| Monday |
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I arose at 0345 and dressed in my kilt. I had already packed all my bags into the car the previous evening and everything was ready for me to leave at 0430. Bob Kelso came with me to the airport in order to drive my vehicle back to Cooper court. On the journey I found that the engine was sluggish but I could think of no reason why a new car should behave this way. I had no idea what was causing it and the bubble couldn't suggest anything either I had no idea what was causing it and the bubble couldn't suggest anything either. However we arrived without mishap at terminal 4 at a little after 0530. My flight was due to leave at 0820. When I went into the airport building one of the staff helped me with my baggage when he saw that I was struggling a little with my walking stick. He took my passport and my printout then trapped in the necessary information to a computer terminal which produced a boarding house. Everything is automated nowadays. There was a short queue as I waited to check in my baggage at the Continental Airlines desk for flight CY35 bound for Houston Texas. I was advised that they flight was running late and that it would be 1015 before it departed instead of the scheduled time of 0840. In the departure lounge I bought a bottle of Givenchy eau de Cologne and sat around reading my book and eating a light snack whilst waiting for the plane to arrive. The flight was delayed due to there being problems with the smoke alarms in the toilets and we were four hours late in leaving Heathrow. A great start to my holiday I thought hoping this is not an omen of what is to come. We eventually boarded the plane at 1035 after being held waiting in the corridor for 30 minutes. About 30 people were able to board the plane before everything stopped again and no one else was allowed on board for a further 20 minutes. In fact it was finally midday when we actually took off. As usual I slept for most of the flight. The food was not very good and only the first drink was free after that one had to pay $5 for anything alcoholic. On my arrival at Houston at 1630 where I had to change planes to continue my journey to Cancun I had another delay. For some reason every time I arrive in America I seem to have problems with their immigration clearance. It is the only country in the world where I have had to enter the country then leave the country rather than staying in a transit lounge just to change aeroplanes. I believe the Americans are paranoid about potential terrorism or alternatively they force people to enter the country in order to boost their statistics which of course gives an unrealistic number of people arriving in America. I was ushered to a waiting room whilst enquiries were made. I was taken to a room where there waited for 40 minutes while they did a short interview with me and then went off to make enquiries. Each time I asked what was happening I was told that the records were being checked. I eventually got my customs declaration stamped on my passport returned to me. By the time I was interviewed, cross-examined and allowed to leave the interrogation room at 1835 I found that there were no more flights to Cancun that day. The last flight was due to leave at 1850 and I was told that it was too late for me to catch that flight. They issued me with a $50 voucher to stay at the Hilton In northern Hotel and $26 worth of vouchers to cover my dinner and breakfast. I was thoroughly pissed off when I went outside to take the shuttle to the hotel. I was given a room on the 15th floor and after and packing and freshening up I came down the stairs to have a smoke outside the hotel. At 1930 I went into the bar where I chatted to Michael and Rosie, a couple who'd also missed their correction through to Lima. The couple left to eat and I sat chatting to a Polish professor who lived in the UK but now resides in Canada, a really nice and friendly and tremendously interesting gentleman. I ordered my dinner and when the bill came I was told that I could not use the vouchers for the drinks that I'd had with my food. I resisted this and the manager eventually came over to me and told me that it was against the company policy to accept vouchers for alcoholic drinks. I decided to order a cheesecake to make the bill up to the $20 voucher and paid the $7.50 in cash for the drinks. I went to bed at 22 30 thoroughly pissed off with America. |
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