#or well this plus two hours on public transportation because of delays

[invisiblerhythmcat]

OT made my hip worse

which like, fine...

but I'm tired and sick of things not helping

and sick of people who think they know how to manage my pain better than me when they don't know all the trial and error I've done throughout the years.

Like, I told this person "I'm willing to try this, but historically, everything like this has made my hip worse" and, instead of asking about the pain or what I had tried, she just went "this will be different"

and when it did start hurting and she did finally ask, her response was "well, that's weird, because that's not how your muscle works"

and like? I know! I wish it made sense too! But I am long past worrying about how my body should work and would like to not be dealing with worse than usual hip pain please and thank you

[lithalwrites]

There Was Only One Bed

“How was your trip?” Yaku asked Kuroo, stirring his drink.

“Aren’t you curious?” Kuroo asked with a smirk. “You never cared about how my trips were back in high school.”

“Yeah, because you never went on any, you shithead. And I’m bored, so there’s that.”

Kuroo clutched his chest, pretending to be offended. “We meet up to hang out after a whole year and you treat me like this, Yakkun? You break my heart.”

“The hearts of people like you don’t break this easy.”

“C’mon, Kuroo-san, tell us about your trip!” Lev said, bouncing excitedly in his seat. He was still as excitable as ever, even in his third year.

“Why are you here again?” Yaku asked Lev, arching his eyebrow.

Lev pouted, and Kuroo watched in amusement as Yaku instinctively patted his head as if he was a puppy. “I wanted to see both my dear senpai.”

“How sweet,” Kuroo said. “Are you sure you wanted to see both of us?”

Lev nodded a little more forcefully than needed. “Now tell us about your trip!”

Kuroo sighed and put on a show of giving in. “Fine. Since you want to know so badly, I guess I’ll tell you.”

“You know, maybe we’ll ask Kenma instead.”

Kuroo laughed. “We all know how that’s going to go. I’m your best bet if you ever want to know what happened.”

“Fine. Continue,” Yaku said.

“So last summer, I found this amazing deal for really cheap airline tickets to Canada, and I decided it would be an excellent opportunity for me to go practice my English. And Canada seems like a nice enough place to visit, plus I figured I deserved a break, so it was really a no-brainer. And because I’m always nice and think about my friends, I asked Kenma if he wanted to go with me.

“He said yes, on the condition that I’d do all the planning, because he trusts me, and also because he was way too busy with the freelance project he was working on to actually be able to help me. Obviously, the major reason was the fact that he trusts me and not how busy he was. (“Obviously,” Yaku rolled his eyes.)

“Anyway, I planned our trip out in a lot of detail, because the cheapest round-trip tickets were for a month, and I was going to make the most of that month away from school and work and everything. My mom was a little skeptical when I told her about this plan, but she eventually came around to it. She knows she can trust me to be responsible (“More like she can trust Kenma to keep your ass in line,” Yaku muttered.).

“So when the time came for us to go, we had one large carrier between us, plus our carry-ons, mine mostly containing things we’d need, and Kenma’s containing his laptop and gaming consoles. I told him he wouldn’t get a whole lot of time to game while we were there, but he ignored me and packed them anyway. I suppose it was a good thing he did that, but I’m getting ahead of myself in the story. All will be revealed in good time.

“The flight was very long, mostly because we had two layovers, and one of our flights was very delayed because of the weather. By the time we landed in Toronto, we were both very tired of being inside planes and airports, and just wanted to sleep.

“When we got our passports stamped at the airport, the border agent asked us what we were visiting for, and she looked very surprised when we said we were there for a vacation. She said it was an interesting time for us to visit Canada, and wished us luck. I think she also mentioned something about warm jackets, but I didn’t really catch most of it. She was speaking pretty fast. Anyway, after that, it was time for us to get our baggage and head to the hotel. Baggage claim was uneventful, and we got our bag pretty quickly.

“I suggested we take public transport to our hotel, but Kenma glared at me and so we got a taxi instead. The taxi driver was a very nice and very talkative man, but he spoke way too fast for me to understand what he was saying. He didn’t seem to mind that I barely said anything for the whole ride. (“The thought of you staying silent for any considerable length of time sounds like a dream,” Yaku snarked.)

“We got to our hotel without a problem, and it turned out to be fairly decent. It was clean, which was pretty much all we hoped for, really, for the price. We stayed there for the two weeks we were in Toronto for, and then I went and picked up the car I had rented. Kenma was a little wary because they drive on the right side of the road, but I was confident I could do it. It would save us all the hassle of public transport, and we could easily bring our luggage with us, so really, it was a pretty solid idea. It’s not like I get the chance to drive a lot here, so I didn’t think the adjustment would be that big of a challenge.”

At that moment, Kenma walked up to their table, and slid in next to Kuroo. “Hi, Yaku-san, Lev,” he said. “Was he telling you about our trip?”

“Yes, and it’s been pretty standard so far. A logical progression of events,” Yaku said. “Kind of boring, not going to lie.”

“Oh, don’t worry, it gets more exciting after Toronto,” Kenma said, shaking his head slightly. “Did you order for me?”

“Of course,” Kuroo answered. “I told the server to wait though, but it’ll be here soon now that you’re here. Okay to continue the story?”

“Yeah, can we skip to the good parts?” Yaku asked.

“Yaku-san, you have to be patient,” Lev said, surprising everyone there. “What? I can be serious,” he said defensively, when everyone stared at him, Yaku turning half in his seat in his shock.

Kuroo laughed. “Clearly. How you’ve grown. I’m proud of you, kid.”

“You sound like an old man,” Kenma said.

Kuroo chuckled, and put on his story voice again. “Where was I? Ah yes, the car rental. I successfully managed to pick up the car, but I hadn’t realized how terrible traffic in Toronto would be. Well, let me tell you, it was pretty bad. It’s a good thing I’m patient, or it wouldn’t have worked out very well. Once we were out of Toronto, it was fine though, and we were soon off to Niagara, because I had heard the falls look great when they’re frozen over.

“I didn’t know if they’d be frozen though, because there didn’t seem to be a lot of snow around. Nor was it extremely cold, and I wondered if all the stuff about how cold Canada is was just an exaggeration. The drive to Niagara started off fine, and I decided to stay off the highway because I wasn’t really used to driving at all, and didn’t want to start off with driving really fast. Kenma agreed with that decision, but maybe it was so he’d be able to play Pokemon Go more conveniently.

“Funnily enough, the only real prep he’d done for this trip was to purchase a roaming data plan that worked in his favour. (“What a Kenma thing to do,” Yaku said with a smile. “I like to have internet access at all times,” Kenma said.) Anyhow, the trip takes around three hours if you don’t take the highway, and when we started it looked a little cloudy, but we didn’t pay it any mind.

“Turns out, we really should have. About an hour or so into the drive, it started snowing real hard, real fast. Which probably explained why there was so little traffic on the roads. The visibility was so poor that I had to pull over at the side of the road before we got into an accident.”

“That sounds really scary,” Lev said, looking a little concerned. “How long were you in the car for?”

Kuroo looked at Kenma, who shrugged. “I think it was about two hours. We ended up getting back on the road while it was still snowing, just not as much.”

“We had to crawl along at a snail’s pace, because the road was covered with snow, and I wasn’t sure if the tires on the car were suitable for snow. I hadn’t really thought to ask at the rental office, which was an oversight on my part but it was too late to lament that. Since we weren’t very close to our destination, I asked Kenma to look up any motels nearby, and I’ve never been more thankful for his insistence on having a working internet connection.”

“There was a motel fairly close by, thankfully,” Kenma piped in, before taking a bite of his apple pie.

“So we decided to call ahead to confirm that they had a vacancy. Kenma dialed, and then put it on speaker so I could talk to them. They informed us that they had had a sudden influx of people coming in and that most of their rooms were taken, but that they’d probably still have one or two left by the time we made it. They couldn’t promise to hold the room for us, which is reasonable. They couldn’t just turn other people seeking shelter from the storm away. Since we were only a few minutes away, we decided to stop by and hope that they still had a room left for us.

“So that’s what we did. We pulled into the motel parking lot, which was pretty full, and thankfully the sign still said ���vacancy,’ so we went in to the office to try our luck. There were a couple of people ahead of us still, and when we got to the front, we were told that there was just one room left. We didn’t really have a choice but to take it, so we did. I casually asked the owner how long the snow storm was supposed to last, and he looked at me a little strangely and told us that there was a lot more snow coming. The region was under a blizzard warning, and people were being told to stay indoors. He also told us that they offered breakfast in the mornings, but couldn’t really offer us lunch or dinner, and that there were a couple vending machines that we could use.”

“I told you we should’ve gotten more snacks,” Kenma said disapprovingly.

“Yes, you did, and I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you. We did have some snacks, though,” Kuroo said.

“Yes, but not nearly enough. And most of them were healthy,” Kenma said with disdain.

“Kenma, I’m not going to apologize for healthy snacks. It’s a good thing they were healthy, particularly since we didn’t have much else to eat,” Kuroo said. Kenma huffed, but didn’t answer. Yaku watched the exchange with interest, and Lev just seemed excited to get back to the story.

“The room wasn’t very large, but it was a room and it was clean, and there was a bed to sleep in, so we were happy. We were still pretty tired, what with jet lag and all, so we decided to turn in early and then take stock of the weather the next day.

“Well, the next day didn’t look any better, and everything was white when we looked out the window, so we had to accept that we could be stuck at the motel for a while. Hopefully not for too long, since we had less than two weeks left of the vacation.”

“This isn’t very exciting, still,” Yaku commented.

“Patience, Yakkun,” Kuroo clucked his tongue. “Learn from Lev.” He ignored the glare Yaku leveled at him.

“We were inside for three days straight, subsiding on snacks and the breakfast the motel provided. I spent most of that time reading, or watching Kenma play games. I even played a little, but I was really bad at it, and Kenma didn’t want me to take over the console for too long. On day four, we had a fight.”

Kuroo paused for dramatic effect, and Lev filled the silence with a shocked gasp. Even Yaku looked surprised. Kenma rolled his eyes. “I wouldn’t call it a fight.”

“It was as close to a fight as we’ve ever gotten,” Kuroo amended, but Yaku and Lev remained shocked. “I woke up to find Kenma already awake, sitting on the chair, playing a game. I asked him if he’d slept okay, and he gave me an annoyed look before he said he’d slept just fine, but he’d have slept much better if someone hadn’t left crumbs in the bed. I refused to believe that I was the culprit behind the offending crumbs, but Kenma held firm, and I got a little annoyed.

“I was also very tired of the breakfast they served us every morning. I know it was stupid to complain because they were doing their best, but I was still tired of it. Plus I was getting antsy from being cooped up in the room. So I decided that it would be a great idea to go out and find us something to eat, since it wasn’t snowing outside.

“Kenma didn’t look happy when I told him I was going out to the nearest grocery store, which wasn’t all that close, but he didn’t say anything other than to drive safe. I think he also wanted to be free of me for a little while.

“I made it to the store, and took my time picking out things we could eat with only a microwave and a kettle at our disposal. I can’t have taken that long, but by the time I was done, it had started to snow really hard again. So I had to stay in the store and hope it would subside soon.

“It let off a little about thirty minutes later, and I decided to try to get back before it started snowing again. I didn’t get very far before I found myself caught in a blizzard, the visibility practically zero. At this point, I was pretty freaked out, and my phone had turned off because it was too cold, so I was relying on my vague recollection of the directions to the motel.

“Well, the snow stopped about ten or so minutes later, and I found myself kind of in the middle of nowhere. There were trees on both sides of the road, and I have no idea how I got there. I didn’t remember taking any turns, but I must have at some point, because I didn’t remember coming this way. I tried to turn my phone on, but it stubbornly refused, and I didn’t even have a charger on me to plug it into the car.

“I contemplated turning back, but then I saw a house tucked away in a small clearing, and someone was out shoveling the driveway, so I figured I’d go ask them for directions. I stopped the car, got out, and called out to the person. It was a man of indeterminate age. He could’ve been my age, or five years older or younger. I couldn’t tell.

“He seemed nice enough, though, and when I asked him if he could direct me towards the motel, he said he was actually heading out that way, so I could just follow his car. That seemed like a great enough idea, so I thanked him and waited until he pulled his car out on the road. It was a very old car, but looked like it was in great shape for how old it must’ve been. He drove fairly slow, so I could easily keep behind him.

“By this time, it was starting to get dark because winter, and I hoped we’d be back soon. I hadn’t been able to text Kenma about what had happened, and I didn’t want him to worry.”

“How did you feel about that, Kenma?” Yaku asked Kenma, eyebrow raised.

“I was very worried,” Kenma said. “It was out of character for him to be that late and not send a text. He didn’t answer my calls so I figured his phone must’ve died, but still.”

“Sorry about that,” Kuroo said. “I should’ve taken my charger with me. Anyhow, this car led me straight to the motel like I had been promised. He pulled into the parking lot ahead of me, and I followed a few seconds later. But when I pulled into the lot, I couldn’t see his car anymore. It was like it had vanished into thin air. I honestly felt a chill down my spine at that moment, and I’m pretty sure I was saved by a ghost that day.”

“Really? You told us this whole long-winded tale and turned it into a ghost story?” Yaku asked, eyes narrowed in disgust. “He probably just left via the other exit.”

“There was no other exit, though. That parking lot only had one entrance and exit. There’s no way he could’ve left without me seeing him. It was bizarre. I can’t make you believe me, but I’m convinced he was a ghost. A nice one, luckily for me, but a ghost nonetheless.”

“That’s so cool!” Lev said, excitedly flailing his arms. “I want to meet a friendly ghost. Yaku-san, let’s go to a haunted hotel and stay there.”

“Not a chance,” Yaku said. “And don’t tell me you believe the ghost story.”

“I do. My grandma tells me stories about ghosts she’s seen in Russia all the time. They’re real,” Lev said sagely. Yaku didn’t argue. Instead, he turned to Kenma.

“Do you believe the story?” he asked.

“Yes,” Kenma said. “I saw the car pull in and fade away, so.”

Yaku stared at Kenma, as if trying to gauge if his leg was being pulled, but couldn’t make up his mind. He let it drop.

“That’s probably why Kenma didn’t yell at me, if I’m being honest. He told me he’d swept the crumbs off the bed, and that I was an idiot to have gone out when the weather was like that, and a bigger idiot for not even taking my charger. The end.”

Lev clapped. Yaku didn’t.

“So,” Yaku said slowly. “I can’t be sure, but from your story it sounds like there was only one bed in your motel room.”

“That’s because there was,” Kuroo answered easily.

“Oh,” Yaku said, and stared at them.

“Wait, why is that imp—ohhh,” Lev said, as it clicked. He laughed. “This sounds like a romance novel where the main characters are forced to share a bed in a hotel. Did that incident bring you closer together and spark a romance between you?”

“Lev!” Yaku said, looking both curious and scandalized at Lev’s audacity.

Kuroo laughed, and Kenma smiled. “It didn’t need to spark something that already existed,” Kenma said, amused at the shocked looks on Yaku and Lev’s faces.

“Wait, since when?” Yaku asked.

“End of high school,” Kuroo answered.

“There was only one bed that time too,” Kenma added.  

[zephyrchin5]

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[loulicate-recs]

Hello sweet Hanis! I’m so sorry for the delay, but I’m finally back!! I hope you didn’t miss me too much and had a nice December 19th. In a similar fashion, I’m wishing you the best for December 20th. And wow, I didn’t realize we were so close to the end, already! I’ve been working on your gift, and I must say it’s a little bit stressful. I hope it will bring you happiness anyways. I should definitely try to hurry up if I want it to be done on time… And for now, it’s not entirely to my taste so I have a lot to work on!

I’m still sick but a lot better. I probably had a fever last night cause my forehead felt super warm, but I felt incredibly cold. I’m glad I woke up today without feeling like my hands would fall off with how cold I was! Honestly can’t wait to have two functioning nostrils dklsdql and speaking about going to the cinema, I was supposed to go see a movie tonight, but I feel too tired to do so. Having a cold sucks! But no, I usually don’t eat food at the cinema. It has happened I’ve bought popcorn, but it really doesn’t happen often because I thin it’s too expensive for what it usually is. And the feeling of having popcorn stuck in your teeth is the absolute worst, too, idk how I managed to forget it every time. What about you? Homemade snacks like the housewife you are or victim of capitalism? Fond of popcorn? I don’t know how shameful it is to admit, but I’ve actually never seen legally Blond dkjsqhd. When I was 10, I bought the books at a flea market but ended up never reading them because the covers were ugly in my opinion. I know that’s the pettiest reason ever but ten years old me was something else! It’s funny you mentioned HP, as one of my siblings is watching HP at the moment. I think he’s watching the 6th one, though. My favourite one is probably the 3rd one and least favourite one the 4th. Once again, it’s not linked to the quality of the movie but more to the fact that the sibling aforementioned would watch the Goblet of fire every day at some point. Kinda traumatized me. Plus, the only girl sucks at being a witch and the movie makes it seem like the girls of her school are only good at being pretty.

My uni is about 45 minutes away door to door–I have a 10/15 minute walk to the station then a 25 minute ride with the tube and another 5 minute walk to get to uni. Compared to most people in my area, that’s very reasonable. Around here, I think the average time is 45 minutes to an hour so anything around that is considered normal. I’d also say that despite a lot of people complaining about the deficiencies of the public transportations, it works quite well–I’m once again only speaking about my area, as experiences vary from suburbs to suburbs. I think there are enough underground trains too that I usually don’t have to worry about missing one. I just go to the station and if I miss one by a minute then there’ll be another one. I’m always early anyways kdslkqdlsm I think taking the tube is not quite the same as taking a plane! I am 4548646456% more stressed for a long journey than I am when I take the tube. Where have you flown to before?

I can’t believe I’ve given you another clue. At the same time, I thought you already KNEW English wasn’t my first language as I’ve mentioned l live in Europe and in Europe, very few countries have English as their official language (besides the UK and Ireland, I mean). And I also felt like I already had implied I didn’t live there when we discussed the English countryside. BUT anyways I feel like I’m speaking too much and shouldn’t remind you everything I’ve said. And I’ve listened to a video to learn how to speal easy malay and can only say nama saya secret santa <3 saya dari a secret country <3

That’s interesting! Are you planning to get married, someday? I think I’m quite lucky because I don’t feel pressure to marry–not that I don’t want to, I’m just not quite set on that. And it’s not entirely linked to the question before but to you, what’s the ultimate proof of love? And I can definitely relate! I’m always scared I’ll accidentally like one of your posts.

I do celebrate Christmas, though it’s pretty lowkey and entirely unreligious. We exchange gifts, have a nice but not too long meal, and then we’re done before midnight dskqdjsq it’s nice, though as I don’t really like huge gatherings. Too many people makes it a little bit too impersonal for me. Do you? If not, what do you celebrate and if so, what’s your favourite thing about Christmas?

