PlanMyTravel

Tied up in Thailand

2008-11-30T22:43:00.004-06:00

What another mess. Thailand is undergoing political upheaval and political protestors have brought the two airports in Bankok to a standstill. Link

Thousands of travels have been stuck there for over a week. Options are travel to another country such as Malaysia but trains going there are full.

Foreign embassies complain but nothing is happening. The Thai government is in weak position and unwilling to send in force to resolve it. So far, passengers are not in any threat but the situation has led to gridlock to all flights in and out of the country.

What is disturbing is this seems to be a clash between urban vs. rural voters. Bloomberg.

With a recent grenade attack that injured 51 protestors, I hope this is not the opening positions to a civil war.

This situation is a PR disaster for Thailand and it's dependance on tourism. Like the Hotel California, you can check any time but you can nevel leave..

P.F. (Not about to Visit Thailand soon but someday would like to)

Houston, Texas

30th November 2008.

Ice Age in Iceland

2008-11-09T19:16:00.004-06:00

What a mess. Iceland's banks have f*cked up their country big time. A country of 300,000 people face a troubled future.

From #1 place to live in Europe, they are facing financial meltdown where the value of the Krona has nosedived. It has halved against the dollar due to bankers gone wild. From the Dallas News Article who got it from Washington post:

"Our Loss – Your Gain ... Devaluation Is Silver Lining for Americans," entreated a page on the official Iceland tourism Web site (www.icelandtouristboard.com). They aren't kidding.
The financial crisis may be worldwide, but nowhere have things turned so serious so fast as in this once-expensive island nation of 304,000. With Iceland facing national
bankruptcy, as its prime minister recently said, the entire country is on sale.

Three-course meals at Reykjavik's Lobster House (www.humarhusid.is) are going for $26, the four-star Hilton Nordica is offering $114 rooms on Expedia.com, and a relaxing dip at the Blue Lagoon geothermal spa costs just $20 (http://www.bluelagoon.com/).

It's a beleaguered American tourist's dream, right? Especially with flights on Icelandair running as low as $476 round rip from New York, taxes included.

And so, "it's business as usual in Reykjavik," according to the city's tourism board (http://www.visitreykjavik.com/).

Take plenty of cash. With the Icelandic krona in free fall, most businesses are accepting foreign currencies. Moreover, tourists have reported trouble when trying to withdraw money from ATMs.

I've always wanted to visit Iceland and have toyed with idea of going there as a few days stopover to London.

However, I can't say a winter visit temps me even at these so called bargain basements. My guess is that prices were already sky high so halving it is relative.

With so little hours per day, you wouldn't see much scenery in the winter. I guess if you wanted to hang out in the thermally heated swimming pools it would be good but as for attraction of shipping, it isn't for me. So what if those Gucci bags are cheap here.

As their crisis deepens, I don't see this needing such a rush to visit. I may wait until more light.

On the otherhand, I've always wanted to see the Northern Lights but since I'd have to do a complex flight pattern to get there from Houston to London via Iceland, I think I'll skip it this time.

Sorry Reykjavik. I know you need some hard currency and support from the outside world at the moment. I just hope IcelandAir stays in business.

Phil Fogg

Houston, Texas

9th Nov 08.

If you can't say anything nice, type it instead.

2008-11-02T16:19:00.008-06:00

Jan 5th 2008, I blogged some projections for 2008 in "The housing bubble: a travel outlook" :-

1) 'Discretionary vacation trips will be cut back. ..Vegas will be especially vulnerable.' NOV 08 CHECK : See 1 , 2 or 3

2) 'In 2008, I expect the UK to be more slightly more attractive as a destination as the pound decreases. Since Nov 07, pound peaked at 2.11 to the greenback. It is now 1.967: a 7.5% decline in just 2 months!It is still not a steal as I remember it at 1.5 but for a frequent visitor to UK, I like the trend.' NOV 08 CHECK British pound is around 1.60 having dropped to 1.52.

3) 'I also predict the the Euro to decline in 2008 as ECB caves under pressure to help it's exporters and drop interest rates'. NOV 08 CHECK . Though Euro has dropped for different reasons and may go lower. It is now 1.27 from a high of 1.6.

4) 'Ben Bernanke in attempt to protect economy will likely drop interest rates again'. NOV 08 CHECK We are now at Greenspan post-911 rates and possibly go lower.

Seeing 4/4 predictions come true, do I consider myself a Nostrodamus ? Nope. I predicted a run up in commodities but didn't see it's decline. With hindsight, perhaps it was obvious. Commodities were just another trading vehicle and they are base inputs to an economy. Cut back on the ecomony, cut back on commodities. China's fantastic GDP rise was biased by spending on new factories, buildings etc. Things geared towards capacity increase which we may not need afterall.

So what does the future look like now 'Mr. Know it all Smarty Pants'?

I believe it is one of a DEFLATION spiral.

For the 1st world consumer driven economies, this will be a disaster. Consumers will not be consuming as credit dries up. This 'miraculous economy' was facilitated by credit. Turn off the credit faucet and we go back to a savings or cash economy. That is turn leads to less demand , less production and more unemployment which in turn leads leads to less demand.

Deflation means that all assett prices will decrease. Real Estate will go down, Stocks will go down and possibly commodities (I say possibly as they've had such a dramatic drop). Finish goods that you want but not necessarily need, will decline.

In this world, Cash will be king. If you have it, you'll hang onto it. You'll realize how difficult it will be to earn more. No more buy and hold in the stock exchange.

Open for a future next shoe to drop is Government bonds and the dollar. Asia has been a big consumer of Goverment bonds and if they go into recession, will they be able to continue to buy them? If no, look out US and the dollar.

So to come back to travel. Short term future as we knew it, will change. Oil is unlikely to spike up but less people and companies will have the disposible income to travel. If your future income stream is also potentially affected, then why would you consider a 2 week vacation?

Future bargains ? If you are financially secure for the intermediate term, you bet. Just look at Iceland. Hungary, Poland, NZ and Russia ? Add any other country to that list. All are welcoming hard currency which today is the dollar.

So according to our lame duck Nero-esque leader of the free world, the economy is strong. However, my take is that the light on the horizon is the economic future burning down.

Phileas Fogg,
(Trying to engjoy that nice sunny day in)Houston, Texas
Nov 2nd, 2008.

The Arabian Gulf.

2008-11-01T15:50:00.006-05:00

In a follow on to an earlier post which discusses Dubai, a British couple got a jail sentence for having sex on the beach. The issue was not just that it was public, but they were unmarried. They got 3 months each.

From the LA times :

Vince Acors and Michelle Palmer, who had been accused of being drunk and having sex on the beach, were each sentenced to serve time, fined $272 for drinking alcohol in public and ordered to be deported immediately upon leaving prison. The pair were charged with having unmarried sex after a taxi picked them up from a champagne brunch at a five-star hotel and drove them to Jumeirah Beach in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates' most culturally tolerant emirate.

What happens in Dubai, stays in Dubai. At least for 3 months that is.

Phileas Fogg,

Houston, Texas. 1st Nov 08

Sign Language

2008-11-01T15:25:00.003-05:00

Ever heard the phrase, "lost in the translation". Well in this case it was literal.

From the BBC, Swansea Council ordered a translation of "“No entry for heavy goods vehicles. Residential site only.”" via email. Getting a reply, they cut and pasted the result and ordered a sign.

However, the reply was saying “I am not in the office at the moment. Send any work to be translated.”

I bet this will not be appearing on the workers resume as an achievement.

Phileas Fogg,
Houston, TX.

It's The end of the world as we know it. (And I feel fine..)

2008-10-07T23:03:00.010-05:00

I've not posted since August but boy, do I have some things to blog about:-

FINANCE and ECONOMY: Today, Dow down 500 to a 5 year low. World finance is on a brink of the abyss. I'm seeing ripple through in travel. Looks like my projection in January 5th came true.

WEATHER: I was 'Iked'. So was Galveston. Don't think Galveston will be a tourist destination for a while.

"SAM". Don't bother about 'son of Sam' movie. I had to travel with his father for 3 weeks. He was a client of mine. Talk about high maintenance and probable undiagnosed case of Asbergers syndrom. ARGHHHH !!!

LAX: Never will I connect through you again.

CONTINENTAL: I have now travelled enough to be upgraded 2 frequent flier classes. I still don't like you even though I was upgraded on one segment to LAX only to miss my flight and get my hard case luggage smashed.

What else ? Hm.

FUNNY / BIZARRE. Stories that I would have commented upon, the lady who checked herself into luggage.

So why the delay in posting ?

- July was corporate escort to maniac customer representative where I was out 3 weeks. See "Sam" above.

- August was moving house and formal change in job but within the same company.

- September, Hurricane hit. No electricity which meant no internet.

Now I'm back to blogging.

'Cause I'm back.

Yes, I'm back.

Well, I'm back.

Yes, I'm back.

Well, I'm back, back Well I'm back in black.

Yes, I'm back in black.

Yes, In back. Yes, I'm b-a-c-k in black.

Or am I back in blue?

Phileas Fogg,

Post-Ike Houston, Texas

Oct 7th 2008

Amnesia: The Capital of the Forgotten World

2008-08-03T21:29:00.007-05:00

Here's a story that is hitting the strange stories today where a family got on thier flight without their three year old daughter. From the BBC news:-

Staff at Ben Gurion Airport in Israel have found a three-year-old girl alone in a duty-free shop after her parents accidentally took a plane without her.

The parents boarded the flight to Paris with four of their five children.

The parents did not realise their mistake until the captain of the plane informed them after take-off, according to police.

The girl was put on the next flight to Paris. The parents will be questioned when they return to Israel.

"It is usual that travellers in a rush forget their luggage but not a child. This never happens," AFP news agency quoted a police official by as saying.

In their defence, they had 5 kids which must have kept them busy. On the otherhand, perhaps this kid was the red headed stepchild. What a complex this kid will have when she grows up : Talk about neglected !

Forgetting the relative is not a one off where in 2005, a Macedonian man drove away from an Italian service station without his wife. He only noticed she wasn't in the car when police phoned him six hours later.

This also happened in France where a motorcyclist also left his wife at a service station after coming back from a ride into Germany.

The cops advised "You'll need more than a bunch of roses".

Fogg Phileas,
Texas Houston.
3rd August 2000 and uhm?

Ask, and ye shall NOT receive

2008-07-26T01:25:00.005-05:00

The Penisula Hotel in Philippines, charges 1800 Philippines pesos for a journey to/from the airport, equivalent to $40 US.

A licenced taxi costs around 300.

To catch a taxi from the airport, you get a voucher from the taxi controller stating the destination and give it to the driver. I asked approximately how much it would cost for my destination and was told, it is metered.

I have a dialog with the taxi driver but watch the meter as it increases. As we round the Mikati block to the hotel I see the driver turn off the clock and when I ask how much, he says 500.

I blow a fuse and tell him in uncertain language that I know what the meter just read and know what he has done. I then tell him that since meter is reading nothing, I don't need to pay him anything ! He panicked muttered something about a misunderstanding, apologized etc but since I was tired and wanted to get to the hotel room, I could no longer be bothered with this so I paid what I last saw.

Left alone, I probably would have given him a 500 note and said keep the change.

Ah, Caveat Emptor since I don't know Latin for 'Greedy bastard'.

Phileas Fogg,
Manila,
26th July 2008.

You can checkout any time you like, But you can never leave!

2008-07-25T23:38:00.004-05:00

“The Philippine Star” is usually a source for a laugh or two today’s newspaper didn’t fail with a story titled ‘Motel Chain shuts down for God’.

The quote the article:

There will be fewer lovers’ trysts in Metro Manila as the owner of one of the most popular motel chains in the country said he has succumbed to “God’s will” and decided to padlock the last of his establishments.”

Wyden King, chairman of the Anito Hotels Inc. (AHI), said the closure of the 137-room Anito Arellan Kalookan in Barong Barrio was the proverbial last nail on the coffin of his family’s decades old motel business.

The ways of Lord are very strange and we can’t fully comprehend them. Many people, too, do not understand our letting go of this business,” King, 54, said.

We did not want the devil’s mannon going into the family coffers,” said King, a born-again Christian.

Later on:-

King dramatized his distain for his old business by slashing with a knife the familiar red apple logo on the canvas signage that was brought down form its perch during ceremonies marking the Kalookan motel’s closure.

A white tarpaulin over the main gate read “ Anito Hotel closed for the glory of God”.

The closure was also a religious event attended by family and friends, and even former self confessed patrons of the motel.

Pastors of the Caloocan Minsters Associated (Camia) and the Metro Manila for Jesus Movement officiated at he religious ceremonies.

The ceremonies included King’s sprinkling of water on a bed to exorcise “the devil’s presence.”

King said the beds were mute witness to sins like abortion, suicide, incest and drug abuse, amongst others.

Huh? Suicide and drug abuse I may get as going on in a hotel room, but mute witness to incest?

Back to the story:

“I declare all the beds redeemed, (the hotel) totally closed and destroyed in the name of Jesus. I also destroy my covenant with the devil,” he said.

“Our love for mammon had blinded us all these years. I declare this covenant totally cancelled.” He declared.

Hallelujah. Another soul saved. Lets have a round of “Kum by ya”.

Oh yeh, I almost forgot to mention:

King also asked foregiveness for city officials by encouraging corruption by offering bribes, among others, to promote his business.

And finally this:-

King told The STAR that the business was making more the P2 Million a day before the oil crunch. He admitted that theh current crisis had affected revenues but this was not why he gave up the business.

He said some 11,000 individuals “used” his motels daily and their “lives were ruined by falling into immoralty using these rooms”.

C'mon, if he was so religous, why didn't he change the hotels to a lodge for pilgrims or homes for the poor. Sounds like he is getting closure to death, he's cleansing the negatives on his sin balance sheet.

With declining revenues, there is a lesson that Las Vegas hotels should learn in this story. The City with the slogan “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas approach”, should take a hard cold look at what goes on in their rooms.

It is scandalous and I am outraged.

They a missing out on such a gold mine where they should be promoting more decandence to get the tourists in.

Imagine this telephone conversation:

“Hello, BL Z Bub Hotel. Room service?”
“Yes, this is room 666. I like to order some heroin before I perform an abortion on my daughter.”
“Sorry sir, we are out of heroin”.
“Oh ok, what about crack.”
“Sir, we have crack. I’ll have someone bring it up”.
“Whilst I am at it, I was wondering if you have any other debauchery specials?”
"We have a special on human sacrifices. Buy one, another killed for free”.
“Are they free range? I am a environmentalist back home you know”
“No sorry sir, we only have factory farmed humans”
“Then I’ll skip it, Thanks. I pride myself in being green”.
"Have a nice day and thank you for staying at BL Z Bub. The hotel that brings the devil out of you”.

Phileas Fogg,
Manila Peninsula Hotel,
26th July 2008.

All bets are off

2008-07-06T22:08:00.014-05:00

It seems that our earlier January blog prediction on Las Vegas' declining fortunes is coming closer to reality every day.

From UK's Telegraph:

Casino owners in Las Vegas have been warned that America's economic slowdown had left the gambling mecca facing "its most severe downturn ever".

Challenging the resort city's traditional boast that it was virtually recession-proof, shares in companies that operate casinos have dipped to new lows this week.

With casino owners plunging into heavy debt and even bankruptcy, industry experts have warned that the world's gambling capital faces the toughest economic challenge in its history.

Keith Foley, a gaming analyst who tracks 55 gambling companies for Moody's, a credit-rating company, said the casino industry was "in the midst of what could be its most severe downturn ever"

"After 9/11, when it bounced back really quickly, everyone thought Vegas was immune to just about anything," he said.

"It is suddenly obvious and maybe kind of scarey that it is not." A combination of rising petrol prices, the housing crisis and cuts in airline services have helped drive down the number of people coming to the Nevada resort city and the amount they are spending there.

The spending downturn has primarily affected the shops and restaurants on which the casinos rely for most of their profits rather than the gaming rooms.

I read on:

Many casino operators have borrowed heavily to finance ambitious expansion plans intended to keep Las Vegas as the world's gambling mecca.

Four casino companies have already gone into bankruptcy this year, including Tropicana Entertainment, which defaulted on $2.7 billion debts.

Harrah's, the world's biggest casino group by revenue and owner of Caesars Palace and seven other big casinos on the Vegas "Strip", posted a fourth-quarter loss in the Spring.

Also from Las Vegas Review Journal, the bright lights don't look so bright:-

Forecasting the demise of Las Vegas is a game that's as tired as puns on the city's ubiquitous "what happens here, stays here" advertising slogan.

But for the first time in recent memory, two benchmark indicators of the health of Las Vegas, the number of hotel rooms in development and airline seat capacity at McCarran International Airport, are moving in opposite directions.

According to the Official Airline Guide, seat capacity at McCarran is expected to decline 12 percent in the fourth quarter. Meanwhile, the number of available hotel rooms on the Strip is expected to increase 18 percent by the end of 2009.

That has investors wondering how resort operators intend to maintain the 90 percent occupancy rates to which they've grown accustomed with fewer available airline seats for customers and drive-in traffic slacking off as gasoline prices approach $5 per gallon in parts of Southern California, the No. 1 source of Las Vegas visitors.

"In our opinion, this could not come at a worse time for Las Vegas," Wachovia analysts Brian McGill and Denis Kelleher wrote in a note to investors. "With the cuts in airline capacity, we do not think there will be enough seats to fill the new room supply."

A major Duh for LV!

Looks like the gambling Corporations have been participating in their own products and spinning that wheel. Betting on being in the black but ends up in the red.

What is ironic is that Casino operators get a mention in Taleb's book "Black Swan".Overview. Though in this Bloggers opinion, this event was not a black swan but entirely foreable as it highly correlates to the housing bubble.

Me no more Heloc = Me no more travel, me mo more gamble.

Room rates in LV are already coming down. The legendary hotel buffets offerings are being cut back. If this continues, the Elvis impersonators will end up pawning their "Blue suede shoes" and moving to "Heatbreak Hotel".

Phileas Fogg,
Houston, Texas
6th July 2008.

