach but there were no David Hasselhoff or Pamela Anderson lookalikes.
After checking in & showering off the flight grime it was time for a walk to Venice beach. We started at Santa Monica pier & as soon as I stepped onto it I got the strangest feeling of dejavu. I soon realised that I had driven along it a thousand times in Grand Theft Auto: San Antonio & they had represented it perfectly. The walk to Venice beach passed hundreds of cyclists, skaters, skateboarders & the beautiful people talking about sipping champagne at sunset on the bar terraces.
At Muscle Beach a transvestite was bench pressing a phenomenal amount of weight while rowdy games of basketball were being played on the nearby courts. Venice Beach was full of bars, stalls selling all sorts of rubbish, fortune tellers, rappers trying to get their music heard, tattoo parlours & performance artists. A bucket of fresh lemonade gave us the stamina to walk back to Santa Monica while the sun set into the sea.
As it was my birthday we went out for a meal in town, the third street promenade had come alive & everyone was out shopping, drinking & watching some crazy guy who looked like Mr Miaggi from Karate Kid doing some dance which involved hopping on one leg while chanting. We had dinner at Monsoon an asian fusion restaurant & were seated above the sushi chefs slicing fish at a million miles an hour. We had the best tempura shrimps we have ever eaten, they just melted in the mouth & they checked our ID when we ordered cocktails. I guess we still look under 25 at the age of 31.
Drink of the Day: Sam Adams (Note most beers in America taste like water & there is no indication of how much alcohol there is in bottles, cans or draft beer, there may be no alcohol in any of the drinks & just a placebo effect)
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Matt L
non-member comment
America Airlines
Agree with you about AA - crap airline with surly staff and dubious safety checks. On our final approach into Miami from Peru in August we hit severe turbulence. Two people in the row bbehind us hit the roof because their seat belt mounting pins snapped! We felt safer in the 4 seater flying over Nazca!