You’re such an older daughter! Trying to live up to expectations and all that jazz. And when I say I sing in the car, it’s just not me putting up a show it’s more like, everyone’s singing together to tunes we listen to as a family dslkdjsq I wouldn’t have the confidence to try and belt otherwise lol. I’m sure you sing really well!!

Maybe I’ll hate US promo a little less for the mere fact it brings you happiness dskdjs I usually don’t love it because it’s very… US like? I don’t know, it’s probably more of a feeling than a real thing. AND I KNOW!!! He’s just there, his face facing the crowd, and hands stroke and pet him gently :( he’s not even fazed! You mentioned how comfy he makes us feel but I feel like it is also true the other way around and that’s super cute :( I’m so deeply sorry you couldn’t see him. I was in a similar predicament for my own show and it took me a while to get used to the idea. Fingers crossed for FITF tour! I have a ticket for the show so I really hope everything goes according to plan for you and me both.

You want me to reveal myself by asking me my star sign, don’t you? I’m not giving it to you but to make it better, I’m gonna tell you I’m a daughter to a cancer father and a taurus mum. I don’t know what you can do with this info, but it’s out. By the way, do you get along with your parents? If it is an uncomfy matter to you, please feel free not to answer!

Sending you kisses and love <3<3<3<3 I still hope it won’t get you sick. It was once again a pleasure reading you :) love you babe and take care! xx

hello hello my santa ♡ hope you had an easier day compared to the previous! i have missed you! forgiving you with a sorry from me for being a day late. i was actually planning to write you back yesterday but then i was so caught up in finishing the gift for my santa baby too and eventually fell asleep while working on it :( i am both blushing and feeling guilty for basically being the reason to your stressful situation, i appreciate how you are trying your hardest and best to gift me when you didn’t even have to! talking to you have felt rewarding to me, you made my days more meaningful for the past few weeks and i cannot ever thank you enough for that. not to be sentimental but with you i feel… listened ♡ regardless of feeling guilty, i am stilll eager to find out what you’re giving me, i KNOW that i will love it and definitely will store it in my core memory!

i am partially happy that you’re feeling better but not entirely recovered! do you have any special coping mechanism to ease your painful state when you’re under the weather? i personally have to eat something spicy just to feel something when i get sick. speaking about nostrils, are you having a flu too? my nostrils get blocked almost every night, i haven’t been able to completely get rid of sinus since my preteen years :/ by the way, how long will it snow there, where you live? and do you often get sick during the cold december? oh no, what movie were you supposed to be seeing :o i completely agree with you about the popcorn part, honestly the first time i went to see a movie at the cinema i found that popcorns during movie was an overrated concept, but sometimes i still bought them because my friends always insisted us to. but most of the times i’d sneak in pretzels or chips from my favourite vendors outside of the cinema. more affordable and fits to my taste. and certainly never a homemade snack for cinema sdfgfj i’m not louis enough for that </3 just like how you were shamed to admit you’ve never watched legally blonde, i am also shameful to admit that i didn’t know it had a book. i think it’s safe to tell you that hp 4 is also my least favourite, it just feels less magical compared to the rest. and let’s not talk about harry’s characterisation being watered down :|

hearing about your routine is fascinating although i don’t how to feel about the 45 minutes journey to class everyday :o and you mentioning that you’re always early… wow. i complain for the stupid 7 minutes walk to my faculty/ or on some days i’d carpool with my friends, if my lecturers cancel the class last minute after i’m already in the class sdgfhd and i even stay in the campus. you are really a dedicate student! how long are your lectures daily on average? i’ve flown to the neighbouring countries before for holidays, have yet to escape asia </3 what about you?

shdjdf i know, i wasn’t meant to say that english is your first language as in you don’t speak another language beside it like the british! because there are some malay friends of mine who have been using full english from the day they were born and only use the malay language when it is necessary. and they claim that english is their first language! that’s what i meant to ask, if you’re one of those people, sorry that it was unclear </3 now I am speaking too much. waa that’s cute! and when you say that again but the ‘secret santa’ and ‘secret country’ are replaced with the actual names >:) i wonder what you first language is, i’ve reached duolingo’s level 3 in french before and maybe that’s the most i’ve learned in one of the many third languages i’ve attempted to learn before lmfao. anyway 3 more days and maybe i’ll find out if it’s french or something else that you speak :3

oh tbh we are the same! i don’t find marriage is something that should be my priority, not now and i don’t think that’s gonna change in the future too, but who knows :) when i talk about possible partner i always envision the idea of me being in a non serious relationship where me and the other person just do, discover and learn new stuff together as we grow. i’ve always liked the idea! though it might also has something to do with me living in a place where i’d be expected to marry only the men if i ever wanted to. and newsflash hanis prefers something else mwah <3 btw, i find your question is kinda hard to answer since i’ve never been in a situation where i love someone too hard (louis look away for awhile) or i am loved romantically. but i think time is quite the mastermind of everything, so i get pretty fond when i see old couples showing their affection towards each other. like imagine all the things you’ve gone though together, physical changed, too many ups and downs and you’re still tied together like the first day you confessed your love to each other?! like what more could you ask in order to believe that you are absolutely loved by your lover? sdgdh am i answering your question by the way?

enlighten me, as i don’t know much about the deeper meaning of christmas apart from what’s been shown in the media and public presentations, is christmas a religious celebration for some? i know this is stupid but i used to think that christmas is to celebrate the arrival of the snow, and it’s probably why christmas is not that big here because we don’t have snow… k1ll 10 year old me. i understand you! well as obvious as it is i don’t celebrate christmas, but i do celebrate the eid. and i guess any celebration can’t escape the huge gatherings :/ i’d sometimes lock myself in the room for awhile if the hosting tired me out. by the way despite not celebrating christmas, i do have a lot of things that i like about it, and one of them is the films <3 because all of them have snow scenes and i just love it sgdhdh, i need to roll on the snow someday. what’s your favourite part about christmas, if there’s not many people in your house?

that sounds like a lot of fun, singing together as a family! mine just be putting on our own headphones because we all have different taste in music.

it IS very US like but i think he does more fun things there? don’t get me wrong it will never be enough to me, he needs better better promo i need him to play more games on the real talk shows and not just singing and more youtube segments. but to me a lot of things he does during UK promo is quite UK fans-centered? i mean it’s great he does all that to get closer to the fans but still! tho i’m not complaining about the content we got from his fitf love performance and the album signings <3 as someone who is neither from the US not the UK i’ll take what i can get! yes, he never fails to mention how thankful he is for the fans, he never forgets! it’s like a mantra coming out out from his mouth to call the fans incredible eeee he’s too cute :( “thank you for letting me make the kind of music that i want to make” well thank YOU for making the kind of music that i want you to do and that i want to hear??? one day i’ll eat him i promise. omg you got a ticket? for the europe date i assume? you will meet him you will nothing’s coming in your way i am praying on both of my knees! so happy for you ♡

yah actually :3 but i failed dang! a taurus and a cancer, sounds like a perfect pair! would you say your parents share the same personality or more like a pair of opposite attract? i have a good relationship with my parents but i don’t think we are that affectionate compared to some families. they forgot my birthday this year but since we’re not always that big on birthdays it didn’t affect me that much. i personally get more validation from my dad, and not too often if not never from mum. she is quite strict with us, sometimes i feel like i have a mid mommy issue lol. but thank god my parents actually do co-exist, what i don’t get from my mum i’ll seek from my dad especially when it comes to compliments over something i achieved. but she can be generous on some days! do you get along with both of your parents?

keeping the kisses and hugs deep in my heart! and sending you back, doubled ♡ i saw in your other ask that you’ve been thinking about the reveal day, just want you to know i’m truly excited to find out who you are, whether we’ve talked before this whole secret santa thing or not. are we even mutuals? if yes, how close we were and if not, how could it possible to feel so comfortable talking to you? you don’t have to answer, they’re just my personal monologues. 3 more days! perhaps just 1-2 more letter exchange(s) between us and we’ll meet soon ♡ have a perfect day, love you!

[daniloqp]

How to stay connected securely when traveling

How to stay connected securely when traveling

https://theministerofcapitalism.com/blog/how-to-stay-connected-securely-when-traveling/

Applications such as RoadTrippers i The Car can help you find places to camp while Reserve America caters to RV and camper people. Plus, don’t forget it Recreation.gov, the official database and travel planner of several federal agencies, including the Bureau of Land Management, NOAA, and the Department of Transportation.

My husband, JP, a fan of black cinema, can’t live without playing his favorite movies. But we recently bought a 1986 LaSalle Chevy Champion motorhome, which was built during the VHS era. To make this vintage beauty, with pink carpets, ready for the road and worthy of cinema, we will need a serious overhaul in the form of a mobile hot spot from our mobile phone company.

Not much bigger than a roller coaster, these devices work by activating a 4G LTE connection and turning it into a Wi-Fi signal for our TV’s streaming device. The good news is that the cost usually includes unlimited use; however, you may need to purchase additional plan upgrades to gain speed if buffer delays add unwanted suspense to your thrillers.

By plane

Data of the Transport security administration (TSA) show that air travel is on the rise, with the number of checkpoints climbs to pre-pandemic levels. People catch up with family and friends who haven’t seen outside of Zoom and are willing to fly to do so.

Twing Fields, United Airlines’ chief flight attendant, encourages everyone to follow their door agent’s instructions and download them. the airline application before boarding the plane. By doing so, passengers can watch free movies or listen to music from their phones or tablets during the flight through a special entertainment portal. “Before the safety demonstration, all devices must be placed in airplane mode,” Fields says. “Once the aircraft reaches cruising altitude, customers seeking Internet access will be able to log in to the aircraft’s Wi-Fi system for a nominal fee and use the Internet or text messages during the flight.”

Don’t forget to grab the The official TSA app, which you can use to check airport security waiting times before you leave home, and note Loungebuddy if you want to access these sweet airport lounges before you leave. For more tips, see our entire guide to jumping lines and breeze through the airport.

By public transport

Are you interested in reducing your carbon footprint? Walking and cycling are not the only environmentally friendly ways to explore and relax.

“We’re seeing an increase in bookings during the summer months,” says Kimberly Woods, public relations manager at Amtrak, which restores the daily service of 12 long-distance routes after pandemic-related hourly reductions. “To ensure you stay connected while traveling, we offer a basic free Wi – Fi service at select trains and stations across the country“.

Emily McGill, a tarot reader and communications consultant, recently took a train from New York to visit a friend in New Hampshire. “I took Amtrak from New York to Boston and we went the rest of the way. Throughout the trip, I used my phone as an interesting point and spent time working on some projects that I had postponed for a long time.

“I traveled on a vacation bus last year, when I was looking to visit family,” says Jeremy Scott Foster, CEO of Travel Freak to Los Angeles. “I thought a bus would be safer than a plane because you can get off if it’s too crowded. I used a phone during the trip to listen to some audiobooks, and on a ten-hour trip, I ended up listening to two complete books. “

On all routes, Greyhound lines offers access to a special entertainment channel for movies, TV shows and free games, as well as three direct internet access options, one offering 100 MB of data at no cost and two premium options, one of which 150 MB ($ 3.99) and another for 300 MB ($ 6.99). But if you’re working while playing, as reception can be erratic on both rail and bus routes, you may want to download your to-do list and finish it offline.

Never too far

“Because of technological advances, it’s almost indefensible to lose touch while traveling,” Harris says. “In fact, with only the Internet and GPS, you have the burning of communication.” So unless you actually are trying to get off the grid, you don’t have to.

But this is not all. One day we will do much more than register with each other away from home. We may share our experiences at the same time, wherever we are.

“In the near future, with the increasing availability of next-generation 5G wireless connections, staying connected will be easier than ever,” says Harris. “With a wireless performance different from everything we see today, sharing [ultra-high-definition] video or even live streaming of epic adventures is possible, allowing others to share and participate virtually in the outdoor experience. ”

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[productivelyfe]

FINAL NARRATIVES

SUBSTANTIVE KNOWLEDGE

I chose the Management career track because I feel it best coordinates with my passion, outlook and natural abilities.   

To this career track I bring the effective management of multiple items (under pressure if applicable). I’m like glue, fusing together the unit from the inside, trusted Senior authorities, and the outside public. I possess the ability to identify and apply the most appropriate solutions. I have an inspirational, developmental and strengthening impact on my kin, as well as, a reaching positivity. I'm capable of motivating, maintaining high morale, and have the ability to win over/shape outlooks. Leader by example, I ensure that everyone prospers. I’m not afraid to assume the burden and responsibility. I desire to serve, with loyalty, the organization, its people, and its missions.

INTELLECTUAL

USAF, Security Forces, Balad AFB, Iraq. Flyaway Security Team. A few of us meet at the office to go to midnight chow. Just as we're leaving, the landline rings in dead silence. The abnormality makes us jump. I walk over, answer. It's another of our team leads, out with his member on a mission, says they were left at an airfield. "What do you mean left!? Where?" "We went in for food, the pilots must have forgotten, we got left here." Running through my mind, "Hostile location. Why, how?" I gathered my sense. "Have your overnight bags and weapons?" "We have everything, but you can’t call me, I can only call you." "Stay on the line." The others are teasing, glad to have not picked up. I drown out the jokes. Only task now- get them home. I fly through contact pages beside the supervisor’s monitor, and computer database for squadrons/titles. I call person after person, until someone with authority to reroute/dispatch planes, confirms a plane en route. They're back by morning. The supervisor arrives routinely at the office. I brief on last night's incident- it's all been taken care of. Through a few long blinks, he smiles of relief. A teammate who witnessed said he "was enthralled by the way” I “expertly handled the situation. There could've been no better Airman to answer that call.”

INTERPERSONAL

Some flight chiefs, thinking they were feathers of a different flock, coordinated days off for themselves, left early, or failed to attend PT with everyone else. If on time to morning briefings, it was either a uniform top unbuttoned, sagging pants, or boots unlaced. Airmen were made to work late, or work posts without rotation, to cover for their absences. Those who confronted the flight chiefs heard sneers like, “Shut up; it’s above your pay grade.” Morale plummeted. Work became affected. The room was filled with threats of making IG complaints (leads to a base-wide investigation by an outer agency). I empathized, but told fellow Airmen the situation didn’t warrant such complaint. Instead, I sent our Senior (flight advisor/manager) an Email informing him of offenses, how bad morale was; but stressed this isn’t IG-level worthy. He spoke with me, asked which flight chiefs, he was already suspicious of one. I confirmed, plus another. He assigned the bad apples to administrative duties to keep an eye on them. A flight-wide anonymous morale/suggestions survey was soon rolled out. A 5-panel board, including myself, was selected to review the answers and brainstorm ideas to implement suggestions. The IG complaint was circumvented, solutions performed, and moral shot up within weeks.

COMMUNICATION

Superiors chose me to lead a security team of 4 Airmen on a humanitarian mission in Pakistan. It called for aid after a flood swept most the country. The surrounding chatter was anxieties about it being, Pakistan. My prior supervisor, and local Iraqi, on separate occasions said, "Dangerous. Idiot move to send you there." "You shouldn’t want. There are terrorists there.” I heard them, but had already begun learning the territories from a map I printed. My newly-found team was also willing/excited. We were medically cleared, met our flight crew, and arrived soon to our temporary base- Islamabad AFB. Aside the runway, we set up tents, receiving bed linens from locals. Delivery of food on pallets began day one. The pilots expressed fear of using their weapons, as they rarely carried. My aim was to stabilize/ gain their confidence in us- their security team. I assumed their burden, "Leave it to us, that’s our job." Before transporting passengers, a pilot said, "Searching them ... suicide vests ... terrified." Again, "Our job." We est. a systematic pat down, tailored to local gender customs. By taking command, maintaining open communication check-ins, and flawless performance, we quickly gained their trust. All enjoyed the beauty that is Pakistan in what was the best exp. of our lives.

MANAGEMENT

I set a personal goal to get my Community College of the Air Force (CCAF) degree before my 6 year enlistment was up. It was going well, then it came time to deploy. I was in the middle of a course, but opted to see how long I could delay having to drop it. I brought my laptop and Verizon USB internet stick to training. It was hoorah!, playing war games during the day, to staying up past everyone to study and submit Anatomy papers at night. I maintained effectiveness throughout the duration of the day, and 2 weeks of main-priority training. I also completed my Anatomy course with an "A." After settling into my deployed location, I signed up for dual courses. Half-way through those, I desired to help and encourage others to pursue their educational self-development. My supervisor approved and said I could call myself the squadron’s “Education Monitor.” I sent out a mass email announcing and creating my position. I became the regular point of contact to approx. 10 Airmen. I counseled them on Tuition Assistance, credit hours in relation to the CCAF, and helped them sign up for classes. I scheduled some for CLEPs, and helped answer any questions/concerns. I maintained contact with the base's Education Office to coordinate products/events they were offering. Later, I achieved my CCAF.

LEADERSHIP

Leadership is a main quality I've demonstrated throughout my life. Of two siblings, I was firstborn. In school, my projects were often kept by teachers to use as the example for next year’s classes. Coaches were amazed by my running talent, and in 8th grade, I ran as an individual competitor in the high school’s cross country meets, and started Varsity my Freshman year. No one in my immediate family was military, but at 17 years old, I made a split-second decision to join the Air Force. In BMT, I achieved Marksman on both the M9 pistol, and M16 rifle, and was 1 of 2 females to graduate my class with “Warhawk” (highest PT standard) status, the other girl being on my flight. Deployed to Iraq, I spent my free time in school, volunteered, and counseled others through the "Education Monitor" position I created. I trained with others to improve their PT scores. I’ve selflessly taken Airmen under my wing and put my whole energy into building them. As a result they’ve gotten selected for special duties, monthly/yearly awards, and have won Airman Below the Zone (pin on rank early). I’ve received various awards/accolades, but I’m not satisfied until I’ve inspired, and had a developmental impact on my circle. Excellent leadership = excellent teamwork to progress the success of the mission.

[blazardragon]

Korotan D: English Translation of Chapter 1

Plus page 1 of Korotan D (pictured above) as a bonus since there’s no original art for this chapter. If you’re curious what Korosensei is saying, its:

“If you master the exercises in this book, your chances to pass your entrance exams will sharply rise!”

This chapter heavily features Karma and Nagisa. We also get a little bit of Kayano, Nakamura, and Isogai, and also a line or two from Kurahashi, Yada, Okajima, Takebayashi, Yoshida, Itona, and Terasaka.

I’ve added the images that are interspersed throughout this chapter at the same points they were located in the book in order to mirror the experience of reading  from the actual book as closely as possible. You’ll see what I mean as you read!

“Due to heavy snowfall, various transportation facilities are experiencing delays. Because of this, entrance exams to the country’s public universities that were scheduled to take place today have had their starting times postponed……”

The news on TV relayed information about the heavy snowfall. Nagisa watched the news at home with an anxious look as he ate his lunch.

Today was the day that some of his friends from Class E were supposed to take their entrance exams. Nagisa, who was already slated to go straight to Keisetsu University from his high school, ardently prayed for his struggling comrades.

