On Tour in the USA

[monster]

I go for the "last" option.

[ZenGum]

That route is amazing. You sure did go the long way, didn't you? I can't follow that map line without the Benny Hill Kazoo music sounding.

[classicman]

I prefer to select "other" when I can. That always confuses them.

[monster]

oi, diminished, I see you online. I second Bruce's sentiment, please visit regularly once back in the UK. Oh and don't tell my mom you saw me.

[diminished]

Will do, Monster, and wont do the other

This forum is more interesting and way more active than the ones I frequent anyway, tho I'm more known for lurking than posting.

Today we visited SF's 'City of the Dead', Colma.Wikipedia lists Colma's official living population as 1191, but if you count the residents in Eternal Repose, the number rises dramatically.


We hit 2 of the 4 targets we went for, and considering the size of the cemeteries within the place, I think we did pretty well.

We located the Monument to the Showfolk of America with quite a bit of ease.The giveaway being the clown-face on the front, as you dont tend to find many monuments sporting such adornments.

Next up, we paid homage at the grave of the Emperor of the United States (and Protector of Mexico), Norton I.An unusual fellow, in as much as that he spent his reign in abject poverty, yet was still referred to as 'eccentric' rather than just 'plain old mad', (if often find that a plentitude of money gets you the former title, whilst an acute shortage usually merits the latter.).

We did, however fail to come across Wyatt Earp and Levi Strauss's graves, spending a good hour in the wrong section (as it turned out) of a massive cemetery.

From there we've headed back south, to Palo Alto to visit an intriguing statue of a car with legs.Which turned out a good deal smaller than I'd hoped.

Persistence poses a question, as we're currently talking logistics for the flight home in a couple of days now.

Can a cooler be checked-in as hold luggage?And if so, what is the best way to secure it?

We were thinking of packing the cooler with clothes, the accumulated souvenirs/gifts being packed into our suitcases instead.Oh yeah, we've had to make an assumption that since we're allowed 2 pieces of hold luggage each, that we'll be allowed 23kg on each piece, rather than split between them.Any transatlantic travelling experts out there?

[monster]

Originally Posted by diminished

Can a cooler be checked-in as hold luggage?And if so, what is the best way to secure it?

YES

best way to secure? need ro know what type of cooler. we have done this a few times, tho' We used to bring wine from france to UK this way

use a luggage strap to ensure closure, is probably the best way. or a belt. or duct tape.

[monster]

weight allowance depends on airline AND transfers. if you land in London then fly up to newcastle, you may be fucked depending on airline

[TheMercenary]

diminished, thanks for your commentary on our great big country. It has been a pleasure to have you here and it has reinforced to me how much more there is to be seen. Thanks again.

[diminished]

Pleasure being here, on the whole, its busted quite a few preconceptions I had about the US, and provided quite a few surprises

My tip to anyone travelling over here tho, is forget about the big cities, travelling in the smaller towns and rural areas is far more interesting

[ZenGum]

... and remember, it got called Death Valley for a reason.

[diminished]

Well, we've finally made it home and managed to catch our breath long enough to tell the tale of the end of our odyssey.

There was nothing left to do.We'd ticked all of ur remaining boxes, and seen the last of the sights we'd wanted to see.We'd even spent an afternoon doing a lap of San Francisco Bay to run off some of the excess fuel in the car.

Thursday morning, we hung out at Bayside Park, not far from the airport, just killing time and watching the jets landing and leaving.

Little did we realise we'd be seeing more of San Francisco Airport than we'd care to.

About 1-30pm, we headed for the check-in desks, a reasonable a time we thought, considering our 4-55pm departure time.

It was a little disappointing then, when we arrived at the airport to find our departure already delayed to 6-40.Not a problem, not really.Surely things would then progress smoothly, and this would be our only hiccup on our way home.

We boarded according to the new schedule, and things were looking great, until we left the tower and taxied for the runway.

At which point, the pilot didn't much fancy the look of the number 3 engine.One his 'everthing is ok' lights was not playing ball, could everything not be ok?

We returned to the tower, and hooked back onto the stand.

After an hour or so of bafflement, the pilot informed us that he'd had a chat with an engineer back in Heathrow, who also seemed less than happy about the situation, and suggested that it merited further investigations.

Another hour later, they'd agreed that there was a problem.

Another hour later, they'd decided that the engine needed tested.

Another hour later, they'd decided that they needed a spare part, which was currently residing in Heathrow.

Another hour later they managed to get hold of a part locally, but that it probably wouldn't work, but that they'd spend an hour trying to fix it onto the engine.

By this stage, the passengers are getting a little fractious, having been stuck in an un-airconditioned hot metal box on the tarmac for several hours.

After being told that it was not possible to disembark (for immigration purposes, because we'd unhooked from the stand to taxi out, we had apparently left the United States,) we were fed, but no booze was forthcoming (for customs purposes, we had not left the US, and no alcohol could be provided.)

