the flight home was the usual: interrogation and torture at every airport [only on flights coming to america] - in zurich i was interrogated [as was everyone going to atlanta] at the 1st security check before i even got to the ticket counter- i know the routine and the questions so well i should just make and hand them a paper. plus you have to schlepp all your bags while standing in line. no carts allowed; really f-ing dumb, when you have 2 big check ins, a carry on, and computer bag. then i had to pay 25$ for 1 'overweight' bag, but the computer at the ticket counter wasn't working [as usual] and couldn't accept my credit card- so i had to walk elsewhere to pay, schlepping my crap with me. if i'm going to be tortured i expect better service.
i went through passport control, then onto my gate. but before getting to my gate, had to go through another security check. take out the laptop, put all the crap on the table,etc. thank god switzerland has hi tech x-ray machines which can see everything; no problems. went to the smoking lounge and smoked.
i'd requested window seats when i got my ticket. however, i got an aisle seat in the exit section, which was better than a normal section, but still not good. put in my ear-plugs, put on my sleeping mask, and took a sleeping pill and slept about 5 hours, except when either the food or drink cart came by and knocked into me, or undisciplined unruly children were running amok. [there should be a special place in hell for people who let children run wild... especially on planes! "children should be seen and not heard" did not become an adage for nothing!] i didn't even wake for the 'lunch'- even when i smelled it passing- better to sleep and escape some of the 9 hours of the butt-numbing seats. i dozed off and on, woke maybe 2 hours before touchdown and the next tortures.
passport control wasnt bad- never is, really, except for the lines- the guy working at the booth i went to was rather funny. i had 8 boxes of Samson tobacco [enough to last a few months] and he asked if i was going to sell it. i said "no, i'm just not going to pay american prices to smoke!" [especially considering the majority of the cost here is taxes- and yet everywhere you go is now non-smoking here- tax me for smoking, but don't allow me to. duh!] he asked if i'd bought any liquor or chocolates and i said no- because i hadn't- but said, "well, i have some small bars- that were given me" to which he said, "aha mr. duffey! so you DO have chocolates... why did you say you didn't?" but waved me away...
next stop baggage claim: my bags were the last to come off the carousel. then when i went to re-check the 2 checked bags, it was a bordelle. trolleys and bags in heaps everywhere, and people yelling "leave the bags and get outa here" --- so, i did. then on to the fun part. a mile long line of people having to go through yet another security check. and this is what i dont get: you've been checked in zurich 2x, have only been on the plane, and then through passport control, and then baggage claim, and [if you're in transit] recheck- but yet... again, another control: take out the laptop, put all the junk on the table, take off the shoes, etc. and rude people barking orders- like WW2 Germany- very stressful to do all this with people in front of and behind you, pushing and stripping, and so on- and rude pushy TSA people hollering at you. this time, i forgot to take off my shoes... god forbid... had to go back; some surly bastard snarling at me from beyond the . then their machine couldn't SEE into my carry on [unlike the swiss machine]- so i had to unpack everything i'd tried to pack so carefully, while the conveyor belt was pushing other people's scheiss at me. scream time! afterward, i immediately went to the smoking area in terminal E [where i arrived] even though my connecting flight was at C.
above: a huge flying corn-cob dildo thing hanging in the atlanta airport. quite a metaphor! welcome to america!afterward i went to C- which means schlepping bags down the mile long corridors, taking the mile long escalator, getting on the train, getting out, going back up the escalator and down yet another mile long corridor= exhausting. i checked in and as i had over an hour to wait- went to the smoking section. amazingly, during my absence, my time in europe, they have added more smoking areas. [unreal. incomprehensible. bravo!] when i went back to wait for boarding i was told the gate had been changed to D... Merde! now i had about 48 minutes... so... that meant schlepping bags down the mile long corridors, taking the mile long escalator, getting on the train, getting out, going back up the escalator and down yet another mile long corridor AGAIN= more exhausting.
i sat down and re-packed everything in my carry on bag [like always] in the wide open- i always take delicate items, like cameras and external hard-drives, ect. in my carry on, but because the plane to MLU is smaller there is no overheard bin room for a normal sized carry on. i've seen the way the baggage handler THROW the carry on bags... so always take an extra bag, in the carry on so i can re-pack. the overhead speakers are always saying [about the security/threat level] "the level is orange" or "for security reasons, dont leave baggage unatttended", "report any suspicious behaviour" etc. always some scheiss. people watched me strangely as i re-packed. i'm surprised i wasn't reported. i'm sure i looked crazy, from stress and all the running i'd been doing. if i've said it once, i've said it a million times, "travel, which used to be a pleasure, is now total torture!"
eh bien, finally we boarded and winged homeward. friends had emailed me in switzerland saying "stay there! don't come home... the heat and mosquitoes are unbearable!" and i wasn't really looking forward to either. but... home is home; even if summer in louisiana IS hell.
i had many great moments in europe- but, one thing i relished in particular was that i NEVER watched/saw FOX news [especially- what fascists!], CNN or any of the US news programs. i always surfed right past them to something cultural; something intelligent/intellectual; the kinds of programs that are sorely missing on even american cable tv. it was such a pleasure to be away from all the propaganda, political rhetoric, and non-stop horror stories. i ONLY stopped and watched CNN 1x when i saw that Karl Rove had resigned from W's [dub-yuh] cabinet [read: regime]... another rat fleeing the sinking ship.
so... i'm back! back to the land of propaganda, paranoia, and religious fanatics; 100F heat, mosquitoes, west nile virus, encephalitis, snakes etc. oh well...
i made a few random shots from the car with the digicam: below is part of what's left of the monroe skyline; they ripped down all historical buildings in the 60s when they began building shopping centers and malls in the suburbs. it was shot from the car, on a bridge, while driving. [with reflections]... "frances towers" [sounds like the name of an old film star] sticks out like one of stalin's "7 ugly sisters" [buildings] in Moscow; telephone poles look like crucifixes... another metaphor.
i saw this church sign [below] en route to my house and it says it all: illiterate religious nut cases.
they can't spell "air conditioning" [conditione!] but they sho nuff can preach at and condemn you!... [or maybe they're mocking cartmen on "south park"... "dont question my authoritei!"...nah, probably not!]yesterday, in wal-mart, i saw a young teenage boy wearing a tee shirt that said "in jesus name"- [what the hell does THAT mean? good gawd]- if i hadn't already been damned near arrested once in wal-mart- for taking a foto [ages ago]- i would've snapped him w/the digicam. i should have anyway... it was a total diane arbus moment. "he who hesitates is lost"
[c] 2007 doug duffey