For further read see also WSJ article.

Ruff Riders

2008-07-06T10:33:00.005-05:00

Humans are not the only animals which like to travel.

This link has a funny clip of a dog that likes to travel by motorbike.

It seems he is not the only one. Here's one from Asia. At least the small guy above has some protection.

Dog Breaks Law! - video powered by Metacafe

This video below probably illustrates why having dogs unrestrained is a bad idea.

Police and investigating the above videos and aiming to collar the owners. A police spokesman said that at this moment, we have no leads.

Phileas Fogg,
Houston, Texas
6th July 2008

The Armchair Travelers

2008-07-05T22:10:00.009-05:00

Would you like to ride in my beautiful balloon?
Would you like to ride in my beautiful balloon?
We could float among the stars together, you and I.
For we can fly.
We can fly" ....... 5th Dimension

Just as I thought I couldn't be surprized by much in life, real life events throw me a curve ball. From the BBC News most emailed stories:-

An American man has succeeded at the third attempt in making a 235-mile (378km) trip in an armchair held aloft by party balloons.

Kent Couch soared across the Oregon desert to the neighbouring state of Idaho in a journey that took him about nine hours.

Mr Couch took an air gun and blow pipe to control his elevation.

He had to bail out by parachute on his first attempt and his second fell short of the state border.

The total expense of the flight was around $6,000. Most of that being the helium gas.

The idea started when Couch, 48 saw a TV documentary on a ex-nam vet named Larry Walters, who did much the same thing in 1982, Walters was fined $1,500 when his adventure elevated him to 12,000 feet and violated air space at Los Angeles International.

Larry Walters is one of the the few to contend for the Darwin Awards and live to tell the tale. From Darwin Awards.com:-

He hatched his weather balloon scheme while sitting outside in his "extremely comfortable" Sears lawnchair. He purchased 45 weather balloons from an Army-Navy surplus store, tied them to his tethered lawnchair dubbed the Inspiration I, and filled the 4' diameter balloons with helium. Then he strapped himself into his lawnchair with some sandwiches, Miller Lite, and a pellet gun. He figured he would pop a few of the many balloons when it was time to descend.

Larry's plan was to sever the anchor and lazily float up to a height of about 30 feet above his back yard, where he would enjoy a few hours of flight before coming back down. But things didn't work out quite as Larry planned.

When his friends cut the cord anchoring the lawnchair to his Jeep, he did not float lazily up to 30 feet. Instead, he streaked into the LA sky as if shot from a cannon, pulled by the lift of 42 helium balloons holding 33 cubic feet of helium each. He didn't level off at 100 feet, nor did he level off at 1000 feet. After climbing and climbing, he leveled off at 16,000 feet.

At that height he felt he couldn't risk shooting any of the balloons, lest he unbalance the load and really find himself in trouble. So he stayed there, drifting cold and frightened with his beer and sandwiches, for more than 14 hours. He crossed the primary approach corridor of LAX, where Trans World Airlines and Delta Airlines pilots radioed in reports of the strange sight.

Eventually he gathered the nerve to shoot a few balloons, and slowly descended. The hanging tethers tangled and caught in a power line, blacking out a Long Beach neighborhood for 20 minutes. Larry climbed to safety, where he was arrested by waiting members of the LAPD.

As he was led away in handcuffs, a reporter dispatched to cover the daring rescue asked him why he had done it. Larry replied nonchalantly, "A man can't just sit around."

No indeed. "A man can't just sit around". That's what Ken Couch must have been saying to himself otherwise he would be wait for it...a Couch potato.

Phileas Fogg,
Houston, Texas
5th July 2008

Bridge over Troubled Waters

2008-07-05T13:33:00.022-05:00

Scanning through the radio whilst in my car, I came across a local radio station playing "Ode to Billie Joe" by Bobbie Gentry. Not exactly 'pedal to the metal' driving music such as Wagner's "The Ride of the Valkyries" or foot tapping stuff, but since I was driving urban with a few traffic lights to wait at, it gave me a chance to listen to the lyrics.

It was the third of June, another sleepy, dusty Delta day
I was out choppin' cotton and my brother was balin' hay
And at dinner time we stopped and walked back to the house to eat
And Mama hollered out the back door "y'all remember to wipe your feet"
And then she said "I got some news this mornin' from Choctaw Ridge"
"Today Billie Joe MacAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge"

Since the song was released, the lyrics has had many folks to philosophise on the story behind the story. Billie Joe was apparently the narrators' boyfriend. What exactly was it that they dropped off the bridge? Why did Billie Joe jump?

I on the other hand, wondered where the hell is the Tallahatchi Bridge or even Choctaw Ridge?

After some false Google search leads believe I found it: Panola County, Mississippi which sorta ties up with Bobbie Genty's background of growing up in Chickasaw County, Mississippi. Perhaps Genty's line "Nothin' ever comes to no good up on Choctaw Ridge" reflects the historic cultural antagonism between the Delta whites and "Rednecks" from the hills.

I know nothing of the Tallahatchi river flow but Tallahatchie is a Choctaw name meaning "rock of waters". Maybe he jumped into the waters and hit the rocks instead?

Before my search, I was expecting it to be bridge over the Mississippi which is one mofo of a river to jump into.

When I visited New Orleans a few years ago, we took a boat ride on the Mississippi river. Looking into thefast flowing turgid water, I was amazed at power that the river has. I once stayed with a friend of family in Harvey, Louisiana. The husband told me a story that whilst participating in some commercial construction, he fell into the Mississippi where he said he was swept downstream so quickly but luckily managed to get rescued. Although, I can swim, I was thinking that I would not like to put my swimmiming skills to the test here.

At its headwaters, the Mississippi is less than 3 feet deep. The river's deepest section is between Governor Nicholls Wharf and Algiers Point in New Orleans where it is 200 feet deep ! The Mississippi River Basin or Watershed drains 41% of continental United States.

Samuel Langhorne Clemens wrote extensively about the Mississippi River. He worked as a licensed Mississippi river-boat pilot (1857-61) and adopted his pen name, 'Mark twain!' - meaning by the mark of two fathoms which was the safe depth for the steamboat.

The Mississippi river is also records to the worst loss of life in United States maritime history: the steamboat Sultana explosion. In the early morning hours of April 27, 1865, one of the Sultana’s four boilers exploded and almost immediately set the steamboat aflame. Those who managed to escape into the Mississippi River were met by cold waters near flood stage. More than 2,400 passengers aboard the Sultana, with most of them former Union prisoners of war making their way north from Vicksburg, Miss., to Cairo, Ill. From there, they were to disperse to be reunited with family and friends. Many were swept down river or died from hypothermia. 1700 died.

Even in modern days, the Mighty River still takes it's death toll. On May 29 2007, just as he was to begin recording the follow-up to his acclaimed album, 'Grace,' Jeff Buckley decided to take a swim in a channel of the Mississippi River and was swept away by its raging undercurrents. He was 30 years old.

Ten days after Buckley's body has surfaced, his road manager, Gene Bowen, stands by the riverbank. Looking at the muddy rush of water, he asks, "Why would you even put your toe in that? But it's typical Jeff. He was a butterfly, you know? He was just like: 'Go with it.' "

Another Rock star which has a linkage to bridges and suicide bid is Ritchie Edwards of the Manic Street Preachers. In 1995, Edwards disappeared where the speculation is that he jumped off the Severn Bridge. The Severn Bridge is the link between England and South Wales.

Not that I am contemplating ending it but it has me curious: Which bridges account for largest number of suicides ? I refer to two Wikepedia links: suicide bridge and list of suicide sites.

Number 1 is San Francisco : the Golden Gate bridge. So much for SF's image of flower power and city of love. Even if you survive the fall, the cold waters will get you and the current will take you out to sea. Brrrr.

The second Wiki site I quoted suggests 'Beachy Head' in England has a large number of jumpers. This was site where the character "Jimmy" from the Who's Rock Opera, Quadrophenia drove his moped over the top. The queston then becomes but did Jimmy go with it? A true cliff hanger of an ending.

I was thinking about attempting a humorous ending to this blog topic but knowing many people in my life who have taken their own life, I'll pass on this. One was a teenager, another 19, was at University but survived with serious head injuries. Another a Dad who hanged himself and was discovered by his 11 year old boy.

I just want to say for anyone who may come across this blog searching on keywords, Please don't do it. You may be hurting inside now but think of people you'll leave behind. Suicide is NOT painless.

Phileas Fogg,
Houston Texas
5th July 2008

The Irish Rover

2008-06-28T16:51:00.003-05:00

For the sensitive minds, skip this blog article NOW. Do not play this video.

Do not pass go. Do not collect $200.

The video from is a German press interview with Micheal O'Leary, Chief Executive of Ryanair. For those of you who may not know, Ryanair are a successful budget airline in Europe, based in Ireland. Mr. O'Leary has a uhm, very interesting take on Business class benefits versus economy.

http://view.break.com/527054 - Watch more free videos

O'Leary is infamous in European airline circles. To quote from Wikepedia

O'Leary has a somewhat fiery reputation among both his competitors in the airline industry and regulators. He has been described in many press articles as arrogant and has on numerous occasions stooped to gratuitous rudeness and foul language in his public statements. His no-nonsense management style, extreme cost-cutting and meanness towards staff, provocative advertising, and his deliberate targeting and scathing criticisms of competitors, airport authorities, governments, and unions have become a hallmark. He has been reported to have been aggressive and hostile in dealings with a woman who was awarded free flights for life in 1988 and abusive and prone to outbursts when dealing with staff and former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern. Recently he was forced to retract a claim that Ryanair had cut emissions of carbon dioxide by half over the past five years. O'Leary has been reported to have impersonated a journalist in an attempt to find out what information an airport authority had passed on to a newspaper following a safety incident on a Ryanair flight.

In 2004 he purchased a hackney plate for his Mercedes-Benz to enable it to be classified as a taxi so that he could legally make use of Dublin's bus lanes to speed his car journeys around the city. A press report suggested that he was stopped driving his own taxi. In 2005 the transport minister of the Republic of Ireland expressed concern at this abuse by O'Leary and others.

Wow. Can you imagine this colorful behaviour from a CEO in US ? Nope, too polished, too busy backdating options and sweet dealing Congress.

Time to rewrite that old Irish classic song: "When Irish eyes are smiling, Sure, 'tis like flying business class in Spring...."

Phileas Fogg,
Houston, Texas.
28th June 2008.

Row Row Row your boat..

2008-06-28T16:18:00.007-05:00

Browsing the web today, I came across an'in joke' on Google maps. Type in driving instructions from Sydney, Australia to Houston, Texas and you'll get maps shown left. Look closely at the Driving instructions in steps 6:-:

Kayak across the Pacific Ocean
Entering United States (Washington)
12,724 km 40 days 19 hours

Don't believe me? Click on this link.

Ah, Blessed are the Geeks: for they shall inherit the (Google) Earth.

Phileas Fogg,
Houston Texas nowhere near Sydney Australia,
28th June 2008.

Twinkle Twinkle little Star

2008-06-21T17:33:00.007-05:00

It looks as if Continental and United have agreed to link their networks and services. This will eventually lead to Continental joining the Star Alliance.

Currently Continental is part of the SkyTeam members who include Aeroflot, AeroMéxico,Air France, Alitalia, China Southern, Czech Airlines, Delta, KLM, Korean, Northwest. Without Continental, there are some dogs left with Alitalia leading the pack.

From my perspective, this is a good move for Continental in that the partners in Star Alliance are more attractive as they include Lufthansa and one of my favorite airlines, Singapore.

This will present me with a bit of a dilema now: Which airline do I accumalate rewards on? Houston is hub for Continental but I don't particularly like flying with them. However, if I can use Continental for some of the other airlines, things look better already. I also have a Lufthasa 'Miles and More' account with some milage on it though not as much as Continental.

The other major airline consortium that I fly with and like is 'oneworld' which features British Airways, American, Cathay Pacific, JAL and Qantas amongst their membership. I've flow with
Cathay and that are not quite Singapore standard but good nevertheless.

Is this an opening shot for the battle of the skys? There is too much capacity at the price bracket we all pay where all airlines are hurting with high price of fuel. (There I go again bloging on about energy..)

CodeShare is one way to reduce capacity - airlines agree this to keep their financial interest in ticketing of a route but not necessarily fly it. It may also portend takeover paths for stronger airlines to absorb a weaker partner. Witness KLM being taken over by Air France though things aren't going so well on Air France taking over Alitalia. Alitalia is a basket case.

One thing hampering the merging of the airline industry is yes, you've guessed it : Politics. Policians of all countries whether left or right are stuck in the mode that their country must have a national airline. Their argument is that it 'flies the flag' when abroad.

What a sock of crock. Why should a country run an airline? It is as stupid as each country have their own cola company. This is legacy from days of old when air travel was in its infancy and air fares we high.

It is good to see companies like EasyJet run across Europe that runs its flight like a bus route as in not just direct but a round trip. Same with Southwest in the US.

Whilst US doesn't have 1 national airline, it does have barriers to stop foreign companies from flying within it's borders. They can fly into the county but not continue to fly within in it such as a bus. So much for free trade.

For the mess that politicians create inside air travel, you just need to look at European Union and US 'open skies' agreement. In the US, look at the Wright Amendment.

It seems to this blogger that the cost of fuel may accelerate the merging of many airlines companies so we have a few strong players. Bad news for the traveler but realistically, I don't see the status quo surviving.

I just hope that it bring a merge of the best attributes. Ideally we have a Singapore airlines standard across them all but I doubt it.

For SkyTeam what I fear we will end up with opposite and a lowest common demoninator approach: an Aeroflot safety record, an Airitalia business sense, any American carrier attitude to food, and an AirFrance record of loosing my luggage.

Ah, the romance of travel.

Philea Fogg,
Houston, Texas
21st June 2008.

Here comes the sun

2008-06-21T15:31:00.004-05:00

21st June is the summer solstice. There is no better place to celebrate this than Stonehenge, England. Sunrise here is the party place to be.

According to the police, an estimated 28,000 people turned out. This was a fair mix of Druids, New Age travellers, party people and the curious.

This is also the one time of the year when you can get access to the stone circle albeit under the watch of the custodians. This is to prevent some wanker adding deep thoughtful graffiti such as "Knobby was here".

The henge has been a source for traditional British ways of life for a number of years. I don't mean the 1000's years tradition of druids worshipping the great celestial being but another British tradition: an excuse for a good old Fight. From an AP article:-

A clash between police and revellers at the solstice celebration in 1985 led to closure of the monument for the solstice for 15 years. During those years riot police and people determined to celebrate the solstice often clashed.

But in 2000, English Heritage reopened Stonehenge for the solstice, and celebrations since have been peaceful, with only a few arrests for minor offences each year.

"People generally respect the stones and we don't have a problem," English Heritage spokeswoman Rebecca Milton said.

I have been to Stonehenge once before and was disappointed that you couldn't access the stones. I think I will add a summer solstice visit to my future trips to make.

My overall impression on Stonehenge was that it is worth a visit. It will look very nice when it is finished.

Phileas Fogg,
Hiding indoors from the summer Houston sun,
21st June 2008

Dumb and Dumber

2008-06-21T00:49:00.005-05:00

A colleague and I arrived at the Dallas Love Field AVIS airport depot to pick up our rental. As our plane had a trip of severe turbulence no refreshments were served, we dropped out hand luggage in the car and ran inside the AVIS office to get some free coffee. It was now raining heavily.

About 4 minutes later, We had our take away coffees and ran back to our car. We jumped inside, and to our horror, our laptops we gone.

Panicking, we went back inside and told them desk staff our story. After "Are we sure we didn't leave them on the bus" type questions, My colleague went with the station manager to look at video tapes.

I went back outside with another AVIS employee. "What was you bay number?" "Number 27".

Together we go to "27" and look inside and see our laptops still inside the car.

A MAJOR DUH MOMENT !!!

In our haste to get our of the rain, we had ran back to the car in bay #26 instead.

Panic over. Colleague come out of managers office and we made our apologies and made a very sheepish exit.

Phileas Fogg,
Dallas, Texas
19th June 2008.

A Rosetta Stone gathers no moss

2008-06-17T21:46:00.018-05:00

Have you seen a commercial for Rosetta Stone language CDs? I caught one today whilst watching Bloomberg and part of the pitch, is that NASA uses them.

Why on earth (or any other planet) would NASA wish to be learning languages since they are North American Space Agency that is focused on exploring the heavens?Perhaps they've taken the term 'illegal aliens' to be literal and all Astronauts need to be speaking Spanish just in case 'natural aliens' also speak the same lingo as 'illegals'. On the other hand with area 64 consiracy theories (I reach for my tin foil hat here) Maybe they are secretly learning Martian or Klingon just in case. Perhaps the CD has "Repeat after me : Greeting. Take me to you leader and can I exchange $1000 for Martian zonks?..."

Don't laugh too hard on the Klingon part as there are a bunch of sad individuals who actually do learn this language. See http://www.kli.org/ if you think I jest. Not only that, but the site has 2.7 million hits. (I can think of a few hits I like to give them but it would involve a baseball bat but I am not being a caring/sharing blogger to even think that.) What's more, the site is a freaking charity. Geeks 1: US taxpayers 0.

Speaking of Geeks, I once worked with an engineering manager who visited Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas. I asked how it went. He said it was great and I listened anticipating an interesting debacauched yarn or two. "Yes it was excellent, there happened to be a Star Trek convention there at the same time". I almost let out a belly aching guffaw but kept it to a smirk instead. If this is what happens in Vegas, they can bloody well keep it in Vegas.

I've always wanted to learn different languages but realized I have fundamental character flaw: I am lazy. I've bought multiple language tapes and CDs over the years but my linguistic skills are confined to English, conversational German, some french and how order in Spanish.

Even though I lived in Germany for 3 years, I never mastered it. I guess, it was having so many people switch to English whenever I attempted to speak my hesitant German, that I didn't invest time to learn it properly. It didn't help that the crowd I hung out with were predominantly expats. Whilst I could remember the words, I couldn't absorb the genders of the nouns. As such knowing whether it der, die or das impacted my confidence. (For example I know "Tisch" = table but today, can't tell you if it is male, female of neutral).