After another 90 minutes, the cabin crew ran out of hours they could work, so it was thus elected to send us to a hotel overnight, which only took another 2.5 hours, as we queued for luggage being returned, queued for shuttle buses, and queued for hotel registration along with all the other passengers in a 747.

We were told that the mighty beast that was our aircraft would be feeling better tomorrow, would we mind awfully coming back at 11am to check in for another go?I was thankful at least for the opportunity to have a cigarette,.

We were of course, thanked innumerable times for our displays of patience (to which I was frequently heard to mutter "Its not patience when you're locked into the aircraft.").

In an attempt to box clever the next morning, we set out at 9am for the airport, hoping that we'd beat the queue for check-in, which would be a long process, as most passengers had onward connections to re-book, the previous nights' farce having caused a cascade of failures in many many travellers plans.

We almost beat it, only 2 hours worth of fellow passengers had boxed cleverer than us.It was however, far less time than those following us would spend in the queue.

Persistence and I sat munching some lunch, and watching the check-in queue lengthen at the end much faster than it was shortening at the front, and groaned inwardly as we watched our departure time slide another 30 minutes into the future.

We trudged wearily through security, past duty-free, and down again to our departure gate to join the rest of the inmates of BA 284 (Now BA 284D ), and boarded.

We were held up again, as it became apparent that several passengers had done a bunk, and held up further when it was realised that one of the bunkists had checked-in luggage, necessitating the unloading and re-loading of all baggages.

This, of course, caused yet another delay, as we'd cleanly missed our take-off slot, but take-off we did.

And 9 hours later, managed to land at Heathrow Terminal 5, with around 45 minutes left to make our final connection, from London to Newcastle.

We made the gate with around enough time to go to the toilet before we were shuffled forth onto our plane, but as we entered, a steward tunred to a slightly more senior-looking steward and said 'Oh, thats them...', to which the Senior Steward turned to us and said 'Would you mind stepping over here Sir and Madam, we need a word with you..'.

It is frankly quite amazing, the capacity of the human brain to take inventory of 6 pieces of luggage in around half a second, as we contemplated what customs/tax/health and safety violations we had now fallen foul of.

'There is a problem with your seats', good news it seems, that I had not managed to secrete something potentionally terrorism-capable into our luggage.(Persistence had been stopped briefly at US security, attemtping to smuggle a bungee-cord onto the aircraft, with which we could have obviously caused a dangerous amount of mischief.).

'We've had to give your seats to someone else.'.As I juggled the potential for being imprisoned for assaulting a British Airways Head Steward, Persistence deftly intervened before I managed to engage my mouth into a War-Cry, and engage the Steward's head with my fist.

'We dont care...are we on this flight or not?'
'Yes, there is this woman you see, and she cant walk very well...'
'Just tell us where we're sitting.'
'The poor woman, she could hardly drag herself onto the aircraft...'
'Thats fine, just take us to a seat.'

We were both roundly beaten by this point.It had been a very long couple of days, not improved by a lack of sleep, fresh air, a change of clothes and mounting nicotine withdrawl.I would have gladly lashed myself to an airline toilet if it had meant not waiting another 6 hours.

We slumped into our designated slumping place, safe in the knowlege that only a couple of hours seperated us from home.

It was with at first great alarm, that the Head Steward appreared beside us 5 minutes later, but it turned out that as we'd been good sports (by this we assume he meant that by not making a fuss, in reality we were in no condition to do so) about changing seats, he thought we looked like we could use a couple of bottles of wine, and as he took the time to listen to our tale, he added another couple, which was about as close as we came to any form of customer service from British Airways.

Thankyou, Georges-Frederick, you (almost) single-handedly redeemed your company in our eyes.

Its hard to be angry at British Airways for our homecoming saga, the pilot was of course right not to fly on a dodgy engine.And it did make the end of the whole event a lot more interesting, but at the time was a major trial we could have done without.

We're home now.Persistence made it to her friends wedding with around 30 minutes to spare, and all's well that ends well.

Home itself is something of a challenge, as we've spent the last couple of days in some kind of post-travel malaise, but more on that later, gentle readers.

[glatt]

Wow. Just wow. I'm glad you finally made it home.

[xoxoxoBruce]

I'm glad it was BA and not one of ours.

[TheMercenary]

What an ordeal. I absolutely hate to fly anymore.

[monster]

Originally Posted by Shawnee123

There are two Touchdown Jesuseseseses.

Originally Posted by diminished

Oh yes,and Touchdown Jesus is remarkable,well worth a visit if anyone finds themselves around Monroe (OH),pull into the church he's out in front of,(for some reason they have a very large parking lot),and you can get pretty close.Watch out for the Geese as you approach tho,they're stroppy.

Not any more