yonmei

02:05 pm: London, 28th-1st December
I've booked a tiny hotel room in Belgrave Road Cartwright Gardens (the "Euro Hotel") for 3 nights. (TripAdvisor reviews say it's "spotlessly clean", it's close to two tube stations Euston Station! yay, which is all that really matters. The free breakfast is fine if limited, but so long as there's muesli, fruit, and tea I'm good. Full English breakfast cooked to order comes with room.)

I briefly hoped I was going to be able to book an ultra-cheap room via the lastminute.com sale (they were boinging "1000 hotel rooms for £10!" all over their website) but I think they were all for dates in October (lastminute.com's 10th anniversary) and in any case, whenever I tried to book, their server crashed. Which is pretty much lastminute.com in a nutshell. But this will be fine.

I thought I had booked a not-quite-so-ultra-cheap-but-still-pretty-good-for-London room in Belgravia, but just as I was composing the post to tell you all about it, I got an e-mail from their parent company telling me the booking had been rejected - their really-ultra-cheap rooms had both gone. So I booked somewhere else. Hopefully I'll get to keep this room.

Tags: imaginary friend meetup, travel, travelling

11:30 am: Hooray
I have just arranged to go to London for Friday 28th November to Monday 1st December, inclusive (Bargain Berth on Caledonian Sleeper, travel down Thursday night to arrive in London 7am Friday morning, and home again on another sleeper train on Monday night to arrive in Edinburgh Tuesday morning.)

I have not yet figured out where I am staying on Friday, Saturday and Sunday night, but *handwave* these things can be booked on lastminute.com, if nowhere else.

PS: Breakfast Borough Market Saturday morning. At least I hope so.

Tags: imaginary friend meetup, travel

12:17 am: Definitely, not ever, not even once, passing through the US
Tonight, as I parted from my parents outside Chimei, I repeated my firm advice to my mother to book her flight via a travel agent and make sure she didn't even transit through a US airport on her way to Canada in September.

Got home and discovered via Sideshow that, yeah, if you can possibly avoid it non-USians should go nowhere near the US for the foreseeable future.

Emily Feder writes (18th August 2008):

We got to an enclosed holding area in the arrivals section of the airport. He shoved the folder into my hand and gestured toward four sets of Homeland Security guards sitting at large desks. Attached to each desk were metal poles capped with red, white and blue siren lights. I approached two guards carrying weapons and wearing uniforms similar to New York City police officers, but they shook their heads, laughed and said, "Over there," pointing in the direction of four overflowing holding pens. I approached different desks until I found an official who nodded and shoved my green folder in a crowded metal file holder. When I asked him why I was there, he glared at me, took a sip from his water bottle, bit into a sandwich, and began to dig between his molars with his forefinger.

Why was she there? Well, the Department of Homeland Security wanted to ask her some questions about Hezbollah, because she was returning to the US from Syria. Of course so were many other people on the same flight, so why they picked on Ms Feder is anyone's guess.

No one who had been detained knew precisely why they were there. A few people were led into private rooms; others were questioned out in the open at desks a few feet from the crowd and then allowed to pass through customs. Some were sent to another section of the holding area with large computer screens and cameras, and then brought back. The uninformed consensus among the detainees was that some people would be fingerprinted, have their irises scanned and be sent back to the countries from which they had disembarked, regardless of citizenship status; others would be fingerprinted and allowed to stay; and the unlucky ones would be detained indefinitely and moved to a more permanent facility.

Many of the people held in this extra-judicial detention area were US citizens:

...Omar looked scared. He rubbed his hands and rocked softly in his seat. He had been waiting for hours already, and, as he pointed out, a number of people -- some sick, elderly, pregnant or holding sobbing babies -- had too. There were approximately 70 people detained in our cordoned-off section: All were Arab (with the exception of me and the friend I traveled with), and almost all had arrived from Dubai, Amman or Damascus. Many were U.S. citizens.

One British citizen detained among the rest:

There was one British tourist in the group. Paul (also not his real name) was traveling with three friends who had passed through customs soon after their plane landed and were waiting for him on the other side of the metal barrier; he suspected he had been detained because of his dark skin. When he asked if he could go to the bathroom, one of the guards said, "I wouldn't." "What if someone has to?" I asked. "They will just have to hold it," the guard responded with a smile. Paul began to cry.

