Bangkok to Charles Town
I had a 0255 departure from Bangkok to Abu Dhabi for the
first leg of my trip home. It is never a
good idea to start a long trip exhausted, but when you depart at that ungodly
time, it is hard not to be tired from the get-go. I was surprised at how crowded and lively the
airport was at that hour, apparently because lots of tour groups leave between
midnight and two am. Ours was the last flight to depart until 6 am so as we
were boarding the airport was deserted. Until then it was filled with Brits
with third degree sunburns, as proof to the pale that they had indeed been in
the sun. There were lots of older
Germans with their shorts, sandals and dark socks, as well as a smattering of
Swedes, Norwegians and other Nordic types clutching souvenirs and duty free
booze. By far the largest population was
kids from 18 to 25 with their backpacks, stained clothes, and hair in need of
soap and water.
I slept my way across India and woke up about thirty minutes
before we touched down, which was at 6 am local time. My flight from Abu Dhabi to Dulles was
scheduled to depart at eleven, which gave me four hours before boarding
time. It was a long walk to the first
security station, made longer by a poorly designed airport. With all the money they
have in Abu Dhabi, you would think they could have hired someone who understood
efficient airport design. All arriving
flights are funneled into a small area where everyone must take ONE escalator
down to security. Twenty feet before the escalator there is a sharp left turn
and right there on the wall is a large screen with connecting gate information.
Of course everyone stops to see where to go next, and the long backup is
inevitable.
Once through the security checkpoint there was a man with a
sign indicating that passengers for flights to New York, Chicago and Washington
were to go to gate 61, where I dutifully marched. Upon arrival the gate agent told me that
since I had so much time I should go and wait at the business class lounge,
which was - you got it - right back at security where I had been a scant
fifteen minutes before. So off I went in
search of a cup of coffee in the lounge. I was told at reception to depart the
lounge by 8:30 for Pre-Clearance. I
dutifully departed at 8:15 and was at the gate at 8:30 to be confronted with
enormous lines at yet another security area.
I had not known that
US Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) had instituted a pre-clearance facility that
had opened at the end of January at this airport. It is one of the dumbest things I’ve ever
encountered in travel. Etihad has three
flights to the US all departing within thirty minutes of each other. They
funnel everyone on these flights into a separate wing of the airport where everyone
must go through a very tight security screening and then line up in this vast
hall to have passports and entry documents checked. It is not an exaggeration to say there were
more than four hundred people in this slow snaking line, most from the Indian
sub-continent and most with young children for whom discipline is only a
spelling bee word.
There is no separate line for US Citizens, and certainly no
machines for Global Entry. Everyone is in the same line and it took me two
hours and ten minutes to get to an inspector, and that was after a thirty-minute
wait at security. The inspector was very
gracious and understanding but could not answer the question: “Why not a
separate line for US Citizens?” He said
it would certainly speed things up but that the suggestion had not been acted
upon, and he told me to write to CBP to get an explanation. I can’t wait to see what they will say.
There are at least three problems with this procedure:
1.
It does not save any time. There are only three international flights
that arrive at IAD between 1700 and 1900.
Immigration is certainly geared to handle those few arrivals in a far
more timely fashion.
2.
It unnecessarily delays the departures of the
flights since there are always folks still stuck in immigration lines. The
flight crew noted that since this began, they have been routinely delayed from
forty to sixty minutes. We were delayed for seventy minutes, the flight to JFK
by ninety minutes, and the ORD flight was also delayed by more than ninety
minutes.
3.
You can’t purchase any duty free liquids for this
flight since they will be confiscated at the security screening and there is no
duty free after that. There were at least six folks that I saw who were arguing
that they had not been told this as their expensive Scotch and Cognac were
taken from them. (This isn’t a big issue unless you spend a lot of money on
booze.)
We boarded an hour late and sat at the gate a further thirty
minutes for reasons not explained.
Finally we were up and heading to Dulles, which was a mere 14.5 hours
away. I’ve said this before and it bears repeating, modern aircraft with nice
screens and tons of movies and TV shows have made us live like moles. The minute the seat belt sign went off, the
flight attendants came around to lower all the window shades. I told her I would keep mine up and she was
shocked.
There isn’t a movie that has ever been made that could be
any more exciting for me than watching the history of man unfold beneath the
plane. It was a crystal clear day and we flew up the Persian Gulf towards
Kuwait. I could see the Tigris flowing through Kuwait and entering the Persian
Gulf and we followed it up to the junction with the Euphrates River and then on
to Baghdad. There I was looking down on
the cradle of civilization instead of watching Mad Men. Our flight took us
right over the Crimea, Poland, and Berlin - and most beautiful of all, Bergen,
Norway - where I could actually see the fjords. At that point I lowered the shade,
sad that I would not see Iceland and Greenland, but I needed to sleep - and
sleep I did until an hour before we touched down.
It was a lovely trip and I was happy to have Hungry Blake
along for the ride. I sent this note to Grandson Blake, which seems an
appropriate way to end this saga.
Dear Blake,
I wanted you to have these two little gifts from our trip to
Bangkok. The bag is from the airline;
they said that since Hungry Blake was traveling with me, he should have his own
amenity kit. The other gift is something
to remind you of Bangkok. It is a very special icon for the Thai people and I
hope you enjoy it. (It is a hand carved elephant, with an elegant paint job.)
Traveling with Hungry Blake reminded me about how much fun
travel can be if you keep your eyes open and take your time exploring the
people, culture and the geography. There
are two ways to travel around the world.
You can be a tourist and collect stamps in your passport and pictures in
your iPhone. You’ll have lots of stories and short-term memories of the places
you have seen. In the end, you’ll spend
too much time in hotels that have nothing to do with where you are and eat in
restaurants where you’ll always be able to find a hamburger and a club
sandwich.
The other way to travel, and the way I know you will travel
as you get older, is to think of yourself as an explorer. You’ll go with an open mind and a conscious
decision to expose yourself to all manner of experiences. You’ll find a way to communicate with the
local population, even if you don’t speak the language. You’ll experiment with
foods and drinks and herbs and spices that you have never seen before. You will
question everything and then set about answering your own questions. In short, you’ll become a part of the places
you visit and they will stay with you forever.
It was great fun to travel with Hungry Blake and sometime
soon, I’m sure Oma and I will be able to travel with the real deal!! Love, Opa