Was everyone able to make it to the exam halls on time?

While he was thinking about everyone, he received a LINE* message on his phone.

 Karma: Are u free right now?**

 Nagisa reflexively looked at the TV again. Karma was supposed to be in the middle of taking the entrance exam for Togyo University. He immediately replied:

 Nagisa: Today’s your exam, right?

Karma: Of course. Right now, I’m on lunch break

Karma: It’ll be over in three hours, so let’s meet up after this

 Nagisa smiled wryly at Karma’s invitation.

 Nagisa: You’re rather composed

Karma: I guess you could say that. So, does the usual family restaurant at 4:00 sound good to you?

Nagisa: It’s snowing hard outside, though?

Karma: It’s snowing hard over here, too, but I’m still doing this exam, you know

Karma: Don’t stay all snug and cozy in your room and get over here

 In the end, Nagisa gave in and headed off to the meeting place Karma had specified, treading on the new snow underfoot. On the way to the station, he saw some elementary schoolers having a snowball fight.  While taking care not to get hit by a stray snowball, he traversed through the difficult terrain and arrived first of the two at their usual family restaurant. His body had become thoroughly chilled, so although he had entered a warm room, the core of his body remained cold. His body shivered as he waited, until Karma came at the exact time he had specified.

“Yo.”

He was so tall that he immediately captured the attention of those around him. He had grown 10 centimeters since middle school, making him 185 centimeters tall.

It was really unfair……

Nagisa, who still hasn’t even reached 160 centimeters, believes that his own growth spurt will happen any moment now……. It will be several years before he realizes that it’s never going to happen.

Karma smirked once he noticed Nagisa staring at him enviously.

“What’s wrong Nagisa? Is my face too high for you to see?”

“…Just be quiet.”  

This year, Nagisa made sure not to meet with Karma because he was worried about Karma’s exams. When Karma would invite Nagisa to hang out with him in spite of his upcoming exams, Nagisa would end up giving him the cold shoulder.

“How did your exam go today?”

“It was no big deal. None of the problems were beyond what I had expected.”

Even though he had just finished a grueling exam, Karma didn’t look worn out in the slightest. In fact, he was just as nonchalant as ever.

“Who cares about the exam? I called you out here because I wanted to discuss something with you. Let’s all go on a graduation trip.”

“…A graduation trip!?”

“We’re all going to become college students or inherit the family business, so we’re going to have less chances to go on trips together. Everyone should be able to make it if it’s Mid-March, right?”

“……Mid-March? Entrance exams will still be going on. If anybody fails their midyear exams, then……”

“I’m telling you, it’s going to be fine. We’re Class E, after all.” Karma smirked.

“Takebayashi made sure not to repeat the mistakes he made when he had taken his high-school entrance exams and squeezed his way into a private university commensurate with his abilities. I passed by Isogai at the exam hall earlier, and it didn’t look like he had any problems, either. Even Terasaka passed the exam for one of his backup universities, so even that cheeky bastard is gonna be a college student. As far as I know, everyone should be able to make it.”  

“Is that……so?”

Then, Nagisa suddenly remembered:

“Kayano won’t be able to make it! She said that she had a film shoot overseas around that time!”

“Seriously!? I see. That’s too bad… She sure is a popular actress.”

“She said it was for an Action-Adventure film called Gold City.”

This surprised Karma so much he halfway stood up from his chair.

“Eh!? You’re kidding!? That movie is directed by the same guy that did Sonic Ninja!”

“Really?”

“Yes, really! I’m sooo jealous! So, she’s already an international star. Kayano-chan’s amazing!”

When Nagisa was in Class E, he and Karma had Korosensei take them to Hawaii, where the three of them watched Sonic Ninja. It’s a movie Nagisa holds a lot of deep memories for. Recalling the gap between Karma, who only watched it because he liked the director and coolly conveyed that he thought the movie was “cliché”, and Korosensei, who was crying out loud over that “cliché” story,  Nagisa felt a wave of nostalgia.

“Do you still regularly keep in touch with Kayano-chan?”

“Yeah, although, all we do is exchange text messages. She’s extremely busy, so we shouldn’t let our goofing around snatch away her precious time.”

Karma was shocked at Nagisa, who said this with a smile.  

“Nagisa, you’re way too reserved. For us, she isn’t ‘Mase Haruna’, she’s Kayano-chan, a member of Class E just like us. Sometimes you should just try being pushy and invite her out. She’s our dear friend, right?”

“Maybe you’re right, but……”

“Although, I guess it’d be impossible to invite her to a graduation trip if she’s doing a film shoot overseas. Did you hear where she was going?”

“Yeah, she said she was going to the country of Phnon in Southeast Asia. They’re doing a film shoot at a group of temples designated as a World Heritage Site.”

Karma struck his hands together. His face showed that he just thought of some kind of plan.

“I know where we should go for our graduation trip. Let’s go see Phnon’s World Heritage temples!”

“Ehh!?”

“This is perfect! I was thinking that we should go somewhere overseas, so let’s go where Kayano’s going!”

“But that’s absurd! If we go there, we’ll just bother her!”

“It’s okay if we’re just going there to take pictures. It’s not like we’re going there specifically to bother her.  It’ll just be coincidence that we meet her there. Just coincidence.”  

Karma smiled a smile fit for a demon. When he becomes like this, there’s no stopping him.

“It’s decided.”

Karma immediately pulled out his smartphone and sent a message to the rest of Class E. Shortly thereafter, replies started pouring in one by one.

 Kurahashi: Graduation trip, let’s goo~

Yada: We haven’t had many chances to gather together since graduating from Class E, so I’m really happy-

Okajima: A southern country is a great idea! I can forget about all this snow

Takebayashi: I was thinking that I wanted to go somewhere before we get busy

Yoshida: Let’s go on that graduation trip!

Itona: Since Terasaka got into his backup university, everyone else should be fine. Let’s go

Terasaka: Don’t just place me on the bottom of the pack!

 “See, everyone looks like they wanna go. It’s decided.”

Karma showed Nagisa the screen of his smartphone. Nagisa could also see how excited the rest of Class E got the instant they heard the plan.

“I guess there’s no choice. Geez.”

But then, another message appeared. Karma clicked his tongue once he saw it.

 Isogai: I really want to go on that graduation trip

Isogai: But I don’t know the results of my entrance exam yet, so I’m not really sure what to do

 “That Isogai. What’s he acting so timid for…? If he used his full strength, then he definitely passed, and yet…”

“Well…probably, but… Isogai-kun seems worried about the trip itself, too.”

“Ah, I get it. It’s because he’s as poor as usual…And he didn’t accept any more prize money than we did, too.”

Karma’s smartphone vibrated. It was a message from Nakamura.

 Nakamura: Leave it to me to get discounted airfare and lodging! I have an acquaintance overseas that can help us, so I can arrange something cheap

Nakamura: It’s even okay if we cancel our plans at the last minute, so it’s alright if someone needs to apply for one of the public university exams

 Nakamura successfully inferred his circumstances and made a suburb assist.

“That’s Nakamura for you. She made quick work of that. Now Isogai can come, too. You have no complaints either, right, Nagisa?”

“…..It’s because I was blabbing about Kayano’s schedule that everyone’s going to go bother her. This is all my fault,” Nagisa replied with a depressed look on his face.

“Don’t worry about that. After all, I just got the details from Kayano herself.”

“Eh!?”

Karma showed Nagisa Kayano’s reply

 Kayano: I’m going to be doing a photoshoot outside of Japan around that time. Sorry.

Kayano: I really want to go with all of you! I’m so bummed-

Karma: It’s for Gold City, right? I saw an announcement for its production on the news. You’re totally an international star now, huh

Kayano: No no, far from it!

Karma: It’s located in Southeast Asia, right? Where exactly are you shooting the film?

Kayano: We’re doing it at Phnon’s World Heritage Site

Karma: My parents have also gone to those temples, but they said it’s near a lot of water, which was terrible. Make sure you take care~  

Kayano: I will, thanks. Say hi to everyone for me!

 “See? With this, I was able to confirm the location and time of the film shoot from Kayano herself. This whole plan of mine has nothing to do with you spilling the location, so you can sit back and enjoy the trip.” Karma stood up with a broad grin.

Nagisa was tongue-tied at Karma’s ability to put his scheme in order in less than half an hour.

“I’m grateful that you took my feelings into consideration, but will Kayano really be happy about having such a large number of people intrude on her……?”

“Of course! Now, go ask her what her film schedule will be and where she’s lodging.”  

“I can’t do that!”

“A ha ha, guess not. Even I wouldn’t be so shameless to ask her something like that~  We’re gonna surprise Kayano with everyone, so keep it a secret, ‘kay?”

With his devilish smile remaining on his face, Karma left the restaurant.

---He’s the same as ever, but will we really not be a hindrance to Kayano, I wonder……?

Nagisa, fraught with unease, remained in the restaurant for quite some time.

 Translation notes:

*LINE is an extremely popular social networking app in Japan. If you smash Facebook and Skype together into one free app, you basically get LINE.

** In this particular sentence, Karma abbreviates his message in the Japanese text (even though it’s already short to begin with, gosh), so I had him write in “text speak” in my translation

Also, I included honorifics whenever they were included in the text, but it seems there aren’t that many. Just the -kun Nagisa added to Isogai’s name and the -chan Karma added to Kayano’s. I guess everyone in Class E has gotten closer since last time we saw them  ^_^

It seems Karma and Nagisa go to this family restaurant often. I wonder what kind of food is served?

[sirfuzzilypuffytouch]

FINALLY!!

After two full weeks of having close to absolutely NO TIME AT ALL to ourselves or whatsoever, we finally have a weekend off!!! :D

Thanks to Stephany I took my meds today and I’m actually enjoying myself quite well :3 The only downside of today was that I was actually planning on drawing for some recent asks, but I ended up watching No Game No Life Zero and immediately after that No Game No Life ^^’ Since Zero is actually a ‘prequel’ to No Game No Life which was aired way earlier ._.

Regarding the past two weeks though... Since our internship is actually at a Zoo it is to be expected that we make incredibly long days! What I didn’t expect was that the public transport between our home and the Zoo are close to the absolute worst thing ever experienced by mankind during later times of the day...

Last week on a Tuesday we had the amazing idea of hanging out with a new friend, whom we met on the internship, at her place and to travel back home using public transport later that day! Due to her being incredibly understanding and supportive of Dominic having DID we ended up sticking around a lot longer than we had originally anticipated ._. Sooooo eventually we left around something like 6 or 7 pm.. but due to a defective train and several delayed buses we arrived home around 10 pm practically starving due to the fact we hadn’t been able to eat anything for the past 7 hours (we had our last break around 3 pm...) and we even ended up going to bed without any dinner since we hadn’t taken out any meat from the freezer so it would’ve taken at least 2 more hours for it to defrost which is because we don’t own a proper microwave for the defrosting of meat :’) Plus we couldn’t afford going to bed any later since we had to get up at 5:30 am the next morning for the internship again.. We felt like we were dying for those two days but luckily thanks to our friends at the internship we could at least eat something during the day =w=

The other days we’re quite uneventful! Other than our previous weekend when we went to visit our family (parents, brother, grandma and our dog) for 2 days before returning back home due to, again. the internship ^^’ During that Sunday we went to visit our grandma, who is actually the only person (next to our little brother) that knows that we actually smoke.. Luckily none of them still know that we actually smoke pot as well >-> Anyhow~!! When we went to visit our grandma we actually sat outside in the sun for about 2 hours, having the best of conversations while casually smoking our cigarettes :3 It felt so nice just to have a normal, fun conversation while smoking with our grandma! Especially since she has helped both my brother and I through the toughest of times and has supported us in practically everything we’ve accomplished in our lives up to this point! If there’s one person in this entire universe that I would die for, it would be my grandma, because just like my grandpa was she is the world to me now. And Akinyi of course!!! But that’s to be expected x3

And with that I want to end this ‘quick’ post on a good note; I hope everyone is having a wonderful day and if not, all I can say is have faith! Things will get better, maybe not right away, but they will! ^w^ I wish you all the best and nothing but the best! Here’s to some more regular posting starting now!! c:

Much love! ~ Dominic & the rest of the family ;)

P.S. We’ve been sneezing over and over and over for the past few hours.. we’ve almost reached 16 sneezes.... send help ;-;

[shirlleycoyle]

Why the US Sucks at Building Public Transit

American cities are facing a transportation crisis. There’s terrible traffic. Public transit doesn’t work or go where people need it to. The cities are growing, but newcomers are faced with the prospects of paying high rents for reasonable commutes or lower rents for dreary, frustrating daily treks. Nearly all Americans, including those in cities, face a dire choice: spend thousands of dollars a year owning a car and sitting in traffic, or sacrifice hours every day on ramshackle public transit getting where they need to go. Things are so broken that, increasingly, they do both. Nationwide, three out of every four commuters drive alone. The rate in metro areas is not much different.

“Without an integrated system of transit in our metropolitan areas the great anticipated growth will become a dream that will fail,” predicted Ralph Merritt, general manager of the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority, “because people cannot move freely, safely, rapidly, and economically from where they live to where they work.”

Although Merritt’s words could just as well apply today, he said them 66 years ago in 1954. This is a crisis facing American cities right now in 2020, but it’s an old crisis. The only thing that has changed is the problem has gotten worse.

Like most crises, there is no single cause. Our cities, and our federal government, have made a lot of mistakes. Some were obvious at the time, others only in hindsight, but most have been a combination of the two. We keep doing things that stopped being good ideas a long time ago.

Many of those mistakes have to do with housing policy, which is inextricably linked to transportation policy. But the most obvious cause of our transportation crisis is a simple one: America sucks at building public transportation.

Why is this? Why does the U.S. suck at building good, useful public transit?

It’s a question that has vexed me for years. Just when I think I’ve figured it out, some other facet I had never previously considered comes to my attention. I have spoken to a dozen transit experts and historians. I have read several histories of American mass transportation policy written by independent scholars as well as government agencies. I've scoured federal archives and interviewed employees of transit agencies planning their own big projects. I’ve analyzed budgets and construction costs and compared them to our international peers. The tangle of American governmental dysfunction is so profound, digging into it can feel like undoing a rubber band ball with your teeth.

But the failure itself is simple and obvious. It’s apparent to anyone who has traveled abroad in the last several decades. Whether it’s traditional subway and commuter rail systems, modern streetcars and light rails, high-speed intercity rail, or even the humble bus with dedicated lanes and train-like stops, the U.S. lags perilously behind. It is a national embarrassment and a major reason our cities are less pleasant, more expensive places to live.

Just to name a few recent accomplishments abroad lacking an American parallel: Paris has the Grand Paris Express, 120 miles and 68 stations of new lines, plus a host of new trams and express bus lines with dedicated lanes. Moscow is building 98 new miles and 79 new stations for its Metro. At two years delayed and three billion pounds over budget, London’s Crossrail qualifies as a scandalous by European standards. But when it opens—perhaps in 2021—it will provide 73 miles of new rapid, frequent trains across greater London, including right through the center of the city. Since the 1990s, Madrid’s Metro has added more than 100 kilometers to its system. There are numerous examples of highly functioning and useful public transit systems in Latin America, which also invented the Bus Rapid Transit, a hybrid system with enclosed stops and dedicated lanes. China, which had basically no rapid transit through 1990, now has 25 cities with comprehensive rail systems, including seven of the world’s 12 largest metro networks by length.

Source: Yonah Freemark. Chart by Cathryn Virginia

Of course, China’s massive central government means it can build what it wants when and where it wants. But it’s hardly just China and other authoritarian regimes embarrassing the U.S. when it comes to transit construction. Consider, for example, high speed rail, or trains between cities capable of going faster than 120 mph. Over the last 30 years, almost two dozen countries have built true high-speed rail networks, according to transportation expert Yonah Freemark. The U.S. has a grand total of 34 miles of high-speed track.

China is not on this graph because they're literally off the charts (sorry). Data source: Yonah Freemark. Chart by Cathryn Virginia

This isn’t to say the U.S. has built nothing in the same time period. Freemark, one of the most thorough chroniclers of American transportation projects, calculated that the U.S. spent more than $47 billion on 1,200 miles of new and expanded transit lines in the decade from 2010 to 2019 (most of that mileage has been on bus routes).

That may sound like a lot, and at first glance it can seem like the U.S. has made some progress. There are now 93 miles of light rail in Dallas, 60 miles in Portland, and 87.5 combined light and commuter rail miles in Denver. Los Angeles, Seattle, Houston, San Diego, Sacramento, Phoenix, and others can cite similar improvements. For all their flaws, these are transit systems that didn’t exist 40 years ago.

But these systems, with the possible exception of Portland’s, do have one thing in common: they’re not especially useful because they’re not big enough and don’t go where people need them to. There is no perfect metric to evaluate the usefulness of a transit system, but, the most obvious failure is these systems haven’t changed their cities. Few people rely on them. As a general rule, these light rail systems serve fewer than 30 million passenger trips a year (LA has more, although as a percentage of the metro area population its usage is in line with other new systems). Even in cities of millions of people like Houston and Phoenix, light rail systems serve fewer than half that. Meanwhile, the Grand Paris Express and Crossrail are projecting ridership in the millions per day.

The basic truth is nearly everyone still depends on their cars even in cities with soul-destroying traffic. By any definition, the last half-century of American transportation policy has been a dismal failure.

Ultimately, this is not about trains and buses. This is about a political system uninterested in reform, a system unconcerned with fixing what’s broken.

But the problem isn’t limited just to new systems with growing pains. Older American cities with legacy systems have barely expanded to meet the growing footprint of their metro areas, as London and Paris are. The subway maps of New York, Boston, Chicago, and Philadelphia look almost identical as they did in 1950; in some cases, they’ve actually shrunk.

Simply put, the U.S. builds less public transit per urban dweller than its peer countries. Freemark found U.S. cities “added an average of fewer than 2 miles of urban bus improvements per million inhabitants—and fewer than 1 mile of rail improvements.” Meanwhile, France added 10 miles of buses and 3 miles of rail per million inhabitants in that same time period.

There is, of course, no simple answer why our transportation systems are broken, in much the same way there’s no simple answer to why our healthcare system is broken or why our criminal justice system is broken, beyond, as Freemark put it, that our “dysfunctional, irascible political system [is] woefully unprepared to commit to anything particularly significant.”

Ultimately, this is not about trains and buses. This is about a political system uninterested in reform, a system unconcerned with fixing what’s broken. If we can understand how politics failed American transportation systems, perhaps we can make the solution part of broader reform that must occur if American government is to start addressing the needs of the people in all aspects of life, from health care to criminal justice to housing to employment law to digital privacy to climate change.

It’s more important to understand all those causes now than ever. Building lots of public transit fast is, according to the Department of Transportation, a key front in the fight against climate change, because transportation accounts for about 30 percent of U.S. emissions, most of that from private automobiles. Are we up for the task? Can we, as a nation, build the infrastructure we desperately need to create a more sustainable world?

