It was lunchtime in Amma and the little food shop I passed was flat out. The guy behind the till was taking orders, answering the phone and frying flafel simultanesously. There was a long line of men waiting to buy. I asked for a falafel wahad (one falafel). He smiled and said “here you are” as he handed me a plate. “Sit down, welcome, enjoy.” I got my wallet and he waved me away. “sit down, welcome and enjoy“. I enjoyed it. The fresh falafel melted in my mouth. The salads were fresh and the…
The tale of the Convenience Store
I am going to share a series of my adventures on this mideast trip. Its been warm in Amman Jordan today. I have a favourite drink that I have been buying all over the city in the little stores that are ubiquitous here. It is bottled guava juice and it typically costs .4 of a Jordanian Dinar (55 of my cents). I stopped at the little store nearest to the hotel (160 metres away to be exact), grabbed a bottle of Guava juice from the fridge and greeted the shop keeper. He said “3 diners”…
NEVER, NEVER trust a Beirut Taxi Driver
I have shared my peeves about taxi rides from Hell before. Nothing prepared me for the taxis of Beirut. When I arrived at Lebanon’s Beirut airport, my pre arranged transport did not show (I found out later that someone forgot to book it!). My cell phone did not work and I could not find a working pay phone in the airport. So I stupidly headed to the door of the airport hall following a sign which said “taxis”! (Any other city, this would be logical). There appeared to be no order or logic to the line up of…
Trip Report: Royal Jordanian
Royal Jordanian are the Flag Carrier for the Kingdom of Jordan, a country between Israel and Saudi Arabia. Founded by the Jordanian king in 1963, it is now a privatised company. Royal Jordanian is the first (and only) Arab airline to join a major airline alliance being part of One World. I have now flown eight of the 12 airlines in One World (although one of them, Mexicana Airlines has suspended its operations and I wonder how long One World can keep saying they are a One World member). Finnair, JAL and S7 remain for me to…
Images of Beirut March 2011
Some pictures of Beirut. Building shelled in the civil war towards the Mediterranean I assume new tower because of war damage Display in shop made out of soap glassware I have no idea why these boys were dancing on the Corniche In downtown Beirut fountain where i was told not to take more pics Woman feeding cats on the Corniche costumed waiter Roman ruins near Martyr Square
I have just flown ONE MILLION MILES
Dawn in the air In the film: Up in the Air, George Clooney plays Ryan Bingham, a guy with the goal of earning one million miles with the one airline. Today, I reached the milestone of one million miles in the air (1.6 million kilometres). My life does not completely rsemble Clooney’s movie character, however. Unlike him, I actually love being home and I like people. I now have elite statuses with the following carriers: United Airlines Gold Virgin Blue Gold Qantas Platinum I measure my air life at a great flight tracking tool called FlightMemory. My…
My 717th flight!
Yesterday, I flew my 717th plane flight from Houston, Texas to Columbus, Ohio. I had hoped for a 717 but I got a beautiful 737. I am such a geek!Continental upgraded me to First Class which included amazing service and a very edible meal.
Fellow Passenger destroys my bag
I don’t check my luggage in for a number of reasons- one of which is avoiding having it damaged by the airlines. Yesterday, a gentleman was trying to get what looked like a very heavy and large bag into the aeroplane locker near me. It went in with a very loud bang. When I was getting off the plane, I discovered that he must have been shoving his bag in on top of mine. It was so heavy it distorted my bag and broke the handle off. I never could have imagined it. Thank you fellow…
Annoyed at steep fare rise
I had to book air travel to a client’s city for a presentation I am making. I found an airfare five weeks ago of around $250 but was told not to book it because the client’s corporate travel department would book it at a corporate rate thus “saving money”. Fair enough”, I thought. Anyway, corporate travel department finally got back to me today to book it myself. Only the fare is now $700-$800. So much for them saving money. I hate seeing money wasted!
Airports with Wireless- where to find them
In today’s modern world, it is infuriating the inconsistency in wireless internet access in airports. There are four types of airports in my experience: Airports with no wireless internet (mostly regional) Airports with free wireless internet (these are airports I like) Airports with one internet wireless carrier that you have to purchase airtime from (these are airports I dislike a lot) Airports with multiple internet carriers that allow you to choose a carrier you may have a monthly plan with The third option is frustrating because you have to sign up a new carrier for…
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