Adubs European "vacation"

[August_West]

Good opportunity to spend a few days there? Never been but I’ve heard good things

Oh it’s awesome here. It’s getting here that sucks ( and Instagram destination weddings suck too)

 

[8893]

This is a live blahg not a finished novel. I can’t just copy and paste the whole trip ( so far) here. I’m writing step by step

I know. Try speaking it like you are telling it orally. Except say "comma," "period," etc. for punctuation.

 

[storrsroars]

Try speaking it into your phone with voice commands and then editing.

Not that it matters to ADub or this thread, but you've got me wondering if voice-to-text has a Glaswegian setting.

 

[8893]

Oh, and I need one or two decent pavilion seats for Phish in Hartford on Sunday for face value. Can any of your w00ks back home hook me?

 

[August_West]

Not that it matters to ADub or this thread, but you've got me wondering if voice-to-text has a Glaswegian setting.

So my GF dad is that and then went to university in Glasgow, I love listening to him. Also Glaswegians use a “C” word that is taboo in America, but thrown out every other word in a pub here in a non offensive matter. Hard to get used to, i wince and duck every time.

 

[businesslawyer]

Plan is to fly PLAY out of Newburgh.

If the flight is cancelled, I drive a half hour home. If my connection is cancelled, I spend time in Iceland and come home.

I must say, while pre-pandemic I have totally avoided budget airlines, I'm curious about Europe from Stewart and now being able to fly to Vegas, LA and SF non-stop from White Plains. Not even about saving money, as much as just being able to avoid having to go in and out of a large airport on one end. (Not to mention how many hours before a flight I now would have to leave Fairfield to be comfortable that I won't be scrambling to make my flight at Kennedy.

 

[businesslawyer]

OK We are going to finish this part 1 leg now. Just keep in mind we aren't at our first destination even yet in this story (Edinburgh), that will be part 2. And man oh man there is a ton to unpack including the wedding.


so after learning our bags were gone** we head out to Taxi stand , FREEDOM! Things are now in our control! Overall I love the UK and think they get a ton of things more right than the US. I'm here to tell you a Taxi stand at a major airport is NOT one of them.

Its after midnight on a weekday at Heathrow, shouldn't be THAT crazy but ok its an international hub, sure, but the cancellations have sent the curb at that hour into another frenzy. I see that they have a taxi queue. Great. There is some order to this madness, we get into the queue, maybe 75 people long. In NYC that queue is empty in 4 minutes. In Heathrow it took 75? Why?!!!! I quickly learned why. They have a "checker" seating people in the cabs. They only have one checker. And he must set the people in the cab, get their destination address, and then with a handheld scanner like my shipping department uses at work, he has to scan the barcode of the taxi drivers ID. Meanwhile there are literally 40 taxis lined up behind waiting to pickup fares. The process was so asinine it literally hurt my head after all I had been through that day. And people started yelling and guess what? The more they yelled the slower the checker would go intentionally as response. Incredible.

So while we are in line we are searching for last minute hotels. Its close to 1AM my GF STILL hasn't eaten, and we know that we need to get out of London in just a few hours and find a train to Edinburgh. So we didn't want to spend much money on a 6 hour hotel. So we booked the Ramada in Hounslow supposedly just a few miles from Heathrow. And it probably was, but it took 35 minutes and cost 6o pounds.

We got there, and I will start part 2 with that.


** you've seen me asterisk mention of my bags a couple times. Obviously we still don't have them. We gave them 3 forwarding addresses, the hotel in Edinburgh (never got there), the Air bnb in Alva (never got here) and my GF house in Dunoon (where we are going tomorrow for remainder of trip) . We have called them every other day since when we have worked up the gumption to try and find out the status. Last time was this morning they give us the same answer they have every other time we've called them in the last week + " we are sorry but we haven't located them yet, do we have your address on file?" The funny (or sad thing) is that in preparation for this we put apple air tags (if you don't know what these are find out and get them if you're a traveler!) in all of our bags and we tell them " the bleeping bag is in the same bleeping place it was on the same bleeping night you bleeped us, its in a warehouse off of heathrow, you want the bleepin' GPS location?" I don't think it will ever get us our bag back but I'm starting to enjoy my every other day BA baggage swear routine. Because they are dumbfounded when I finally break it to them.