Do you work for the Federal Transit Administration or a local transit agency? What are the challenges you face in getting public transit projects done? We'd love to hear from you. Using a non-work phone or computer, you can contact Aaron Gordon at aaron.gordon@vice.com or aaronwgordon@protonmail.com.

The answer to that question depends on understanding why we have failed so miserably up to this point. While researching the question of why our public transit is so bad, I’ve encountered a series of partial but ultimately incomplete explanations. If you don’t feel like descending into the transit nerd tunnel with me, here’s the tl;dr version:

Everything costs too much

We build highways instead

We don't plan well

People don't trust the government to build things so they vote against projects under the assumption they will be executed poorly and waste taxpayer dollars

We don't give transit agencies enough money to run good service which erodes political support to have more of it

There are too many agencies at all levels of government, especially at the local level, and not enough coordination between them

Our newer cities are sprawled out which makes good transit hard, and our older cities are too paralyzed by political dysfunction to expand the systems they have

As a result of generations of privatization efforts by all levels of government, in the rare event we do actually get to build stuff there is not enough expertise within the agencies to do it well

The good news is all of this is fixable. At least, that’s what Freemark believes. “The idea that we can’t build new systems is ridiculous,” he told me in an interview. “We just have to assemble the political interest and excitement to make those things happen.”

“There Was Always A Subsidy Somewhere”

Before we go any further, it’s important to dispel a pernicious myth that has perpetuated in the United States about public transportation. This is the idea that transit ought to pay for itself just like any other business.

This was a popular position in local, state, and federal governments until the mid-20th century. It is also the founding principle of public authorities, like the Metropolitan Transportation Authority that oversees much of greater New York’s transit, which are legally required to balance their budgets every year. The concept is that well-run public transit ought to be profitable.

The problem—well, just one of the problems—with this philosophy is it’s based on a totally fictitious belief that the New York City subway once was a good business, or that the Boston subway once was a self-sustaining operation.

This was never true. “There was always a subsidy somewhere,” Jeff Davis, senior fellow at the think tank Eno Transportation Center said. Streetcars and early subways were paid for by wealthy financiers, real estate speculators, and electric companies, among others. The speculators bought cheap land on the outskirts of town and then built transportation that went there before selling the land for a tidy profit. Back in the day when lights were the main use of electricity, electric companies faced a huge surge at night. Streetcars were a convenient use of that excess electric capacity during the day when demand was lower. And, as the 19th century became the 20th, financiers (mistakenly) thought rapid transit would be a great investment, typically as part of an arrangement we now commonly refer to as public-private partnerships that required transit companies to keep fares low, usually at five cents.

Then it all slowly fell apart. Inflation jacked up costs, but transit companies were legally obligated to keep fares the same per their agreements with cities. The Great Depression hit. Real estate speculators sold off all their land and no longer cared about the transit connections. The public utility companies were forced to sell off their streetcar stakes by Congress under an antitrust provision. Long-term maintenance and upkeep rendered short-term profits illusory. Although most commuters still used transit through the 1940s, people tended to use private automobiles for recreational trips. Bills for decades of deferred maintenance came due. Streetcars went bankrupt. Local governments picked up the slack, and as part of the transition, closed the electric streetcars and converted those routes to buses. By the 1960s, most every transit system had either closed down or was under the auspices of some level of local government.

“And then that subsidy became an explicit job of the local government to subsidize and take over management,” Davis said. Private subsidies were replaced by public ones, just at the time when government was deeply, fundamentally uninterested in public transit. Because in the mid-20th century, cars were the future.

The Road to More Roads

From 1950 to 2017, the U.S. constructed 871,496 miles of roads, enough to go to the Moon, come back, return to the Moon again, and then get two-thirds of the way back to Earth. The pace has slowed in the last few decades, but barely. Thirty-seven percent of those miles have been built since 1985.

As traffic increased, it was accepted policy to widen a lot of roads under the mistaken belief this would reduce traffic. The Federal Highway Administration only started tracking lane-miles built in 1980, but in the 37 years between then and 2017 we added 881,918 lane-miles to our some four million lane-miles of road, an 11 percent increase. Urban areas in particular added 30,511 new lane-miles to freeways since 1993, an increase of 42 percent, according to the non-profit Transportation for America, which went on to call this program of building more lanes in a misguided attempt to reduce traffic a “congestion con.”

In the meantime, the U.S. barely built any new rail. The Bureau of Transportation Statistics only started tracking rail miles in 1985, but from that year through 2017 the U.S. constructed 6,247 miles of commuter rail, heavy rail, and light rail combined. That’s only 195 miles a year on average, compared to 10,017 miles of roads per year during that same time. In fact, the pace of building new transit has been so languid, America’s 20 largest metro areas have the same or even fewer miles of transit service (including bus routes) per capita than they did in 2003.

“It’s all about priorities,” said Jeff Brown, an urban planning professor at Florida State University. “What are the spending priorities that we’ve established?”

Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics and Transportation For America. Chart by Cathryn Virginia

Of course, the short term cost of building a mile of road is lower than building a mile of transit, but that can be deceptive. According to Transportation for America, it costs $24,000 per lane-mile per year to maintain a road in good repair, and much more for those in disrepair, as many of America’s roads are. And that’s even before accounting for the strain on public services by encouraging and supporting sprawl where every mile of sewer, water, and power line serves fewer taxpayers.

Nevertheless, we’ve also spent much less money overall on transit compared to roads. These funding mechanisms are extremely confusing and have changed over time, but what has not changed is that roads always get a lot more.

Congress gives states roughly $40 billion a year for roads, according to Transportation For America, which can be spent either on new roads or maintenance at the states' discretion. Meanwhile, public transit agencies have to compete for only $2.3 billion in annual transit funding for big projects such as extending rail lines or building new ones, some $37.7 billion less than what states get for roads (the feds dole out an additional $7.5 billion a year for maintenance and buying new subway cars and buses).

That $40 billion a year in road money is given out to states based on a formula. It’s automatic, and states can spend that money however they wish. Not so with transit money. Transit agencies have to apply for funding for individual projects.

And should the transit agency’s project be deemed worthy of federal funding, the federal government will subsidize a much smaller percentage of the project costs than it will for roads. Transit agencies can get a maximum of 50 percent of the project cost covered by the feds, whereas roads can get up to 80 percent (down from 90 percent during the highway spending spree of the 20th Century).

And this is just at the federal level. The discrepancy between road and transit funding is even wider at the state level, Freemark says, where legislatures are typically dominated by rural interests.

Brown, the Florida State professor, said the numbers don’t lie. “It’s not a sufficient amount of money to support grand project ideas.”

Of course, many people believe it is not the federal government’s role to be paying for mass transportation because it’s a local issue (rarely is a similar argument made about roads). This was very much up for debate when the Urban Mass Transportation Administration (now a part of the Federal Transit Administration) was created in 1964. The upshot was that there’s no clear reason why the federal government should be subsidizing road construction, home mortgages, auto fuel, and any number of other things but not mass transportation. Plus, in light of the local and state government failures to pay for transit, if not the federal government, then who? Tellingly, the UMTA was founded under the Welfare Clause of the Constitution, not the Commerce Clause that authorized highway construction, because it is good for cities to have good transportation.

From nearly any vantage point, this road-heavy, transit-lite approach has been a disaster for American cities. We’ve spent hundreds of billions of dollars constructing and maintaining an unsustainable roadway network, and traffic has only gotten worse to boot. In 2015, California’s Department of Transportation, which supervised some of the most fervent highway construction in the nation during the 20th century, came right out and admitted this didn’t work. More roads means more traffic. So, the state is no longer going to keep widening roads to relieve congestion.

Not only is there not enough money to go around, but it has to be shared by all the states. Federal rules require that no single project gets too big a slice.

“You can’t ask for so much money in a single year as to crowd out everyone else,” explained Davis. For example, he said, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) under the Obama administration told Los Angeles that it wouldn’t get all the money it wanted for the Westside Purple Line as one big extension through Beverly Hills and into Westwood. So, LA broke it up into three segments, with construction on Phase I beginning in 2014. Each got its own cost-benefit analysis, planning, and studies, and waited a few years between applications, which drives up costs. In February, LA received its grant for the third and final segment, a $1.3 billion payout that will cover just 36 percent of the cost. It is expected to be completed in 2027, meaning it will take 13 years to build a nine mile extension.

“Usually congressional and even executive branch political realities mean they spread the peanut butter around,” said Sarah Jo Peterson, author of Planning the Home Front, “and, when there isn't much peanut butter, they spread it thinly.”

The Costs Are Too Damn High

Not only does the money get spread too thinly, but once cities do get their money, they waste a lot of it.

“In the cities where rail transit works best,” Davis observed, “costs have just gotten out of control.” This is especially true for megaprojects, huge public works that cost billions of dollars.

I could spend an entire article on this subject alone and not even scratch the surface of just how profoundly screwed American megaproject costs are. Indeed, many writers and researchers have done exactly that, and one researcher in particular, Alon Levy, has more or less made a name for themselves on this subject.

New York City is responsible for the most expensive mile of subway track on Earth, at $3.5 billion per mile, the first segment of the Second Avenue Subway. The second phase is projected to crush that record. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which runs the subway and commuter rail system, is also some two decades late and $8 billion over budget on the $11 billion East Side Access project, which will bring Long Island Railroad trains into Grand Central, a 15 minute walk from Penn Station where Long Island Railroad trains currently go.

What is undoubtedly clear is every transit project is first and foremost a political project, and political projects are about consensus-building. This gets us not the projects we need but the projects we deserve.

The problem is hardly limited to New York. California’s high speed rail project has given new definition to the term “boondoggle.” And, as Levy has documented, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Boston, and D.C., among others, all build subways and light rail lines at much higher costs than European cities.

“Nearly all American urban rail projects cost much more than their European counterparts do,” Levy wrote in Citylab. “The cheaper ones cost twice as much, and the more expensive ones about seven times as much.” This includes both heavy rail (subways) and light rail. “Only a handful of American [light rail] lines come in cheaper than $100 million per mile, the upper limit for French light rail.”

There are a lot of reasons for this, including:

Over-engineered stations

Arcane labor rules that inhibit productivity such as requiring more employees to work at a machine than is necessary

A lack of cooperation between agencies

But cost overruns are not a new problem for American transit.

“Cost escalation has been going on for some time,” Davis of Eno Center said. The D.C. Metro was initially slated to cost $2.5 billion but ended up with a $10 billion bill. Dating back to the Ford administration, the federal government started changing grant rules so the feds wouldn’t be on the hook for the inevitable cost overruns, leaving any eventualities to the transit agency building it and the local government overseeing it.

Do you work for a public transit agency or a contractor and have any experience with how projects end up costing so much? We'd love to hear from you. Using a non-work phone or computer, you can contact Aaron Gordon at aaron.gordon@vice.com or aaronwgordon@protonmail.com.

Some cost overruns are attributable to unforeseen circumstances, but across the board, we are very bad at estimating how much these projects will cost to begin with. Sometimes, agencies give low estimates in order to make projects more politically palatable, knowing a realistic assessment will get shot down. D.C.’s initial estimate of $2.5 billion, according to George Mason University historian and author of The Great Society Subway: A history of the Washington Metro Zachary Schrag, was “never terribly realistic.”

Depressingly, it seems we gave up on ever building necessary infrastructure for the same price as other countries decades ago. Schrag also quoted Jim Caywood, head of the engineering firm that helped design Metro, as saying “there’s no way in this world that you can build a mammoth public works project such as Metro within a reasonable budget with all the outside influences. They won’t let you do it.”

The Biggest Outside Influence of All

What are those “outside influences” Caywood referenced? The big one is politics.

“Transportation planning is not just a matter of letting the engineers find the best solution to a technical problem,” Schrag wrote, “but a political process in which competing priorities must be resolved by negotiation among interest groups.”

If there’s one point on which all the experts I spoke to agree the most, it is that transportation is politics. A 1988 deep dive into the construction of the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system by Portland State University professor Sy Adler found any vague proposal for a transit project, whether it be highway or rail, produces competing coalitions with their own self-interests. Maybe they want to spur development in their own downtown area or make it easy for commuters to live in their suburb. These factions then weaponize the options on the table for their preferred ends. The protracted debates result in entire regions losing focus over why they wanted to build a new transit system in the first place. Over time, it becomes a battle not of which option solves a given problem, but re-defining what the problem is.

Meanwhile, another cohort of interest groups form to stop projects they don’t want. Typically, these are neighborhood associations that don’t want a transit line coming through their block, either out of fear of construction impacts or racist concerns that it’ll disrupt the segregation of their urban area. Sometimes, they are not just neighborhood groups but entire regions.

In the 1970s, in what was later called “referendums on race,” Atlanta’s suburban and overwhelmingly white Cobb, Clayton, and Gwinnett counties voted out of the region’s MARTA system before it was even built. In 1988, five years after voting in favor of a 200-mile light rail system with local financing, Dallas voters refused to approve bonds to pay for construction, growing skittish on the whole prospect due to the oil crisis which hurt the local economy, according to Indiana University professor George Smerk’s history of the government’s mass transportation policy. Seattle, Detroit, and scores of other cities either voted against major transportation projects or approved watered down versions of original plans thanks to local opposition.

What is undoubtedly clear is every transit project is first and foremost a political project, and political projects are about consensus-building. This gets us not the projects we need but the projects we deserve.

To take just one of scores of possible examples because it affected me personally: back in the 1970s the University of Maryland rejected plans to have the D.C. Metro’s Green Line stop on campus, again for predominantly racist reasons. This forced “a complicated redesign” that “later caused commotion in College Park,” Schrag wrote. Today, anyone looking to take public transportation to the university, with 41,000 students and 14,000 faculty and staff, must either take a shuttle bus from campus or walk at least 20 minutes each way. Repeat these fights dozens of times per project and it’s no longer so difficult to envision how they end up getting relegated to land the public already owns regardless of how useful it is like freeway medians or don’t get built at all.

Meanwhile, a great political shift occurred in the United States that made transit’s prospects even worse. First was the Reagan-era movement away from services provided by the government and towards private enterprise.

Transit was not spared. When Miami’s Metrorail opened, Reagan derided the “$1 billion federal subsidy” that “serves less than 10,000 daily riders” as a prime example of government waste. Better for the government to have bought everyone a limousine, Reagan quipped.

Nevermind that all of those numbers were incorrect and deeply misleading because the project hadn’t even been completed yet, according to the Sun-Sentinel. But factual errors aside, there was a larger ideological one. “Even if Metrorail doesn't turn a profit,” the paper said, “it will be performing a valuable service. Without it, thousands of new commuters would be forced back into their cars, making the roads even more overcrowded.”

Ironically, some of the blame for the wastefulness of federal transit money belongs to Reagan himself. He spent considerable effort trying to kill the main transit grant program, according to Davis, but Congress wouldn’t let him because these projects were often popular.

In order to keep the funding going, Congress had to resort to doling out the money through annual appropriations—in other words, the 435 members of the House of Representatives, with all its byzantine committees and rules, deciding for itself which projects to fund rather than career experts in the Federal Transit Administration—through a process called earmarking. In this way, transit projects became just another horse to trade.

“The nature of earmarking is that since there are 435 House districts and 50 states, and only so much money to go around, things get split more widely than they would if the Administration just got to pick a few.” Davis continued: “Ted Stevens [longtime Alaska Senator and chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee from 1997 to 2005] used to put a million dollar grants to little towns all over Alaska. I don't know what the hell they were for.”

Not only did it become fashionable to slash funds for big transit projects, but so too was it the sign of the times to slash agency budgets as well. Expertise then migrated to the private sector, in many cases to the very consultants and engineering firms hired to execute the few projects that got done. As a result, agencies were—and remain—ill-equipped to make big decisions on big projects, who hire those aforementioned consultants, who in turn charge a pretty penny for their services.

Do you work for a local transit agency and struggle with a lack of resources or funding? We'd love to hear from you. Using a non-work phone or computer, you can contact Aaron Gordon at aaron.gordon@vice.com or aaronwgordon@protonmail.com.

“We often don't have really expert public staff making decisions, making some key decisions at least,” said Eric Eidlin, a former FTA planner. “We've given over that responsibility to consultants that have a profit motive. I don't mean to say that the consultants have this desire to subvert the public interest or anything, it's just not their job, right?”

Karen Trapenberg Frick, an urban planner at UC Berkeley who used to work for the Bay Area’s planning commission, echoed Eidlin’s point and said it had a real impact on what agencies were able to do, only further undermining the public’s willingness to give them money for big projects.

“There are certain cities where when I was a planner a long time ago and now, it's the same complaint: we give the city money but they can't move the project through because they don't have the staff to do it,” she explained. “And we don't have the staff to do it because there's been this whole neoliberal mind shift that the public sector can't do a good job.”

There’s a very sad irony here. The Reagan era cuts were ostensibly designed to make the public sector more efficient by harnessing the power of the market, but instead it made public agencies reliant on for-profit contractors that jack up costs, only making government less efficient and more wasteful.

“When there's no in-house public sector expertise, the ability to deliver projects quickly or efficiently is compromised,” Eidlin said. “And time is money, too.”

Who Decides?

So far, I’ve focused on the federal side of things because it has a lot of money and power. But what level of government is the right one to make decisions about massive transportation projects? Although there is no obvious right answer, it feels like the U.S. has discovered an awful lot of wrong ones.

As a nation, local authority is our founding principle. We fought a revolution to achieve it, wrote a (bad) set of rules to maintain it, scrapped those, then wrote a new set of rules we have been arguing about ever since. Most of those arguments have been about whether the federal or state governments should determine how we live.

But unprecedented depressions and world wars have a funny way of harnessing big government power, and the feds continued to flex those newly-discovered muscles as American cities deteriorated in the years afterward. From New York to Los Angeles and in dozens of cities in between, so-called “urban renewal” programs used federal dollars to quite literally tear down and rebuild massive sections of cities from scratch, sometimes in order to build a highway through the demolished portion. One of the many legacies of this program, which destroyed entire neighborhoods, was a growing distrust in the government to sensitively execute centrally planned projects. The preferred remedy was to have more local control, neighborhood by neighborhood.

This approach has its merits, but for transportation it has serious drawbacks. Whether they be subways, light rail, bus routes, or even the humble bike lane, any transportation worth using is a network that allows people to get from one side of a city to another quickly and efficiently. Giving substantial input or even veto power to individual communities along that network undermines the entire concept.

“Transit is fundamentally regional,” Eidlin said, “And I really feel like our general population and our decision makers don't universally agree with that or even had that epiphany yet.”

Just as too much hyperlocal control can stymie useful transit, putting transit under the auspices of entire states can have downsides, too. Several of the country’s biggest transit systems including New York, Boston, and Washington, D.C. are controlled not by local authorities but state (or in D.C.’s case, quasi-federal) bodies. This means taxpayers who don’t obviously benefit from the system pay into it, a constant source of political tension. And when proposed projects cross state lines, it opens up a prolonged debate about who pays for what share, a fight that often takes years or decades to resolve.

