The expectation before taking an overseas flight is stressful. When one has a business, house, dog, car and personal matters as well this is augmented greatly. It may even call into question one’s original decision to travel at all. Of course one expects and receives no sympathy from others for such events as one is bound for the ‘grand tour’.
One looks forward to seeing New York in snow but not the cold, slush and wind which can accompany it. The constant “You’re welcome” from staff reminded us of all the changes we needed to make in order to ‘fit in’ with America. Our American air steward called this the American troglodyte response to ‘thank-you’ (Australians, if we have any, might say: ‘she’s right’). Americans not only drive on the right, they also walk on the right, which in busy Manhattan really DOES matter (oh, and it’s sidewalk, not footpath). They also go through revolving doors the opposite way, escalators generally are on the right and of course you have to get into a car on the opposite side. But don’t try to get into the front seat of the New York cab unless you are invited. Beware of front doors in New York as they mostly open outwards … unless in cases where the building was built before a certain date when the City law was changed, in which case they open inwards like everywhere else.
I had a feeling something was up when we were ushered onto a plane with the wrong livery. Instead of ‘United’, ‘Star Alliance’ was the logo painted down the side of the jumbo jet. Most of the passengers would not have noticed as we travelled down narrow corridors and covered gangways right up to the plane door. Furthermore, I did not see the name ‘United’ printed anywhere inside the plane except on mobile equipment such as food trolleys.
After a smooth, on-time take-off, I was surprised that there were clouds alongside even after we appeared to be at cruising altitude. Normally one is well above the clouds by that stage in my experience. So we looked out and between a break in the clouds was a massive oval atoll or reef in mid-ocean! I later learned that this was Middleton Reef, the site of dozens of shipwrecks of vessels plying more-or-less the same route as we were.
My premonition of problems was borne out by a little on-board drama as shortly into the flight smoke started coming out of the TV monitor screen in the back of a seat opposite us. The stewardess obtained a fire extinguisher from a hidden cupboard under the stairs while the chief purser saw to the entire video system being closed down. The pilot announced that there had been a problem and in order to isolate one screen and re-boot the system they were getting radio instructions from San Francisco (where it was about midnight according to my calculations!).
The extinguisher was not needed. The smoke went away. The system was restarted and all was well for the cocktail hour (we left Mascot about 5pm). The service in business class is generally excellent but the way you feel often depends on one or two staff members and their personalities. We were fortunate to have a male and a female steward in our cabin who were both personable and efficient. They went the extra distance to make one feel comfortable on such a long flight. Unlike the old days when one had to go to some lengths to find out how long it would be to arrival, each seat now has a screen and map with distance travelled, altitude, time to destination, external temperature (why would you need to know that unless you were about to crash?!) etc, etc. And these are updated every minute or so. On the other hand, it is somewhat depressing to feel that one has travelled a long way, taken dinner and a snooze only to find that you are a quarter the way to California and there are still 8 or more hours to go!
Dinner was snapper, beef or ravioli. I chose the fish which was a mistake as it was a large overcooked chunk of flaky white fish which was not my idea of snapper. Never mind … it had delicious green pea ‘guacamole’ and garlic bread with it and was followed by a passion fruit meringue tart (incorrectly called ‘pavlova’ by the steward, but who cares). This was all served with a South African sauvignon blanc which was rather fruity but pleasant nonetheless.
We were about to cross the International Date Line and thus in the space of 2 hours 11pm Wednesday becomes 1am Wednesday again, something I still find difficulty coming to terms with. Imagine living in Samoa where half the country is on one side and the other half on the other!
One looks forward to seeing New York in snow but not the cold, slush and wind which can accompany it. The constant “You’re welcome” from staff reminded us of all the changes we needed to make in order to ‘fit in’ with America. Our American air steward called this the American troglodyte response to ‘thank-you’ (Australians, if we have any, might say: ‘she's roight’). Americans not only drive on the right, they also walk on the right, which in busy Manhattan really DOES matter. They also go through revolving doors the opposite way, escalators generally are on the right and of course you have to get into a car on the opposite side - but don’t try to get into the front seat of the New York Yellow Medallion Cab unless you are invited.
Perhaps most serious of all is that American cling wrap tears the other way - from the lid rather than the box! But altering such fundamental things in America may take another revolution. Yet regulation seems so very popular - but usually regulation for the sake of itself - and which essentially serves no practical purpose - and most importantly, regulation which can be easily by-passed with a few dollars. But of course Australia has its share of that too!
Next you need to seriously attend to your vocabulary. There are no ‘queues’ (well, by any other name would be as long as a ‘line’). ‘Ratbag’ has no meaning - which may be just as well. ‘Round trip’ is ‘return’ for travel tickets. ‘Stay or go?’ is the question for take-away or eat in. When spelling names avoid the Anglicised ‘zed’ for ‘zee’, the alphabet’s final letter. American spelling is familiar enough, unlike American coffee which is often decidedly ordinary. Beware of the pronunciation of filet (fil-ay) and herbs (erbs). And never use the word beaver, especially as a verb! Bookings, fortnight, lift and ‘ground floor’ are all best avoided, too.
More later about arrival and first days - snow - opera - shops - cafe eating and perfect pre-spring weather. Also, see opera blog and restaurant notes.