Hire an off duty cop as private security when you're back at Heathrow and just use your GPS and walk to the bags. Seriously. If you have an off duty cop or an off duty airport security worker no one is going to arrest you -- they're just going to let the guy walk you to your bags as a professional courtesy.

 

[8893]

Hire an off duty cop as private security when you're back at Heathrow and just use your GPS and walk to the bags. Seriously. If you have an off duty cop or an off duty airport security worker no one is going to arrest you -- they're just going to let the guy walk you to your bags as a professional courtesy.

They will arrest him when they see what he does after discovering that the only thing there is his Apple air tag.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I know. Try speaking it like you are telling it orally. Except say "comma," "period," etc. for punctuation.

Only a lawyer of a certain age would suggest this. I hated doing that back when I was in private practice. It was faster for me to type.

 

[8893]

Only a lawyer of a certain age would suggest this. I hated doing that back when I was in private practice. It was faster for me to type.

I didn't like it and didn't do it much, but learning how to do it has definitely helped me with voice-to-text.

 

[businesslawyer]

This is a live blahg not a finished novel. I can’t just copy and paste the whole trip ( so far) here. I’m writing step by step

You gonna whine or you gonna write?

 

[Fishy]

I must say, while pre-pandemic I have totally avoided budget airlines, I'm curious about Europe from Stewart and now being able to fly to Vegas, LA and SF non-stop from White Plains. Not even about saving money, as much as just being able to avoid having to go in and out of a large airport on one end. (Not to mention how many hours before a flight I now would have to leave Fairfield to be comfortable that I won't be scrambling to make my flight at Kennedy.

Stewart makes White Plains look like JFK.

You’re generally parked and through TSA in a few minutes. There are multiple gates, but I have only ever seen one in use at a time. Parking is cheap and there is tons of it. You’re always parked right off the terminal. There’s no overflow or shuttle necessary.

 

[Dove]

Nigel Thamesmore: "Hey, here comes the blahgger"

Ian McHavoren: [makes a phone call to Charlie Daultry, his friend, the checker]

 

[Chin Diesel]

So my GF dad is that and then went to university in Glasgow, I love listening to him. Also Glaswegians use a “C” word that is taboo in America, but thrown out every other word in a pub here in a non offensive matter. Hard to get used to, i wince and duck every time.

'cuse?

 

[August_West]

'cuse?

Now that is vulgar

 

[UCDaveD]

I know a Scottish girl. Magnificent cans.

 

[August_West]

Nigel Thamesmore: "Hey, here comes the blahgger"

Ian McHavoren: [makes a phone call to Charlie Daultry, his friend, the checker]

Ok now that is funny! Because I’ve never seen braveheart and have been lectured since I got here on why I have to, and other incredulous interjections of “ what’s wrong with you” because as I type this I can see the William Wallace monument, and where that whole battle took place, from my bedroom window. From what I’m told ( I’ll see for myself tomorrow ) the statue at the monument looks more like Mel Gibson than William Wallace.

 

[8893]

Ok now that is funny! Because I’ve never seen braveheart and have been lectured since I got here on why I have to, and other incredulous interjections of “ what’s wrong with you” because as I type this I can see the William Wallace monument, and where that whole battle took place, from my bedroom window. From what I’m told ( I’ll see for myself tomorrow ) the statue At the monument I’m told looks more like Mel Gibson than William Wallace.

Try this one out when you are being lectured about Braveheart: according to a much smarter friend of mine, it contains one of the most fundamental movie anachronisms of all time, in that its central theme is freedom, but man had not yet developed the concept of individual freedom by that period in history.