Put the lack of funds for transit together with our country’s general desire to give local control as close to the individual citizen level as possible, and we’re left with a contradictory system where every limb and appendage fights the others. The lack of funds dedicated to transit means higher and higher levels of government—the ones with more and more money—often have control over transit, either by law or by practice. But those same agencies must seek local consensus for what are not local projects, a time-consuming and expensive proposition at best and a poison pill at worst.

This desire for local control yields bizarre outcomes. For example, Eidlin is working on a transportation hub project in San Jose, CA. Four different public agencies are involved, each for a different jurisdiction that will meet at the hub (this is indicative of the Bay Area, which has 27 transit operators and 151—yes, 151—transit agencies). As a result, Eidlin says much of the project’s work at this stage is not on the project itself, but administrative tasks to keep all the agencies up to speed.

“We value local control so much and we fund so many things locally that we never stop and ask,” Eidlin said, “what's the right level of government at which to be addressing a public issue?”

How To Fix This

As dire as the American transit landscape is, there are specs of hope. Federal funds are no longer given out through earmarks; that stopped in 2010. Now, the FTA grades projects based on merit. And some metro areas have big plans. Los Angeles and Seattle voters have opted to raise their sales taxes slightly to fund tens of billions of dollars in transit upgrades that could significantly improve their region.

But we need much bigger solutions, not only to build transit systems faster and more efficiently, but to run them better, too. In the vicious cycle of transit funding, agencies that are perceived as wasteful or bad at providing services have a harder time getting money from politicians, which then makes it harder to run a good transit service. This cycle must be broken.

Public transit…ought to be as natural a government service as trash collection.

More money for transit would obviously help. Bernie Sanders has proposed $300 billion for public transit by 2030 and $607 billion for a high speed rail network (Joe Biden, in an excellent distillation of the failures of American transportation policy to date, does not commit any dollar amounts to these issues in his platform, but does commit $50 billion in his first year to repair roads, highways, and bridges). That would be a lot more money where it’s desperately needed, and polling suggests it’s a popular platform with majority support.

The most noteworthy part of Sanders' platform, however, is not the money. It’s the framework under which it is proposed: the Green New Deal.

This, says Florida State University’s Jeff Brown, fits with the history of how big transit projects are proposed. “Transit, in most places, has very much been an afterthought or a reaction to some other perceived crisis,” he said. Traditionally, that crisis has been traffic. For periods in the 1970s and 1980s, it was the oil crises. Sanders, however, clearly puts better public transportation within the framework of the climate crisis.

But the very concept of tying transit construction to a crisis misses the point. Transit does address those issues, but it is more than that. We will never build good transit until we jettison the century-old misconception that it is a business the government happens to run out of necessity. Rather, public transportation is a public good on its own merits, good times and bad. Allowing people to move about their cities cheaply, efficiently, and quickly makes cities more productive and better places to live and has numerous knock-on public health, environmental, social, and economic effects. Public transit funding ought not to be a response to any crisis. It ought to be as natural a government service as trash collection.

On the other hand, framing transit as a fight against traffic is a losing battle, because it doesn’t take very many cars to create traffic. It is, as transit planner Jarrett Walker argues, a matter of geometry. It will always appear to a certain type of person that money was wasted. But positing that transit is a way for city dwellers to live better, more pleasant lives is a winning platform, as politicians across Europe can attest.

We also have to work out what the right level of government is to make transit decisions. New York, D.C., and San Francisco in particular have complicated and bizarre governance structures for their transit agencies. Most of these structures were created in mid-century when good governance types replicated the corporate boardroom as the ideal of good governance. History has proven this approach hopelessly naive. Transit is politics. It’s time to, as Freemark has argued, put transit squarely within the responsibility of one elected official who is clearly accountable.

None of this solves what may be the biggest impediment to good American public transit: costs. The solutions here are not easy. Hell, as Josh Barro of New York has pointed out, and I've also learned, we don’t even fully understand the problem. At the very least, fixing it requires cultivating long-term expertise on the local level so agencies aren’t reinventing the wheel the rare occasions they’re given enough money to undertake megaprojects. It also might require, as Laura Tolkoff of the San Francisco-based non-profit SPUR suggested, establishing governmental entities with in-house megaproject expertise, weaning the transit world off relying on expensive contractors and consultants and onto agencies looking out for the taxpayers’ interest, not the stock market’s.

These are just a handful of the high-level suggestions I learned while reporting this story. I will keep reporting on this and learning more, and you should contact me if you work in a transit-related industry and know anything I ought to know. But one thing we must always keep in mind is the answers are out there.

“[The U.S.] needs to learn what works in Japan, France, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, the Netherlands, Denmark, South Korea, Spain, Italy, Singapore, Belgium, Norway, Taiwan, Finland, Austria,” Levy wrote. “It needs to learn how to plan around cooperation between different agencies and operators, how to integrate infrastructure and technology, how to use 21st-century engineering.”

To that end, Levy and fellow researcher Eric Goldwyn just received a two-year grant from the John Arnold Foundation via New York University to study why U.S. construction costs are so high. And they’re looking to hire a research associate, preferably one with language skills other than English. “We are particularly looking to extend our coverage outside countries where information is readily available in English,” their job posting for the project says.

“Imitate,” Levy advises. “Don’t innovate.”

Why the US Sucks at Building Public Transit syndicated from https://triviaqaweb.wordpress.com/feed/

[andressdtl267-blog]

5 Romantic Airports Ideas

Flying a passenger aircraft while on an airplane simulator is tremendous fun and has three main advantages over as a pilot of your real passenger plane:

1) There is no real risk involved. Provided you continue your calm, there is certainly hardly any chance of serious physical injury. And in a 'worst-case scenario', you merely disappear your chair anyway.

2) You didn't have to undergo many years of training to have your location. Ok, you need to do need to find out the best way to manage a computer and download software, but that's less than a similar because the 1,500 hours experience necessary to become a real airline transport pilot.

3) You don't have real passengers. This is probably the biggest benefit from an aircraft simulator. Why? Here can be a few notable dates inside recent history of air passenger behavior:

19th December 2006. Live rats caused panic on the flight in northwest Saudi Arabia after escaping from a passenger's rucksack. The plane had climbed to 25000 feet before people did start to notice rats running round the cabin. Upon landing the passenger admitted how the 80 live rats in their rucksack had opted unnoticed when he boarded the flight.

13th February 2007. A well-known French television personality, Jean-Luc Delarue, left his first-class seat, intoxicated by alcohol and anxiolytic drugs and ventured into the main passenger cabin, where he found the Algerian women's football team. At first polite, Delarue's behavior became worse and worse, heading out his shirt and seeking to caress intimately one with the players. He was finally escorted to his seat in handcuffs, in the mean time insulting both passengers and crew alike.

24th June 2008. A resident of Charlotte, North Carolina, USA was charged with being intoxicated and disruptive in public following an incident around the American Airlines flight from Dallas to Charlotte. He had been drinking rum and coke, but, once the flight attendants decided that he'd had enough, he became loud and abusive. His behavior included throwing ice at other passengers and grabbing a flight attendant's buttocks.

On 25th July 2008 your flight from Kos, Greece to Manchester, England was forced to divert to Frankfurt when two women passengers started being abusive to crew the other experimented with open a door. The flight was over Austria if the crew noticed women were drunk and refused to serve them any further alcohol. One with the women then took a swing at your flight attendant having a bottle of vodka and apparently wanting some clean air, tried to open a door. At this which point both in the women were restrained of their seats and the flight diverted to Frankfurt, where German police entered the plane and removed them.

24th November 2009.A Buddhist monk, from Myanmar, is reported to have opened the emergency exit of the Air India airplane whilst it was about the runway get yourself ready for take-off while he wanted some clean air. The monk, that is believed to get been feeling claustrophobic, was able to open the doorway using instructions around the inflight safety card. The flight must be delayed for almost seven hours while safety checks were carried out.

27th December 2009. Donald Trump's ex-wife, Ivana, was forcefully removed from your New York City-bound Delta Airlines flight after causing a scene and screaming at crew members. Apparently irritated by way of a baby crying plus a number of children running in the aisle of her first class cabin as the flight was waiting end Palm Beach International Airport to New York Ms Trump began shouting and swearing in the children and with the cabin crew who attempted to intervene. The pilot taxied time for the departure gate where Ms Trump was forcefully disembarked by waiting cops.

However, the unexpected doesn't always come from your passengers.

August 2010. A fed-up flight attendant reportedly cursed passengers around the plane public-address system, grabbed some beer in the galley and exited on an emergency slide. Steven Slater lost his temper after a row with a passenger at New York's John F Kennedy International Airport. The flight attendant then jumped off the parked jet by deploying the emergency chute before walking throughout the tarmac and to the street. Before abandoning the aircraft, Slater announced to passengers: "Those of you that have shown dignity and respect these last two decades, thank you for an excellent ride".

Flying a passenger airplane might be a nightmare, depending about the a higher level sanity of your respective passengers. The above is just a random selection from the numerous incidents which happen each and every year and offer a great basis for preferring flying an airplane simulator inside comfort of the own home.

[rowingchat]

US Masters Rowing National Championships – Day 2 musings

It’s not an expensive flight to Tennessee and the 2017 Masters Nationals but I thought I’d drive it.  My mother was raised in Huntsville, Alabama and most of the annual trip there from Maryland followed the same route I drove the other day, across mountains range that seems more easily traversed than back before I-81 came through (yes, I remember the days before the interstate) and a cultural chasm that seems just as wide as it was back when grandma half-facetiously suggested we paste a confederate flag sticker to our bumper, so that our out-of-state plates didn’t make us look like Yankee agitators.  

Grandpa was born about two hours west of here, in Peeled Chestnut, Tennessee, and I’m going try to peel off a few hours to get out to the ancestral homeland when I get a chance. He was a genuine hillbilly — he would have pronounced in “gin-u-wine,” as he did that time Stephanie said she’d only visit Huntsville if he taught her how to shoot and he took us out back of the house he’d built just outside the city limits, put a .22 revolver in her hands and said “that there’s gin-u-wine Saturday night special”.

In the meantime, my little cabin is outside of Clinton, Tennessee is conveniently located twenty miles east of Oak Ridge and twenty miles north of Knoxville.  

Or, maybe it’s not convenient to anything except the Museum of Appalachia just down at the bottom of the hill – twenty miles from Knoxville ain’t ground zero for nightlife.  And there were definitely a couple of gin-u-wine hillbillies in Harrison’s, the chain restaurant where I went to dinner the first night.  Most everybody else looked like they were in some kind of benevolent biker gang, though there were a lot more Harley logos on t-shirts than hogs in the parking lot.  

But, while every city kid of my generation has seen “Deliverance” and fears the sound of banjos at night once we get beyond the range of reliable public transportation, I’m enjoying the countryside. This is probably the most beautiful place I’ve ever rowed, with wooded hills rising directly from the shoreline of a sheltered course.   And the folks around here are as nice they can be – the Harley T-shirt guys holding the door for you and the waitress talking your ear off.

US Masters National Champs venue Melton Hill Lake in Oak Ridge, Tenn

There was another fog delay today so I rolled out of the hills around lunchtime to get ready for my first race, another mixed boat.  Tuesday, Mark mentioned that we were going to be racing in the B8 and I said “what the hell are two geezers like us doing in a B boat.”  And he squinted in my direction, smiled cagily and said simply: “young chicks.”

I’ve been listening to a lot of country music lately (Dwight Yokum singing “GIT-ars, cadillacs and hill-billy music – the only things that keep me hangin’ on” is pretty much my walk-on music).  One of the basic assumptions of country music is that young girls will kill you.  And Jack and Meredith stroking us at a 39 for the body of the heat damn near did kill me.  It must have looked a little funny from the shore – Steve and I in 6 and 5 seats, with almost a foot on our stroke pair, trying to match their timing and reach.

But the problem with rowing at a 39 (aside from the potential for killing one of the rowers outright) is that there’s a flail factor – you’re missing water and wearing yourself out.  Which we did.

Though, for all the excitement of trying to hold the stroke rate, it must have been kind of boring race.  Close races are exciting to row, but I’m not sure anybody moved on anyone after the first 250 metres – no back and forth.  Most annoyingly, one of club team boats jumped out to a two seat lead and just held it despite our overdriving stroke rate.  It always hurts to lose bragging rights to your own teammates, especially by less than half a second. Meanwhile,  Western Reserve took the heat by the boat length they’d established at the start.

But, after a uniquely unanimous boat meeting, we decided that if we actually settled during the settle, and stayed long, we had a chance in the final – and we could at least beat those tenacious clubsters.

After lunch, we raced the Men’s E4 in a straight-to-finals event.  I was back with my boys – the stern 4 of the E8 that had taken club gold the day before.  We had a uniquely crappy warmup – we did a build and couldn’t get over a 34 and had all the power of a fatigued high school crew, and boat was flopping all over the place.  We eventually did a competent start and 15, but when we pulled up to the line against pretty physically intimidating array of boats – including crosstown rival Potomac Boat Club — it looked a little grim.

But, damned if we didn’t pull it together in a big way. Not big enough, mind you.  We put Potomac away pretty early and gradually pulled away from third place New Haven.  But Riverfront Recapture put us away pretty solidly, too, winning by four seconds.

But still – and I rarely take comfort in this – it was a really beautiful row.

How beautiful?

My first year on the Comp Team, I was in a 4 with our incredibly competitive stroke, Ralph (“sometimes I think I hate losing more than I like winning”) up in Philly and we won, despite a pretty awful row. It was maybe my first medal, and my daughter was coxing and it was the day before Father’s Day so I was pretty happy with life.  And I wanted a picture of the boat, but Ralph was so pissed at the way we rowed I was almost physically afraid to ask him to pose with the rest of us.  His intensity helps make him an amazing stroke, but he can be a little intimidating.

But, after losing this race (short lived Nike slogan “You don’t win the silver, you lose the gold”. They had to drop that one), Ralph turned around and high-fived Craig, in three seat, who passed it down to Steve and to me in bow.  It was one of the best pure rows of my life and, hell, it was good for The Sport, because when you row well and lose you say things like “man, those Riverfront guys are pretty damn good,” rather than letting bitterness and regret eat away at you (“those lucky bastards, if we hadn’t been waked/rushed so much/sucked, we would have….”).

It was the sport living up to its billing.  Plus, a silver.

I was hoping for the same result, or better, in the Mixed 8 final.  And we had a warmup as beautiful as the four’s was awful, skimming over the river and accelerating effortlessly.  During the race we settled properly and rowed well, rowed hard.  But the race turned out to be a virtual repeat of the heat, with Greenwich – with two rowers late of Capital, the turncoats! — coming in from the other heat to push us off the podium.  At least the other Capital boat took the bronze.  Better to be beaten by  friends than some gang of strangers; they earned their hardware with a really strong row.

The mixed boat was the next to the last race of the day and the sunlight was turning a little golden and we walked over to get a beer, all the adrenaline and energy and clatter and action of a day of racing slipping away and the guitarist playing strangely melancholy music – who wants to hear “Fast Car” after a day of racing?  — as we chatted and rehashed.  Ebb tide.

It’s addictive, though, isn’t it?  The highs and the lows, the medals and the aughts. I was still a little down as I walked the 800 miles to my distant parking spot along the road, but that’s just the rhythm, you roll with it and almost enjoy it.  You wouldn’t feel down if it wasn’t important to you. And as much fun as a long weekend at the beach might have been, doing something important that tests you and brings you together with friends so you really feel the highs and the lows is an extraordinary thing.

And there’s a beautiful sunset over the hills and another race tomorrow, another chance at redemption and that elusive high that comes from winning or just a a few minutes of pure joyous exertion.

In the meantime, guitars, Cadillacs and hillbilly music keep me hanging on.

The post US Masters Rowing National Championships – Day 2 musings appeared first on Rowperfect UK.

Related posts:

US Masters Rowing National Championships – Day 1 musings

New Masters Rowing advice series

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[narrator-scio-story]

