Back from Paris. Don't let people bullshit you. It's a wonderful city. Sure, it's got tourist traps and some of the famous stuff probably shouldn't be that famous. But the city has a charm that is distinctly lacking in the U.S. I'll post some pictures tomorrow. Right now, let's discuss why this may be the last foreign trip I make.
I don't have anything against traveling per se. It's fine to see things you'll never see anywhere else. It's a rare chance to see places with thousands of years of history and culture, not just 200 or so. But FUCK airports and the assholes that think long lines and cursory glances at baggage means people are safer. How many times is it necessary to look at a passport? For Christ's sake, all they did was open it, make a quick glance at the picture, ask a few pithy questions about the bags, and then hand it right back. They checked it before getting in line for the flight check-in, again at the check-in desk, again after checking in, again at customs, again at the security booth, again before boarding, and again in the middle of the walkway to board the plane. This is why people blow up airports. Not to terrorize or punish non-believers. They're fucking pissed because of the bullshit. Back in the good ol' USA, these same fuckers made us stand in line to have the passports checked at customs, then they proceeded to make us stand in line for clearing the goods we brought in. At neither place was any kind of actual security check done. They practically waived us through after making us wait in line. All told, we probably stood in lines for 4 hours and had our passports checked nearly a dozen times. Is it really necessary? Twice, sure. Three times, I can live with. Twice in each country? Seems fair. But what the fuck? I guess somebody needed a job for his retarded brother-in-law, so they invented the position of International Passenger Passport Checker and gave him free reign to hire his retarded friends for similar made up positions.
This is what passes for security. We've traded hours of time just for the APPEARANCE of safety. Listen good...planes are no safer now than before 2001. But we have more bullshit, more wasted money, and more wasted time. Bravo America. Instead of addressing the roots of the problem, we've put another bandage on the wound and left it at that. The ulcer is still festering underneath, but fuck it! At least his passport was looked at.
Also America, you suck when it comes to welcoming foreigners. We flew to France without any French to lean on. With only minimal difficulty, found our way through the airport, got to where we needed to go, and found the people to be generally helpful and willing to speak what English they could when we struggled. Coming to LAX, the American "authorities", the "face of the nation" (taken from their own lame poster), proceeded to not be useful, did not appear to want to help anyone, and generally just continued speaking English with no regard for the fact that the Korean woman with her family and bags obviously didn't understand it the first 15 times. The signs were only posted in English, with random French or Spanish thrown in pointing to exits. At Charles de-Gaulle, most of the signs were in French, but with smaller print for English, Japanese, and German. How difficult is to do the same here?
Aside from the passport identity crisis, I had a fantastic trip. If it wasn't for the bullshit meted out by "Homeland Security" and the airlines themselves, I would consider traveling more often. As it is, there is plenty to see in America and I don't have to spend what essentially amounts to an entire useful day waiting in line to have my passport looked at by some dill-hole with a 4th grade education who wants to make small talk about how great it is to be back in the U.S.
I recommend traveling to Paris and enjoying a city that doesn't really feel like a city. The food is great, the atmosphere was relaxed, and the art and architecture were far beyond what we call history in this country. But give hell to airports and their obvious deficiency and incompetence when it comes to air travel and customer service. If a company treated their employees the way airports and airlines treat their patrons, they would be met with lawsuits, a fat Chapter 11 filing, and no one to feel bad for them.
2 comments:
The food alone is worth the trip!
Crappy airport time has to be a built-in, accepted annoyance, like the inevitable hours you're going to spend standing on street corners staring at maps going 'where the fuck am i? these people don't speak English.'
I make a game out of how many times I can show my passport (ie just walk around showing it to people until they ask you to put it away) or see if you can foil security (like walking through metal detectors with keys, wallet, phones and change in your pockets to see if they notice.)
P.S. They usually don't.
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