Full body scans at the airport

I can't say I have all the facts in this one, but I do find it interesting the New Jersey government is standing up to the feds on this topic.

Does anyone out there actually enjoy flying anymore? I love to travel, but flying has just become more and more depressing and demoralizing. Rude staff, problems with online technology, higher fares, fees on top of fees on top of more fees. Now add the new security screenings to the list.

Is it necessary? Last I heard, x-rays are bad for you. Even pilots are balking at the invasive technique. This all feels like something where one guy knows another guy and the are BFFs. Guy #1 owns a company that makes full-body X-ray machines while Guy #2 is in power at the TSA. Suddenly, viola! Everyone needs a full-body scan to make us all "safe".

Here is an idea: use dogs. Dogs can smell drugs, explosives, money and even bed bugs. And don't give me the excuse it takes too long to train dogs - it has taken how many years for these x-ray machines to be rolled out?

On final word: I'm buying one of these t-shirts. I love the sarcasm!

 

http://www.despair.com/tsa.html

-- Happy Travels?

Surviving Paris: Trains and Automobiles

In September, we spent a week in the Loire Valley of France. When it came time for us to head out to Paris, we went into Angers and booked tickets to Paris on the TGV. These high-speed trains have limited stops and reach up to 200mph. Woo-hoo!

I loved the TGV - the drive from Paris to Le Moulin took over 3 hours, much of it on country roads. The train trip took about 1 hour 15 minutes. Smooth as silk, easy as can be. Except luggage storage. We had two fair-sized hard-sided bags stuffed with wine and each was maxed out at 50 pounds. They weren't big, just heavy. Still, the luggage storage space was full with all 5 people in our compartment hogging it all. I can't imagine what it would be like when the train is full!

Helpful signs for the TGV.

One final note on the TGV - first class doesn't seem worth it. Second class can be fairly pricey as it is, so on the shorter trips, I would recommend skipping the deluxe accommodations. 

We arrived at the Montparnasse station on a Saturday afternoon looking forward to a couple days in Paris. It was our first trip to Paris and we were very excited. The confusion that day nearly killed that excitement (and my husband).

Leaving our TGV train, it was easy to find the taxi stands. All seemed to be going well. Our hotel wasn't far, but with two heavy bags we were advised by friends to take a taxi and skip trying to get through the Metro. Unfortunately, the fates were against us. After standing in line about 20 minutes with no taxis, a driver showed up and began to speak very excitedly in French. The man in the couple in front of us spoke some French and I overheard him saying the streets were closed, no one could get anywhere. Oh. Oh no!

In my other post, the The Kindness of Strangers, I wrote about this couple and how helpful they were that day. What I didn't mention was the joy of dragging heavy suitcases through the Paris Metro. I managed to get stuck in a turnstile once (the bag couldn't pull through correctly, had to be turned sideways) and I know we must have walked two miles in tunnels. The worst part was for my husband - there were stairs all over. Up, down. Up, down. He was carrying both suitcases up and down each set of stairs the whole way. Up, down, up, down. At one point I began to think we were trapped in a hellish maze of stairs and would never see daylight again.

We finally reached our platform (up some stairs, down some more) and took the Metro two stops to our hotel location. Yeah! We did it........except there were two final flights of stairs up to street level. My hubby is a pretty strong guy, works out all the time, and he finally broke just before we reached daylight. He had to stop after the first flight and rest. But - we could smell fresh air and we were determined to escape up into the daylight.

Deceptive picture: looks clean and nice smelling.

Thankfully our hotel was only half a block from there. But there were stairs into the lobby and down to the elevator. SERIOUSLY??

So - word to the wise - know what is going on in Paris on the day you arrive and do not attempt the Metro with heavy bags.

We recovered pretty quick from hating the Metro and Paris (hubby's first words about Paris "I hate Paris") and reached the point where we pretty much want to move there and live forever. But I will say the Metros have a bad habit of smelling strongly of piss. Nasty. Watch where you step. Overall though, they are easy to figure out and reliable and far better than a taxi.