My mum is over seventy: white-haired, British-with-a-trace-of-Canadian accent (mostly English - Scots shows up only in her word-choice at times). She's overweight, and lame. She seldom goes anywhere she can't go by train or bus, and certainly has never been to Syria or anywhere else in the Middle East. I think: well, she wouldn't really likely be picked on/detained. But even an hour's detention like this would be physically painful for her - and Emily Feder's account says that four hours is just the start (she got "processed" after four because she was white and American-born and had the certainty she was not going to be sent back to Syria or on to Bagram Airbase, no matter what she said to the Homeland Security men):

After four hours, I finally demanded to speak to the guards' supervisor, and he was called down. I asked if the detainees could file a formal complaint. He said there were complaint forms (which, in English and Spanish, direct one to the Department of Homeland Security's Web site, where one must enter extensive personal information in order to file a "Trip Summary") but initially refused to hand them out or to give me his telephone number. "The Department of Homeland Security is understaffed, underfunded, and I have men here who are doing 14-hour days." He tried to intimidate me when I wrote down his name -- "So, you're writing down our names. Well, we have more on you" -- and asked me questions about my address and my profession in front of the rest of the people detained. I pointed out a few of the families who had missed their flights and had been waiting seven hours. His voice barely controlled, his lip curled into a smirk, he explained slowly, condescendingly, that they need only go to the ticket counter at Jet Blue and reschedule so they could fly out in an hour. One mother responded with what he must have already known: Jet Blue goes to most destinations only once or twice a day and her whole family would have to sleep in the airport.

A large crowd began to gather. Everyone wanted to voice complaints. I explained to the supervisor that his guards had been making people afraid. He flipped through the green files, tossing the American passports to the front of the pile. "You should have gone first, before these people. American citizens first -- that's how it should be." In the face of dozens of requests and questions, he turned and left.

The guards processed me then, ignoring the order of arrivals, if there ever had been one. They refused to distribute more complaint forms or call the supervisor back down at the request of Arab families. One officer threatened, "I'm talking politely to you now. If you don't sit down, I won't be talking politely to you anymore." One announced that because "the American girl" had gotten angry, the families would have to wait a few more hours. "The supervisor is not coming back."

"Between 2000 and 2007, overseas travel to the U.S. fell 8% - approximately 2 million travelers - even though overseas travel around the world grew by 28% - or 35 million travelers." - The Power of Travel - Key Issues - a website which does not mention the charming ways of Department of Homeland Security as one of those key issues.

Montreal for the Worldcon in 2009 is still something I hope to do. If I can afford the cheapest flight I can get that does not involve going through the US...

Tags: evil american politics, family stuff, montreal, travel, worldcon

05:13 pm: LOST BUS TICKET
WHERE is my DAY PASS. Woe. I had it. I put it down. I will need it later. It is gone. WOE.

Tags: travel

10:41 pm: Ugh.
( More Easyjet venting )

Tags: buying things i don't need, easyjet are flying pigs, gah, howls of rage, travel, venting

01:44 pm: Easyjet: Pigs with wings
Easyjet always offers three days when you book: the day you said you wanted to travel and a day either side, so that you can opt for a cheaper price, if there is one.

We wanted to fly out on the 7th, so I searched on the 7th. Options for 6th and 8th came up, but I paid not too much attention to them (they weren't substantially cheaper or more expensive). Had discussion with Ajay about when to fly back. Opted for Friday.

More discussion. Stuck with Friday. Paid.

Somehow, Tuesday 6th got booked.

I'm willing to assume that somehow I changed it, though not intentionally: I don't recall doing anything to the dates of the flight out. First I noticed that we were now on the 6th was when the final confirmation page arrived, which said in large unfriendly letters TUESDAY 6th MAY.

No means of changing it immediately were offered. No contact phone number showed up when I clicked on "Contact Us". I tried to search on "what happens if a mistake was made in your booking" and got nowhere. If your question is not answered, they said, e-mail and we'll respond within 24 hours.

So I e-mailed. This would have been close to 1am Thursday morning, or Wednesday night, whichever way you count it. Easyjet had my landline, my mobile number, and my e-mail address.

When no one had tried to contact me by e-mail or mobile (cannot say for landline, but if they did ring, they left no message) I called Easyjet, using my google-fu to find a list of phone numbers via Cheapflights, which also provided instructions on how to get through to an actual human operator. Cost of call, 10p a minute. Length of call, about 20 minutes - I was left on hold twice, once for about 5 minutes. Operator, very pleasantly, tried to convince me that Easyjet's method of concealing their phone number from customers was actually very helpful: what you do, she said, is go to the search box which appears on the bottom of the page or on the Contact Us page and type in the keyword telephone. Then a page with telephone contact details appears. I cannot say I find this explanation particularly convincing: however, FWIW, I know now.

But, she said, you're saying a mistake was made when you booked. You e-mailed us, and we'd expect you to phone us right away if something like that happened. (See discussion about how Easyjet conceals its phone number.) It says on your record page that someone tried to contact you. (I assured her that no one had.) It shouldn't say anyone will contact you within 24 hours, because we're very busy right now. Then she put me on hold - having assured me that she did believe me when I said I had no reason to change from the default day to the day previous - and spoke to her supervisor (this was the five minute hold, 50p). No, her supervisor said, they wouldn't waive the change-of-flight charges: £17.50 per passenger, £35 in all. (Nicely calculated: I checked. It is just cheaper to pay these swingeing charges than it is to book another flight.) No, she said, when I asked, they wouldn't even reduce the change-of-flight charges by half. (Another hold, though a shorter one.)

