The route map on the Boeing 747-400 tells me we’re cruising at 36,000 with a ground speed of just over 550 mph and we have just 979 miles or 2 hours to go until we land in Denver. My body thinks its about 10:30 PM (London Time) and the laptop clock (which I never changed) is showing 3:30 PM. It’s been a smooth flight which is pretty much unlike anything about this two week vacation. I managed to sleep about an hour or so, but having the ability to lay completely flat is such an advantage and one I truly appreciate. My wife and I began flying business class several years ago. Trust me, once you fly business…there’s no going back. Anyway…
My mind is bouncing between the memories of the past two weeks (not all bad) and a package awaiting my arrival home of some new tobacco I ordered a few days ago. More about the tobacco in a few minutes. Once on the ground in Denver, we’ll need to make our way through security/customs (which I’m sure will be discussed later in this article) then out to the car where I’ll need to try to remember how to drive again. It’s been two weeks. Yikes! Then finally make the drive home which is about 25 miles. In Denver, everything is far from the airport.
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
There are many things about this trip which I can break down into the three categories of one of my favorite Clint Eastwood films. Just something about those Spaghetti Westerns of the 1960’s. But I digress…
If you’ve been reading my blog entries from the past two weeks then you have a pretty good idea of just how everything unfolded or unraveled as my wife might say. It started off all peaches and cream, then quickly developed into something really bad which turned really ugly. As I mentioned in previous blog updates, I’ll save you from all the gory details..but my wife either developed food poisoning or caught some other bug which caused her to be nauseated and experience diarrhea which lasted a few days. This then turned into cold/flu symptoms complete with sore throat, nasal issues and then a nasty, deep cough which she is still suffering from. I’m sure once we’re back home and have all our modern conveniences, this too shall pass.
Greenland isn’t Green
By the way, I believe this marks my 12th transatlantic crossing by airplane and the first time I’ve been able to see Greenland. Either our flight path was further south or the clouds were too think. The image below is from 36,000 feet and shows the country of Greenland to be pretty snow covered with just a portion of the shoreline not covered in snow.
TSA/USA Customs
Please don’t get me wrong, if you cut me…I bleed Red, White and Blue! I’m about as patriotic as they come. I’m extremely proud to be American, but we don’t always do the right things and we don’t always have the best processes. Case in point is our re-entry process. Two weeks ago I was able to breeze through Customs at Heathrow Airport. I walked up to a scanning machine, scan my passport and was allowed entry without having to speak to anyone. In other words, no one asked me where I was going, how long I was planning on staying and no one asked me the nature of my visit. By the way, I also didn’t need to fill out a landing card.
Before arriving into Denver on a British Airways Boeing 747, I was handed a landing card and of course told by the flight attendant that the US requires all passengers to fill out this card. It always baffles me why an American born citizen, with an American issued passport needs to fill out a landing card. My passport should be the only thing I need to show. Of course, being the law abiding citizen that I am…I fill out the card anyway. Upon landing, we’re directed through Customs where I’m practically interviewed interrogated by a US Border agent regarding the what, where, when, why of my visit to Europe. Again, I’m not suggesting I’m in any way above the law. But I would think a simple scan of my US Passport would be adequate enough to determine if there was any valid reason to question me further. Oh well….
New Tobacco, New Coffee…Ahh the joys of Sunday!
As I mentioned at the top of this article, I had wanted to try Ole Shenandoah Summer Berry Brandy for some time now. However, it’s been out of stock at my favorite online tobacconist for several weeks. I received an email last week that it was once again back in stock, so I ordered a tin and it arrived on Saturday via my friendly mailman.
Funnily enough, when I was in the grocery story very early this morning (I’m writing this portion of the blog article on Sunday, 28 July) I took a peek at the various cold brewed coffee selections available. This was something I really hadn’t tried before vacation, but enjoyed a few cans in both Belgium and England. Anyway…at my local grocery store here in Denver they have a wide selection of various cold brewed coffee products. But this one (Boss Coffee) was the one that got selected. Evidentially, Boss Coffee started out in Japan and eventually made its way to the US. Anyway…I love the pipe smoking logo which happens to be none other than American writer and Nobel Prize laureate William Faulkner.
By the way, I very much enjoyed BOTH the Ole Shenandoah Summer Berry Brandy and the Boss Coffee. The theme for the rest of the day is to try to stay awake as long as possible so I will sleep tonight as tomorrow (Monday) is back to work for me and my wife.
That’s about all I can think of for now. It’s late afternoon and I think I’ll go smoke another bowl of Ole Shenandoah.
Until next time…
Happy Piping!
Jerry