Hey everyone, I know it’s been some time since I last updated. As with my recent post about Costa Rica, this entry is of a more personal nature, so feel free to skip it and wait for my upcoming excursion to France. However, in particular if you are not from the United States, you might be interested in some of the information about USA Independence Day, the oddly North American (I’m not actually sure if Canada also does this.) practice of selling off the worldly remains of dead relatives, and Busch Gardens amusement park! Let’s start though with the joys of modern air travel.
As my basic practice is to buy the cheapest air ticket possible, with some minimal allowances for time of departure and arrival, I frequently don’t have the most comfortable flying experience possible. Many people assume that means that I am mostly on lesser known “budget carriers”, but it’s actually just as frequent that I fly with big name airlines. Spoiler alert, well-known does not mean a nicer trip. But hey, if you want to save some money, that might also mean that you have to pay for it in other ways. Certainly that’s the approach taken by American Airlines (the company, not all airlines from the United States).
Don’t get me wrong. It’s still a safe (I hope!) way to travel, but they really want to punish you for daring to spend less. But don’t worry; they will do everything possible to get you to spend more. This is also by no means a characteristic exclusive to American Airlines, but they really seem to have perfected the art of punishing the budget conscious traveller, especially on shorter international flights within the Americas and of course pretty much all domestic flights.
It used to be that getting a decent economy seat was all about timing. If you wanted a good spot, you simply made sure to be one of the first to show up at the airport. Later on, when online check-in became a thing (I remember being excited about this in 2004, but also feeling a bit sorry for the less computer savvy). Again, you were rewarded for being the first to check-in. Even if you’ve never flown, you know the phrase; “Do you prefer an aisle or a window seat”? Heck, you could even score a coveted exit row seat with its additional leg room. All you had to do was be conscientious about doing things early. Notice how nobody ever asks, “Hey, would you like the cushy middle seat?” There’s a reason for that. Now, it’s all about the money.
If you dare to not pay more for a specifically chosen seat, even the dreaded middle seat, you are assigned to group nine purgatory (more on this in a minute). Frankly, this is just spiteful punishment. I’m not saying I like the “additional charges” we’ve all come to expect from modern day air travel, but at least some of them make some degree of sense. A little over twenty years ago, it was expected that your economy ticket price would always include the following: a full size carry on bag, a usually unappetizing but still present meal, and wait for it . . . TWO full sized pieces of checked luggage for no additional cost! As mentioned earlier, you could frequently express a window/aisle preference, but we also knew that we might not get it, especially if we showed up late to the airport.
Now not everyone will agree with me on this one, but especially for domestic flights, I always found the included two pieces of full size luggage to be a bit much. I mean it was great that it was included, but did we really need it? Was it really that big of a deal when it was reduced to just one checked bag? I didn’t think so. However, when they took away the included ONE piece of checked luggage, I was a bit annoyed. Still, in terms of reducing cost, taking into account weight and space, it made sense. You could still have checked bags, but you would have to pay. Furthermore, did we really need/want a usually tasteless, rushed meal on a less than a 2-3 hour flight? Especially if you could actually get something tasty, I was fine with eliminating the included bland airline gruel in favor of paying separately for something you might actually want to eat. It was when they started to charge for seat selection, even if you weren’t getting more space or something obviously more comfortable, that I just became disgusted. Regardless, even though I thought it was wrong, I understood the logic. It was nasty, but it made sense from a certain viewpoint.
So what exactly is Group 9, and why is it so absurd? If you dare to want to fly without paying for any self-selected seat assignment, even if like me you paid for a checked bag (because you were transporting something in a large glass bottle for a friend) then you are punished by being in group 9. American Airlines tries very hard to find the most unpleasant seat for you, and you don’t board until everyone else has gone onto the plane, regardless of where your seat is actually located. To be fair, once you are on the plane if some better seat is unoccupied, the flight attendants are usually happy to let you switch to a better spot. The reason this is absurd is the part where they make you wait until everyone else has boarded to get on the plane, even if you are in the very last row of the plane and they are only boarding from the front. This ends up slowing down the boarding process for everyone, including those who have paid to choose their own seats. In summary, it’s just petty bullying. But hey, thank you for choosing American Airlines.
My flight arrived to Norfolk airport at 12:10 AM on the 4th. This was my first time here, as in the past I’ve always flown into nearby Newport News. Most travelers will already know this, but if applicable, always check nearby airports to see if you will get better prices and/or better travel times. While Norfolk airport was 14 miles further from my final destination, flying into here saved me 12 HOURS of travel and was 100 USD cheaper than flying into my regular airport. That’s what I call a big advantage!
It was easy to meet my sister and we were off to the house in Newport News. Unsurprisingly it had been more expensive to fly so close to July 4th in the USA, but it was important for me since for the last several years I’ve tried very hard to spend both Independence Day and my birthday (July 13th) with my family members. Obviously I missed two years ago, but otherwise had been going strong with this for 15+ years.