Having visited Germany and Austria since, I resigned myself never to know the genders, so I just speak in Pidgeon German. I no longer care if I make a mistake and found that I was still understood. As such, this has improved my confidence. I will make an effort to have a conversation in German whenever I hear it being spoken and probably along the lines, repeat some key phrases that I have learned the correct gender such as "Ich wohne in Den USA". I've even been complemented on fact that I speak good German! One of my Polyglot Irish friends commented after a Dallas 'Stamtisch' that he'd heard me speak more German in one night that what I'd spoken in entire time in Munich.

Which brings me on to how much language do you need to know to get by? I've found that I don't bother learning for situations where people probably speak English: At the airport, Hotels, car rentals etc and instead concentrate on situation such as restuarants, shops and getting directions. There are also some countries that English is not widely spoken. For example, Italy so you'll need to make an extra effort. The same with South America in that some degree of spanish fluency is required.

In Japan, English is tought to younger generation but my experience is that spoken english is not at a good level although written english is better understood. I guess it is the confidence thing.

Go to Philippines and English is widely spoken. A Filipino senior manager once told me that English is used as the language to bridge all the local dialects.

I was also found out that when I visited Central Europe, that if English wasn't understood, I could often get by in German.

So is my mission to learn more languages? Yes, but only to the point of getting by. It is not that I am an little Englander )I am a welshman afterall) or an English language supremist but realize that I already speak the second language of the world. The dilema of the English speaker is that if I am to specialize in a second language, what would that be : Mandarin, Hindu, Spanish?

Modern English itself is a pidgeon language developed in older days from when the top half of England needed to speak to bottom half. It has been basterdized from french, latin, german, norse and celtic and other influences. "Ich sprache, du spricht etc" has been simplified to 'I speak, you speak etc" and genderization of nouns has been jetisoned. Even the formal "you" (of du or tu) has been au revoir'ed. (Impressed with my french !)

Still there is a linguistic battleground going on even in English: American English vs. British English. They have gone their own ways over the years. In most cases it is is minor spelling (eg/ color vs. colour) but in other instances it can lead to interesting situations over colloquialisms.

'Fag' is British English refers to a cigarette so saying "I am dying for a fag" (as a Brit friend on mine once said innocently in California) can lead to a few eyebrows being raised.

The opposite of this dual language was an American collegue who on a trip to London, didn't quite understand why everyone burst of laughing when he said that he needed to sit down as his 'fanny' was hurting after a long days walking. (Explanation: "Fannie" in UK is slang for a certain part of the female anatomy a but further to the front of the American version).

English is not the only language to present such linguistic misunderstandings. It took me a few weeks on Germany to realize that "I am hot" should not be literaly translated to German as "Ich Bin Heiss". The sniggers after I said it gave it away and I later found out that "Ich Bin Heiss" was slang for "I am horny" and that I should in fact be saying "Es ist mir Heiss" (Literally 'It is to me hot') ! To my dismay, I also realized that in my prior usage of "Ich Bin Warm" and "Ich bin Kalt", had inavertantly described myself as "I am gay" and "I am frigid".

Oh well. C'est la vie.

Phileas Fogg,
Houston, Texas
June 18th 2008

Postscript: Since most business trips are dealing with engineers, perhaps I should swallow my pride and learn Klingon instead!

It's all Water under the Bridge

2008-06-15T10:03:00.012-05:00

Go to LakeDelton.org website and you'll see the following

Welcome to Lake Delton!

More than a million come to visit.

The lucky ones already live here.

1.5 million visitors come to the Wisconsin Dells-Lake Delton area each year.

And more and more of them choose to stay each year in the area blessed with scenic beauty and a wide range of man-made recreational opportunities for year-round enjoyment making it the Midwest's most popular vacation area.

Uhm, that was until last week this is. Last monday, Lake Delton emptied after one of it's sides breached, sending water into the Wisconsin river and in the process wiped out the County A road together with a few houses.

The good news is that nobody lost their lives when it happened. The bad news is the existance of the lake was THE attraction here. People will be wiped out in the economic sense. Imagine owning a Marina and lake side accomodation with no lake. Whilst some have business insurance, I don't think it would apply to this scenario. The same applies to unfortunate house owners who couldn't get an flood insurance.

See Chicago Tribune for more details. Note the appeal for previous Chicago visitors to come. I doubt many people will take them up on the offer.

The factor that stimulated this was the very wet weather that is impacting the wider region causing floods all over. Iowa is particularly hard hit with flooding in Cedar Falls and Many of the Great Rivers forecasting surges that will creast anyday now.

The flooding in Iowa will impact us all. 'Why do you say that - I'm nowhere near Iowa'. The reason is that region is a big supplier of corn and the floods have drowned the corn crop. 'But I don't buy much corn', you may say. Indirectly you do: It is key contributor for Ethanol which makes up 10% of gasoline (('oh no, there he goes again harping on about energy' I hear you say. Yes but only briefly) but it suppliers the farmers growing meat. Prices will go up and as direct result, corn hit record prices per bushel.

At this same time, Southern China is experiencing a major flood. Imagine 1 million people having to evacuate. (see BBC news). When it rains in Asia, it can have some spectacular results. I once visited Philippines in rainy season and had to go up the mountain area. It was not something I'd care to repeat and seeing the rivers now in torrents sweeping bolders like balls and the landslides, I can understand why the Filipinos are so religious: you could be very dead, very soon.

In nature, Glacial melt lakes have always been prone to bursting.In 1995,the Nepal Village of Ghat was destroyed.

Nawa Jigtar was working in the village of Ghat, in Nepal, when the sound of crashing sent him rushing out of his home. He emerged to see his herd of cattle being swept away by a wall of water.

Jigtar and his fellow villagers were able to scramble to safety. They were lucky: 'If it had come at night, none of us would have survived.'

Ghat was destroyed when a lake, high in the Himalayas, burst its banks. Swollen with glacier meltwaters, its walls of rock and ice had suddenly disintegrated. Several million cubic metres of water crashed down the mountain.

The same Guardian article that mentioned above says that in addition to the floods, there is a flip side to the glacial melt. Eventually less water leading to a drying up of the rivers leading to drought.

Lakes bursting and causing time major upheaval are not new. However, from the New Scientist was one that still blows my mind:-

Just over 8000 years ago, a huge glacial lake in Canada burst, and an estimated 100,000 cubic kilometres of fresh water rushed into the North Atlantic.

Researchers now say they know for sure that this catastrophic event shut down the Gulf Stream and cooled parts of the northern hemisphere by several degrees for more than a hundred years.

Is Gaia reseting herself? "It hot in here, lets puts on the air conditioning".

A bit more recent in that man supposidly witnessed it, the ultimate flood event has to be the Biblical flood. I'm not a theologian but the Black Sea deluge theory is supportive that this flood was the Black sea being formed by Meditterranean Sea spilling over at the Bosphorous. It would also explain why people seeking Noah's Ark are looking at Mount Ararat in Turkey.

I just did a Google Search and would you believe that 1st site it pulled up was "Noah's Ark Wisconsin Dells". The Address, 1410 Wisconsin Dells Pkwy N, Lake Delton, WI. !!!

YIKES: I've just found a Biblical link from the Lake Delton flood to Noah's Ark and I wasn't looking too hard for it! Maybe I am a prophet and should start up my own cult. Just need some gullible people now.

If this is the trend of Biblical history repeating itself can't say I am looking forward the modern day version of the 10 plagues. Water turned red, stinking rotting fish and all that. Wait a minute. It sounds a bit like California's Salton Sea.

Phileas Fogg,
Humid Houston (originally a swamp and was flooded in Tropical storm Allison), Texas.
15th June 2008.

Running on empty

2008-06-14T12:37:00.004-05:00

I'm not meaning to make this an energy blog but I noted the headlines in BBC news Fuel strike hits supply.

The twist here is that the gas truckers are the ones out on strike over wages. It affects a subcontractor firm who delivers for Shell. Shell account for 10% of UK's supply so concerns are there about shortages and panic buying.

Across the Channel to mainland Europe and add to this picture - truckers strikes in Spain which has resulted in no fresh food in the supermarkets.

Looks like the workers are having a grand old time going on in Europe. Vive la revolution and all that.

It's begining to look like the 70's all over again. Going back to this time period will be a disaster: The thought of "Disco music" is just too much for me to take at my age.

Phileas Fogg,
Houston, Texas
14th June 2008

I'd like to request a downgrade, PLEASE !!!

2008-06-08T16:16:00.008-05:00

With the price of gasoline going up, the attraction of a free rental car upgrade go into reverse. If you book an economy car, then getting a gas guzzler SUV with satallite radio, DVD in every seat and the jacuzzi in the trunk, is going to hit you large in the pocket book.

Even if you do book such a compact car, you may find out that when you get to the airport late in the day, all they have available are the larger cars. This happened to me a few times but this has always been on business trips so didn't hit my pocket book. For my private trips abroad, I've got what I booked but European gas prices tend to be x4 US prices anyhow, so a compact there is already expensive.

Like airlines, rental companies are slowly altering their contracts to make more money. In feb, I rented a car from Indianapolis and returned it to Louisville, KY. I noticed of the contract that instead of a flat per day rental with unlimited milage, it was now a per milage charge.

I guess this is another symptom of 'peak travel'.

This week I read that GM intends to close 4 car assembly plants that make SUVs due to the change in the market. Ford are also cutting back in this market. As car rental companies are a significant purchaser of new auto's, will we see the paradoxical situation in the future of gas guzzlers bought from the car manufacturers dirt cheap where these end up being the low tarrif cars?

'Sir, You want the SMARTCAR instead of the Hummer? That will be an extra $50 per day.'

btw: related to car rentals, don't get me onto the stadium taxes surcharges that get tags onto the final car rental bills. You'll not like it when I'm angry. Pen mightier that the sword and all that.

That phrase sounds a bit old fashioned doesn't it? I mean who writes on paper anymore. However, the keyboard is mightier and the sword doesn't have same impact.

Phileas Fogg,
Houston, Texas
8th June 2008

Oil's well, ends not so well.

2008-06-01T11:56:00.008-05:00

Matthew Simmons' book "Twilight in the Desert" discusses the concept of Peak oil. Basically, we have reached the economic sweet spot for getting oil out of the ground. No major oilfields are being discovered and older ones are getting depleted. Statistics on actual reserves of the biggest oilfield in the world, Ghawar, is a closely guarded secret. The second largest oilfield, Kuwait's Burgan field, is also past it's peak output and is in decline.

Whilst there may still be oil in the oilfield, it is getting more expensive to get remaining oil out. This will drive up prices and gone are the days of $10 per barrel.

Simmons book came out a few years ago. We are now > $130 per barrel and peak oil seems to be a reality each day. Not factored into this picture is the increased demand from China and India.

This high oil price - and it could go higher See Bloomberg's $200 projection - will decimate the travel industy. Already we are seeing airlines cut back flights, retiring aircraft and increasing ticket prices. Last week, British Airways announced a $109 surcharge for long haul flights. I still remember the days of getting a ticket from US to London for around $600.

This surcharge, was not a surprise to me. I flew to London last month and flight was ~40% full in both directions and I was wondering how long airlines can continue absorbing this without passing it on. AA are now charging you just to check in a bag.

Even industry insiders expect more blood to happen. To quote BA CEO, "I suspect that many airlines out there that struggled when fuel was less than $100 a barrel are not going to be able to take the required actions and we will see further failures," said Willie Walsh.

The list of bankrupt airlines continues. This week SilverJet - a business class only flight - went under leaving many people stranded.

In this environment, I can see no other scenario but a drop in air travel - both leisure and business. This will further add, excuse the pun, fuel to the fire.

High oil price is not only impacting air travel but road and sea travel also. In Europe, there has been protests over high diesel costs and in US, discontent on the ever increasing fuel prices become noisier. Also last week, Disney became the last cruise company to throw in the towel and add a fuel surcharge.

Add to this a totering US ecomomy, the housing bubble deflating and it's removal of one of the biggest ATM's - the Home Equity loans and Mortgage refi's - and the low value of the US dollar and we have a right old storm about to hit the travel market.

I wonder if what we have here is not just Peak oil, but Peak Travel. Gone are the days of easy travel. I wonder how industry will look in the future : Who will be around and what ticket prices will be.

There is one silver lining in this that may make Al Gore happy. A reduction in fuel consumed may be one way to the cut back on greenhouse gases.

Phileas Fogg,

Houston, Texas

June 1st 2008

Rings of Fire

2008-05-31T13:47:00.017-05:00

A few weeks back, I was walking in Houston's Hermann park with 2 year old Patrick and the mutts. Hearing a plane, I look up and see one towing a banner saying along lines of "We support Beijing Olympics". I've seen political statements in Houston's sky before usually involving "The Decider" president and impeachments, but an international banner was a new one of me. To set context, this was at time of Tibet demonstrations going on around the torches parades in London and Paris.

Houston has a large Asian population and I often see Falon Gong demonstrating outside the China Consulate on Montrose. It is a bizarre scene of 20 or so folks meditating outside whilst Houston's Goths and Houston's Gays go about their business on their respective next doors. The Goths in Soundwaves music and surf shop and the Rainbows, in Berry Hill and M2M clothing store.

In my eyes, the Olympics and hosting of other major sports are one big political hard on and self enriching opportunity by lobby groups and self interest groups such as construction. For the politicians, it is their chance to get into the history book.

Olympics are the holding nation's venue to puff up their nationalistic chests, put on a good opening and close show, wave a few flags and show the world that their Country's appendage is now the largest in the world. During the 'games' themselves, the competing countries will also be arguing that their medal count gives them bragging rights in the lower nether region.

Unless you are going to Olympics, avoid Beijing in August like the uhm, bird flu. Everything will be overpriced. If you are looking for a bargain, go when the Olympics is finished. They will have built all that room capacity but there will no demand for it once games are finished.

China are using this a forum to show that they have arrived. We are modern and we are back to claim our place as a strong Civilization after many years of humiliation. Afterall, China has shown they can climb Everest with the Olympic flame.

Problem that I, and many others have, is the politics of China's regime. As a one party state, they are one brutal bunch. However, this is not the first brutal regime to host the Olympics, so would I choose NOT to visit a country over it's politics?

Would I have gone to South Africa in Apartheid days? No, I was a firm believer in boycotting goods and services of big business in SA in my student days and was glad to see it transition over peacefully.

Would I have gone to Russia at height of Communist days? Yes. That alone would have been worth seeing. Their people gladly seemed to go along with it.

Would I go to China disliking their regime? Probably yes. They have relaxed somewhat and eased up travel restrictions. I also know some Chinese nationals and they don't seem too upset with thier situation. Real reason is I'd really like to visit before it gets changed irreversibly with development. I have been to Schenzen on company business many years ago and have 2 impressions: Everywhere I looked, there was cranes and construction - no old China. Secondly, spitting. Yes, People young and old, men and women seemed to be continually coughing greenies and launching. If spitting was a Olympic Sport, China would be Gold, Silver and Bronze. (I won't visit for that !)

Would I go to Burma (pre-Typhoon)? Yes, there are some beautiful temples that I'd like to see in Rangoon and Mandalay the people would benefit from my small contribution to their economy. (on side discussion, the callousness of the Military Junta wrt typhon and relief leave me speechless with anger.)

Would I go to North Korea? That is a hard one. North Korea is one dangerous and sinister operation. The whole nation revolves around "Dear Leader" and his whims. From what I understand, there is nothing to see and Government minders will watch you very closely anyhow. In this case, I would say "no" in that people would not benefit from tourism but also there are other things I'd like to see with my limited time here. Why go to see a Concrete Stalinist hell hole when you can see Patagonia or New Zealand instead?

Would I go to Cuba? I would love to. "WHATTTTT", the more extreme Americans may say. Firstly, I believe tourism is a great way for locals to interact with foreigners which will seed discontent and a desire to change. Cuba also has unspoilt beaches and Havana itself a 1950's time warp. (Remember, the like of Castro will die out at some stage and next Generations, will demand changes. Youngesters have only know Communism and look where that has got them.) Secondly, I find it outrageous that US government bans it's citizens from visiting. So much for freedom: If I want to go, Govt should not stop me. Still it is good that Obama has recently questioned the effectiveness of the Cuba Embargo and is discussing lifting it. Good for him. Good for Cuba. If it worked in fall of East Germany (the East Germans could pick up West German TV signals), interface to West may result in change in Cuba.

Look back to the Olympics itself and in amongst the Country dick swinging, you see a history of Politics and controversy behinds the scenes.

The Olympics committee is highly political organization with a history of corruption - see Sydney vote buying scandal and cash payments and other gifts made to IOC delegates by the organising committee for the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics.

The Olympics and World events have always been inter-related.

1936 Berlin Olympics where Nazi's used this to promote superiority of Aryan Race. Jessie Owens blew that one away.

1968 Mexico Olympics where Tommie Smith and John Carlos gave the famous "Black Panther" salute. (Remember in 1968. both Malcolm X and Martin Luther King were dead. Mohamed Ali was stripped of his title for refusing to fight in Vietnam).

1972: Munich where Israeli athletes were killed by the PLO.

1980/1984: Moscow / Los Angeles boycotts. (Communists and Capitalists) which sorta goes against 'one of the basic principles of the Olympic Games: that politics play no part whatsoever in them'.

An angle that doesn't get too much focus on is the sheer costs of these games. It is widely perceived that hosting Olympics is going to be an economic boom but that is flawed by assumptions politicians will use to put together case for why it should happen. Once awarded, not many come back and revisit if that really happened. An excellent article on economics of Olympics is discussed here. An Excerpt:-

"Mega-events" such as the Olympic Games require large sums of public money to be spent on venues and infrastructure improvements. In order to justify the use of public funds, economic impact studies are often commissioned which invariably project large inflows of money that will have a long-term positive effect on the economy by such means as job creation and visitor spending. Events of the scale of the Olympic Games, which attract large amounts of money from outside a local economy, are forecasted to have economic impacts in the billions of dollars.