She was very apologetic and nice about it, but it's a useful reminder - since the last time something like this happened to me (that time it was BMI) that airlines regard customer service as something their customers provide to them. Be helpful to a customer booking 4 months in advance when the Easyjet website makes it easy for them to book the wrong date? Don't be silly: charge them £35. Respond within 24 hours to explain? Don't be silly: just add to the customer page that you have contacted them, and assume she won't be able to prove otherwise. Publish your telephone number on the website so that when someone in a hurry clicks on Contact Us they find it? Don't be silly: make sure it's as difficult as possible to find, so that a customer can be told "you should have contacted us sooner, by phone - the information was available!" Sure. In best Beware of the Leopard style, it was available. Easyjet easyjet easyjet bastards.

(BMI used to run an early morning flight Heathrow to Edinburgh. If you wanted a vegetarian breakfast, it had to be booked 48 hours in advance, and if another vegetarian on the flight who hadn't booked a vegie breakfast claimed yours because they were sitting a few rows ahead of you, that was just too bad: the BMI flight attendant was not allowed to apologize. (After a while I just used to get on the plane and go to sleep: regard it as a non-food flight, which effectively it was if you didn't eat bacon.) Then there was the American airline that didn't provide enough drinking water to the passengers on a transAtlantic flight: I thought I was coming down with something by the time I landed in Boston, being unfamiliar with the symptoms of dehydration, but as soon as I'd had a drink I was fine. Then... Oh well. To airlines, we're crops for harvesting, not customers. Bah. And the worst of it is: I can see I really have no option other than to swallow the fees.)

Tags: buying things i don't need, easyjet are flying pigs, gah, howls of rage, travel, venting

05:17 pm: Doctor Who in Manchester and Other Exciting Adventures
Doctor Who in Manchester and Other Exciting Adventures
26th-29th October 2007


( Friday )
( Saturday )
( Sunday )
( Monday )

Tags: cats, doctor who, family stuff, johnny cash, travel

05:00 pm: Lemminglike
( Where I've been in the UK. Hmmm... Never have seen much of Wales. May have missed out various English counties, but if so, only the ones I've been to for job interviews. Probably. Where is Milton Keynes? )

Tags: meme meme meme, quizzical, travel

05:51 pm: USA by Rail 1999
Been re-reading my 1999 copy of USA by Rail (John Pitt, Bradt Publications). Yes, I am a sad geek.

So, tell me, o American friends: what is it actually like travelling the US by train? How far do you have to book in advance?* Are the seats comfortable?** What's the food like? Do the trains arrive on time? Are train stations in the middle of the city or on the outskirts?*** If you have to transfer between routes by bus, what's that like?

*Yes, I know for Coast Starlight you have to book months in advance.
**Assuming you're travelling by Coach Class.
***The only train station I've ever seen in the US is Grand Central Terminal in New York. That's very nice. Backwards zodiac and mage cats.

Tags: travel

09:53 pm: I've been in e-dale
and it was very pretty.

Am writing up an account, but have decided it should go in TWP or Po8 first, just to be fair.

Tonight I went to the Portobello Turkish baths, and dared the plunge pool for the first time - twice. It was agonisingly cold - of course - but at the point where I would scream I was under water and holding my breath. I enjoy the Turkish baths: must go more often.

Walked a lot. The cats appear very sane.

Tags: travel

01:23 pm: ?n Montreal
And my God, it`s sunny. I`m staying at the most gorgeous little gay B&B on rue Wolfe, rooms round a courtyard, $45 a night. (Found a cheaper hotel, but the proprietor was slimy and the room smelt musty and he wanted me to pay for the whole week in advance. Decided going gay was better.)

The bad news is, I wondered why I hadn`t heard from Nyuszi before I left, and when I rang her an hour or so ago she was feeling very ill - just about to go to the doctor. She said she`d try to call me back this evening or tomorrow evening. I don`t know quite how old she is (this is not a question you ask your grandfather`s widow) but he would be reaching his century if he`d lived, and I know she`s not very much younger than him.

In other news, on my trip out to Montreal on Friday, I made every single connection - London Euston to Gatwick, Gatwick to Newark, Newark to Montreal - which at times (particularly when in the queue to get through US Immigration, which as usual took an hour because they only had five people on duty even though they had desks for fifty) I was wondering if I would.

The woman at the US immigration desk I got to asked me "How long are you planning to stay in the US? How many days?" and I told her it would be easier to measure in hours - 2 hours today (assuming I caught my plane), 24 hours tomorrow (more like 30, counting travel time - 24 hours exactly in Amherst) - and 2 hours on the way back. She was amused, and gave me a visa valid till July.

And the wedding was lovely. Beautiful day, beautiful couple, beautiful service - Jewish-Unitarian-original - and exquisite food. Also, nice friends.

Tags: montreal, travel