What's Happening 8/22

I’ve been on a couple of awesome - if perhaps short - trips in the past week. A visit to California, and a separate trip to Nebraska. My mother tells me that I visited California once before, when I was a baby, because my parents went to a conference there. They got a rubbish babysitter while they were at the conference, who just sat in the hotel room and made me watch cartoons the whole time. I really hadn’t been a TV watcher prior to that, and my parents wanted me to be taken around outside in my pram but since the babysitter didn’t do that, I hated it. Well, this visit to California was at least better than that. Our main goal of the trip was to visit colleges - when we looked for tours at CalTech, Harvey Mudd and UC Berkeley earlier in the summer, UC Berkeley was already full so we just booked tours for the other two. I wasn’t especially excited about CalTech, I really just wanted to visit Berkeley and Harvey Mudd, but since we were going all the way there, it only made sense to visit at least two, and since Berkeley tours weren’t available, I visited Caltech and Harvey Mudd. The first day, though, we didn’t visit a college, we just visited JPL. It took a while to get the rental car - the plane landed at 2:45 and getting out of the airport, getting the shuttle to Budget, and waiting in line took us in total an entire hour. (We traveled with only bags small enough to fit under the seats in front of us so we didn’t have to pay the baggage fee. We flew Frontier, so yes, there would’ve been a baggage fee for overhead luggage.) Once we got the rental car we set Google maps up to take us to JPL. It was just about rush hour, and Google really didn’t want to put us on the highway. First it asked us to turn left at a no-left-turn intersection, then it tried to drive us through the airport and we were like no, so eventually we ended up getting all the way across LA on tiny side roads which involved way too many left turns. We were maybe an hour and a half later to JPL than we’d intended, and the visitor center has apparently closed but my mum’s friend who worked there had requested visitor access for us, and managed to give us a tour of the emptying campus. We saw the Mars yard, and some movies, and all sorts of models, but of course I was most excited about all the Earth observing satellites. I took photos of the diagrams of where the satellites were, I took selfies with posters about OCO-3, it was very exciting. Science Olympiad has done this to me I swear. Remote Sensing is literally the best event but that’s another discussion entirely. Another discussion I have a lot but won’t have here because it would get boring if I did it too many times. We stayed overnight with my mum’s friend and his family, who were very entertaining and had good discussions and told us all about their cats and chickens. Then the next morning it was time to visit the colleges - we’d signed up for the tours and so on at specific times - and despite Google Maps again giving somewhat odd instructions, we made it to CalTech on time. My tour guide was studying geochemistry, she said - she might have said she was the only one in her year? - but mostly during the tour it feels like I learnt about what was fun on campus. We heard a lot about their house system (similar to Hogwarts houses, they claimed), and their dinner rules and traditions, and the pranks, and the parties. It’s funny hearing the story of CalTech’s cannon from the perspectives of both MIT and Caltech, and Harvey Mudd too which I’ll get to later. I suppose CalTech is more fun than I’d imagined - for some reason in my head, it seemed very isolated in location, with people who all came out the same (aka not as the only geochemist they had). I understand the value of their core curriculum, I’m just worried that I might not find all of it interesting, and not end up working as hard as I should. Also, despite not being as physically isolated as I thought, the tour guides still told me that people don’t normally bike into town, it’s more public transport if not driving. And LA doesn’t seem to really have a center. I don’t know how happy I would be to live there. Plus, it sounded like the students were mentally inside their little bubble. Okay, Caltech’s a tech school rather than a liberal arts school, but the tour guide never said anything about politics or initiatives or really caring about issues in the world. I’m sure I could fit in as a techer and be happy there. But would I really become the type of person I hope to? Harvey Mudd, later that afternoon, left me much less on the fence. After a little bit of mess from my selecting the wrong town in California to drive to (we basically just got off the motorway too early, and we got back onto it having only lost a little time), we arrived from Caltech with enough time to grab something to eat before the information session. We actually got to the cafeteria just after it had closed, but the women working there nicely directed us toward the other cafe which was still open. We managed to get lost again on the way there, but another girl - I assumed she was a student - pointed us back where we should be. I actually saw her again through a glass door as all of us going to the information session were sent from the upstairs waiting room to the small auditorium downstairs. We smiled at each other so I think she recognized me. At that point, I was already like, I like this place, I’d be happy to come here. During the info session and tour, okay, I didn’t pick up the same dorm culture that Caltech has - part of the culture that makes me so much want to go to MIT - although the tour guide insisted they did have some. I didn’t feel like I asked as many questions, but I think that was because so many things I cared about were already addressed, rather than because I didn’t care as much. The tour guide also told us that they stole Caltech’s cannon first, that the MIT students had just copied them. And apparently some of their dorms about each other. It wouldn’t be boring, I’m sure, even if it’s not as big a thing? I guess? The reason I first heard about Harvey Mudd was that they have created a much better gender ratio in the computer science major than in most other places, and hearing about the core curriculum, I can really see how that would happen. Having special relativity as your first physics class - of course that would create an interest. Using programming in other math and science courses - obviously that would make people appreciate it better and understand its value. Plus, while I didn’t feel like Caltech’s campus was as small as I’d imagined it, at Harvey Mudd, with even fewer students, it felt like one UK-style college in a bigger university. All the Claremont colleges seemed so integrated together, it didn’t feel like you were going to run out of people to get to know it that all of your friends would be too similar to you for you to learn anything new. So I am still a bit on the fence about applying to Caltech, and unlike a lot of other colleges, there’s not some older South student I was amazing friends with to try to really understand what it’s like to be there. There were aspects of it that really made me happy though, so it’s tough to decide. I guess I’ll probably apply in the regular decision round if I do apply, so that does let me change my mind late in the game if I really need to. And applying of course doesn’t guarantee getting in or going. Harvey Mudd I wouldn’t have a role model either, but from just the little I know I feel like it’s a forward moving place which would push me in the right direction. I want to apply there. I don’t know if I’d go if it were a choice between Harvey Mudd and this college, or Harvey Mudd and that college. But it’s a place I want to try for. And then we got in the car and drove straight to the airport because apparently security lines are long at LAX. Our flight back actually ended up being delayed though. Oh well. And then the other trip! The eclipse! Yay! The original plan had been to wake up at like 5am and drive to Wyoming, inside the path of totality, to watch it. My dad has had the eclipse glasses for ages. But then somebody at work made this plan with him to go to Nebraska and camp for the night and then watch the eclipse there instead, and that’s what we ended up doing, 3 families. We camped in the Pawnee National Grasslands, managed by the National Forest Service (I don’t know why, there literally were no trees). It was technically still in Colorado, but just near the border with Nebraska, so we wouldn’t have as far to drive the day of the eclipse. What I don’t think anyone planned, but what made me super, super happy, was that we happened to be just across the road from loads and loads of wind turbines. It wasn’t a campsite or anything, just some grass and we did a fire pit because somebody forgot their grill and the website said no fire restrictions, but I swear it was the most beautiful place I’ve ever slept. We could watch the sun set brilliantly behind the wind turbines, there were a couple of hills to climb which gave you an amazing view across the plains, it very much avoided light pollution of the stars. And then the next morning around 8 we joined the long stream of traffic heading north, got stuck in the enormous lines at the first gas station in one of the towns there (we later saw that the town had a second gas station nobody at all was using but oh well), fought about whether it would’ve been a better idea to have gone with the original plan about Wyoming, tried to convert the eclipse start times from UTC to mountain time, and eventually made it to a spot on the side of the road - quite close to the center of totality for longitude - a few minutes before the partial eclipse started there. We watched with our glasses as the tiny wiggle in the edge of the sun grew to basically swallow it like a cookie (always less than 3 minutes at a time though, I read that instruction on the side of the glasses and everyone tried to follow it, while also questioning why, exactly, I had read something like that), and when there was just a sliver left and it seemed to be shrinking faster and faster - when the sky had gone dusk colored but with a rainbow, sunset-like thing all around the edge and we were wishing we’d stayed in long pants because it was suddenly a lot cooler - I ran further up the hill and everyone followed me and we put on our glasses again just to watch the last of it disappear. And then when we’d checked that it was really, truly gone, we took our glasses off and my dad set his 2 minute timer to tell us when to put our glasses back on. It was beautiful, you really could see the corona and it was huge and so much paler than any blurry photos on my phone make it seem like it was. We actually waited there on the side of the road until the very end of the partial eclipse, although we saw loads of cars driving back south from the moment totality had finished. We ate our lunch during the rest of the partial, the little girls in the group criticized my slowness and caution coming down the hill and made me do it again faster, we sat in our folding chairs in a row joking about this being like a very slow sporting event. The traffic was pretty bad when we finally left, and you knew it was all because of the eclipse because it was so, so much stronger going in the direction we were headed than the other direction. Even during rush hour, if it had been people coming home from work they should’ve been heading the other way, away from Denver. But overall it was a brilliant trip, there were some oil drilling things (which are depressing) at the beginning of the drive there but all the beautiful wind turbines in the middle made up for it. (I actually saw the oil things in California too, those ones didn’t have wind turbines to match them though.) So I’ve enjoyed my first visit to Nebraska and almost-first visit to California, and now it’s back to the normal day-to-day trips to the library to produce Science Olympiad tests because my laptop can’t connect to the apartment wifi!

[nostalgichistorian]

Well I'm back in Australia now, I'm not actually home yet, just sitting in a hotel room in sydney with kinda shitty internet, but I guess now is as good a time as any to just relax and write a bit about my trip.

So I'd kinda been planning this trip since my grandfather died, even though that was nearly a year ago. I wasn't really going up there for tourism, but I guess I saw a couple of things?

It was my first time doing.. well, a lot of things, but it was also my first time flying (or leaving my state at all for that matter). I managed to pack light enough that I only had onboard luggage, but next time (and there will be a next time) I'll probably actually check most of my luggage and deal with that separately.

The security process was a lot more routine and impersonal than I thought it'd be. I guess when you're sorting through hundreds of people every hour you generally don't have time to give each person an intimate cavity search.

I flew with Virgin Australia for the first trip (and will later today for my last trip) and Delta the rest of the way. It was the kind of thing where it's not too bad as long as you don't think too hard about the fact that you're a 10 km in the air and if the plane decides it doesn't want to run anymore you're probably twenty kinds of fucked. Really it's just kind of like being on any form of public transport like a bus or a train or whatever, with its own handful of perks and inconveniences.

All my trips have been economy flights, so I imagine things are fancier if you're willing to fork out a few thousand dollars for the Deluxe Ultra Plus Skyzone Comfort One Package™ or whatever the fuck. The food ranges from hilariously mundane (One Cookie) to kind of decent (three TV Dinner level "meals" and as much orange juice as you want). The toilets are absolutely tiny and the seats aren't much better but some flights give you access to semi-recent movies on a touchscreen embedded in the seat in front of you.

The first flight to Sydney was fairly unexciting except for the fact that it was my first one. I learned that I don't get airsick at all which is great, and also kind of what I expected given that it's mainly rapid frequent changes in acceleration that screw with me, and planes are giant behemoths that couldn't do the shit required to make me sick even if they wanted to.

It ended on a fun note when a passenger passed out and collapsed into my lap. Some woman, still not sure if she was okay. Hope she was.

My first hotel was the one in Sydney which I'm currently staying at for the second time. Feels like a high class place. Honestly all I really needed was a shower, toilet, and bed, of which I got all three, so that was nice. The bed was miserably hot though, and I hadn't quite figured out the whole sleep-under-the-sheet thing. Still, it served its purpose.

The next day involved flying over the pacific, which was a little more exciting and also a little more inconvenient. 14 hours meant my first experience taking a crap on a public toilet, paired with my first experience using an airline toilet, so that was fun (it wasn't that fun). The movies were okay but I spent a lot of time just watching the flight tracker as my plane slowly moved over the pacific. I remember being excited when we got into LA because there were mountains poking through the clouds which was something I'd never seen before. I was also excited because I knew that even though I'd been up for a while at that point, I was going to see my friends later that day.

That, unfortunately, did not come to pass.

My plane had left an hour late, but that was fine because I had accounted for that. Getting through customs was relatively painless (photo fingerprints are you carrying any bananas thank you have a nice day next please) but still took around 2 hours. I had enough time still thanks to layovers but this was a foreign airport, so I had my concerns.

My first trouble was actually figuring out where the fuck my plane was. Of all the airports I've been to, I hate LAX the most simply because it's huge. All the terminals are spread out and I couldn't find any straightforward maps. I came in to security from the wrong direction which I interpreted as "you need a new boarding pass" because after 20 hours of being awake your comprehension gets a bit fuzzy. I figured out how to get my ticket from one of those machines which generally just involves sticking your card in the thing and checking a box that says "no I'm not carrying anything volatile".

So I went and found my way to security, which was a long line, and I was starting to run out of time, but I was confident I had a reasonably comfortable period. I had called my friends and told them that things were a bit awkward but otherwise fine. My new US sim card was also functioning fine which meant I had a working phone, which is obviously kinda useful.

I made my way through security which took a little longer because I had to take my laptop out of my bag (You had to do this in Australia but they didn't have any signs saying you had to in America so I didn't know, but it only delayed me a couple of minutes, but they were minutes I had, so). I packed up my things and headed out of security into the actual terminal.

It was at this point that I realized I had left my credit card in the automatic check-in machine.

I was a little fucking stressed at this point. I had to go back for it, obviously - you can't just leave a credit card behind. But I also had only a little time. I had to move, and I had to move fast. I couldn't find it. I couldn't even remember exactly which machine it was. I asked a couple of lost-and-found places, nobody had turned up anything.

By some fucking miracle, I eventually stumbled across it, right where I left it. I don't think I've been so happy to have found something like that ever in my life. But I was still running low on time.

I had to go back through security. It took time. I had to get to the gate. It took time.

I got there a few minutes too late. I'd missed my flight.

Missing your flight isn't too bad, especially if you've got access to funds (which I did).

The main problem was I was physically exhausted, I'd been up for nearly 24 hours, and I was in a foreign country in a confusing airport in an area I didn't know, and the replacement ticket the airline gave me A) Wasn't for ten hours, B) Came with the caveat of "wait for your name to be called" (which kind of implied I might not get a seat) and C) I'd have to do a similar kind of digging around in Detroit to get to my final destination. Also, although I don't get airsick, I also can't sleep on planes. So it'd mean I wouldn't get any rest until reaching my final destination.

I was in way over my head and I fucking knew it. So I decided, fuck it, I'll get a hotel, sleep, and deal with this on a level head. It'd cost me time and money but I needed the rest more than either of those things.

My friends did their best to help with recommendations for hotels and such. Transport was a big issue, because the airport was big enough I couldn't really just straight-up walk to the hotel I wanted. I was completely unfamiliar with shuttle busses. Learning the ins and outs of public transportation in a foreign country is not a fun prospect when you're emotionally mentally and physically exhausted and also you have some minor issues with social anxiety.

So I booked a room at a hotel, and was trying to figure out how to get there. Getting the shuttle bus to actually come down required you actually calling the hotel, which I should have done, but wasn't in the right mind to do. So I did what most Australians in my situation might have done: I got in a Taxi.

This was not Australia.

This was Los Angeles.

Taxi drivers here are a little different.

The first trick was that I wanted to go to hotel_name, but there were two hotel_names in LA near the airport. Naturally this gentlement would deduce to take me to the more prominent of the twopffftthahaha no he spoke poor english drove like a maniac and gouged me for the privilage. The place I landed was closer to a motel than a hotel. It was also not the one where I had a reservation. Whatever. I didn't care. I was tired. I was spent. I was slightly nauseous from the drive. I went up to the counter and pretty much just threw money at them. I needed a bed, a shower, and a toilet.

I got into my room. It was kind of a shitty room compared to the one I'd been in. Whatever. I couldn't figure out how to get the shower working. Whatever. I'll sit in the tub with a pool of warm water and splash myself. It's better than nothing. Dry off. Lie down. I need sleep.

I'm still nauseous. Laying on the bed makes me more nauseous. Laying on the floor is uncomfortable, but better. Unfortunately the floor is damp. I spend time talking to my partner on skype, in the bathroom, periodically dry retching. I am stressed, sick, exhausted. In retrospect I think the sickness was a combination of stress and a shitty driver. I take all my important belongings into the bathroom. I try to lie down on the bathroom floor with the most tentative of coverings. Between the barely managable sleeping surface, the exhaustion, and the comfort of my partner's voice, I manage to lose consciousness for a couple of hours. They were not the best hours of sleep I had gotten on my trip. But they were the most important.

A couple of hours later I woke up. My partner had gone offline (but had apparently stayed up talking while I had slept, bless them) and I needed more sleep at any rate. I made my way to the bed where I slept until the foreign housekeeper woke me up around 8 hours later in spite of me having a Do-Not-Disturb sign on the door (when he knocked it woke me up but I figured it must have been another room because hey I had a sign on the door and then he came in anyway which woke me up proper).

At this point I was sort of rested enough to try and figure out what I was going to do. My flight (the rescheduled one) was still scheduled but I decided against it. I called up my father and gave him a heavily censored record of the above events (hey dad I know you were nervous about this trip well I was sick and felt like I was gonna die alone and there was nothing you could have done about it have fun waiting for me to get home for two weeks) and talked to my friends some.

I realized I still technically had a reservation at the other hotel, so I decided to actually make my way over there. I decided I was ready to interact with shuttles. The driver was a black woman which I only mention because A) it was the first black person I'd ever directly interacted with and B) it was an incredibly positive experience (which honestly made me wonder why so many people in america apparently hate them because as far as I could tell they're just ordinary human beings). It was also the point where I realized that tipping generously tends to make people friendly. I don't know why rich people don't tip more. I guess they like being hated or something.

She gave me generally good advice (a lot of which was practical but was still good to hear) and was friendly and personable. It was a pleasant ride and was honestly the only part of staying at that hotel that I'm glad for.

The hotel I arrived at was considerably nicer. It had fences and a nicer pool area and a garden and fountains and my room was a fancy big-ass room with a bed as sort of the centerpiece which lead my friend to proclaim that the room was "made for fucking". She was probably right.

I booked a new flight to my destination and shrugged off the lost day and a half. I also discovered a Dennys really close to the hotel (honestly at this point you can probably deduce which hotel I stayed at by clues alone). This was my first experience with American Food which consisted of lemonade that actually tasted like lemons and a burger so big they have to fucking spear the thing to a plate. It was the best thing I'd eaten in a long time and I think Dennys will always have a place in my heart.

I got a few more hours sleep in my fancier hotel and then headed for the airport. This time I had more time and more understanding and more patience, and the experience was relatively smooth. There were two flights I had to go to, one to Detroit and then another to an out-of-the-way city in upstate NY. There was a four hour layover. My flight was delayed by about two. This is why I choose to have long layovers, guys.

Detroit is probably the nicest airport I've been in. It's big, but it's logically laid out. Consolidated stores, lots of big and easy to read signs. My layover there was brief but pleasant. The plane I was in was quite small (four seats per row, two each side) but that trip was honestly the most straightforward one I'd been on. By the time I arrived it was early morning and I'd been up for another 24ish hours.

My partner greeted me with a tackle and my friends with hugs. It was generally a nice experience but admittedly twenty kinds of sensory overload; My partner wanted a ton of physical contact which I was 100% okay with in most situations but which was a little overwhelming combined with everything else and the fact that I had received little to no human physical contact in the preceeding two decades (please don't feel bad I love you I was just halfway between wanting contact and not). One of my friends I had very little knowledge of their appearance which was its own thing, and the third was quite comfortable but I also had the longest history with and was trying really hard not to stare at.

Being an introvert at the center of attention and exposed to a thousand sensory overloads after being awake for 24 hours was a little much, so I excused myself and took a shower and had a much needed rest alone in my room. After about 8 hours, I woke up in the early evening and we went out to another Dennys and chatted some more. When we went back to the hotel, my partner joined me.

It was a unique and pleasant experience with a lot of talking and a bit of laughter, and in that situation, I don't think there's anybody I would have rather shared it with. The details are personal and honestly largely irrelevant. I love you Pumpkin. <3

The next couple of weeks are a general haze of good times and a handful of high emotions. Seeing their house was nice. Their cat liked me (or at the very least was significantly indifferent to my presence to permit being petted). The food in the area was nice. The area itself was probably the Whitest place I've seen, and I ain't talking about snow because it's fucking summer. It was actually warmer than I would have liked, even being Austrlian. Pretty humid. Next time I go up there it'll be in the winter.

Odd things about America from an Australian perspective: The toilets are weird. The pool of water is much bigger and the toilet sort of drains the water and then refills the bowl rather than actively flushing it through. Wall sockets don't have switches. Light switches are upside down - you tend to flick them up to turn them on, not down. Pennies are hell. If you're Australian, imagine five cent pieces somehow became even more useless and prevalant. Paper money smells weird. Having one dollar bills instead of coins is a nightmare. The most common coin is the quarter.

Also, America is so unbelievably far up its own ass I'm surprised they don't shit eagle feathers. Flags are everywhere, they're sort of like the country's default decoration. They're on flagpoles and walls and sprouting from flowerpots like some kind of fucking weed. Jokes were made. A mother flag, cautiously watching its young from a distance. Fresh sprouting flags ripe for picking. WHAT COUNTRY ARE WE IN oh okay it's America OH FUCK I'VE FORGOTTEN AGAIN no wait there's another flag okay we're good. There were literal herds of flags. No you know what herd isn't a good word, there were confederations of flags.

My friends were pretty much exactly what I expected, maybe even more so. We got along in the same ways and had trouble in the same ways and it was a bizarre mix of the foreign and the familiar all at once. If you're in a position to meet some people you've known online and well but have been kind of putting it off, I'd encourage you to take the plunge. It's nice.

Side note, I had never consumed alcohol prior to this for mainly personal reasons but I took the plunge. Turns out the real reason I dislike alcohol has nothing to do with the fact that it has psychological affects but rather I just hate the taste. Go figure.