Ex-post studies, however, have consistently found no evidence of positive economic impacts from mega-sporting events even remotely approaching the estimates in economic impact studies. In a study of the impact of Super Bowls on local economies, Philip Porter (1999) found "no measurable impact on spending associated with the event. The projected spending and spillover benefits of regional impact models ever materialize" (Porter 1999, p. 61) Porter's explanation is that capacity constraints in the hotel industry cause room prices to increase with no change in occupancy rates. Higher rates contribute to the crowding out of regular traffic and net spending in Areas other than hotel rooms changes little or not at all

The same can be said for other major sporting activities like Soccer World Cup or Superbowl. In Houston's case, we held a Superbowl a few years back. We now have 1 metrorail line to show for it that was built specially for this event. Whilst I am a mass population transport advocate, the legacy for the locals is that the route does not service a heavily populated area.

When I was in Capetown South Africa, everyone was talking about them hosting the world cup. They are building the stadium and there is massive construction going on with financial speculation going on. They are even building a 6 star hotel. I keep thinking to myself, what happens after that world cup. My projection. BOOM.

London will hold games in 2012 and there are already concerns about how much it will cost. From BBC article on 2006, it was already 3.4B pounds. ($6.8B). Holy cow. Read my earlier blog on British management to say to give you a thought on what I project will happen here. Here is a clue: It rhymes with 'chuckup'.

The Olympics coming to a place also involves changes. In Beijing's case, they have been busily bulldozing the old city for development. Vancouver is hosting 2010 and question I have is what will happen to Vancouver downtown. You may not know but Vancouver has a big drug and homeless population. One thing I heard concentrates this is the relatively mild winters here. If you are homeless, you'd freeze to death in other cities. So let's see how Canadians handle this one. I doubt this will take a tip from previous 1936 Olympics:-

Hitler removed signs stating "Jews not wanted" and similar slogans from the main tourist attractions. Hitler desired to clean up Berlin, the German Ministry of Interior authorized the chief of Berlin Police to arrest all gypsies and keep them in a special camp.[1] Nazi officials ordered that foreign visitors should not be subjected to the criminal strictures of anti-homosexual laws.

Will I be watching Olympics on TV in August? I shrug my shoulders. I missed all the 2004 Athens games and ceremonies. I may watch Beijing opening and closing if I have nothing better to do: Maybe there will be a Janet Jackson moment? The 'games' themselves are of peripheral interest to me and why is synchronized swimming a sport? BTW: the only sport I like watching is International Rugby.

Should the Olympics come back to basics? Yes, let's cut down the sports, try to remove the business and political interests. So, how far back should we go ? We'll I don't advocate going back to Ancient Greece Olympics. Yuk, Lots of nude males athletes running and wrestling. We've enough swinging 'you know whats' at the country level as it is !

With all this scandal and upset going on, Maybe the official sponsors of the Olympic rings should be these guys...

Phileas Fogg,
Houston, Texas
31st May 2008

The mile High club: Japanese style

2008-05-26T12:05:00.008-05:00

From the BBC news "Cannabis blunder at Tokyo airport"

"An unwitting passenger arriving at Japan's Narita airport has received 142g of cannabis after a customs test went awry, officials say. A customs officer hid a package of the banned substance in a side pocket of a randomly chosen suitcase in order to test airport security."

"Sniffer dogs failed to detect the cannabis and the officer could not remember which bag he had put it in. Anyone finding the package has been asked to contact customs officials."

""This case was extremely regrettable. I would like to deeply apologise," said Narita International Airport's customs head Manpei Tanaka."

Pretty funny stuff. Can you imagine the passenger's face as they unpack especially if they are a stoner? Hey wow man, Banzei !

On the other hand, I just hope that passenger is not on route to Singapore and gets pulled up by customs.

"But, But But...that isn't mine". "No, you bad man. They all say that. You go to changi prison and get hanged".

Speaking of substances and instransit, pay attention to Dubai airport. From a previous BBC article :

"Travellers to the United Arab Emirates are being warned about its severe drug laws which have seen dozens detained for apparently minor offences. Fair Trials International said arrests were being made over tiny quantities of drugs and over-the-counter medicines."

"British tourist Keith Brown was sentenced to four years in prison after Dubai customs officers found a 0.003g trace of cannabis stuck to his shoe."

"Possession of painkillers like codeine and some cold and flu medication could result in a mandatory four-year prison sentence, Fair Trials International said. In one of the most extreme cases, it reported a man being held after poppy seeds from a bread roll were found on his clothes."

My advice if going to Dubai, just don't try smuggling cannabis in a teddy bear . If you do make sure the Teddy is called something innocuous like 'Eric'. Otherwise you'll REALLY be in trouble.

Phileas Fogg,
Houston, Memorial day 2008

Life in the bus lane

2008-05-11T18:22:00.010-05:00

The other week I was driving from Wales to London Gatwick and passed a "National Express" bus on it's way from Swansea to Cardiff. On the side was sign 'Free Internet access' onboard. As a net freak with 3 hours boring driving ahead of me, it got me thinking about public transport and maybe that I should re-look at public transport in my future travels.

I'd recently used Gatwick and Heathrow expresses and they also had such features though in the casee of Heathrow, by the time you'd logged on, you'd be in Paddington.

When younger, I'd use National Express to travel. I quite enjoyed it though you'd have to allow some time to get there. This is similar to flying Southwest which if you are going a distance, allow for change overs. Some years back, I found a flight from Dallas to Seattle took us 8 hours. Not so good, if this is part of your long weekend.

With price of fuel going up, I see a resurgance of public transport for traveling. I love travelling by trains but in Texas, Forget it. Amtrak does go from Houston but I've been told it is such a slow trip. I envy North East for their choice.

I've yet to take a Greyhound bus trip but someday I will if only for the experience. But that brings up another disadvantage of publc transport: the public. You're hostage to having to sit next to some nut that nobody wishes to sit next to who may suddenly start singing.

Which brings me back to my car journey. As I got nearer to London, I picked up Eagle 96.4 and it was playing some rocking music. So I did something you cannot do on public transport: turn up the volume and sing your head off. Not unless you want to be regarded as some kinda nut that nobody wishes to sit next to that is..

Phileas Fogg,
Houston Texas but mentaly penned on M4 motorday going 'Up the smoke', UK

Say it loud, say it proud

2008-05-03T21:58:00.013-05:00

Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me.

A riddle for you: Dimitris Lambrou is a lesbian but he is a man. He was born a man and has not had a sex change. How can that be?

The answer lies is the fact that he was born on island of Lesbos: A native of Lesbos is a Lesbian.

As discussed in the UK's Times newspaper "Dimitris Lambrou, along with another Lesbos resident and a member of a nationalist pagan association, have started a legal action to gain the exclusive right to call themselves Lesbians. Their legal action seeks to prohibit the Greek Gay and Lesbian Union (OLKE) from using the name "lesbian". The claimants argue that the “seizure” of the term lesbian to mean more than simply “of the island of Lesbos” (in the northern part of the Grecian archipelago) has caused them mental distress."

The irony of this gave me a rye smile since 'Greek' is also slang for a type of sexual practice, forbidden until 2003 in Texas.

A different name argument is taking place in Greece and the former Yugoslavia "Republic of Macedonia" (FYROM) which is now an independent country. Athens' problem is that they also have a region on North Greece called Macedonia and thus, are concerned that FYROM names implies territorial claim on their Macedonia.
Would you believe it that it is now at United Nations level and it is holding up FYROM's membership of Nato? Even President Bush is involved in it. (That alone, will likely be an inverted Midas touch !).

Alexander the Great would be proud of this rift. Speaking of which, When Oliver Stone released his film "Alexander" a group of 25 Greek Lawyers wished to sue of portrayal of Alexander being so effiminate.

The Greeks are not the only ones claiming name exclusivity and resorting to legal system. Even though I like Cava from Spain, only the French have the right to make "Champagne": Bubbly can only be called "Champagne" if from the Chamgagne area. They have EU lobbyist that thank for that but it would be interesting to see if Champaigne Illinois fremented some grapes, could they call it US Champaigne and launch a spoiler product ? Whilst not a place per se, Budweiser US lost out in a claim against worldwide rights to Czech brewer of "Budweiser".

There are some places that no other country would wish to claim but are minor tourist attractions in their own right.

The Austrian place in photo above is one and for the Brits, Wank in Baveria.

Apparently in both places, they have to spend a lot of time replacing signs which get stolen by infantile British visitors.

One place which will not get a title claim against it is England's Great Snoring .

However, the ultimate is name trumps has to be the longest place name in the UK: Wales' Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch on Anglesey Island. A bit crap really in that your main attraction is your sign post.

Thieves beware on LLFPGG sign: To steal this sign will require at 3 people just to carry it. On the bright side, the Greeks will have no claim on it.

Phileas Fogg,
Houston, Texas
3rd May 2007

He's got a ticket to Ride

2008-04-26T10:30:00.014-05:00

STOP THE PRESSES ! Huge important News this week:AFP "Former prime minister Tony Blair was caught travelling on a train without a ticket and any cash to pay the fare, his spokesman said on Wednesday.

Blair was confronted by a ticket inspector as he travelled to London's Heathrow airport to catch a flight to the United States on Monday, spokesman Matthew Doyle said.

"Mr Blair just didn't have any cash on him," Doyle said. "One of the policemen travelling with him offered to pay for the ticket, but the ticket inspector said it wasn't necessary."

"All right for some" may some people who wish to discuss the two tiered system of the Hoi-poloi vs the plebs but my commentary is more on the ticket inspector. I applaud the common sense attitude of the ticket inspector for not making a big deal over this. The Lower ranks of Britain are usually great for their pragmatism.

I've been let off two speeding tickets thanks to the leeway of the individual British policemen. First one was after coming out of 45 mph to 30 mph and my house was just inside that, the second when I was VERY over limit when I was cruising like I drove in Germany. The cop let me off as I didn't have a UK address on my licence and whilst I should have to appear in front of a judge for a non-fixed fine, the courts would not open until 3 days away due to a public holiday weekend. He didn't want to put me in the police clink for that length of time so he let me off with a caution. Thanks PC Plods. It is not forgotten.

At school, I was guilty of many things that got me trouble. I was caned at least twice but my peak crime was being busted with having my homemade beer in my bag. I was intending to give it to somebody later in the day where is was end of term. Luckily for me, I was not expelled based on the Deputy head looking at my academic record and fact that I was so near to finishing school. He just confiscated my illicit stash and gave me a stern lecture about pulling myself together and not fecking my life up. Kids will be kids and I went on to University and speeding excepted, sorta turned out OK. Thanks Mr. Deputy head for that but I know you enjoyed my beer.

The Zero tolerance of the school system in US would have been a disaster to me. I shake my head when I hear of stupid practices such as kids finding something at school, turning it in to teacher and then being busted for being in of the thing they turned in. Randy Cassingham on his "This is true" raises the stupidity of ZT.

Same with much of the Police and their attitude to enforcing laws. Sometime I believe we have a Legal system in the US, not a justice system. For traffic offences, they ticket people only for them to play the system and get off. Two people committing same offence will get different punishment based on the calibre of their lawyer. Sometime is it the enforcement of stupid laws that gets to me: For example the case of jailing 1 teenager for 10 years for consensual Oral sex. See Genarlow Wilson's story. The kid's life was ruined by doing things kids are doing throughout America and not prosectuted in other states.

I'd add the TSA to my rant on the ZT approach that would be discussing "SECURITY". Das ist Verbotten. We've all heard the message in the airport "Security is a serious matter. Jokes made will be taken seriously".

I guess I'll keep the "How many TSA personnel would it take to change a light bulb" joke to myself next time I am at the airport. I imagine their response "A wiseguy eh?" Let me put on another rubber glove. Come with me. Extra dry KY over here.

Phileas Fogg,
Houston, Texas
April 26th 2008

You drive me crazy

2008-04-16T19:59:00.030-05:00

Driving to work the other day, I was traveling in the fast lane of a four lane freeway and approaching a car dawdling along where cars in front were having to undertake to get past.

Coming closer, I see the driver is talking to the front seat passenger. No longer paying attention, he drifts into to the next lane as an 18 wheeler truck approaches. The trucker blows his air horns to avoid an accident. I honk my horn with the honk code for "hey dumb ass, pay attention and whilst you are it, Get over".

As you can probably gather by now, idiots who sit in the overtaking lane oblivious to the world, are a particular hot button of mine. Mexicans in beaten up pick ups, SE Asian women in Japanese cars, people on phones and old people in sedans seem to be particularly fond of this practice in Houston (all of this based on my unscientific study of driving around them and looking giving them the evil eye).

Some hope that the law may pay attention to this is an autoblog article stating that Oklahoma is now going after slow drivers in left hand lane. Today they are receiving a warning but apparently, the Sooner Troopers will be handing out $206 tickets. Hooray, a step in the right direction. Jail'em I say !

I lived in Germany and lane disciple is a big thing there. On the Germany Autobahns, soon as you overtake, you pull back in. Not only is it a courtesy and the law, but it is in your interest to do it. German autobahns outside the cities often have no speed limit. Sounds great, you may say BUT the autobahn is often 2 lanes that go over the topology of the land with not much visibility into the distance. Whilst you may overtake at 60mph, the high powered sports mobile 3 miles away but doing 180mph cannot see you or you him until it is dangerously close and he is flashing the headlights furiously to say "verlassen Sie eine meine Weise!"

If you've ever wondered by German car companies are pioneers in car safety features such as ABS, Stability control or airbags, then just drive on a German Autobahn. When you brake at high speeds in crappy Winter weather and visibility, you need every accessory including a rosary. On the otherhand, in Germany is it against the law to undertake on the autobahn. They are also big into cameras and even use it to measure how close you are to a car whilst driving at speed. Too close and you'll get a ticket in the post.

I'd love to get Motorbike again but am hesitant to get one in Houston due to the poor standard of driving and not being a cat, I only have 1 life: There are simply so many people gabbing on their cells, I've seen a few texting, redneck drivers who switch across 4 lanes from fast lane to exit last minute, bubbleheads putting on their makeup whilst driving.

In self reflection into my newly discovered driving piousness, perhaps I am suffering from the Lake Wobegon effect and overestimate my achievements and capabilities in relation to others.

After surveying drivers, the Swedish researcher Ola Svenson found that 80% of respondents rated themselves in the top 30% of all drivers.

Coming from Europe, I MUST be in that 30%. After all, We Europeans are superior in everything and Welsh are best at everything!! Scrub that, after I think about European track record in the last few decades, I'll settle for being in the 80% of the 30% instead.

Are the Europeans really the best drivers in the world? Hell no. From the 2003 Darwin Awards I quote:

A 27-year-old French woman lost control of her car on a highway near Marseilles and crashed into a tree, seriously injuring her passenger and killing herself. As a commonplace road accident, this would not normal qualify for a Darwin nomination, were it not for the fact that the driver's attention had been distracted by her electronic "Tamagotchi" key ring, which had started urgently beeping for food while she drove along the highway. In an attempt to press the correct buttons to save the "Tamagotchi's" life, the woman lost her own.

Drive in Southern Europe (especially Naples) to see what bad driving it like and just look at the mortality rates on german autobahns. Restrictions on Speed laws in Germany is comparable to gun controls in US. No gain but plenty of pain to any politican proposing it.

I would love for the Texas driving standards to be improved upon. Apparently according to the autochannel, Houston is not the worst city for least courteous drivers but ranks # 11 ! Miami holds #1 spot with NY, Boston, LA, DC being next in line. (After reading this, I guess I should count my blessings).

If I look back at my own driving record, my driving standard has changed with age.

When I was younger, I would drive pedal to the metal on freeways whenever I could but as I get older and with some speeding tickets behind me, I tend to stay within speed limits.

I had mobile phone in my car in 90's and whilst talking on a trip at night, I almost drove through some construction as I was not paying attention. That was a big lesson: I no longer talk on the phone whilst driving as I can't do two things at once. Europe has mostly banned use of mobile whilst driving. I wonder when US will catch up.

So as I get older, I may finally be able to cast that first stone and graduate to the 30% club. However, getting older has it's problems and good track record is not a predictor of future ones. "Fiesta driver, 93, wrecks two Porsches Daily Telegraph"

If you are going to have an accident after 76 years of incident-free motoring, you might as well do it in style - though that was the last thing on Jack Higgs's mind as he hurtled towards two Porsches. The 93-year-old, who had received not so much as a parking ticket since he began driving at 17, caused £60,000 worth of damage to the two sports cars after losing control of his Ford Fiesta.
Mr Higgs, a retired Pentecostal minister, was parking next to a Porsche showroom when his car shot backwards. First, his 13-year-old hatchback hit a gleaming red Carrera II which acted as a ramp, causing Mr Higgs's car to flip over on to a silver Porsche 911 parked alongside. Staff in the showroom ran outside to be confronted by a scene of wreckage and Mr Higgs hanging upside down by his seatbelt in his overturned car. Dave Coombs, a dealer at the showroom in Penarth, near Cardiff, said on Monday: "It was amazing. We could hardly believe our eyes at the damage. "He managed to get himself free and walked out without a scratch. But the Porsches were a real mess.

"There was glass and bits of broken metal everywhere, but Jack is such a gentleman he asked for a sweeping brush to help clear them up. "But we walked him to his home for a cup of sweet tea while the breakdown trucks arrived to tow away the cars. "I'm not too concerned about the cars - what matters is that Jack survived which is incredible considering his great age."
The widower is well-known to staff at the garage, RS Porsche, because he lives next door. He is allowed to drive across the forecourt to reach his garage almost every day - something he has been doing for the last 45 years without any hitches.