After dinner Chris, Angie (my sister) and I headed to the nearby Independence Day celebrations in Newport News. Living in the United States can be very expensive, but the local park service here regularly has fun, free, wholesome activities which are open to the public. This was one of them, and I have to say that they did an amazing job.
The armed forces medley song honoring each branch of the armed forces was also much more moving than I would have thought. As they sang the song for each branch of the armed forces, current and retired members of the armed forces as well as their family members stood to be recognized for their sacrifice and service to the nation. With three siblings who are both current and honorably retired/veteran army members, I was the first to jump to my feet and and proudly stand both to recognize them and also to accept the recognition by association that comes from being a member of a family with so much public service to country.
Again, I was so thankful to be able to spend the holiday with two of my siblings.
Perfectly timed and starting out still being supported by music from the USAF American Heritage band, the fireworks started at 9:10 PM and continued without interruption until 9:40 PM. I know that human memory is imperfect, but I really do believe this was the best professional fireworks display I had ever seen. The pictures of course don’t do it justice, but take my word for it, they were amazing.
Oh the second to last full day of my visit, July 12th, we were off to Bush Gardens in Williamsburg, Virginia.
On that note, professional displays like these really are much more impressive than the backyard ones many people in the USA like to do; they are also safer and probably cheaper. So if you are in the United States and have a high quality local parks service like Newport News does, rather than doing a backyard barbeque and amateur fireworks, just pack a picnic dinner and head out to the local public celebrations. You will find it to be an outstanding holiday celebration. Certainly that was our experience.
The next day, July 5th, my brother and sister had to go up north to Fort Belvoir, so I used this time to visit my dear friend Janet and her husband Chris. I’ve known Janet now for more than twenty years, but only had the privilege of meeting Chris about 5-6 years ago. Janet and I first met doing English language community theater programs in Costa Rica and then continued getting together on a monthly basis to play charades, something which Janet always carefully organized for different English speaking friends in the San Jose, Costa Rica area.
Proving that it really is a small world, when Janet had left Costa Rica years ago, she moved to an area less than 20 miles away from my sister in Virginia! We visited for about 8 hours and every moment was great.
Jumping ahead a couple of days, on July 8th my sister and I went to an estate sale. This may happen in other places in the world, but I’ve only seen it as a common occurrence in the USA. Sometimes they are auctions, but other times it’s more like a garage or yard sale where things are placed in and around the person’s home, with price tags attached. If you aren’t familiar with the concept, it’s fairly simple if somewhat bizarre for the uninitiated. I think they may also at times happen under other circumstances, but usually it’s when some family member dies and the remaining family members sell all their stuff that nobody wants. You can get high quality stuff for really good prices, but in many cases there’s a good reason no family member wanted the items. Most of the stuff here seemed to be of good quality.
All of these solid wood furniture pieces were priced at only 75 USD each and they were all in pristine condition. Some of the other stuff though seemed a bit pointless and other items was just sad, since it was clear they were items which had been of some personal significant to the deceased. I sort of understand with the large, more expensive items, but I think I would be more inclined to simply give away random dishes and trinkets. It would be very odd for me to stick pricetags on my dead loved one’s personal items. But then I’ve never really been in that position, so I don’t want to judge anyone else. Still, it seems weird.
The next couple of days were more or less uneventful with us just doing standard stuff around the house
On my second to last full day in Virginia, we went to Busch Gardens theme park in Williamsburg, Virginia. We were there from 11 AM to 7 PM. Yes, it’s a fun place to spend the day, but it’s also crazy expensive. Even though I suspect that few people ever pay the full official daily entry fee of 99 USD per person, they have things setup in a way that means as a general rule, you will probably spend at least 75 USD per person and it wouldn’t be strange to spend more like 150. Of course, people who live nearby and really like going can get special season passes, but one way or another, they’re gonna get their money, and it’s a lot. Of course it is POSSIBLE to spend less using special passes etc, but that also means you will constantly be monitoring every dollar (no pennies here) spent all day long. Once you’ve accepted that and still decided to go, you can enjoy your day at the park.
The following day, my birthday (July 13th), my brother and sister took me out to eat at a nearby branch of the Olive Garden after we had spent much of the day visiting with our family friend TJ. For some crazy reason I didn’t think to take any pictures during the visit with TJ, but she did give me a lovely painting which her daughter had made.
The next day was my final day in Virginia, but I didn’t fly out until the evening, so I was still able to convince Chris to take me to the nearby SPCA petting zoo in the morning. I was a bit disappointed that the rabbits weren’t out, but for three dollars a person, and knowing the money was going towards a good cause, it was still definitely worth the visit.
Then we were back to the house for a nice lunch of salmon and mixed vegetables.
Of course there were many other great events during the visit, just as every single day has many amazing moments. Sometimes, we just forget to pay attention. For my part, I plan on paying attention to every special interaction and every beautiful sight as I travel through each day no matter where I am. I invite you to do the same. Until next time, thanks for reading!
Travels with Jay 