It was a wonderful couple of weeks full of adventure and people and it was rocky at times and I spent more time traveling than I wanted to (I would have preferred more casual hanging out to light tourism personally) but it was great and I loved it and I want to do it again. We did all manner of things, some I'd talk about, a few that I probably wouldn't, and I can't want to do them all (and more) again.

Goodbyes were miserable and painful, but it was to be expected. On my flight back I rescheduled to give myself an extra night in LA to relax (which was a very good idea all things considered). The planes were uneventful and I watched a few in-flight movies and I was sad and that's okay.

After my flight over the pacific and a good rest I'm here. It's now 5 in the morning and I've spent over two hours writing this thing. It's probably about time to actually publish it. I'll probably snooze for a few more hours before checking out and then waiting for my flight back to my home city.

After all that, I'm not sure what the rest of my life is going to look like. But I feel like no matter what, it's going to be a good one.

Stay safe, guys.

[whereisyaya]

Amsterdam:

On August 2016, I became a naturalized US citizen. I was excited about two things the most; voting in an election and visa-free travel to Europe! The day of my oath, I immediately registered to vote and then applied for my passport. Once the passport arrived in the mail, I grabbed my laptop and began searching flights to Amsterdam!

Amsterdam has been on my list for a while but I had made a promise to myself that I would plan that trip only after I got my US passport. So, pretty much. This was the year that Amsterdam finally happened.

I was really hoping for a direct flight because I would rather pay extra than dealing with lay-over issues. However, as I began searching I realized that the difference between direct flights and those with layovers was quite significant. One particular airline WOW Air, was literally offering a round-trip for half the price. The only catch was a lay-over in Iceland.   I kept toying with the idea but was not sure if I wanted to pull the trigger yet. It was going to be a quick trip. A long weekend with a day here and there, so 4-5 days max.  That meant that if I wasted even a day stuck in an airport in Iceland that could ruin my entire trip. Plus, I had no idea about WOW and had never heard of them. A quick google-search provided some reviews and most of the complaints were about the fact that they charged for everything from a glass of water on the flight to check-in and carry-on luggage larger than a book-bag. On the other hand, there were very few complaints about being stuck at airports and delayed flights. I surmised that I didn’t really need luxuries on a plane and since I travel mostly with just a book-bag, the complaints didn’t really apply to me. Still, I wasn’t sure or ready to take the risk yet.

Fate works in interesting ways because that night, I was meeting some friends for dinner and the waitress also happened to be a friend. As we chatted, she mentioned she was heading to Amsterdam with some friends later that week and was flying WOW Air! This was a sign! She was just as nervous flying the airline but I figured, this was just the push I needed. I walked home from dinner – luckily the restaurant was across the street from my building – and booked a roundtrip to Amsterdam without giving it a second thought! The next day, I began researching lodging options and before you know it, I was on my way to a solo trip to Amsterdam.

All Aboard!

My friend Jordyn messaged me on Facebook when she arrived in Amsterdam to confirm that it was a pretty smooth flight but I should make sure to grab a bottle of water before I boarded the flight. LOL, point taken!

A few weeks before my flight, WOW did scare me a lot with their constant emails about the 20-30 minute changes in my flights and I was started to worry about missing my connecting flight. I spent an hour on the phone with a customer rep called “Mary” from a call-center in India, who assured me that I should not miss my connecting flights even with a 45 minute layover. Still, I was getting quite nervous at that point. The day of the flight, we found out that our flight was delayed an hour and everyone was freaking out because they all had connecting flights. This time another passenger called and he was assured that they would adjust our connecting fights accordingly. Ok WOW Air, don’t let me have a meltdown in Iceland!

I am glad I took a water bottle with me on the flight because, you did have to pay for everything and since I wasn’t really hungry, I didn’t mind.  The layover was pretty smooth and quick and once the flight took off from Iceland, I was a lot more relaxed because next stop was going to be Amsterdam!

Schiphol International Airport is an interesting airport which falls somewhere between pretty basic to not completely barren. Make of that as you will! I had read on travel blogs that cabs are very expensive and so if you are staying close to Centraal Station, it is probably best to just take the metro. I only had a book-bag so I went for that option. The yellow ticket machines were quite confusing and the lines were long. Everyone was getting frustrated. Luckily, I found an NS counter where I could interact with an actual human

With my newly purchases Anonymous OV Chipkaart, I was able to board a direct railway train to Cetraal Station. The trains run pretty frequently and I was at Centraal Station within 15-20 minutes of boarding the train. As I stepped out of Centraal Station, I was already enchanted by the hustle and bustle around me.

I had arrivedin Asmterdam.

I had jotted directions down on paper and since I still don’t have a smart international phone, I didn’t have google directions to help me. Note to self, yet again. GET AN SMART PHONE FOR INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL! I remember making this mental note to myself after my recent Mexico trip.

I asked a few policemen for directions and was then able to walk to my AirBNB which was not more than a 10 minute walk!

 Tip:  Try your best to book your lodging within walking distance to Centraal Station because, it is the easiest way to get from the airport to your hotel. A cab will cost you close to 50 euros. The metro costs 4 euros. You do the math!

 Lodging!

I had spent a week trying to decide where I should stay in Amsterdam. I had no clue. What areas were the best? Where was the nightlife? What was central and what was close to public transportation? I wondered if I should stay in a house-boat to make the experience unique but then again, I did not want to end up in an area far away.

When it came to this booking ordeal, I was in for a rude awakening:  a vacation in Europe is much different than a trip to Asia or Latin America. Everything was quite expensive. The travel gods may have been extra benevolent the day I finally took the plunge and booked my lodging because I managed to pick the perfect place! I settled on a hotel called Hotel Anco in the heart of the Red Light District. The Red Light District is generally a good area to stay in because it is central to everything and within walking distance to Centraal Station and thus all the Trams you need to take. For those who would prefer staying in hostels, there were plenty of hostels nearby as well on Warmoestraat (street) which is also where a lot of the nightlife is. You can walk out of your room and go next door to a bar!

From Centraal station, it was a quick 10 minute walk for me and my room was one of the cutest and coziest rooms I have ever stayed in. The steep spiral steps up to my room were scary but I realized they were very indicative of how a lot of buildings in Amsterdam are. The room was quite tiny which I loved because it felt that much cozier. Perfect for resting my head late after an exhausting day and night and sleeping in till 2pm the next day. Yes, because of jet-lag, I wouldn’t wake up till after 2pm every day (but hey it was my vacation) and I would often miss the free breakfast in the morning. Oh well. All I needed was a cup of tea anyway which they were always happy to provide.

My room overlooked the canal and I could literally see a brothel from my window. In the morning, as I would bring up and bring a cup of tea from the café to my room and plan my agenda for the day on my desk, I would look out of the window and enjoy the boats floating around the canal. At night, when I returned home late and sat writing on my desk, I could watch the drunk revelers stumbling in and out of the brothel rooms while the working women gestured for clients and haggled for rates. It made for a very interesting people-watching experience.

The staff was extremely friendly and I would always stop by the café for a cup of tea after a day of sight-seeing and converse with the person working their shift. They gave my tips of where to go and since I was so depressed after the 2016 election, we even had some very interesting conversations about politics. My room had a small TV which meant that as much as I did not want to, I could not peel myself away from the constant news cycle of Trump winning the election and the wave of protests all around America. I knew that if I had not been hiding away from reality in Amsterdam, I would probably be on the streets of DC joining the protests as well. Soon, the news was too much so I switched the channel to brain-dead MTV and watched constant marathons of Catfish re-runs. What a peculiar show.

I honestly loved everything about my room, the hotel and the staff! I was right in the middle of the nightlife and also within walking distance to Centraal Station which meant that any Tram I needed to take, I could find at that station.

Tip: Book your lodging as close to Centraal Station because how easy it is to navigate the city from there. Also, staying in the Red Light District not only adds a unique Amsterdam touch to your trip but you are then also close to all the action. Pardon the pun!

Public Transportation

 At Schiphol airport is where I began my public transportation experience and took my first metro ride in Amsterdam.  The city has a metro system and a Tram system but the metro is the equivalent of a commuter train while Trams are what everyone takes within the city. Most sights and landmarks are accessible by Tram. I took the metro only to and from the airport but for the rest of the trip, I was hopping on and off Trams like nobody’s business!

It should also be noted that Amsterdam is fairly small and one can walk everywhere. Trams also stop running around 10pm or midnight so I rode the Tram a lot during the day to see the sights and at night, I traveled mostly by foot.  

I opted for the Anonymous OV ChipKaart which I could load with more money as I needed. It was also the option many travel bloggers had recommended as well. I paid about 8 euros for the card and loaded 20 Euros on it. The good thing was that it works on Trams as well so I thought it was a good option. Surprisingly, I didn’t have to reload my card at all during my trip so 20 euros lasted me the entire time.

Another point to note is that the ChipKaarts require a minimum balance for travel which was very strange and different from most other places I have visited. For inner city travel like Trams, your card must have a minimum of 4 euros and for intercity travel like the metro, you must have a minimum of 20 euros. I don’t know. Don’t ask. I am sure there is a logical reason for that somewhere.  

On my last day, I had about 4 euros left on my card but I couldn’t use it to get back to the airport because of the minimum requirement. Do in Rome, as the Romans do. I guess. Besides, it wasn’t a big issue because I had already made the most of my card during the trip. So to get back to the airport, I bought a disposable one way!

All Trams leave and end at Centraal Station so as I went sight-seeing, I would just walk to Centraal, hop on the right Tram and go visit whatever I had planned for the day. Afterwards, I would jump on whichever Tram was heading back towards Centraal and voila, I was home! It was that easy.

Tip: Get an anonymous OV ChipKaart. If you are going to reload at the yellow machine, make sure you have coins as they only take coins! Remember the minimum requirements on the card and use Trams mostly for daytime travel. Oh and did I mention, how convenient Centraal Station is for Tram travel. Oh I already did. Good!

 Red Light District

 I had arrived in Amsterdam on a late Thursday afternoon and technically I could salvage that day by hitting up a quick sight but you all know that I HATE and absolutely DETEST a trip where I am exhausted from constantly being on the go. Thus, I deliberately decided that  I would take it easy that day. Since I was staying in the Red Light District, I could possibly maybe walk around that area and check that off my list. Other than that, I was just going to relax! The decision was further confirmed for me when it began to rain and though it was pretty to watch the raindrops splatter over the canal from my window, I am NOT a fan of getting wet so I definitely was not going to venture too far off on my first night. I was also still emotionally drained from the results of the elections so I was struggling to find my happy travel place. Instead, I checked into the hotel and sat on my bed watching CNN.

 When the news got too much for me, I switched the TV off and went down to the café of the hotel where one of the nicest staff was on her shift. Debbie made me a cup of Earl Grey and we talked about the elections. Seemed like the entire world had spent a night of tossing and turning with worry of what was in store with Donald Trump as president of the US. Besides, political woes, Debbie also offered some great tips about the city. She gave me a map and pointed out where everything was. After the rain subsided, I decided to venture out for a walk and do a quick stroll through the Red Light District. Debbie was so nice that she even let me borrow her umbrella just in case the rain got worse again.

 The red light district was interesting to say the least. It was so strange to see scantily clad women smiling and beckoning drunk revelers from behind their glass doors.  I had read on many travel blogs that photography was absolutely prohibited and that made sense. Plus, I thought it would be too disrespectful to do such a thing since I had read that many of these women had day jobs as well.

 I popped into the Museum of Erotica, even though I had read on numerous blogs that it was a waste of money. After a walk around the street, there realy wasn’t  much to do, so I still decided to give the museum a try. Well, all the blogs were absolutely correct. The museum was a quick three floor space which really did not provide any insight. Felt more like a rip-off but since it was right there, I figured I would check it out while visiting such a sex-positive city.

 After my five minute jaunt at the museum, I walked over to an eatery and had my first of many meals that constituted of nothing but French Fries…or Patats or Frites. Whatever you prefer calling them, they are delicious and make for a perfect meal on the go. I would always get the peanut sauce on top but there were so many different sauces to try from that I would experiment with different combinations as well.

 I was also amazed to see all the different marijuana flavored food items everywhere. It was perfectly normal for someone to walk into a store at the end of the night and grab a bottle of water with a marijuana brownie or ice-cream. I spoke to a few travelers who were desperately searching for a coffee shop. Those who want to partake in the more herbal aspects of this city should know that Amsterdam has cafes and then it has coffee-shops. Cafes are regular cafes where one could order coffee or tea. Coffeehouses are where they can purchase marijuana and even smoke it there. Good point to note, if you decide to stumble into a coffee-shop expecting a cup of joe with your kids and are met with the biggest whiff of second-hand hash smoke instead.

 I returned home from my meal and sat on my desk for the rest of the night finishing up some writing as I watched the view from my room while trying my best to not pay attention to the news.

 Tip: Don’t waste your money on the Erotic Museum! Don’t try to take pictures of the working girls. They will yell at you and embarrass you, rightfully so.

 Stedelijk Museum of Modern Art

 As I mentioned earlier, my jet-lag rhythm was very different in Europe than it was for my trip to Asia. In Thailand, I would often find myself wide awake at 5am which allowed for a good few hours of travel prep and getting an early start. On my first day in Amsterdam, I didn’t open my eyes till 2pm. I wasn’t complaining but, I also realized that if I wanted to sleep in, I did not have the luxury to laze around in bed planning the day’s agenda with my lonely Planet books and the internet. I had to get on my feet and rush out the door within minutes.

 I ran down to the café and after a friendly chat with Karl and Debbie, I brought a cup of tea up to my room and sat at my desk quickly rummaging through my researched notes for the day. I had two museums to see; the Stedelijk Museum of Modern Art and the Van Gogh Museum. Chop chop, no time to waste. With the hour, I was dressed and walking over to Central Station to catch my very first Tram in Amsterdam.

 The Trams were fairly easy to navigate and they also run pretty frequently. One can take either the number 2 or number 5 and get off at the Van Baerlestraat stop. On my way there, my Tram passed the MOCO and I saw signs for a Warhol and Banksy exhibit. A friend had told me about the exhibit and although Moco was not on my list before, I knew now that I just had to go see an exhibit of two of my favorite pop artists. Perfect luck!

 I am a modern art person, so I enjoyed the Stedelijk a lot. The admission was about 18 euros which is pricey but I realized that unlike other cities, all the museums in Amsterdam charge an admission fee.  So for my thrifty travelers, make sure to budget for that! The lines also get pretty long especially in the summer so if you can purchase tickets in advance it may not be a bad idea.

 I got to see the works of some of my favorite artists like Roy Lichtenstein, Rothko, Mondrian and Matisse to name a few. There was also a room where one could make their own art and I enjoyed that area as well. I left the museum around 5pm and I was not planning to go to the Van Gogh Museum till 7 when the lines died down so after a quick bite of a delicious stroopwaafel, I got in line for the Moco. The Banksy and Warhol exhibit was everything I had imagined it to be and Banksy’s work and their messages were almost consoling and cathartic with the recent election results. If you are a fan of modern art, definitely go see the Stedelijk. It is worth it.

 Oh and the audio tour is free here so that is an added bonus!

 Some helpful details:

Admission:  18 euros

Address:  Museumplein 10, 1071 DJ

Hours:  Daily 10am – 6pm

Tram: 2,5 to Van Baerlestraat

  Tip: Good idea to visit the Stedelikj on the same day as the Van Gogh Museum because they are right next to each other! If you want, you can even squeeze in a trip to the Moco and make it a day of three museums like me!

 Van Gogh Museum

 The wonderful thing about the Van Gogh Museum is that it is right next door to the Stedelijk, MOCO and Vondel Park, so one can definitely hit up two – maybe even three - sights in one day.

 A notable point I read on all the travel blogs was that lines at Amsterdam museums get very long so purchasing tickets in advance is highly recommended. Now of course the time of year you go, makes a huge difference too. During the summer, the lines will definitely be excruciatingly long. However, in the winter, they are long-ish but not interminable. I myself didn’t want to purchase a bunch of tickets in advance so I hoped and prayed that the cold weather of November would deter some of the tourists. I did make sure to follow the one golden advice I received which was that “if you are only going to buy one ticket in advance, make that the Anne Frank Museum.” The rest you can still leave up to luck chance. Which is  exactly what I did. I did plan my visits in a way, that made sure that I was able to see all the museums.

 Another helpful tip I received was that on Fridays, the Van Gogh museum has extended hours and is open till 10pm. So if you can, make sure to go on a Friday because the lines get shorter and shorter as the day winds down. I saved the Stedlijk and the Van Gogh for a Friday for exactly that reason. When I had first arrived that day and walked by the long line for the Van Gogh museum, I was intimidated because it was freezing that day and you have to line up outside. Still, I hoped the line would get shorter by 7pm which is when I had decided to go.

 The afternoon was spent at the Stedlijk and then after a quick stop at the Moco, I arrived to line up at the Van Gogh at exactly 7pm. Luckily the line had gotten much shorter. The museum was amazing and cameras are allowed. Just a general rule to follow with most museums; no flash photography. By the way, if you are looking for Starry Night, you won’t find it here. That is kept at the MOMA in New York City.

 I have to admit that I didn’t know much about Van Gogh’s art besides the fact that he is the painter who chopped his ear off. This museum was a great way to learn about, not just his art but his life as well. An interesting fact I learned was that he did not start an actual painting career till he was well in his forties. An inspiration for all of us who wonder if we will ever leave a mark in this world or if our time is already up. Also, he was self-taught and learned as he went along.  There was a time that he was in his hometown and became interested in farmers and peasants so his work during those days was primarily about farmers as subjects. When he went to Paris he wrote to his brother about the changing wave of art and began to teach himself the new tide which he was going to flow with. He also had a very close relationship with his brother and they wrote letters to each other a lot. You can see and hear some of those letters (translated in different languages) to get a feel for the artists himself and not just his work.

 There were three very insightful blogs that helped me plan my trip to the Van Gogh Museum.

 The first one that I recommend is Sarah Shumate’s blog The Wander Blogger. In fact, I read a lot of her other entries because she has detailed her entire trip to Amsterdam quite skillfully and I found it very helpful. For the Van Gogh museum, her entry “Expression Through Color: The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam” does a wonderful job in describing the museum logistics but also the art itself. She has shared some pictures and photographs of the work as well.

 http://www.thewanderblogger.com/van-gogh-museum-amsterdam/

 Another blog which I found particularly helpful in planning was Ashley’s blog titled – quite obviously – The Amsterdam Blog: Amsterdam through British Eyes. Her article “How to Avoid Cues at the Van Gogh Museum” is particularly helpful for obvious reasons.

 http://www.amsterdamblog.co.uk/things-to-do/sightseeing/museums/how-to-avoid-the-queues-at-the-van-gogh-museum/

 The last blog, I bookmarked was an interesting take called “The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam: Why I dislike it” by Riccardo and Martina of the “Travel like a Local” blog. It was quite an interesting take and although it did not deter me from visiting the museum, I did find some of the suggestions very helpful.

 http://www.travellikealocal.org/en/europe/netherlands/amsterdam/van-gogh-museum-amsterdam-hate/#

 Some helpful details:

Admission: 17 euros

Address: Museumplein 6, 1071 DJ Amsterdam

Hours:  9-6 (Fridays untill 10pm)

Tram: 2, 3, 5 and 12 Van Baerlestraat stop

 Tip: Go on a Friday evening. 7pm on a Friday is a good time to go!