He cannot explain how he managed to lose control of his car and smash into the pristine Porsches on this occasion. One of the cars was a write-off while the other was badly damaged and will need extensive repairs. Both cars were privately owned and were in the garage for servicing. The cost of Mr Higgs's first accident in 76 years was put at £60,000 - which will be met by his insurance company.
His blue Fiesta, worth £600, was also a write-off but it will not matter because the pensioner has decided to quit the roads. Mr Higgs, who has driven more than half-a-million miles in his lifetime, said on Monday: "I can't understand it, nothing like this has happened to me before.
"I've been driving since I was 17, have a clean licence and have never even picked up so much as a parking ticket. I just don't know what happened except that I lost control as I was reversing and suddenly I had hit the cars. "The next thing I knew I was hanging upside down in my car thanking my lucky stars I was still alive." Mr Higgs was given the all-clear after being checked over by paramedics. He added: "It was a miracle I got out alive and I put it down to the power of prayer and God looking after me.

"But that's it - the end of my driving career, I'm never driving again. I'll have to get lifts or go on the bus in future."

The future stares me in the face: From life in fast lane to life in the bus lane. I wonder if people can get bus rage?

Still is Texas really a laggard in traffic laws. No, not according to an article on LeftLaneNews where if it does come to fruition, it would be something I applaud.

Texas is considering raising the speed limit on two major interstate highways to match how most motorists drive. The state's director of traffic operations, Carlos Lopez, said research found that 85th percentile speed of traffic was 79 mph. Thus, speed limits are likely to raise from 75 mph to 80 mph. The Texas Department of Public said raising the limit to conform to the speed the majority of drivers travel will make roads safer. "If people begin to think that the number on the sign is unreasonable, then they won't respect it," Lopez said. "Just putting up a lower number on the highway isn't going to slow down traffic."

Now there are two groups who will not like such a new law: 1st is the the Texas Cities that rely on speeding tickets as a revenue generator. They really really love bad drivers. The 2nd is the insurance companies.

Phileas Fogg,
Houston, Texas

Who's a pretty f***ing boy ?

2008-04-12T21:41:00.018-05:00

78 Oaston Rd, Nuneaton, Warwickshire in England is home to a celebrity which with one phone call or letter, you can arrange a visit. The celebrity is known as Barney and very popular with the chicks.

Like Paris Hilton, Barney is famous for being famous.

Like Paris Hilton, Barney is guilty of bad behaviour: Paris is into home made blue movies; Barney is into home made blue language.

You see, Barney is a much publicised parrot with a colourful vocabulary, where the BBC, Telegraph, the Sun, Daily Mail and many other media ran stories about him and his extraordinary words use.

Let me enlighten you courtesy of Metro.co.uk

Meet Barney, the parrot with a mouth so foul he'd make pirate captain Jack Sparrow blush.

Bad boy Barney – who once told a vicar to f*** off – has taught a pair of impressionable pals at his animal sanctuary how to swear.

Staff had been careful to mind their p's and q's so parrots Sam and Charlie would not turn the air African blue.

But owner Geoff Grewcock said: 'It sounds like a builders' yard sometimes when we come in here, what with all the abuse flying about.

'They just sit there swearing at each other now, all kind of foul language – it's unbelievable. I am obviously going to have to be very careful about introducing other birds into the house now I know we have got a secret teacher.'

He said the terrible trio's favourite rude words were 'f*** off', 'b*****ks' and 't**s'.

'We also have to turn the television up a lot of the time because we can't hear it over all the swearing', he added.

Macaw Barney's most shocking outburst was when he told a mayoress, vicar and two police officers to 'f*** off' and called them 'w******' when they visited Warwickshire Wildlife Sanctuary in Nuneaton.

He was put in solitary confinement as punishment but the seven-year-old has refused to clean up his act – despite being taken to a language specialist.

Mr Grewcock added: 'These birds can live until they are 70 so there are potentially another 60 years of this to contend with.'

Parrot expert Rob Harvey said birds usually talk to get the attention of their owners. He added: 'This case is so unusual because parrots are copying another parrot.'

Next time I am in the UK, I'll look up Barney at his home at Nuneaton Wildlife sanctuary. You know, have a beer, share some peanuts, get his clawtograph.

From what I read on their website, there is a another celebrity in the making : Roxy the fox, who thinks she is a dog.

Now if only Roxy could learn to bark in profanities along the lines of "Bugger off. show me your T**ts." Afterall, we've heard of animals catching Bird flu. Perhaps Dogs, I mean Foxes who think they are dogs, can catch Bird Tourette's syndrome.

NOTE: For those who wish to help, The Nuneaton Warwickshire Wildlife Sanctuary is a charity. If you want to help, please make a donation.

Phileas Fogg
Houston, Texas,
April 12th, 2008

YOU ARE GROUNDED !!!

2008-04-11T22:03:00.031-05:00

As a man who has been around the world in 80 days, How could I not comment about what happened this week?
Commenting on what, Mr. Fogg?

The exciting college basketball final? No, I didn't watch it.

The Democratic Pres beauty contest? No, there's enough column inches on that. Off topic but there's a skit waiting to happen with the swimsuit portion of this contest: Hillary in a postage stamp top and a thong, Barack in a spedo or Vice versa. URGHG. Don't go there. I need to wash my brain in bleach

The Fuel prices going up? No, but I intend to comment on it at a later time.

OK I give in. So, what's the story Morning Glory?

The American Airlines maintenance fiasco.

Ah that. I heard something about it. So what's up there? Well, to paraphrase Churchill, it is a puzzle wrapped in an enigma.

Huh? It relates to all the cancelled flights due to Federal mandated maintenance and identifying who is to blame.

OK, I'm with you so far. With 300,000 people stranded, the press has been laying into American Airlines. CNN Interviews with pissed off people, many vouching never to fly AA again. Blah, blah, blah. Yeh, I heard that.

According to TRAVEL WEEKLY 10th April, "Gerard Arpey, American Airlines' CEO, said he takes "full personal responsibility" for the cancellation of nearly 2,500 flights over the past three days." That is very magnanimous Mr CEO but I'm more sceptical of this being a one person leadership issue.

Dig deeper and it is about FAA changing the goalposts after criticism from Congress on being too buddy buddy with the airlines of safety inspections.

You'll also find out that the issue with the wheel wiring has been there since 18 months and suddenly, the FAA plays hardball. AA are unable to publicly fight back as it is a perception issue: Nobody can ever criticise "SAFETY" precautions as they'll be perceived as being lax on safety. Could the wheel inspections been speeded up, absolutely. Was it a show stopper ? Probably not but nobody will go on the record and say that. There is all pain but no gain in that. Feds come across as blameless but they not.

What is not being discussed is the vintage of aircraft that US carriers fly. I don't know if you noticed but these are MD80's. I am not saying that there is anything wrong with MD80's but they are well, pretty old. Come to think of it, you are right there.

Modern aircraft are Boeing or Airbus. Being familiar with Reliability, the older the machinery, the more it comes nearer it's wareout stage so maintenance is going to be more costly. Beside, modern aircraft should have better designs for safety.

Are the US carriers upgrading their fleet in the near future? I'd like to say yes but with fuel prices going north and credit crisis peeling away everyday, it is unlikely. They will be cash strapped.

At this moment, I don't seek out a particular aircraft to fly on. However, on board I do notice the quality and features of the aircraft. I recently flew Lufthansa on a new airbus which had the toilets downstairs from the main cabin. This avoided queues in the aisle after the post-meal rush. I also flew Virgin and enjoyed it's in flight entertainment system. My BA inflight system was also pretty good. However, I've flown Continental, their in flight systems suck (as well as their food).

I have had two recent experiences with Continental and maintenance problems. 1st was when my flight from Hawaii to Guam was delayed when electrical system had a fault just as were were taxi-ing away from our gate. So why was that a issue? The bummer was that we couldn't de-board and AC was out and Hawaii was a pretty hot place: Pretty sweaty, pretty quickly, not so pretty, if you know what I mean! My second experience, was last saturday when flight to Detroit was delayed by four hours due. The cause, the no show of the plane due to maintenance. It was frustrating at depart time changed from 10:20 to 11:00 to 11:30 to 12:30 to 1:15 to 1:30 to 2:45.
So, after probably 10's millions of dollars in lost revenue and 300,000 discontented passengers disrupted in their lives, tarnished reputations all around, is the Maintence policy of an aircraft a marketing thingy? You mean a competitive advantage? Uhm, I guess so.

No. I'd argue it is an enabler but a competitive disadavantage if you don't have it.

Could you expand on that? I am not going to select my flight based on a company that has a good maintenance record. However, it is going to influence my decision over a competitor that has a poor policy. Even though Houston is a hub for Continental, I do look at alternatives to not fly with them.

Bottom line : I am prepared to pay some premium to an airline that is more enjoyable to fly with, spacier seats, offers me a free beer, gets me there on time. Oh yeh. I just received a text from someone in Terminal 5 - see previous - it would be nice to have my luggage with me.

Thank you Mr. Fogg for the conversation, Sorry but I must dash. I have a flight to catch.

Not if you are flying AA you ain't....

Phileas Fogg,
Houston, Texas
April 12th, 2008

BTW: The Chicago Times has a great article on this which discuss the complex issues.

The TSA and it's Honey Pot Sting

2008-04-06T13:48:00.006-05:00

The other week, the TSA was in the news about requiring a Lubbock passenger to remove her nipple rings before she could fly. Since one of the rings was 'stuck', she allegedly had to remove it with pliers. A demand for public apology emanated and a big hue and cry emanated. Oh, the humanity. If Mandi Hamlin was so publicly humiliated, why did she subsequently go on the news networks? Oh yes, the talk of a civil action lawsuit about 'rights being violated'.

Yes, yes, yes, security like safety, is necessary and important but I struggle to like the TSA or their international equivalents. My beef is that I rarely see them helping the traveler. I guess this is where the alternative name for TSA “Thousands Standing Around” comes from.

I was at the airport this Saturday morning - a quiet day - but all four lines were going painfully slow with queues backed up. The bottleneck was the stack of trays at the output of the Xray machines. There were plenty of TSA personnel but they weren't they helping clear the line. They could have moved some bins. At the same time, I overheard a few bitching about when they could take their break but were oblivious to the people they are supposedly serving.

Earlier, I watched a TSA checker give a family a hard time about the bottle contents that the baby was drinking from. Of course, the baby cried when the liquid was poured out in order to go proceed and boy what a howl he had.

It is not just the US but the UK and Germany have similar issues with queues and bizarre security rules.

In the UK, there is one particular recent stupid rule that you can only have 1 piece of hand luggage to enter into the security area. One time in Gatwick, I had a laptop bag and a camera case around my neck. I was told that camera had to go inside my already full laptop back or into my check in. I know people who had stuff stolen from check in luggage so that wasn't an option. Anyhow, I managed to stuff it into one and after security it went into 2 seperate carry on items again. Absolutely stupid.

Another stupid idea the UK is playing around is Fastlane for security at Liverpool airport. Essentially you pay $4 to go through another lane that has no lines in it. Great idea except that you've already paid security fees in your airport taxes. Another thing is this arrangement has diverted capacity out of the existing facilities, so the non-fast lane are even more backed up resulting in people missing flights even if they arrived 2 hours earlier. Heck of a job Brownie.

The US also has fastlane at airports but these are associated with frequent flier programs. If an airline ticket includes same air taxes why is that a marketing program by the airlines translates to favoured treatment by Public servants? If Airline picks up the tab so be it but if the tax payer is, then I am against it. I say the let frequent fliers or business class have the same misery as the rest of us.

As for Germany. Wow, try catching a US bound flight from Frankfurt. The screeners here are particularly skilled in anti-customer service. I have watched Xray lines not moving because of no plastic bins at input, the screeners are standing around talking and their sister lines getting their plastic bins. Here I heared important security conversations similar to our TSA: “Ach scheiss. Ich bin so gelangweilt. Wann ist meine Pause?”

Rewind a week or so, and I was the subject of a liquid violation in my hand luggage. It was busted carrying a jar of honey that I'd bought from a farmhouse. The farmer assured me that plenty of travelers had bought honey from him so it wouldn't be a problem. Au contraire Mr. Farmer. I was given a strict telling off by the TSA : “Sir, honey is a liquid and NOT allowed”. I would have to check it in. 6$ to miss my flight, no thanks. As they walk away I watched them show my illicit counterband to their colleagues and by the raised eyebrows and smiles, I could see that my farmhouse honey would be enjoyed during their hallowed break.

Bah, foiled again by the TSA.

Being the scheming rebel that I am, I've wondering how I could get around the honey ban on my carry on. I read the TSA website and solids are not part of the ban.

AHA, I have an idea: Refrigerate my honey to make it solid. Of course there practicalities to iron out such as rushing to the airport before the honey melts but I'll work out that at a later date.

However, that idea falls down on the technicality that I am sure they'd get me with the gel category. I can see it now being pulled up again with words of “Sir. Frozen Honey is a gel and NOT allowed”.

Not wanting to make TSA's break any more pleasurable, it's back to the drawing board.

EUREKA. I have it. The answer lies in Ms Hamlin's humiliation.

I will refrigerate my honey then sculpt them into body jewelry. Not only that I'll fly business class ticket to fast track the lines before it returns to room temperature. My supercooled jewelry will pass XRAY and I'll get to take my honey on board.

Better still, if it is confiscated again, I will cry “Civil Rights” violation and my lawsuit would make me rich. The payoff would buy me honey for life.

HAHA I say and I assume a Doctor Evil pose with my evil pinky finger in my mouth.

There's only one minor flaw in this plan: Persuading people to eat my honey that have been next to my body parts.

I give in. I will have to check it in after all. You've beaten me down TSA:Phileas Fogg loves Big Brother.

Phileas Fogg
Houston, Texas
April 06 2008

Zip Codes

2008-04-03T21:33:00.011-05:00

I was recently on standby for my flight back to Houston. Despite repeated calls on the intercom, the last remaining passanger did not turn up at the gate. Tough luck for him, horray for me.

Instructions were given to remove the luggage and I was given ok to proceed to board.

As I walk down the ramp, I brace myself for the cold stares from other passengers as I would be blamed for the delay in getting off.

I see the Stewardess near the plane door - a pretty hispanic late 20 something - and she stops me before I walk up the aisle. She leans over and quietly whispers something where I caught only the first word "Sir." whisper whisper whisper whisper was the rest.

I pause and puzzle over what she just said to me.

- Thought 1: It must be my debanoir business suit and she is flirting with me, naturally mistaking me for a captain of industry instead of the corporal which I am. No, don't think so.

- Thought 2: Surely, she hasn't the gall to rebuke me for holding everyone up. It didn't sound like 'wtf are you doing dumbass?'. Nah, this is Continental not Ryan Air.

Hmm. What could Whisper whisper whisper whisper be?

Oh. The penny drops and in a flash I understand what she'd said: "Sir. Your flies are undone."

ARGHHH. Crash and burn time as I turn around, take care of the situation and sheepishly go to my seat.

:)

Phileas Fogg,
Houston, Texas
3rd April 2008

Lincoln woz here

2008-03-28T17:01:00.019-05:00

"I've been everywhere, man. I've been everywhere, man. Crossed the deserts bare, man. I've breathed the mountain air, man. Of travel I've had my share, man. I've been everywhere". Johnny Cash.

Last week, I paid a visit to Marshall, Illinois. As I crossed the state line from Indiana, I saw a “Welcome to Illinois, the Land of Lincoln” sign.

Later in the day, I drove to Jasper, Indiana. As I changed state back into Indiana, I spied a sign “Welcome to Indiana, Boyhood place of Lincoln".

A day later, I went into Louisville, Kentucky and at the Ohio river lo behold, I saw “Welcome to Kentucky, birthplace of Lincoln”.

Hmm, Bit of a Lincoln love fest going on in this part of the world, thinks I and man did he get around. When looking for trends "Once is unlucky, twice is careless and three times is a pattern". I counted three already.

The obvious next place that could link him the a 'welcome sign' would be DC (yeh, yeh, I know it is not a state), “Welcome to DC, death place of Lincoln”. Though come to think of it, it wasn't very welcoming night in the Ford Theater was it but it would be very apt, with the shootings of modern day Washington DC.

Out of curiousity, I looked up history on Honest Abe's life and read that he had some connection to Lousianna. So, The Pelican state can also add Lincoln to their sign. That now makes five.

Also with Mount Rushmore being in South Dakota, so that is six, it can have "Welcome....getting ahead of Lincoln".

But what about the newer states who cannot complete with the tenuous Lincoln connection? How will they attract tourist who look for a Linc's link in their requirements?

I guess not unless they get creative. Some suggestions:

- Welcome to Hawaii, Lincoln's Pacific dream.

- Welcome to Alaska: Lincoln simply would have loved our crabs.

On the otherhand, I don't think I will see: “Welcome to South Carolina, Lincoln whopped our ass”. So this pattern of linking all states to Lincoln just ain't gonna hunt.

However, It would have been the ultimate irony if Washington DC's tourist board slogan for the year 1865 was: "Welcome to Washington DC. What happens in DC, stays in DC".

Phileas Fogg,
Houston, Texas
30 March 2008

Terminal illness

2008-03-28T16:59:00.017-05:00

The Schadenfreud side of me came out when I heard BBC world service news hour talking about the launch of Heathrow's Terminal 5 opening and how it has been a right old British cock up.
T5 has been 20 years in planning and cost around $9B. It was to be used exclusively by British Airways and it would lead to a renaissance of Heathrow Airport.

After the big fanfare came the reality: Cancelled flights; long delays; lost luggage and confusion.

BA is blaming BAA. BAA is blaming BA. BA,BAA black sheep have you lost my bags, yes sir, yes sir, three flights full....

Passengers were confused with people swearing never to fly British airways again. British press and their headline writers are having a field day and this is ideal rant about the demise of British reputation. I am frankly appaled - UK reputation was already in the doldrums.

I'm LMAO as I type this, not at misery of the travelers but at the hubris of the cheifs who predicted a bright new future but are instead eating ample amounts of humble pie.

British Management, planning and big events do not go together. Britain is the land of the Professional Amateurs and proud of it. Instead, UK needs professional professionals and embarrased by the stupid sh1t which gets accepted. Project manager (outside software) needs to be a certified job itself and companies should not be run by the accountants.

My'laud, I present the case for the prosecution.

