Sunday, August 24, 2008
I feel like I have been visiting a lot of capitals recently. In June, I visited Vienna and Bratislava, while I visited Cape Town and Johannesburg in July. While I do not think the best way to explore a foreign country is simply to stop by its capital, vacationing in cities located close to major airports can be quite convenient.
While I was scheduled to arrive in Prague relatively early in the morning, I ended up getting there later as I missed my Northwest flight from Boston to Prague. The reason I missed the Northwest flight was a delay in getting from Houston to Boston with American Airlines, which service I had the pleasure of experiencing on the first time. The service on American Airlines is famous for being quite abysmal, but I was almost impressed by the length they had gone to provide an almost hostile level of service. Many customers seem unable to handle the check in counters at the airport, but there are almost no personnel available to assist passengers that are having problems operating the machines. Elderly people and foreigners with a poor command of English come to mind, but also individuals without credit cards (mostly young students) cannot check in as they are not able to pay for the check-in luggage fee.
I would hate to work at the airport for one of the permanently understaffed American airlines. Being constantly yelled at all day by a group of often moronic passengers is not my idea of fun.
The airplanes flown by American Airlines must be amongst the oldest in the industry. There was something broken on virtually every plane that I boarded, the worst being the seat divider. When I found my aisle seat being without a seat divider, my initial fear was that a fat sweaty Texan male would come and sit in the seat next to me. Luckily, on this particular flight, I was lucky to have someone of average width occupy that seat. This does not happen often on US flights.
I may have commented on this earlier, but it takes approximately twice as long to board a plane in the US compared to Japan. The reason is not only that the average American is twice as large as the average Japanese person, but also that everyone feels a need to bring a gigantic piece of hand luggage. It is often impossible to store the luggage in the overhead compartments, thus many passengers end up blocking the aisle for ages while looking around the plane like idiotic donuts. According to an announcement on one of the American Airlines flights that I took, the cabin crew is not allowed to assist passengers with the storing of their luggage (thank you labor union!). I really hope the stewardesses are capable of assisting passengers in an emergency situation; otherwise I am not really sure what their function is.
After finally arriving in Prague after several miserable and delayed flights (Las Vegas-Houston-Boson-Amsterdam-Prague), I was too exhausted to study the public transportation system and simply jumped into a shuttle bus (tickets are bought at the airport). However, I later found out that the public transportation system in Prague is both excellent and cheap, thus I could have saved a chunk of cash by keeping my head cool when arriving in Prague.
After meeting my parents at the hotel, I took a quick shower before we headed out for dinner. Our first stop was Wenceslas Square, which was a horse market in medieval times but later has become more famous as a site for political demonstrations. The creation of the new Czechoslovak Republic was celebrated on the square in 1918, and the end of communism was announced here in 1989 by Vaclav Havel and Alexander Dubcek. At a picture exhibition two days later, I also saw several pictures from the Soviet Union’s invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, a historical moment I was barely familiar with as it happened a decade prior to my birth. It is peculiar to see history repeating itself in Georgia these days, with nationalist Russia invading a country it determines to be within its realm of interest. Having already ruined half a century with its communistic madness, it is odd that the Russians cannot get their act together and start making some positive and constructive contributions to European affairs.
After eating a mediocre Czech dinner at a local restaurant, we went for a walk along the Vltava River. While it was rather cold outside, I think I could stare at the magnificently lit up Prague Castle for hours on end without getting tired of the view. On the other hand, I would probably get very sleepy, mugged, or even better, freeze to death.
While I was scheduled to arrive in Prague relatively early in the morning, I ended up getting there later as I missed my Northwest flight from Boston to Prague. The reason I missed the Northwest flight was a delay in getting from Houston to Boston with American Airlines, which service I had the pleasure of experiencing on the first time. The service on American Airlines is famous for being quite abysmal, but I was almost impressed by the length they had gone to provide an almost hostile level of service. Many customers seem unable to handle the check in counters at the airport, but there are almost no personnel available to assist passengers that are having problems operating the machines. Elderly people and foreigners with a poor command of English come to mind, but also individuals without credit cards (mostly young students) cannot check in as they are not able to pay for the check-in luggage fee.I would hate to work at the airport for one of the permanently understaffed American airlines. Being constantly yelled at all day by a group of often moronic passengers is not my idea of fun.
The airplanes flown by American Airlines must be amongst the oldest in the industry. There was something broken on virtually every plane that I boarded, the worst being the seat divider. When I found my aisle seat being without a seat divider, my initial fear was that a fat sweaty Texan male would come and sit in the seat next to me. Luckily, on this particular flight, I was lucky to have someone of average width occupy that seat. This does not happen often on US flights.
I may have commented on this earlier, but it takes approximately twice as long to board a plane in the US compared to Japan. The reason is not only that the average American is twice as large as the average Japanese person, but also that everyone feels a need to bring a gigantic piece of hand luggage. It is often impossible to store the luggage in the overhead compartments, thus many passengers end up blocking the aisle for ages while looking around the plane like idiotic donuts. According to an announcement on one of the American Airlines flights that I took, the cabin crew is not allowed to assist passengers with the storing of their luggage (thank you labor union!). I really hope the stewardesses are capable of assisting passengers in an emergency situation; otherwise I am not really sure what their function is.
After finally arriving in Prague after several miserable and delayed flights (Las Vegas-Houston-Boson-Amsterdam-Prague), I was too exhausted to study the public transportation system and simply jumped into a shuttle bus (tickets are bought at the airport). However, I later found out that the public transportation system in Prague is both excellent and cheap, thus I could have saved a chunk of cash by keeping my head cool when arriving in Prague.
After meeting my parents at the hotel, I took a quick shower before we headed out for dinner. Our first stop was Wenceslas Square, which was a horse market in medieval times but later has become more famous as a site for political demonstrations. The creation of the new Czechoslovak Republic was celebrated on the square in 1918, and the end of communism was announced here in 1989 by Vaclav Havel and Alexander Dubcek. At a picture exhibition two days later, I also saw several pictures from the Soviet Union’s invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, a historical moment I was barely familiar with as it happened a decade prior to my birth. It is peculiar to see history repeating itself in Georgia these days, with nationalist Russia invading a country it determines to be within its realm of interest. Having already ruined half a century with its communistic madness, it is odd that the Russians cannot get their act together and start making some positive and constructive contributions to European affairs.After eating a mediocre Czech dinner at a local restaurant, we went for a walk along the Vltava River. While it was rather cold outside, I think I could stare at the magnificently lit up Prague Castle for hours on end without getting tired of the view. On the other hand, I would probably get very sleepy, mugged, or even better, freeze to death.
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