Blogs from Phoenix, Arizona, United States, North America - page 18

Ugh, it is early. When my alarm rang at 3:15 this morning, I couldn't believe it was time to wake up. So, now I am sitting in the gate area of my favorite airline. Wow, the quality of the general traveling public is rapidly declining. I am (not by choice) sitting across from a woman who keeps talking about how her crying baby's diaper needs to be changed, yet she is making no effort to change it. Instead, she is whipping her breast out of her shirt and shoving it in the kid's mouth. Now, I am all for breast feeding as a natural, and healthy, way of feeding infants, and respect a woman's right to do it when necessary. However, as a gay man, may I please make one request: BRING A FREAKING BLANKET TO ... read more

In March, my brother (Cory), his friend (Fike) and I finally made the trek to see the Royals during spring training. We'd heard that it is an experience to go, but we were dubious. How much fun could it be to see a bunch of no name players (ok a few good ones too) play in meaningless practice games? Let me tell you, it was a blast! To anyone out there that is a baseball fan, you HAVE to go to your respective favorite team's spring training camp. You won't regret it. It was almost baseball overload, if there is such a thing. We went to 4 games, 3 stadiums and 2 practice sessions in 3 days, as well as a NBA game. ... read more

"The TSA has raised the threat condition to orange. Please report any suspicious activity to the nearest law enforcement official." I love that PA announcement. So, I have been a little lax on writing my blog. I guess it is because nothing really, truly interesting has happened. However, I had another "You travel too much" moment (actually two moments) when I arrived to the airport tonight. 1. It is really, really bad when you recognize that the security line has been remodeled since last week. It has a much more open and airy feel... maybe it is because most people traveling choose to not travel late at night from Phoenix??? 2. It is also really bad when you notice that the gate areas for My Favorite Airline have all been recently painted and the background color ... read more

Nothing like watching the sunrise from the Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport. I am trying to keep an open mind regarding my flight today on "Phoenix's Hometown Airline" but it is getting more and more difficult. I'm sitting very patiently in the gate area looking at the quality of passengers in this terminal and am frankly quite surprised the majority of them figured out how to get to the airport (they must have taken a cab). So, today I get to fly to what is supposedly a relatively major airport in CA... except they don't have jet bridges. Imagine, deplaning from an Airbus 320 via stairs at the front and rear of the aircraft. Now if they just served food and had a smoking section, I would feel like it was the 1980s again. I am kind ... read more

We crossed over into the USA at Nogales. We knew we had reached the border when we hit traffic and crept ever so slowly forward for over an hour. It was snowing and sleeting outside. We had been dreading the crossing but it was painless. Customs and immigration were pleasant. We saw the high wall that tries in vain to keep illegal Mexicans out of the USA. On the other side we instantly noticed more order, more cleanliness, and a more modern environment. We passed through Tuscan where we dropped off most of the Mexicans (they need special permission to go further) and picked up an American who Pieter talked with for the rest of the trip. In Phoenix it was dark and we only had to wait 20 minutes for Amanda (a Couch Surfer) to ... read more