Exhibit A: I present The Millineum Dome 'regarded by press as a flop. badly thought out, badly executed, and leaving the government with the embarrasing question of what to do with afterwards'. Famous words by Tony Blair "In the Dome we have a creation that, I believe, will truly be a beacon to the world". Take a look at her Maj's face at the Y2K party. Classic. Bhwahh ! Btw: I particularly enjoyed reading about the Dome fiasco in Alistair Cambell's diary. This is an excellent book and highly recommended.

Exhibit B: The London Eye (aka Millenium Wheel). "It was opened by the Prime Minister, Tony Blair, at 20:00 GMT on December 31, 1999, although it was not opened to the public until March 2000 because of technical problems. Since its opening, the Eye, operated by Merlin Entertainments but sponsored by British Airways, has become a major landmark and tourist attraction".

Your worship and members of the jury, this is a pattern with BA.

Exhibit C: The Zero worshiping. I would like to enter into the court records one character, Eddie "the Eagle" Edwards. Although holding the lofty title of British National Ski-jumping Record holder, and the sole British applicant, for the 1988 Winter Olympics ski-jumping competition. His achievement was finishing last in 70m and 90m. Mr Edwards was 20 pounds heavier than nearest contestant and extremly short sighted that his glasses would steam up. "In response to the Edwards phenomenon, in 1990, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) instituted what became known as the Eddie the Eagle Rule, which requires Olympic hopefuls to compete in international events and place in the top 30 percent or the top 50 competitors, whichever is the lesser". In British slang, Your honour, Mr Edwards, is widely known in the vernicular as a prize plonker.

Exhibit D: The Dunkirk Spirit. This often tounted event as a proud moment was actually part of a huge military defeat. Here is a great article on this. "The reality, of course, was that Dunkirk was a monumental defeat. Historians have called the image of the evacuation which grew up in Britain ‘the necessary myth’ – necessary to maintain morale, but not true. When the navy tried to take the troops from the beaches, the boats became stuck on the mud, so the idea was abandoned – most soldiers were evacuated, not from the beaches, but by ferry from Dunkirk. Small craft only became involved after 31 May, and only evacuated 25,000 men (a tiny proportion)."

Exhibit E: Northern Rock. This was UK's 5th largest mortgage company but had to be nationalized recently. The idjiots had overlent to anybody with a pulse and taxpayers are on the hok. So much for the Ex-chancellor's solid performance of the Economy.

My laud. In summary, I have presented the case that UK is guilty of the heinous crime of 1st degree hubris.

Being the of merciful nature, I and my fellow accusers request that Britain be judged lightly in terms of illness. It has assumed multiple false characters, one of which is competence.

An institutionalised sentence for treatment is requested based on previous good behaviour.
I rest my case.

Phileas Fogg,
Contintal CO 5571
28th March 2008

5 Star mirth at the 3 star Hotel

2008-03-22T23:29:00.023-05:00

Normally trip memories are about the destination. It is not often one leaves with a favorable impression of a 3 star rated hotel.

My expectations for such a hotel are somewhere to dump my stuff, good WiFi connections, a comfy bed and hopefully, somewhere to get a beer. Every hotel claims it's staff are friendly but many just go through the motions.

It was therefore, a pleasant surprize to stay in "Fire and Ice" Hotel in Cape Town in early february.

I selected the hotel from guidebooks and it was plus to see it as one of the of the cheaper and available hotels on expedia (btw it was cheaper to book through the UK site rather than US - topic of a future discussion I am sure). If I remember right, Time Out guide to Cape Town had a good review with a picture on the climbing wall on the outside.

When I checked in I gave my last name, the receptionist without looking, gave me back my full name. Perhaps they'd had a good memory or my driver had secretely phoned ahead. Either way it was a slight "Wow" as I wasn't expecting it.

My room was on 1st floor and had a very comfortable double bed. Since it was just myself staying in the room, it was great for me. Some couples with a lot of luggage may find it a bit cramped but I was cool with it. It comes with a safe and electrical socket at the desk takes UK plugs. (I'd didn't see this until a day later and after I'd bought a SA electicity adaptor. Duh!!)

On the map, the hotel appears to be a distance from Waterfront which is the main tourist trap of Capetown. However it is only a few minutes taxi drive and cost ~30 Rand to get there from the hotel and 50 rand back from VA taxi rank.

I thoroughly enjoyed my stay here. It is very 'young' in it's attitude, design and clientel.

The staff are friendly, attentive but also fun. Having checked in on saturday morning, I was stepping out to go exploring and there leaving the lobby, was the saturday group about to go climbing the wall. The staff accompanying the group were trying very hard to get me to join in. I watched for a while - it is bigger in real life - and went about my way. (36C was too hot for me.) The same friendly staff would later regularly 'shoot the breeze' over the week.

The design of the hotel was very 'modern'. It is almost an attraction in itself. The bar is a popular scene for the younger crowd and the restuarant has a very good calibre of food. I ate dinner there twice : The gourmet burgers - I had the Cogniac burger - are a delicious.

The pool area is small but memorable in that the pool side is part of the restuarant window. You can see into the swimming pool ! There is also a good view of Table mountain from the pool.

The elevators are worthy of a mention where one has been designed to appear as if you are in a shark cage.

Finally, I have to mention the toilets and the smoking room near the bar area. WTF you may say? Yep, check out the toilets and the smoking room.

The smoking room is called "the Coughing room" and seats are white coffins. Look up at the ceiling and you'll see a picture of a funeral where you are now down in the grave. The best incentive I've ever seen on giving up.

The toilets...There a 6, each with it's own design. "TO LET" was 1st and Covered in signs of TO LET. A very punny joke. The other 5 were had frosted glass on doors named:-

- Long Drop
- Stage Fright
- Out House
- Lou Rawls
- Temptation

I uploaded to google a short video of this hotel which shows these.

Maybe it is my sense humour but I really got a kick from this hotel and especially, it's "designer" toilets.

Good job F&I. I'd recommend ya as a stay.

Phileas Fogg,
March 29 2008
Houston, Texas

This is a rather belated blog but I've been monkeying with some video software to accompany the article.

When a Picture paints a 1000 (cuss) words

2008-03-22T19:37:00.013-05:00

The advantage of digital photography is that you can see your pictures without having to wait for prints and then to find that

a) people were blinking
b)you'd cut off their heads c) the dog behind was taking a whiz so spoiling your shot, or in my case
d) you'd taken many days of photo's only to find the SLR camera didn't have any film in it.

The disadvantage with digital is that they are easy to loose, especially for such a scatterbrain as I. Since coming into the digital camera age, I've lost some good photo memories of Central Europe vacation, family holiday in North Florida and recently, a New York trip. I've also lost a flash card with days of good pictures on a train to Munich from alps which had fallen out of my bag.

The former two were on a desktop that I gave to my step daughter but as it turned out, I hadn't transfered those pictures to my external hard drive before I gave it to her. (I could swear I had but they are not there). When I recently asked if she still had files, turned out she had reformated the disk taking my pictures with them.

The NY trip was my own fault. I cleared the flash in my camera where I'd assumed I'd transfered. I hadn't so was no sure what I was thinking. I was lucky in that Mary had her own camera and I had transfered a few, so we hadn't lost everything.

I'm not the only one. A friend of mine lost all his photo's including a Peru adventure after a PC crash.

Since them, I've been religously transfering my photo's to Google via Picassa account. It is a good deal - 1Gb is free - assuming Google keep it like that. Who knows, Google may actually look at where they are spending money with no return

However, there is one problem that film or digital will not help out on : I am not particularly photogenic unlike Mary whose is shown in one of the few NY pictures that I took and still have.

Phileas Fogg,
Houston, Texas
22nd March 2008

It's a small world afterall

2008-03-22T14:30:00.020-05:00

it's a world of laughter, a world of tears
its a world of hopes, its a world of fear
there's so much that we share
that its time we're aware
its a small world after all.

Profound words by "Richard M. and Robert B. Sherman" and according to Wikipeadia, apparently it is has become the most translated and performed song on earth. I'd also add the most f'ing annoying.

I bring this up as it occuring to me that as Patrick (now 2) grows up, we will be doing more and more of the kids stuff with respect to vacations. Camping, fishing and bike riding sound great.

Disneyland or Disneyworld is probably going to on that list somewhere. I've been to the one in California (I can't be bothered to remember if is 'land' or 'world' and I've been told many times) with Mary and her eldest daughter, Alexis (then 14) and can't say it was my cup of tea. No indeedee. It was my nightmare trip.

One thing I remember was the 'small world' ride. ARGHH. The thought of having to repeat it brings me out in a hot sweat. Instead of sending the terr'ists to Gitmo and waterboarding them, they should send them to Disney, tie them up and loop them around on that 'ride'. Huh, I recon they'd be confessing to everthing. Being the caring sharing PC guy I am, I updated the picture with a Saudi doll. The shameless hussies were showing too much flesh.

Thus, I am looking at alternatives to Californa or Orlando. If I MUST do Disney, then maybe we can combine it with Europe trip. At least in Paris, we can do other things in vicinity and Disney Europe caved to local sensitivities by allowing wine to be sold onsite. Horrors of horrors ! That means I can get some wine to fortefy me before hand. Plan B if I drink enough, I'll may join in the lyrics in traditional British style : The more razzed up you are, the better the singer you think you are.

The other alternative is Disneyland HongKong (Annoying music alert. Click on link with care or mute) . Along the same lines, I must visit an area then an entire trip is not ruined. But HK is a long time to spend on an airplane with children so maybe not. Europe is not as I can merge it with otherthings. Such as wine..

Decisions, decisions but it's a small world afterall.

Phileas Fogg,
Houston, Texas
22nd March 2008

Absence makes the heart grow stronger

2008-03-22T11:45:00.014-05:00

Last night I was looking at pictures I took during my February visit to my family in South Wales.

Even though they had not seen me for a year, my parents didn't want to do anything or visit anywhere. So I went out for day trips on my own. For those who know my parents, that it not unusual. They are stuck in their routine and becoming more elderly, makes them even more stuck in that routine. In their eyes, why go to the Gower as it is windy down there !

On one day, I took a trip to Neath Abbey -see picture- which is about 1 mile from my parents house. Here was something that I would pass everyday on my way to school and a key part of local history. As boys, we would also go finishing in the Neath canal adjacent to it. We'd get creeped out as darkness approached as we'd wanted to be anyway from. Afterall, we'd all 'heard' about it was haunted by 'the mad monk'.

However, I had not actually visited the Abbey ruin itself until well into my late 20's and when I was living in Germany. It if funny how you can have these tourist attractions in your area where you grow up but not visit them. The saying that they way to appreciate places is to leave them. I guess that has some truth to it.

Weeks later I was in London and driving past one of the museums that had a line of tourists outside. I asked the taxi driver if he had even been there and the answer 'No, I have lived here 45 years and never been. Neither have my kids. I've never thought about it. I should go someday'.

I guess it takes effort to break your routine to do these things. You say to yourself that they'll always be there but that isn't always the case.

In february 2008, a fire destroyed the 600-year-old southern gate to what was once the walled city of Seoul. This was a landmark that survived foreign invasions and wars to be designated South Korea’s top national treasure and shocked the nation. A 69-year-old man suspected of setting the fire was arrested.

Back in Houston, I think of all the places I've wanted to but not actually taken the effort to. I've never been the Fine arts Museum or Contemporary Arts Museum even though I've lived literally around the block. It was always someday.

So I plan to go to Fine arts to see the Pompeii exhibition, Contemporary arts which has a strange floral mural outside and the Natural history museum to see "Lucy". But when ? Next week...perhaps.

Phileas Fogg.
Houston, Texas
22nd March 2008

Government Warning : Crucification is bad for you...

2008-03-21T09:25:00.008-05:00

Today is Good Friday and in follow up to my previous post on crucifixion to attract the tourists, the Philippines government has issued an health warning on the event. - See Daily Telegraph article to confirm I am not making this up.

"We are not trying to go against the Lenten tradition here because whipping has somewhat already become some form of ’atonement for sins’ for some of us,” Health Secretary Francisco Duque the 3rd said.

"Getting deep cut wounds during whippings or lashings is inevitable and being so exposed during the course of the penitence, with all the heat and dust blowing in the wind, welcomes all sorts of infections and bacteria like tetanus,” he explained.

In San Fernando City 23 people, including two women, have signed up to re-enact the crucifixion at three “improvised Golgothas” around town. Four of them will use real nails.

The city government’s website trumpets the preparations.

“The City Health Office (CHO) autoclaved all the nails to be used and will administer anti-tetanus vaccine to all the “Cristos” to ensure their protection from possible infection,” it points out. City officials will conduct an inspection of the Golgothas on Thursday. Some 23 people, including two women, plan to reenact the crucifixion

The festival is sponsored by Coca-cola and a company called Smart Telecommunications.

Why o Why does the Government have to meddling with everything? Next, they'll be soon saying the smoking is bad for you ! :)

By the way, click on the the picture to see more details as the tourists in the foreground. I can just see it now, "Hey you up there, smile for the camera".

Phileas Fogg,
Houston, Texas
21st March 2008

The Politics of Envy

2008-03-20T20:23:00.005-05:00

Cattle class with Continental Airlines again, going back to Houston from Honolulu. On the ground, I briefly chat to my seat mate who is a Sophomore student from Baylor University Waco, returning from Spring Break. As the conversation comes to it's natural cordial end, she informs me that her friends are up front in business class. Her parent are not 'rich enough to afford that' she says.

Wow. College is expensive enough as it is but include a spring break in Hawaii. Not only that but First Class.

On take off, I attempt some sleep. I dream of my travel during my college days.

First memory that come into my mind is the trip to Wales from North of London on my motorbike. Imagine countryside, fields of wheat, hedgerows, trees and sunny, blue sky warm weather. When you've stopped imaging that, fast forward a few months and the same fields are stubble, hedgerows and trees have no leaves. The weather is near, at or below freezing and it is windy with dark Grey skies. A near 200 mile trip now needs additional 1 hour 30 minutes because of the thaw outs every 60 mile at the service stations. I had to wear multiple pullovers and coats but it still chilled my bones. Brr. I pull my blanket over me.

I continue my dreams which drift to the trips to Paris and Amsterdam care of the 'Arts Society'. These 'Arts Society' trips were weekend bus trips subsidized by our Student Union. After these 2 trips, we had exhausted our funding and the society folded. Fun in Amsterdam when we discovered the coffee shops didn't really sell coffee.

Third dream was of the two week travel driving around Europe after graduation but before work. 3 of us driving around with no particular plan. Terry M. got the car. John C. had responsibility for getting the road maps. My job was the idea and the ferry tickets. Journey started off well with Terry and I leaving ~3:30 am when we get to John's house, we had to bang door down. John and house mates had just completed a house party. John wakes up sh'tfaced, grabs some stuff we drive to Dover and get on Ferry. We drive into Calais and at first major motorway junction I ask John for map. “Uhm, I've left it in London...”. We pretty much winged it from there based on memory map of Europe.

By now, I am fast asleep. I wake up not too much before the plane lands and as we get off, the 'orphan Annie' student who had to slum it in coach meets up her First class buddies. I was taken amazed by their “ordinary-ness”. I was expecting Paris Hilton's but instead, I was seeing Allentown Hotel 6 and Detroit Travel Lodge. They looked so cheap ! Wearing the same old branded stuff as every other teenager. I guess if they were that rich, they'd be in an Ivy League school instead of Baylor. Maybe they were flying on airmiles.

As I drive home from airport, I ask myself what is bugging me about students flying first class?

- Is it the fact that rich parents pamper their offspring by buying them this lifestyle?

- Is it that students should travel by their coach to accelerate their fiscal independence?

- Is it that students should be backpacking instead of going to Hawaii?

- Should all students travel coach to stop driving up price for business travelers?

Nope, it is not that.

- Is it even about the socioeconomic unfareness of living standards of US society compared with what I had seen in Manila and around the Philippines?

No, It is more basic than that.

I am jealous. They got to fly 1st and I didn't.

Lucky Bastards.

Phileas Fogg,
Houston, Texas
21st March 2008

Talking 'bout my generation

2008-03-20T19:12:00.024-05:00

"People try to put us down. Just because we get around". Roger Daltrey.

Today, I read an article in UK's Daily Telegraph "Drunken 'Saga louts' causing trouble abroad'".

A new breed of older Britons is drinking too much on holiday and causing the sort of trouble normally associated with the younger generation, the Foreign Office warns today.

More than one in 10 older travellers do not follow the same safety advice they would give to their children An increasing number of 50-somethings - known as "Saga louts" - are over-indulging in alcohol and food and becoming abusive to locals, an analysis of surveys shows.

For those who don't get the joke, 'saga lout' is a play on Lager louts, a term for youths drunk on lager beer and "Saga" is an UK travel firm for the over 50's.

Rania Kossiori, the British vice-consul on the Greek island of Rhodes, said: "Most problems that we see with the older generation of Brits arise from over-consumption of alcohol and food. Drinking and staying too long in the sun can make you ill and undertaking strenuous activity like going swimming or snorkelling after a large meal can put you in unnecessary danger - people have drowned this way.

I am shocked I tell ya. Brits misbehaving abroad ! Afterall, this will be the generation of the mods and rockets and later, the ORIGINAL soccer hooligans from 1970's. The music of 'Slade', and 'Ziggy Stardust'. The Times of skinheads, Lambchop sideburns and Doc Martins.

Before the US laugh too hard at theLimeys, let's take a look at our aging population. All the financial advisor commercials about Baby Boomers jumping out of airplanes in their retirement. Forgetaboutit. Too fat, Too poor, Too lazy.

The reality is all the Seniors who 'rebelled' will carry their rebillion to their retirement home. The future is of tatooed grannies trading their Hogs for powered scooters. The logo on their jacket will be modified to "Live to ride, ride to uhm, sorry my memory isn't too good these days".

The 'Tramp stamps' become 'Gramps stamps'

Perhaps we should all just f-fade away.

Phileas Fogg.
Houston, Texas.
20th March 2008

PS: and don't try dig what we all say...

The Phantom of the Operator: A Ghost call at premium rates.

