My flight got in last night around 20:00. I was home by 21:00, had a shower and went out shopping. I bought the journals of Lewis and Clark as an aid to jetlag avoidance, though I’ve not really looked at them yet. Wound up crashing out twice – once until 5am and then again this afternoon. I’m still not yet back on US time but at least I made it back in one piece – I was a little concerned after my Motorola Razr decided to power back on in order to sound an alarm, even after being turned off and had to explain to the flight attendant that the sound from the overhead bin was just super extra crappy cellphone software and nothing more sinister. Yanked the battery out.
I ended up spending much of my flight talking with the woman next to me, who is an American married to a British guy (they both write for horseracing magazines and occasional TV/books, from what I gathered). She agreed with me about many of the annoyances I’ve observed with the UK – the cost of living, crappy customer service, resistance to change, willingness to put up with crap, inability to see privacy erosion, that sort of thing. It was interesting to get an American perspective on that. Reminds me, I need to get Liberty onto BAA over the stores in Heathrow requesting your flight details when making purchases. I’d rather pay sales tax and not give out personal information but there’s no such option, and the Boots manager admitted that they sell this data to the airlines…sigh. A classic example right there.
Overall, I enjoyed my trip back to see some friends and family, but I’m glad to be back in the United States.
Jon.
“I need to get Liberty onto BAA over the stores in Heathrow requesting your flight details when making purchases.”
They just ask to see your Boarding Card… If you think America is the land of the free… Well, you might get a rude surprise…