Which brings me to taxis...goodness. We took a cab to the airport on the morning we left and it was crazy expensive. We left from near Notre Dame and it took about 50 minutes in traffic. The meter was off the charts. We expected this, but were not about to try the Metro and trains again and had requested a cab that would accept credit cards. When we arrived at the airport, the cab driver ran my card and said it was declined. Ok, credit card security probably kicked in - try another one. Declined. My husband tried two cards - also declined. I'm about to get violent with the taxi driver, clearly his credit card machine has an issue and he won't let us out of the cab. I finally get him to understand I needed to go inside the airport and find an ATM and he lets me out. Luckily, the debit card that had just come up "declined" really did work and I was able to withdraw some euro to pay the bill. I have no idea what would have happened had that not worked.

Next time I'll look for a pre-pay shuttle or something. Or maybe pack lighter and take the trains. But, you know, we really needed to bring all that wine back home. :-)

-- Happy Travels!

Travel Story: The Kindness of Strangers

Last Saturday we arrived in Paris from the Loire Valley on the TGV. At Montparnasse we joined the queue for taxis since we were lugging two heavy bags filled with wine and everything else you need for a long trip in France. After a lengthy wait, a taxi driver pulled up and started talking in French. The couple in front of us begin to discuss this in English, with the guy saying the taxi driver was telling everyone the streets were closed and taxis could not go any where.

And so the fun began....

I asked the couple what was going on, and he repeated what had been said. He had some basic French and was able to get the gist of it. We all decided to head to the Metro (they also had two heavy suitcases) and try our luck. Along the way, I found out they were from Canada.

We all found the Metro together and after the guys lugged the heavy suitcases up / down some stairs, we went our separate ways. And then there we were all in the same ticket line - they had gone the wrong way and ended up back in our area of the Metro and in the same ticket line. The line was huge - tons  of people were being diverted to the Metro. Finally, I took my turn at the kiosk and more frustration set in. The damn thing wouldn't read any of my credit cards. I had euro, but only bills and it required coins. I honestly think I just blanked out for a minute and stood there staring in frustration at the machine. I turned to the Canadian couple behind me and told them the issue (why I was taking forever to get tickets) and the women offered me the 3.40 euro to get tickets.

Let me repeat that - she freely offered up the coins I needed to get the hell out of there and continue my journey. I gratefully accepted and tried to offer her paper euros or American dollars and she declined both.

We ran into them again heading to the train lines and finally departed at the split for different directions on the #4 Line. I never got their names, they didn't get mine - but I was sincerely touched by their help. It wasn't a lot of money, but it was far more than most people would ever offer to a stranger in need.

I hope they enjoyed Paris and I hope their good deed comes back to them soon.

Random Rant: Outlets in Hotels

Hanging out in the JW Marriott in Beijing - lovely hotel and more on the details in another post. But this morning I needed coffee in order to even begin to function enough to go downstairs for breakfast. I found this cutie in the mini-bar area:

Minor detail: that is the full length of the cord. And the hotel room has three plugs I can find:

1. By the bed where the alarm clock is plugged. I had already swiped that plug for my cell phone to charge. 
2. At the desk. Uh, charging my laptop there. And the little short cord wouldn't reach it even if I wanted to plug it there. 
3. In the entryway, on the wall, about a foot up from the floor. Again - not gonna reach. 

Finally I unplugged my phone and plugged in the teakettle there. Barely - the cord JUST reached the outlet. I had to move the lamp to make it happen.

Now - this is a very specific example but I am consistently surprised by how even newly remodeled hotels forget to add outlets. I use my cell phone as an alarm clock and have it by my bed and rarely can find an outlet near the bed. The desk / workspace areas often don't even have an outlet!

Weird.

-- Happy Non-Electronic Device-Using Travels!

United Airlines Online Chat Session (FAIL)

The name of the traveler has been changed to protect the innocence, but this is an actual chat session from a friend of mine:

A United representative will be with you in a moment.
You have been connected to Amira H.
Amira H: Welcome to United.com Chat.
Amira H: How may I help you with your travel from Denver?
Customer: hi. i got this error when trying to change my seat
Customer: There was an error in processing your request. Please see the message below for instructions.
We are not able to reserve your seats at this time. Please try again later or reserve your seats at check-in.
Amira H: I am sorry for the trouble.
Amira H: May I have your confirmation number?
Customer: one sec - I have to see if I can find it
Customer: xxxxxx
Amira H: Sure.
Amira H: Could you verify the name of the passenger on the reservation?
Customer: Joe H. Smith
Amira H: Thank you.
Amira H: You will not be able change your seat, because it shows that you have already checked-in.
Customer: I am trying to change the seat for the return trip tomorrow morning. I've already taken today's flight
Customer: I have not checked in for tomorrow's flight
Amira H: Let me check.
Amira H: You will be assigned the seats at the airport.
Customer: that's not what I wanted to happen
Customer: and that's not what the error message said
Amira H: I am sorry for the trouble.
Customer: why is the system not letting me change tonight?
Amira H: You have already checked-in for that reason.
Customer: I did not check in yet. I have no boarding pass.
Amira H: It shows that on your reservation.
Customer: I can't control what your reservation shows. I can just tell you that I DID NOT check in for the SJC-DEN leg of my flight. I did check in for the DEN-SJC leg and printed out a boarding pass. If someone has checked in for the return flight, then your system has been compromised.
Amira H: I am sorry.
Amira H: The seats are under the airport control.
Customer: That is a different answer than you gave previously? Or is it somehow related? The flight isn't for another 20 hours? Is that typically how things work now?
Amira H: You will be assigned the seats at the airport, because the seats are under the airport control.
Customer: So, I am not currently checked in?
Amira H: You are currently checked-in for the flight UA 245.
Customer: That flight ended 4 hours ago.
Customer: as I mentioned
Customer: I am specifically enquiring about the SJC-DEN return trip. Tomorrow.
Amira H: I know but still it shows on your reservation.
Customer: You are driving me crazy. Can I have another agent?
Amira H: I am not driving you crazy.
Customer: How do you know?
Amira H: For your return flight seats will assigned to you at the airport.
Customer: You have said that 3 times. I understand. I'm asking why it is that I can't change seats now. You first told me that it was because I had already checked in for the flight. Then you said that it was because the flight was under airport control 20 hours before the flight.
Amira H: The seats are not available.
Customer: so, that's the 3rd answer you've given to this question.
Amira H: I gave you the information, you are not ready to listen.
Customer: You have not been helpful. Goodnight.

-----------
My favorite part?
Customer: You are driving me crazy. Can I have another agent?
Amira H: I am not driving you crazy.

You go get 'em United Customer Service - "Come fly the friendly skies" and all that. 

Travel stories from hell: Italy

The other day I was reminded of our adventures going to Italy back in 2004. I was trying to save money and booked plane tickets that had two layovers. Our flights were SFO -> JFK -> Paris De Galle -> Bologna, Italy.

STUPID, STUPID, STUPID!!

Our flight from SFO took off two hours late due to a passenger having to be removed due to "illness" or something. Our nice layover at JFK (listed as one of my most hated airports, btw) was gone - we had to rush through changing terminals, moving from domestic to international and shove our way through security. There were a number of people on our SFO plane connecting to the same plane, so the plane was held. . . .which meant it was late taking off!

At last, we landed in Paris de Gaulle - this was not too long after a section of the roof collapsed in the airport. Things were chaotic and somehow along the way, we were able to get on our plane to Bologna without our passport being stamped to show we had landed in the European Union. We didn't realize it at the time but let me tell you - the guy in Italy noticed when we went to leave.

Finally, after 24 hours of travel, we land in Bologna in the middle of the afternoon in August. It was hot and humid. We got our car from Hertz and got all of about 5km out of the airport and had a flat tire. At this point, tempers are long gone and we are both hot, tired and pissed. My husband replaced the flat tire (thank goodness he is adept at these things) and we drove back to the airport. We arrived at the Hertz counter looking like something out of a bad sitcom. The guy at the counter took one look at us and without a word gave us a brand new (as in hardly any miles on it) car. Smart choice on his part.

The last part of the saga was the hotel. I had booked a room at a Best Western near the airport knowing we wouldn't want to drive the two hours into Tuscany after all that flying. We finally find the hotel (after several wrong turns) and ... it looked like a refugee camp. Rugs and clothing hanging out over the balconies. It was a horrible, horrible dump. We high-tailed it out of there and drove around till we found a Holiday Inn. It was clean, had kicking A/C and rooms available. 

With a start like this, you'd think the trip never got better - but it did. We had a great time in Tuscany and while I would never recommend traveling to Italy in August, we made the most of it. 

Happy Travels!