2008-03-09T05:09:00.006-05:00

It is lunchtime in Baguio City, Philippines and I happen to look at my cellphone. I realize with horror that it was connected to a call. I am making a phantom call by accidentally pressing a button whilst in my pocket.

I quickly end the call and looked at call history to find out where and for how long.

Ruh Ruh as Scobby Doo would say: I had made a 90 minutes international call to my voicemail back in the US.

ARGHHH! This is going to cost me a pretty penny as it is roaming rates. Not only that but I have nobody to blame but myself.

Still luckily I see the funny side… Not.

I will tomorrow though as I add it to my alternative resume of anti-accomplishments.

Yours, kicking himself.

Phileas Fogg.
9th March 2008: Baguio City

Can you put me up for the night?

2008-03-09T05:01:00.005-05:00

When traveling I like to read local papers so it was with a raised eyebrow that I read a front page article in “The Philippine star”, Saturday March 8 edition. “19 Crucifixions set in Pampanga”

SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga – There were only three cross on Golgotha when Jesus was crucified over 2,000 years ago, but there will be a least 19 crucifixions that will take place in this town to promote the observance of Good Friday and to
attract tourists to attend the town’s “cultural heritage”.

WHAT THE…..

In a Monty Python moment, I cannot believe what I am reading.

People are going to actually crucify themselves to attract tourists. I read on. The article rapidly get’s more surreal:-

“Apart from the San Pedro Cutud crucifixions, which have been a favorite of tourists and international media on Good Fridays, the city government is asking tourists to also witness crucifixions in Barangays Sta. Lucia and San Juan.

These crucifixions have been scheduled so that tourists can witness all of them one after the other on Good Friday,” said Cing Pangilinan, public relations officer of the city governments.

With my Mouth agog by now:-

“Chairman Rene Roldan of Sta. Lucia said the rites of his area will be reenactment of the Stations of the Cross with costumed characters portraying Jesus, Mary and the apostles, Pontius Pilate, and Judas.

“The peculiar thing with our events is that Judas will be hanged while riding on a
chariot,” Roldan said.

In Barangay Cutud – where rituals will be longer with the portrayal of the entire Via Crucis or the Way of the Cross – two residents have agreed to take on the role of Dimas and Hestas, the two thieves who were crucified with Jesus on Calvary.

“No one in the past ever took these roles because local folk did not relish the idea of being thieves. Although we always had a Judas. Now we have Dimas and Hestas,” said Remigio de la Cruz, director of the Sta. Lucia activity.

While the list of volunteers for crucifixion remains open, at least 19 actual crucifixions are already expected in the three barangays.

David said he expects six in San Juan, while Roldan said he expects at least seven in Sta. Lucia, including a few women.

Hmm, equal Crucifixion rights. You don’t hear about that too often. To think Women burned their bras to end up with the right to be legally crucified.

I ask myself “Is this a trend in extreme Christian tourism?”

Perhaps the Rome tourist board will read this and follow. Just imagine the tourist mullah it would bring in: feeding Christians to the lions in the coliseum. They could even televise it.

Thinking about it, you could say that the feeding of a Pat Robertson or others in the Religious Right to poor cuddly Simba is a cruel sport. I don’t think SPCA would go with along with it.

Phileas Fogg.
Manila, Philippines
March 8, 2008

Reasons for be TEARFULL, part 3.*

2008-03-09T03:14:00.008-05:00

7th March 08: Destination Manila from Houston via Guam, via Honolulu, on the way to visit Baguio City. I am a captive of Continental airlines and the experience reminds me of the reasons why I dislike flying cattle class with any of the old school of US carriers.

Reason #1: Communication: My itinerary tells me to check in is at terminal C but when I get my boarding card, it in fact leaves from terminal E. No big deal but I get to my flight just as it is boarding. I would have liked the time to have checked my emails.

I board and 15 minutes later, a fellow passenger arrives in my middle row seat but he is sweating, out of breath and looking unhappy. It turns out he had also checked in at C but had to run to far end of E to catch the flight. Not good for a man of his overweight stature.

Reason #2: Attention to detail. The flight was late departing and an attendant came up and asked Mr. sweaty if he had purchased both seats. “No”. A few minutes late, another overweight passenger, this time an older women who was looking very flustered came up looking for our row. I helped her get her bag in the overhead; she steps on my foot and sits down.

To break the ice, I ask if she is going to Hawaii. “No Guam” and I then hear her story. She is traveling from Pittsburg to Guam to visit her Marine son. Son bought the ticket and requested a wheelchair in IAH on the booking. Wheelchair never turns up. Continental rep eventually gets a cart who look at ticket at take her to C14 instead of E14. (What is it about Terminal C vs. E on our seating row?) Nobody at gate and the lady eventually notices, walks up to a Continental rep who sort of organizes it by tearing a strip off an airport guy who radio’s up for help. The same cart guy, who had dropped her off, comes by to pick up old lady who previously tipped him $5. Old lady gets to gate to find it boarded already but luckily gate not closed. (I believe they would have been looking at luggage vs. people on board to pull her stuff off.). Not only that that but she had lost her aisle seat that she wanted due to her ‘Circulation problems’.

Reason #3: Drinks. I paid a few $Ks for this international flight so why do you want to charge me $5 for a crappy beer when your foreign competitors give it free. Some of the European ones even have an open bar. I decide not to give them any more money so select soft drinks only.

Reason #4: See #2. Lady neighbor falls asleep after take off and starts snoring loudly. Great.

Reason #5: Flight Entertainment selection is old or just rubbish. By the Way Continental, “Starsky and Hutch” is not current release you cheap skate bunch of penny pinching bastards. Not only that but you have to pay $1 for the headphones. Stick it.

Reason #6: See #4: The Overweight and now asleep, lady spills the cup of water that was resting on her lap. I go and get some towels for her and lie that it didn’t spill over me.

Reason #7: Food. Despite the flowery article in the in-flight magazine, the food handed out was not proudly selected or designed by a ‘top’ chef.

Lunch plate consisted of cheese pizza (heated as still in its plastic wrapper); limp lettuce (whatever happened to the ½ cherry tomato that used to be in there?), some dressing which probably would have taken away the taste of the limp lettuce, dessert of sorts (sponge topped with sugary goo) and bag of chips (aka crisps). The crisps were pretty good, the rest untouched. Even overweight lady didn’t want my leftovers.

The afternoon snack was ½ turkey sandwich, bag of carrots and bag of M&Ms. The latter two were as expected. After looking at others eating theirs, I gave a miss to the sandwich.

Some hours later and now feeling pretty hungry, ‘dinner’ has a promising ring to it. “Steak or Chicken” asked the attendant. “Steak please” only to find out from the top label it was really “Beef with Japanese Curry sauce”. (No fillet Mignon from Mr. top chef?). It gets worse in that the veg has celery in it. I can’t stand Celery. The beef was overcooked and tasteless so I ate the rice and curry sauce only. This meal also came with the same old limp lettuce with limp dressing. I guess it is a trend: a lettuce only salad.

Reason #8: See #3. I really need a beer as I am pissed off with my shitty food selection so I have to fork out $5.

Reason #9: Maintenance. Taking off from Honolulu initially didn’t happen. After firing everything up, all electrics die on us. It is hot and there is no air conditioning. One hour 30 minutes delay whilst they replace a component. Water brought around after about 30 minutes. (I am not sure if this was just unlucky of if Continental are penny pinching on their preventive maintenance schedule. The mood I am in votes penny pinching !)

Reason #10: Overbooking. All flight legs were full. When I booked in, I selected my seats to get empty ones around me. Check in also confirmed they were empty. On the Guam to Honolulu, I find another overweight lady (see #2) come last minute to fill the middle seat. Closer look showed she only had one functioning eye !

The uni-visioned one asked me to help with her luggage and sat down, asked me some questions that I asked her to repeat and when I responded, looked at me like she didn’t understand. I just thought she was slightly deaf or something. When #9 happened, she mildly freaked out and I explained things to calm her down. She nodded appropriately.

Reason #11: Linked to above, I fall asleep and have no idea if I am snoring loudly. I am shaken awake to find out it is my neighbor wanting to go to the restroom. I see that the passenger the other side is widely awake so I am pissed off that she didn’t simply ask him. I guess it was my fault by being friendly.

Reason #12: We are nearing Guam and the strange lady says something about the landing card for Guam. “No, No, thanks but I do not need one. I am not staying”. Eventually I understand that she does not have her glasses so she is unable to complete it. She wants me to do it for her. I reluctantly agree knowing deep down this is not going to be a straight forward as you’d think.

It starts off with first box, last name. The last name on boarding card does not match name on passport. “Which name do you want to use?” Blank look.

“Should I use xxxxxx or yyyyy?”. Blank look. “I suggest we use xxxxxx., the name on your passport”. “Yes, xxxxxx” she says.

First name, DOB, place of birth, everything I get from the passport until we get to “Address in Guam” so I ask her where she is staying. Blank look. “I need the hotel or address where you are staying in Guam to complete this”. Pause. “3 days” she says.

“Sorry, I don’t need how long but WHERE”. Bigger pause, “3 days”. Lordy.

I ask guy at far end of our row (He’d a fed agent as I could see his ID in top pocket) for help in case it was a dialect issue. Nope. Same non-understanding.

After discussing with the Fed., I left address blank for lady #2 to explain at immigration. For rest of questions on what she was brining with her, the devil inside me was telling me “tick yes” to smuggling of plants, stays at farms , money laundering. Although I chuckled to myself as I imagined the consequences, the angel inside me ticked “no” to such scenarios. After completion, she signed but I had to point her where.

Reason #13: Attitudes. I am guessing that it may be related to the way older staff have been messed around with pensions etc but quite a few of the stewardess no longer seem to be into their job. One over tanned and past her prime bottled blond (think “Something about Mary”) came across as particularly grumpy. I see this often when I fly with the old school. Burn out / passenger fatigue.

So was there anything positive about the flight you may ask? Yes, I got there safely (albeit 2 hours late) and I got some reward miles out of it and probably closer to next grade of premium status. The latter two are minor points as redeeming milage for a journey with this airline is not exactly inspiring me.

Ah, the romance of travel.

Phileas Fogg,
Manila, Philippines

* Adopted from “Reasons to be Cheerful, part 3” by Ian Dury and the Blockheads.

Those sophisticated Brits

2008-02-03T09:58:00.005-06:00

During my British Airways flight from IAH to LGW, I was given a free Daily Mail January 31. 2008. I've never been a fan of the Daily Mail, but since I was a captive audience, I read it nevertheless.

Deep inside the paper was an article titled “You REALLY are the Weakest link!” with subtitle “If ever proof was needed of Dumbed down Britain, these hilariously wrong answers to questions on quiz shows will make you squirm with embarrassment.”.

Many made me laugh aloud and I quote some below:

Alex Trelinski: What is the capital of Italy?
Contestant: France
Trelinski: France is another country. Try again.
Contestant: Oh,um.
Benidorm.
Trelinski: Wrong, sorry, let's try another question. In which country is the parthenon.
Contestant: Sorry, I don't know.
Trelinski: Just guess a country then.
Contestant: Paris.
TV program : Late Show (BBC Midlands)

Presenter: What happened in Dallas on November 22, 1963?
Contestant: I don't know. I wasn't watching it then.
Radio GMR FM,Bristol.

Jamie Theakston: Where do you think Cambridge University is?
Contestant: Geography isn't my strong point.
Theakston: There's a clue in the title
Contestant: Leicester.
TV Program: Beg, Borrow or Steal(BBC2)

Searle: In which European country is Mount Etna?
Caller: Japan.
Searle: I did say which European country, so in case you didn't hear that, I
can let you try again.
Caller: Er...Mexico.
Radio : Chris Searle Show(BBC Radio Bristol)

Tufnell: How many Olympic games have been held?
Contestant: Six.
Tufnell: Higher.
Contestant: Five.
TV Program: Simply the Best (ITV)

Kelly: Which French Mediterranean town host a famous film festival every year?
Contestant: I need a clue.
Kelly: OK. What do beans come in?
Contestant: Cartons?
Danny Kelly Show: (Radio WM)

Forsyth: What is India's currency?
Contestant: Ramadan.
Janice Forsyth show (BBC Radio Scotland)

The Mail is positioning this as “PERFECT proof that Britain is dumbing down comes from the toe curlingly embarrassing answers given by many contestants on TV and radio general knowledge quiz shows”.

Yep, that sounds pretty compelling case by the Mail, the Brits are getting stupider.

Horror of horrors. My sophisticated Brit accent is suddenly going to loose it's air of authority. Opening my mouth will paint me as a George W Bush.

Wait a minute. I revisited the "evidence". An item pricked my attention:-

Gasgoigne: What was Gandhi's first name?
Contestant: Goosey?
TV Program:University Challenge

YES it is funny but University Challenge has been presented by Jeremy Paxton (Gasgoigne was original) since 1994 ! Thus much of this stuff is over 14 years old. Busted, Daily Mail!

So who is really dumbing down ? I'd vote the Daily Mail but they've always been this way: I guess another slow news day and so let's fill up 2 pages with lazy "reporting". I am surprised the Mail didn't blame Labour Government Education policy for the decline in standards.

I am not sure why British Airways give out this crappy paper but it is not one of their travel benefits. Give me a UK broadsheet please.

By the way, credit from these quotations should not go to the Mail. They lifted them from http://www.mansized.co.uk/ or http://www.jumpingjacksbar.com/

Phileas Fogg
January 31st 2008
North Atlantic

Vedi Napoli e poi Muori: See Naples and Die

2008-01-14T20:05:00.002-06:00

I've been accused of talking trash many times in my days so this time I'm going to write about the literal mess in Naples, Italy. From NPR's Morning Edition "Naples, Italy Trashed by Garbage Crisis":

Garbage is piling up on the streets of Naples, Italy. Residents are angry about uncollected rubbish and battle police over access to a dump believed to be a serious health hazard. The crisis has become a national scandal for Italy.

Concerns were being expressed about burning of the trash and it potentially leeching into the food supply. Of particular concern was the dairy products where Mozzarella cheese comes from the region.

Another NPR program, All things considered, explained the background "Many Think Mafia Involved in Naples Trash Crisis"

The Italian city of Naples is suffocating under mountains of garbage. All the local dumps are full, and many Neapolitans believe Camorra, a mafia organization with huge economic power and political influence, is behind the crisis.

All the local dumps are full, and many Neapolitans believe Camorra, a mafia
organization with huge economic power and political influence, is behind the
crisis.

Roberto Saviano, the author of a griping and brutal account of how the Camorra works, has carefully studied the nuts and bolts of the group's waste-management business. It allows northern regions, like Tuscany and Umbria, to remain bucolic, while illegally dumping their waste at low costs in the south.

The Camorra has disposed of all kinds of dangerous toxic wastes from northern companies — printer toners, residues from leather tanneries, harmful dusts from pharmaceutical companies. That gets mixed with cement, non-metal car parts and even the remains of the dead from paupers' graves (which have to be disposed of every 50 years).

Saviano says anti-mafia investigators estimate the Camorra's turnover in illegal waste management alone is close to a billion dollars a year. In a region where there are no high-tech incinerators, more and more agricultural land has been bought up for landfills, and medical research has shown the region's soil is increasinly poisonous — the long-term effects of which can only be guessed at.

Around the same time, mainstream media reported the same story where the landfills are now full and there are some pretty shocking picture of trash mountains, trash burning and locals rioting in protest.

The Italians I know, are acutely embarrassed by the images. Perodi, Italy's leader, has called in the soldiers.

The European Union, has 'threatened' Italy with fines if the situation does not improve. I am sure the hard men gangsters running Naples must be quaking in their handmade shoes over a threat from the EU.

This negative PR is unfortunate as the greater Naples areas is heavily dependent on tourism: nearby is Capri, Pompeii and the beautiful Amalfi coast.

However, Naples itself has always had a rough reputation to live down to. Guidebooks warn of youths on moped snatching bags from tourists and to be weary of pickpockets coming out of the train station

One English friend I know participated in “Staples to Naples” rally. Not one to shy away from a brawl, he swore blind never to venture in Naples again. The reason was a car brake down late at night in a Napoli neighborhood and being introduced to the local youth culture. The Peacock cops could see this all but were too scared to intervene in the rapidly worsening situation but luckily for them, they're car started before it got too nasty.

My own experiences of Naples area also relate to driving. I first visited Italy (Rieti in the Sabine Hills, East of Rome) in 1990's where after I had finished my business there, the locals asked if I was going down to Naples. Once I said “no”, they let loose a sigh of relief. Apparently, there was a ruse going on in Naples of people reversing into hired cars and claiming you had run into them for the insurance.

Some years later, I drove around Naples on way to Amalfi coast. A lasting impression was the unfinished roads and bridges to nowhere. Apparently the road was funded by EU but you'd be a braver person than me to ask whose wallet the money ended up in. (Something about horses heads and beds put me off..).

Driving in Southern Italy is an eye (and bowel) opening experience and not for the faint hearted. I have driven in Italy – Northern Italy, Central Italy, Sardinia, and Rome itself especially it's one way system and lack of formal parking– so thought I'd seen it all about Italian driving. Ah ha. No. You need to drive in South to see what is applied anarchy.

Driving out in Caserta area, I came to realize that red lights just meant slow down. It is a bit strange, going through red lights doing 50 mph (you'd previously been doing 70 !~) on advice of my British friend who lived over there.

Finally, after visiting Pompeii, I made a mistake of stopping at a stop sign ! The guy in the fiat behind me went apoplectic : Blew on his horn; made a point of driving in other lane to come parallel to me, wound down his window; give me who some very fancy hand gestures ;shouted some operatic insults about tourists, then accelerated off waving a finger at me.

So whilst I love Neapolitans – the people, the food, the history – I have to say, Naples is one crazy city.

Vedi Napoli e poi Muori : "See Naples and die” was a phrase coined during the reign of the Bourbons of Naples, considered by historians to have been the city's Golden Age. It was not meant to be a prediction.

Until its annexation to the Kingdom of Italy in 1861, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies was the wealthiest and most industrialized of the various Italian states.

