Welcome to New York! I'm not expecting much from my first visit to the Big Apple, considering I'll be here for a scant 3 hours. Already, though, I've been disappointed. We flew in from the east, over the ocean, and I had looked forward to seeing the stacked monoliths of downtown New York shining in the sun. Instead, when we finally descended below the heavy clouds, all I could see was a deserted beach and some generic apartment blocks.
The variety of airlines parked on the tarmac was truly impressive. There were planes from Pakistan, India, Ireland, Israel, Mexico, Brazil.... This place really is an international gateway. I wandered around a bit in the terminal, but my bags are pretty heavy so I didn't get very far. It appears that not even New Yorkers could come up with an interesting airline terminal.
As is my custom when I go travelling, I got my shoes shined. The shoe-shine proprietor was Jamaican, with dreadlocks gathered up under a bulbous knit cap. He examined my brown shoes then poked at the leather. "Why you let your shoes get so dry?" How am I supposed to respond to that? It just happens. I couldn't think of a good excuse, so I told him there were no shoe shiners where I lived. I don't think he believed me. Several more times, as he worked on the leather, he'd point accusingly and say, "the shoes are too dry." I'd look, and I'd see him pointing at my shoe -- if he was indicating something more specific, it was lost on me. I guess people are picky about shoe care on the east coast.
Travelling on non-American airlines is truly wonderful. The differences are minor, but after too many commoditized herd-and-stuff flights in the US, they become very noticeable.
First of all, on each and every seat there's a complimentary toothbrush, toothpaste, and eye mask. Then there's the leg room: I have enough space to settle into a comfortable slouch and not have my knees stuffed into the seat in front of me. The seat itself reclines back much further than normal. The headphones are free. The meals themselves are standard and decent, but I've never before seen an airline come around with a basket of extra warm buns. I was offered a drink no less than four times. Mini bottles of wine are available, free of charge, along with deliciously fruity, not-from-concentrate, unfiltered apple juice. The orange juice wasn't from cans. The bottled water was Evian, but I guess I can't expect perfection. My message to the weary US domestic traveler is this: don't despair -- there's a wonderful world of aviation travel just beyond your borders.
One of the things that I enjoy most about travel is how new and exciting everything can be. That may sound obvious, but it applies in subtle ways. Foreign travel doesn't need to be exotic -- just the opportunity to see whether or not something is different can be adventure in itself. For example: I was offered a choice of three types of wine: French, Californian, and Swiss. Normally, my rather ignorant palate would assume the French to be superior and choose it. But I'm going to Switzerland and I should experience Switzerland. The opportunity to try something new was there. Fortunately, the thrill of adventure made up for the wine's lingering raw flavour. That attitude turns the mundane into the curious. What does Swiss tea taste like? (strong and fruity, and slightly on the bitter side) What about Swiss apple juice? (crisp and fresh) Is the chocolate really that good? (I'll find out soon) This is what I believe travel to be really about: to get past the glossy, one-dimensional self-representations of a culture and to experience the actual details.