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Strangely enough, my Asia travel experience has
already started, even though I'm still in Seattle.
Last night at dinner, I started feeling funny. And no, It was not "ha-ha" funny, but rather an "Oh-my-goodness-I'm-gonna-puke" funny.
After horrifying a couple of old ladies in the restaurant bathroom (I'm pretty sure they think I'm bulimic), I rushed back to my friends' apartment where I'm crashing, and proceeded to endure all the usual symptoms of
food poisoning (sharp stomach cramps, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, dizziness, chills, and fever). I was forced to break into my travel medical kit for a thermometer, chewable Pepto Bismol pills, and even considered the Cipro.
I hadn't figured on this happening until I reached the street market food stalls of SE Asia.
I also had a test run for
third world travel when I flew US Airways from Philadelphia to Seattle on Tuesday.
• We boarded on time.
• We got stuck on the tarmac for almost three hours with no working air (hence no oxygen). There was no beverage service and the flight attendants kept half-heartedly asking everyone to remain seated since we were on an active taxi-way.
• I was seated directly across from the bathroom, and
as a result got to see everyone on the plane's a**es as they stuck in my face while waiting for the facilities.
• I was able to smell everyone's business, since no one had the courtesy to close the bathroom door when they were done.
• During the six-hour flight (and 8.5-hour ordeal) that took place over dinnertime, US Airways only had enough meals to sell to the first quarter of the plane.
• Two children were obviously being tortured for information, based on the volume, pitch, and duration of their screams. One very considerate mother walked her child (who was old enough to know better) right up next to me and let it bellow in my ear while I was sleeping. I leapt up out of my seat and yelled at her.
I am trying to view it all philosophically, as I will have to put up with much worse on some of the paths I intend to tread. But all the while making a mental note, "
Never fly US Airways again."
I'm not going to miss this stuff when I'm traveling. I also will not miss the
endless ocean of strip malls that has become America, or the cookie-cutter-they-all-look-alike-characterless suburbs.
I won't miss restaurants where you are rushed in and out before you've even had time to realize you've eaten.
I will not shed any tears for the
impersonality of our country, where no one acknowledges each other (and makes it clear they don't want to talk) because they're listening to their iPod or talking on their cell phone to shut out the outside world.
It will be a relief to get away from a culture where everyone is
too busy and important to enjoy the simple pleasures.
I'll be positively glad to leave behind the rudeness, the sense of deserving, and the lack of gratitude for all the things that we have (and a lot of that is based on not really understanding how good we have it) that you find in many places in the US.
I
will miss the convenience of knowing where to find things, the ease of communication, the free wi-fi, and the knowledge that my friends and loved ones are nearby.
As for the lousy transportation and infected food: I guess you can find that everywhere...
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Rebecca Ford
Truth Sucks, Doesn't It
I realize that this may come across as a bit down on the US of A. Let me qualify by saying that I still love my country (I served it for almost 10 years, which is more than most people can say). One of the GREAT things about the US is freedom of speech, and the freedom to say what you think is wrong with things and then try to change them. I am exercising that freedom on my blog, by telling you frankly that I wish things were a little more people-oriented, a little slower in pace, and a little less impersonal. None of that takes away from all the things that I LOVE about the US, and how excited I am to move back in about a year.