What went wrong?

Phileas Fogg,
14th January 2008
Houston, Texas

The housing bubble: a travel outlook

2008-01-05T16:30:00.003-06:00

If your only source for current affairs is 'Entertainment Weekly', it may be news to you that the 2008 forecast for the US economy is stormy weather. The dark clouds gathering on the sky appear to be a harbinger of a recession caused by a confluence of winds from a bursting housing bubble, a rapidly developing cold front from a credit freeze that reacts violently with the hot air from politicians and economic 'experts'.

For those following the Jamie Lynn Spears '16 and preggers' scandal but think 'Ben Bernanke' (Current US Federal Reserve Chairman) is a brand of Rice:-

Following 2001, the Federal Reserve went mad. Fed Chairman Greenspan lowered fed rate to 1% which made cost of borrowing ultra-cheap. On the flip side, treasury bonds, CDs and savings rates correspondingly went down, so investors sought higher yields with more riskier ventures.

Wall Street and Financial institutions went mad. They borrowed that 1% money and actively sought for ways to lend it to anybody. Over the years, rational practices such as down payments or evaluating risk of borrower were abandoned. Brave New World products were created by MBA hotshots with fancy sound names as collateralized debt obligations (CDOs). In reality, they were financial sausages made from pieces of risky mortgages and Wall Street positioned them as prime steaks complete with “AAA” ratings.

The US populace went mad. Real Estate, once perceived as being a place to live in with modest appreciation expectations, was now a 'can only go up' investment and a ticket to riches. Why work when you can flip a fixer upper for $100K by providing a only a lick of paint, staged furniture and baked bread prior to a visit to give it that 'welcome home' smell. Prices appreciated year after year which appeared to confirm the perception. Greed took over, people bought condo's unseen and people willingly signed themselves up with toxic products such as ARMs and Interest only loans.

Investors went mad. In their haste and newfound belief that RE could only go up, they never thought too hard about what is was exactly it was that went into the financial sausages they were consuming nor how those sausages had been cooked.

The RE professions went mad. Appraisers knowingly overinflated property values, Realtors willingly jumped on the bandwagon as their lively hood is commission based to talk up the market. Mortgage brokers happily facilitated fraud to get people into mortgages that they knew were not affordable with pitch that “you can always re-fi before the reset”.

Politicians went mad. They clapped as rapid RE appreciation happened since it is a source of taxes and money that could be recycled into the economy. GDP would go up. % ownership was at an all time high and touted as a success of President Bush's leadership. Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac were challenged to lend even more although those newcomers were poorer. Politician's also neglected their watchdog role.

Media went mad. (Not perhaps since they are no longer independent thinkers). They willingly cheered articles encouraging the myth of RE always goes up – they had self interest in selling ad space to REIC - and never questioned if it was a good thing. The fact that RE prices got out of whack to peoples incomes never was raised. Interesting to note that the peak of the housing bubble probably corresponds to the June 13, 2005 TIME magazine cover.

So now where are we in 2008. We are beginning year 3 from the peak and individuals are recovering their senses one by one.

Flippers are left with flops. ARMs are resetting higher and payment amounts are increasing. Foreclosures are (no pun intended) through the roof and 'jingle mail' is increasing. Selling prices have dropped at least 5-10% and trend is down, Volume of sales has dropped even more, at least 20%. Sellers needing to get out are finding it a long and lonely wait. Open houses can have no visitors. Many sellers and unable to drop their price.

Investors, having caught a bad case of poisoning, have not surprisingly lost their appetite for mortgage sausages or other meat products which have Wall Street brand.

The inventory of unsold sausages are now rotting on the accounts of the financial institutions that created them and spreading to the institutions themselves. Many are not looking too healthy: SIVILIS where symptoms are lenders are no longer in a position to lend due to massive profit losses.

In the REIC world, Mortgage brokers are going broke. Appraisers are no longer appraising. The 6% RE agents are 0% RE agents. Builders may be building for now but they are selling and are cash flow negative. Ironically enough. Sub-prime was named word of the year for 2007.

Washington Politicians are pretending they are concerned but looking for political opportunities at the others party's expense. “Hope Now” is and will continue to be a flop. Other tinkering will be attempted but with low probability of success. Market forces are too strong, there is too much debt and overvalued assett prices vs. what market is able to pay.

Local and State politicians on the other hand have to face the music sooner, Unlike Washington, they are no allowed to deficit spend and must balance the budget.

Foreclosures = no taxes from an occupant and lower property values for neighborhood.

Declining house prices = lower taxes.

Lower build starts = lower fees.

Lower revenue = cuts somewhere.

Media are now slowly waking up and pretending they knew it was going to happen all along. However, they still parrot happy talk backed by quotations from a hapless industry insider 'experts' such as Lawrence Yun.

Unfortunately for many people who jumped on board, the gravy train has been derailed. The golden days of RE have ended. People will wake up from the “American Dream” and realize it was just a dream. Supply vastly exceeds demand and prices will revert to the mean with an overshoot to the downside. The house prices to salary is still too high. Critical enablers to the bubble, exotic mortgage products and willingness of investor to buy mortgage backed assets are dead. Conservative lending with a down payment and proof of ability to pay will be back in vogue.

So what the heck has this got to do with travel ? The answer is a great deal. Disposable income for much of US (especially areas with higher price appreciation) will decline. Consumer sentiment is negative. The revenue streams that people used to fund their discretionary spending -:Refinancing and HELOCs - are being shut down. As RE went up, people would withdraw equity and leverage up their notes. The money would be frittered away on cars, home improvements, pay down credit cards but it would also be used for holidays. Next year as house went up again, Re-Finance and take money out again. Wash-rinse-repeat.

Secondly, much of the economic expansion and GDP growth has come from housing. Jobs will be cut and consumer spending will contract.

Is the travel industry projecting a decline? Nope. Just like National Association of Realtors (NAR), who's projections only seem to go upwards, Travel Industry Association of America (TIA)'s annual forecast,

the U.S. travel industry is expected to post only moderate gains in nearly all sectors in 2008. Travel spending by domestic and international visitors in 2008 is forecast to increase more than 5 percent to $778.2 billion, up from projected full-year 2007 travel spending of $740 billion. Domestic leisure trips are expected to continue an upward trend of modest growth in 2008 and a slight increase in travel for business is expected.

My predications are discretionary vacation trips will be cut back in 2008 as a financial crisis starts to bite: Disney, Cruises, Winter holidays, Hawaii, New York will be impacted. Vegas, US #1 destination, will be especially vulnerable as it has gone through a huge RE boom itself not only in residential but also expanded it's accommodation capacity.

Sales of RVs will also be hit as boomers revisit their budgets and they realize selling their property may not bring the windfall they expected.

Families who are cash starved will still take a vacation. However, it more likely to be local and more frugal. Perhaps camping will be more popular.

Is the US alone in this situation with exposure to RE? Absolutely not. The RE mania seems to worldwide phenomena albeit to differing degree. The differences are between methods of financing. Some countries like Ireland, Spain, UK have seen a similar speculative run up with funky loans. All seems to have peaked which does not bode well for those counties. Like US, troubles in RE will impact their currencies.

In 2008, I expect the UK to be more slightly more attractive as a destination as the pound decreases. Since Nov 07, pound peaked at 2.11 to the greenback. It is now 1.967: a 7.5% decline in just 2 months!It is still not a steal as I remember it at 1.5 but for a frequent visitor to UK, I like the trend. I also predict the the Euro to decline in 2008 as ECB caves under pressure to help it's exporters and drop interest rates.

Don't get me wrong here. I am not saying the dollar will strengthen. I am saying the European ones will weaken.

Ben Bernanke in attempt to protect economy will likely drop interest rates again. However, this will not rescue economy as it is not a liquidity crisis now, but a solvency one. Regardless, it will drop the dollar down further. I expect to see more energy surcharges in 2008: Commodities are priced in dollars and value of dollars will decrease. If dollar drops 20%, why is it we are surprized when oil goes up at least 20%? Also factor in China and India demand and fact that limited investment has gone into energies in past decades due to declining commodity prices.

One region which I project to benefit from lower rates in US and Europe are Asian countries. Their currencies will appreciate and assuming they will put up with US Immigration hassle, it will mean an increase of visitors from Asia.

Other areas that will impact travel are cut back in state budgets. An easy target being closure of state parks. California is facing a $14 Billion shortfall and is proposing cutbacks with a closure of 48 state parks.

So on the bright side, if you still are employed and cash positive, 2008 should present some travel bargains as prices are slashed to attract visitors.

Question then is which ghost towns should we visit?

Phileas Fogg,
Houston, Texas
Jan 2008

1000 places to die before you see

2008-01-02T21:22:00.007-06:00

A tale of bandwagon travel books, oysters,and crapholes

I was intrigued when "1,000 Places to See Before You Die: A Traveler's Life List" by Patricia Shulz came out. Over a pint, I paged through it to see where I'd been and where I would want go to next.

I soon discovered that the book itself was a 'Condé Nast Travel' level with it's posh selection but useless as a travel guide to someone like myself. However, under Ireland, I did find THE place where I first ate oysters - Moran's- where I was taken to there in the 90's by an Irish collegue after visiting Galway.

Here we drank multiple pints of Guiness, eat not so much bread and butter, talked about work and the craic. Since he'd already eaten 4 plates of a dozen fresh oysters, I was persuaded to try 1/2 dozen of the slippery beggars. "G'wan, G'wan, G'wan".

Not being used to the fleshy, slimy, stinky, texture, the first 5 oysters went down with same enthusiam as one licks stale cat piss off a cactus. The 6th however, had a magic Celtic mix of lemon, tabasco, salt. Oh My Gawd, Bloody Marvellous. I'd discovered why oysters are the food of love and I fallen in love with molluscs.

Anyhow as I was drinking the black stuff I was too buzzed to remember the place where I lost my 'Oyster Virginity' so was pleased to find out it's name again from the book.

Some years later, I heard that my Irish collegue caught a life threatening liver disease from his oyster passion. Before you ask, I'd like to clarifty it was NOT from Moran's,but from Oysters he ate in Dublin. It laid both him and his wife low for months.

I've acquired the Oyster lurve but am a strict "R" man. For the Oyster 'curious' out there, it is nothing to do with cinema ratings but relates to fact that you should only eat raw oysters if there is an "R" in the month". Less chance of bacteria Vibrio vulnificus you see, which reproduce rapidly in warm water. Still I always wonder if I will get 'oyster Roulette' and get a diseased one but I digress.

Fast forward to Dec 2008 and while christmas shopping in bookstore, I see plenty of "me travel, me die" books with variations of same topic:-

Unforgettable Places to See Before You Die by Steve Dewey.

100 Things to Do Before You Die: Travel Events You Just Can't Miss by Neil Teplica

1001 Natural Wonders: You Must See Before You Die (Barron's Educational Series) by Michael Bright

Journeys of a Lifetime: 500 of the World's Greatest Trips Hardcover by National Geographic

1,000 Places To See Before You Die: Collection 1 (2007) DVD

Make the Most of Your Time on Earth by Rough Guides

Unforgettable Things to Do Before You Die Paperback by Steve Watkins

Life: Heaven on Earth: 100 Places to See in Your Lifetime (Life)

Hm, the words "jump" and "bandwagon" come into my mind. Perhaps with my collegue's experience in mind, I should join this gravy train and come out with my own death and travel title.How about "1,000 places you should die before you visit ": sub-text, all the crappy places you've been to and would hate to go back". I've already produced the cover.

I started to compile a list and on research, came across a BBC article on the most boring place on earth. The comments on this town as classic:-

I have to nominate Rainham (Kent) and its housing estates. The focus of life in Rainham is either the library or the small Tesco's. The Kent Coast sea view consists of a great view of the oil refinery on the Isle of Grain, the sea air is stale, clammy and full of London pollution, and the nearest thing to sea beaches is the mud flats. If you want to go for a walk, there are endless roads filled with houses, but you will eventually come out either by the motorway or a busy main road. Gerry Martin, England .

Another site was UK's Channel 4 Location, Location, Locations: Best and Worst places to live". The people of Middlesbrough did not like being named #1 worst: "it seems that these rating lists are made by ponces that have never even been outside of southern england".

Bwah :)

The big warm American welcome

2008-01-01T18:23:00.000-06:00

Alternative title: Have a nice day and by the way, thanks for the Stadium.

Happy New year, Happy New blog. This site will discuss travel but not in the manner of the conventional unthinking drivel you get on main stream US media. First up let's get one thing clear. I do not work in or for the travel industry but travel with my job in a major US multinational company, and for fun when I can.

I travel around the world where I recently submitted a few months of expense statements. Meine Texas Freedom fried Franglais 'chap my ass' de jour is US stiffing it to their visitors (so called guests) with the special, city and state taxes . Whilst you may find that cheap hotel on the internet, you can subsequently find 15-25% or more added to the bill when you check out.

Throughout history, the traveler has been prayed on as a source of revenue : tolls; tariffs; kidnapping; shipwrecking and piracy. A 1996 New York Times article discusses a survey conducted for the Travel and Tourism Government Affairs Council in 50 cities: "Travel Taxes in America's Top Destinations,":

The 43 cities that responded to the survey question about restaurant taxes collected $3.1 billion in 1995 -- of which only $47.9 million, or 1.6 percent, went to travel and tourism. The 43 cities that answered that part of the survey about hotel taxes (not all of them the same 43 that answered the restaurant question) collected $1.8 billion last year, of which $637.3 million, or 34 percent, went to travel and tourism.”

Further more

The report does not object to the fact that state and local taxes, which make up the greatest share of taxes paid by the traveler, usually wind up in the general fund. But it strongly protests the use for general purposes of additional taxes and fees charged to the traveler, including taxes on hotels, restaurant meals and car rentals, which are rarely earmarked for tourism promotion, visitor information centers and other programs that directly benefit the traveler.

"Too many states and cities have used this scheme," the report declares, "to raise new revenue from visitors who are not voters to pay for programs unrelated to travel."

Most of the report consists of a city-by-city breakdown of taxes, and many of its findings are surprising. For example, Columbus, Ohio, had the highest room tax in 1995 of the cities surveyed, 15.75 percent. Seattle was runner-up with 15.2 percent, followed by Anaheim, Houston and San Antonio, each with 15 percent. Las Vegas had the lowest hotel tax, 8 percent, followed by Portland, Ore., at 9 percent.

Finally it concludes with:

In addition, 31 cities tack on additional taxes for cars rented off airport property, while 18 impose additional surcharges -- often to pay for athletic stadiums

In a classic example of “When you rob Peter to pay Paul, you’ll always have the support of Paul”, the voting population is behind this ruse.

In November 1999, the National Association of Counties and the U.S. Conference of Mayors commissioned National Research, Inc., to conduct a random survey of 1,000 American taxpayers on their opinions about sales taxes and the collection of these taxes on goods sold by vendors on the Internet. [Source] . Respondents were asked to rank five types of taxes based on their preference. The taxes were property taxes; personal property taxes; income taxes; sales taxes and hotel/ motel/tourism/occupancy taxes. Overall, 97 percent of respondents ranked their tax preferences. Not unexpected was the response that the number one most preferred tax (37%) was the hotel / motel/ tourism/occupancy taxes group of taxes because these are paid by nonresidents of the city or county.

This is outrageous . I visit YOUR place, I spend money in YOUR businesses, restaurants and shops, I rent a car, I pay sales taxes. Now when I check out I find that I am funding YOUR football stadium or contribute to educating YOUR kids. What on earth?

In most places in the world I visit, the room rate is the room rate. What is it about the US arrangement that is fair? If invited around for dinner and I brought some booze, I would not expect to pay a corking fee, donate for parking on street and or make a contribution to the Kid’s Montessori school.

Still there may be end to this type of scams with the credit markets freezing up. In a recent example. Orlando has delayed selling the first $300 million in bonds for construction of the Orlando Magic arena. This was to be paid for “repaid with hotel taxes, downtown-property taxes, sales taxes and other city revenue”. Note to Orlando Politicans: You are a bunch of scumbags for even proposing it in the first place.

In April 2007, the Texas House passed a bill giving Houston and other local governments the means of funding construction of sports facilities and other projects. This was a pyrrhic victory as before passing it, “the House removed the hotel occupancy tax, which meant Houston will not have sufficient funding tools to build a basketball arena. Left in the bill were taxes on rental cars, parking and sporting event tickets, and the authority for local governments to use funds levied for regional transit purposes”. The reason for removing hotel tax was the rational that visitors to the Texas Medical Center would not be a user of the Sporting arenas. Totally true as TMC is about 9 hospitals or so and people come here in troubled reasons. The last thing on your mind would be Texan's or Astro's game.

Compare this tax the non-voter attitude to New Zealand whose tourism operators fought hard against such proposals in Auckland.

Tourism operators from around the country are overwhelmingly opposed to taxing visitors to Auckland to fund a new or redeveloped stadium, according to a new survey.
In releasing the survey results today, Tourism Industry Association New Zealand (TIA) Chief Executive Fiona Luhrs said 97 percent of respondents opposed using bed or airport taxes to fund the stadium.

“TIA and the wider tourism industry are in full support of the Rugby World Cup 2011 and look forward to the event being a huge success. But the funding lines for a stadium should not be from bed taxes and departure taxes,” Ms Luhrs said

Finally, whilst I am still on a rant about stiffing it to your guests. The ultimate dishonorable mention goes to the Florida towns of Waldo and Lawtey who make up their revenues by fining speeding motorists whilst passing through. The cities have earned the ominous distinction of being one of only two official speed traps designated by the American Automobile Association due to the city's strict enforcement of the local speed limit on U.S. Routes as they cuts through town.
So this the new world order: the traveler getting their wallet picked electronically in front of your eyes. At least in Rome, I expect to get flinched by Romanian beggars. Here we have local government doing it for us.
So much for land of the free. Perhaps I’ve found the one job that "American’s want to do" after all....highway robbery.
Phileas Fogg,
Houston, Texas.
Jan-01 2008

Be wary of strong drink. It can make you shoot at tax collectors... and miss. ~Robert Heinlein