Homeward Bound
Jonboy - I said - as we boarded the plane back in Nashville. This holiday seems like a dream to me nowOK, the Paul Simon version of that worked better. But that's where I am now, sitting, waiting for the plane that's going to carry me home. The strangest thing of being in O'Hare airport for me at the moment is the vast number of English accents suddenly around me again. Back in Nashville, or even DC to a certain extent, you did get a very profound sense of being the only brit in town...
So - how to waste a couple of hours before our plane leaves. Well, this is a good start, it's still $6 an hour but seems like a good idea when I have access to a laptop. I've just spent a little while having a little something to eat - albeit rather encouraged by Jon and Dan to sample a 'Cinnabon', which apparently took them a good hour to get through on the day they arrived. I finished mine in a slightly more sensible time and whilst it's nice, the $4 price tag is strong notice that we're in an international airport!
It's also a bit curious that here - beyond passport control - they still appear to charge state taxes on food purchases, which you wouldn't really expect if you were in Britain.
As for yesterday, we did church a couple of times, once in the morning, and in the evening - for worship at the downtown Nashville 'Global Cafe' venue. The latter of these was especially good - at least because that they were doing much more 'rocky stuff' than we'd had over the weekend previous. We also got to meet up with the legend that is Mr. John Hermes and - for the sake of his continued sanity - give him what's left of my box of PG Tips!
But now, my body is starting to consider that - despite - the sun in the sky here, it really is now pretty late evening back in London. That might be a good sign that I could get some sleep on the flight, but if the way here is anything to go by, that'll be a fair challenge!
Anyway, time is ticking away. Only another hour to go before I drop my index finger on the 'US VISIT exit procedure' electronic scanner and leave this country... so I'd best get some tea from the nearby starbucks to finish 'the day'.
So what do I reflect on from this trip? That perhaps my perception of Americans has been refined, for example:
- Anyone who can figure out the New York metro can't be stupid.
- There's no such thing as "American Service" in a restaurant, your milage really will vary
- TV advertising tends to be many, many times more blunt and uncontrolled than in the UK, where the "trade descriptions act" helps a lot by requiring advertisers to offer some justification of their claims!
- New York or DC are typically no more dangerous than London, if you act in the same way
- America is more ethnically diverse and integrated than the UK, the lines here between Black/White/Hispanic/Asian/etc... seem more blurred than I typically see in London
And one thing I knew before I even stepped on the plane at Heathrow. That 10 days is not enough to see this country. I will be returning at some point in the future...
later,
richie
posted by RichB @ Monday, July 11, 2005
4 Comments:
Have really enjoyed reading about your time away Rich...hope your journey home was a safe one and see you back in the land of good tea soon! (Well, not 'see' you...but you know what I mean...)
Mate,
I haven't followed your trails nearly as much as i wanted to. Hope to see you on the weekend.
Happy and safe flights.
Dimitri
Well Rich, glad you liked america enough to want to come back. :D Next time you need to come west ... it's really quite nice.
Lol, I had less than a day on a stopover flight in London and the first thing I thought it, "I need a week to explore this city!" Glad you enjoyed it, Rich. My life dream is to visit your country thoroughly...a good month or so someday. :)
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