 

[Fishy]

Try this one out when you are being lectured about Braveheart: according to a much smarter friend of mine, it contains one of the most fundamental movie anachronisms of all time, in that its central theme is freedom, but man had not yet developed the concept of individual freedom by that period in history.

You get punched a lot, don’t you?

 

[8893]

You get punched a lot, don’t you?

No.

I have cat-like reflexes.

 

[August_West]

Try this one out when you are being lectured about Braveheart: according to a much smarter friend of mine, it contains one of the most fundamental movie anachronisms of all time, in that its central theme is freedom, but man had not yet developed the concept of individual freedom by that period in history.

GF is reading this over my shoulder and laughing, and with her Scottish pride corrected me via Wikipedia and said “ the monument is right there ( out the window) but the statue is not…. Here read this “


Holy lol I love scots

The statue was deeply unpopular, being described as "among the most loathed pieces of public art in Scotland".[13] and was regularly vandalised[14] before being placed in a cage to prevent further damage.
It was returned to Church ( the artist) , who, after an unsuccessful attempt to sell it at auction,[13] reportedly offered it to Donald Trump's Menie estate golf resort.[16]
However, it remained in the garden of the sculptor's home, where it was incorporated into a replica of a castle, and with additions to it that included the head of the decapitated governor of York.[17] In April 2016, it was reported in local press that the statue might be moved to Ardrossan's old Barony Church.[18] In September 2021, it was moved to Glebe Park stadium in Brechin.[19]

 

[storrsroars]

No.

I have cat-like reflexes.

 

[August_West]

In pro wrestling vernacular, that cat is a worker and knows how to sell a bump

 

[CL82]

What makes you think I don’t know that?

Jeez you’d think people on this site would know me by now.

View attachment 77694

So… Anyone else wondering about whether it’s a good idea for August to be mixing opioids with scotch?

 

[August_West]

So… Anyone else wondering about whether it’s a good idea for August to be mixing opioids with scotch?

A real opioid? Definitely not with alcohol. Don’t do it. Seriously. Weak codeine? It’s the only way to fly and way more efficient that British Airways .

 

[Tenspro2002]

So my GF dad is that and then went to university in Glasgow, I love listening to him. Also Glaswegians use a “C” word that is taboo in America, but thrown out every other word in a pub here in a non offensive matter. Hard to get used to, i wince and duck every time.

Honestly this was the first thing I noticed about my British friends when I met them -- yes they use some silly words like "carpark", but the most noticeable one is using the C-word the way Americans casually throw around "d__k".

 

[Jimdish255]

There must be lyrics to half an album in this adventure.
Kinda like "The Wall" but with the "c" world sprinkled about liberally.
Mother do ya think they'll find the bags?

 

[ClifSpliffy]

adventures in crapistan?

should've booked Newport, Rhode Island, USA, for le gran affaire. lotsa folks there talk funny and drink like fish, too, so u wouldn't be missing nothing, and u can jump in the surf when ur brain starts to melt. also, iffn u get cheesed off too much, u just point the car toward home, and go there.

on the udder hand, the NYSE Airline Index took a fall today, and the fear is that it is on the road down. with this 'Auggie in Paradise' tblog, well, u got juice, so there's that, and based on this tour de farce narrative, im buying puts tomorrow. thanks.
i bet ur gf could really use a broccolirabe and sausage thing right aboot now.
high cuisine.
i like the maritime reports from the bbc4 at ten before the hour. thats all i got on the subject. 'isle of wight, seas 2 to 4. pressure average, changing later. conditions good to poor, winds west/northwest, then south/southeast. cornwall, seas 4 to ......'

 

[NJHusky]

Oh it’s awesome here. It’s getting here that sucks ( and Instagram destination weddings suck too)

I meant Iceland

 

[NJHusky]

It takes me about 5 seconds to throw in a when around Brits. For ____ Sake.
It just rolls off the lips.

Love that they call the highways, Parkways or Interstates an Autoway or Motorway. Makes more sense than driving on a Parkway and parking in a driveway.

2 peoples separated by a common language