 Anne Frank House

 No trip to Amsterdam can ever be complete without a trip to the Anne Frank Museum. It remains to be one of the most popular museums in Amsterdam where lines of hopeful visitors stretch for blocks. The lucky ones may have read a travel blog here and there and purchased an advance ticket. I was one of those and boy am I glad I did!

 My ticket was from 3pm on Saturday and I was petrified that I would sleep through and miss it! I had no alarm clock (no smart phone) and was so jet-lagged that I wouldn’t open my eyes till 2pm! Fortunately, I think this exact paranoia became my alarm clock and I woke up just in time to get ready and rush off on the tram to the Westermark stop. I figured I would just grab a cup of coffee once I got to the area rather than waste time drinking tea at the hotel.

 I had about 40 minutes to kill when I arrived significantly early at the museum. The line was already half-way down the block. The woman at the door told me to come back at 2:45pm with my ticket which was good to hear because I immediately went and grabbed a cup of coffee from a nearby café and then even did some souvenir shopping.

 When I returned to the museum, the line of hopefuls now stretched up to three blocks. Luckily, I did not have to wait in line and with my ticket, I was immediately ushered in. Once inside the museum, there is absolutely no photography allowed (flash or without flash) out of respect. One can, however take photographs outside the green door which is something I did when I first arrived.

 I also recommend reading the book Diary of Anne Frank before your trip so the visit to the museum would be even more informative. I had ordered the book from my library but it never arrived before my trip so I must admit, I was envious of those who knew the story behind each room and each person. Once again, as Trump’s team back home spoke about registries for Muslims and building walls for Latinos, I felt that this museum and the stories behind every room were both cathartic and nerve wrecking.    

 Everything at the House is organized extremely well and one can truly feel the emotions that come with the time and the story.  The museum also has a wonderful café where I sat down for another cup of tea and gathered my thoughts before heading out. Outside as I walked by all the tourists lined up, I couldn’t help but feel bad because many of them would probably not even get a chance to make it inside.  Last entry to the museum is about 30 minutes before closing time which is 7pm weeknights and 9pm on Saturdays. However, the queue for the House closes much earlier and depending on how busy it is, this can be as much as 2 hours before closing time. 

 After a quick supper of Herring from a nearby fish-stall and then a Stroopwaffel for dessert, I hopped back on the tram and headed over to the Rambrandt House.

 A blog that I found extremely helpful was Carly Moore’s entry on the Anne Frank House on her blog Girl out of Bounds.

 http://www.girloutofbounds.com/anne-frank-house/

 Also,  Sarah Shumate’s blog The Wander Blogger had a great entry on the Anne Frank House. She was also lucky and smart enough to read the book before the visit and her blogs remains a must read for anyone planning to visit the house.

 http://www.thewanderblogger.com/anne-frank-house-amsterdam/

 Some helpful details:

Admission: 9 euros.

Address:  Prinsengracht 263-267, 1016 GV Amsterdam

Hours: November - March  Open every day from 9 AM to 7 PM (until 9 PM on Saturdays). Different times for different seasons.

Tram: 13, 14 and 17 Westermark stop

 Tip: I will just repeat the tip I got! If you are going to buy one ticket in advance, make sure it is for the Anne Frank House.  You won’t be sorry. Also try reading the book before your trip to get a true feel for the House and its significance. Oh and no photography allowed.  

  Rembrandt House

 After leaving the Anne Frank House, I hopped on the number 14 Tram and made my way over to the Waterlooplien stop to pay a visit to the Rembrandt House. I was advised to visit the Rembrandt House before the Rijksmuseum so I could step back in time and get a feel for the artist himself and his environment before witnessing the masterpieces that came out of this amazing house. This was also the house which led to Rembrandt’s bankruptcy and where he lost his children and his wife, Saskia but they say, an artist produces his greatest work at times of pain and despair.

 There were no lines at this museum, so that was definitely a great plus. Also, the audio tours at this museum are free so I highly recommend making the most of those. One can easily loose themselves in the different rooms as they make their way all the way to the top floor. The kitchen where a violent argument took place between him and his mistress over his other mistress and was then later sued by mistress 1 for a breach of his promise to marry her. I also loved small and tiny cupboard beds which seemed both cozy and claustrophobic.

 The house offers free etching demonstrations at different times so do try to check those out if you can!  I enjoyed the visit a lot and sometimes, it’s just as fun to learn about the artist as it is to see their art.

 Kieren McGovern’s post “Rembrandt House Museum: Amsterdam” on the blog When in Amsterdam is a good one to check out to plan for your trip.

 http://wheninamsterdam-omyamsterdamtours.blogspot.com/2014/02/when-in-amsterdam-blogged.html

 Some helpful details:

Admission:   13 euros

Address:  Jodenbreestraat 4, 1011 NK Amsterdam

Hours:  Daily, 10 AM – 6 PM

Tram: Lines 9 and 14, Waterlooplein stop

 Tip: Visit the Rembrandt House before visiting The Rijksmuseum to get a feel of where many of the masterpieces were created and the artist’s own colorful life.  

  Rijks Museum

 On a Sunday afternoon, I headed over to see the Rijksmuseum. It was a wonderful museum and one of my favorites in Amsterdam. It is HUGE so account for an entire day. The great thing is that the famous Iamsterdam sign is right outside so if you want to try to climb the letters and get the quintessential Amsterdam photo, you can do that on the same day as your visit to Rijksmuseum. It gets really crowded so I actually went back there late at night and got my YaYa picture when there were hardly any tourists there!

 The line for the tickets is supposed to be long but I was lucky, the day I went because it did not seem as long. However, once inside the line to check your bags and coats was twice as long. Luckily I didn’t have a bag so could walk right into the exhibits. Make sure to not take any bulky coats or bags with you so you don’t have to wait in different lines all day.

 Rembrandt’s Night Watch is the main attraction here and there is actually an entire room dedicated to the painting called The Night Watch Room. It is truly a magnificent piece of art.  The Gallery of Honor is where most people spend their time but the entire museum is great. A fact worth mentioning is that four out of the 40 paintings ever painted by Vermeer are at the Rijksmuseum, so make sure to see them. All four are right next to each other. Photography is allowed, however no flash photography so knock yourself out taking pictures of the Night Watch, the Vermeers and many other amazing artists.  There is a great collection of modern artists and the famous Mondrian inspired Yves Saint Laurent dress is also part of the permanent collection.

 If you are short on time, there is an excellent article by Sonia Kolasinska called “How to See the Rijksmuseum in 2 Hours” which I recommend.

 http://www.eatingamsterdamtours.com/blog/see-the-rijksmuseum-in-2-hours/

 I have already mentioned the benefit of not taking bags with you to the museum so another great article about how to avoid long lines at the Rijksmuseum which you would probably find helpful is the article, appropriately titled “How to Avoid the Queues at the Rijksmuseum” by Ashley on her Amsterdam blog.

 http://www.amsterdamblog.co.uk/things-to-do/sightseeing/museums/how-to-avoid-the-queues-at-the-rijksmuseum/

 And for good measure, here is another excellent article by Cecily Layzell called “Marveling at Old Masters at Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum” on the Forbes Travel guide.

 http://blog.forbestravelguide.com/marveling-at-old-masters-in-amsterdams-rijksmuseum

  Admission:   17.50 euros

Address:  Museumstraat 1 1071 XX Amsterdam

Hours:  Daily 9am-430p

Tram:  2, 5 to Rijksmuseum stop

 Tip: Iamsterdam sign is right outside so you can take some great pictures afterwards.  Try to leave the book-bags at home in order to avoid another longer line before you enter the exhibits. The Night Watch and the Vermeers are a must see!

 Vondelpark

 After my surprise discovery of Lumpini Park in Bangkok, I decided that a day in a famous city park, is not a bad item to add to my travel list. It’s a free thing to do and also makes for a calm, relaxing escape from the hustle and bustle of the city. That is why on my way back from Rijksmuseum, I stopped by Vondelpark and took a nice leisurely stroll.

 Although renting a bike is something most tourists do – I opted out – this is a great place to take a bike ride if the traffic of the city intimidate you. there are also some great cafes in the park where one can grab a bite and on Friday nights, it has the famous skate night. You get bonus points if you are able to spot Pablo Picasso’s sculpture The Fish. I wasn’t as lucky!

 Vondelpark is very close to the Van Gogh Museum and the Rijksmuseum, so it’s a great item to check off your list after a visit to one of those museums.

 One of the best blogs I read about Vondelpark was Martin Solly’s article “A lazy afternoon around Amsterdam’s Vondelpark” on the Late Rooms blog. It is the most detailed blog which talks about all the unknown gems about this park. It is how I found out about the Night Skate as well but unfortunately didn’t get to check it out.

 https://blog.laterooms.com/2013/02/a-lazy-afternoon-around-amsterdams-vondelpark/

 Another great article by Biking Amsterdam on Vondel Park.

 https://www.bikingamsterdam.com/en/blog/vondelpark/

 Sarah Shumate has another great article “An afternoon in Amsterdam’s Vondelpark” on her website the wander blogger.

 http://www.thewanderblogger.com/vondelpark-amsterdam/

 Sarah Shumate has another great article “An afternoon in Amsterdam’s Vondelpark” on her website the wander blogger.

  Admission: Free

Address:  1071 AA AMSTERDAM

Hours:  24 hours

Tram: 1,2,5 to Leidseplein

  Tip: A great place to bike if the city traffic daunts you!

 Food

 Yes I am a foodie all the way and love trying out the local fare. Here are a few local deicacies, I highly recommend!

 Fries:

Whether you call them fries, patas or frites! These are surely in abundance everywhere you look in Amsterdam and make for an excellent meal on the go. I would always get the peanut sauce on top but there are so many sauces to try from, that I couldn’t help but mix and match something new each time. It was definitely my go to meal whether I was in between sight-seeing or just walking back to my room after a night out. The grab-and-go nature of this meal is a great way of saving time when you have a packed agenda!

 Herring:

Even if you are not much of a fish person, you must try this delicacy at least once! I had read about it before my trip so I knew that I had to give it a taste! After visiting the Anne Frank House, I stopped by one of the fish stalls to try this local dutch snack for supper!  Although I’m not a big fan of fish unless its fried, I just had to. Although Herring  is known to tastiest in the summer time, one can enjoy it year round. It also lowers your bad cholesterol, so that is an added plus. For a nominal amount like 2 to 3 euros, you get a tiny, rectangular silver-backed cardboard plate with the herring cut in bite-sized pieces along with finely diced onions and some sliced pickles on the side. A toothpick is also provided to serve as a utensil. It was quite tasty – with the initial fishy taste – and the onions and pickles definitely helped.

 Stroopwafel:

If you are one to hunt for dessert (like myself) or just have a sweet tooth (also like myself), you must try a Stroopwafle from one of the stands. A waffle made from two thin layers of baked dough, held – more like glued together – by a hot, caramel filling. Heaven in a bite! Since it is nice and hot, it’s a perfect snack to warm yourself up on a cold day, which worked perfectly for me. If you want to really treat yourself, enjoy a cup of coffee or tea to go along with it.

 Cheese:

There is cheese and cheese shops everywhere. Many tourists, will definitely buy a bunch to take back with them, however, I would always stop by the different stores and sample all their different types of cheese. Helps kill the appetite while also introducing your palette to the diversity of cheese. There was one in particular which had a very spicy tang to it and I bought a little bit to munch on in my room at odd hours of the day and night.

 Wok to Go:

Chinese food in a takeaway carton. Ground breaking! I know. But, once again it is a delicious meal if you are on the go and want to try something different after eating too many fries during your trip. They are open late at night, so I would often grab a carton after a night out and bring back to my room. I will always fondly remember the night I sat eating lo-mein out of the red Wok to Go box at 3am  as I tried to write but instead sat on my window watching customers haggling with the working girls. Hashtag Amsterdam!

  1 - Tips & Miscellaneous recommendations  

Beggars:

I read some warnings about beggars on a few blogs but I have to honest, I did not encounter any during my trip. Regardless, with Amsterdam or any other city you travel to, keep your wits around you and try not to call attention to yourself. For the most part, it felt like one of the safest cities in the world. What else do you expect from a city where recreational marijuana is legal.

 Tulips and Clogs:

Tulips and Clogs are the most common souvenirs in Amsterdam. Similar to rugs and carpets in Istanbul, don’t let the vendors sniff out the tourist in you. Apparently they can get very aggressive and will hike up prices for their items to an astronomical amount. I always just pop in and out of stores and ask for prices. Then on my last day, I return to the one place which seemed most reasonable and get all my souvenirs there. On this trip I bought two great T-shirts, a mug and tiny clogs.

 Bicycles:

Biking around Amsterdam is definitely a must-do which surprisingly I didn’t partake in because I enjoyed walking everywhere. Regardless I recommend doing the bike thing since it is a popular way to commute in Amsterdam. If traffic on the road overwhelms you, Vondelpark is a great place to rent a bike and bike around.  

 Oh and apart from the blogs I have already shared with you, I do want to give a shout-out to two wonderful blogs about Amsterdam.

 The first one is The Wander Blogger. I have already mentioned it a few times but definitely read all the other essays about Amsterdam that Sarah Shumate has shared on her blog.

 http://www.thewanderblogger.com/category/the-netherlands/

 Another great blog is by the New York Times bestselling author Nomadic Matt of the New York Times bestseller How Travel the World on $50 a day. On his blog, he has an amazing essay titled “How to spend 4 days in Amsterdam”. I thought it was quite apt for me since I literally spent 4-5 days in the city myself so it was great to know that it was doable. You can read that blog post here.

 http://www.nomadicmatt.com/travel-blogs/three-days-in-amsterdam/

[hudsonespie]

COVID-19 and the Straining U.S. Merchant Marine

[By Dr. Salvatore R. Mercogliano]

On July 29, 2020, the heads of three maritime unions – Marshall Ainley of the Marine Engineers’ Beneficial Association, Don Marcus from the International Organization of Masters, Mate & Pilots, and Michael Sacco, the long-time President of Seafarers International Union – jointly penned a letter to Rear Admiral Michael A. Wettlaufer, the Commander of the U.S. Navy’s Military Sealift Command. In their one-page letter, they were blunt and to the point: “We are writing to you today to communicate our ongoing and increasingly grave concerns regarding the mental health and well-being of MSC’s CIVMARS [civilian mariners].”

They highlighted three specific issue. First, the March 21, 2020 “Gangway Up” order that restricted merchant mariners to their ships due to the COVID-19 outbreak. While the act was prudent and ensured the readiness of the vessels to respond to missions, it was done with no warning and more importantly, did not apply to naval personnel assigned to the vessels or contractors. Therefore, the quarantine intended to be in place on board ship was broken daily, while crewmembers who reported on board for work that morning found themselves trapped and threatened with termination if they left the vessel, while others moved freely on and off the ship. This became apparent with a breakout on board USNS Leroy Grumman undergoing a yard availability in Boston.

The second issue involved the recent tragedy on board USNS Amelia Earhart. On July 22, third officer Jonathon J. Morris of San Mateo, CA fatally shot himself on board. The letter from the three union heads noted, “the ongoing and selective ‘Gangways Up’ restriction may have, in some part, contributed to the unnecessary and senseless act.”’ While there is no evidence to indicate this, my personal communications with crewmembers on board Amelia Earhart indicate that the event has not triggered any change in the operation of the vessel. While counselors were sent to the ship, its operations continue with no safety stand down, and not even a chaplain accompanied the vessel as it sailed to perform services for the fleet with some of the mariners not setting foot on ground for almost a half a year, except to remove the body of their shipmate. Mariners remained restricted to the ship in port, while active duty Navy personnel left the vessel.

The final issue is the delay in reliefs for crews, up to 90 days late in some cases. Many mariners have not been home since the COVID-19 outbreak hit the United States or were permitted ashore in that time period. MSC’s leave policy for its mariners is well outside the norms of common maritime industry practice because mariners hired directly by MSC must conform to government employment rules, even though they operate in an environment completely different than the normal federal employee. Mariners earn a set number of hours of leave every two weeks.  The only addition is 14 days of annual shore leave. For new employees to MSC, this means 10 months onboard ship (tours are usually limited to four months, but delays are typical) and only two on land in a year.

While shore-side government workers enjoy flex work schedules, weekends at home, get holidays off, enjoy the occasional snow day, and can schedule vacations well in advance, MSC mariners are toiling at least eight hours a day, seven days a week for a minimum of four months at a time when wages are comparable to those ashore. They miss weekends, holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, events with children, and now they face prolonged wait for relief. Unlike Navy sailors, MSC mariners do not rotate to shore billets or have many of the opportunities for education and training afforded to naval personnel. Even worse, those waiting to get out to ships have used all their leave and are now ashore, considered absent without leave, and not being paid as they await a call to report back to work for a potential assignment out to the fleet.

This is the situation facing 5,383 MSC mariners who crew 20 percent of the 301 ships in the U.S. Navy.  Let that number sink in for a moment: one out of every five ships in the battle force of the U.S. Navy is crewed by merchant mariners and not U.S. Navy sailors. All 29 of the auxiliary supply ships, the dozen fast transport ships, and the fleet tugs and salvage ships are all operated and commanded by merchant mariners. Some ships, such as the submarine tenders, command ships, and expeditionary support bases, while commanded by a naval officer, have merchant mariners who operate the deck, engine, and steward departments on board. This does not include the fleet of contract operated vessels in the afloat prepositioning force, sonar surveillance, ocean survey or sealift vessels with another 1,400 contract merchant mariners.

Yet these recent issues facing the Merchant Marine are not simply the product of COVID or other recent events. They are simply yet another expression of the longstanding problems of status the Merchant Marine has faced within the U.S. Navy.

Inequality in the Merchant Marine

Throughout the U.S. Navy, specialized communities are commanded by one of their own – submariners command submarines, aviators command squadrons and carriers, SEALs command special operations, and so forth. Yet, when it comes to merchant mariners, they fall under the command of serving U.S. naval officers with little to no experience with merchant mariners.

Recently, MSC had two commanders – Mark Buzby and T. K. Shannon who graduated from merchant marine academies and were at least familiar with the U.S. merchant marine. The last two MSC commanders – Dee Mewbourne and Michael Wettlaufer – are both aviators. In the past, non-surface warfare commanders have done exceedingly well, particularly two submariners – Glynn Donaho and Lawson Ramage. They oversaw MSC’s forerunner – Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS) – during the Vietnam era, when the service handled mainly passengers, cargo, and fuel and they were experts in disrupting those services due to their experience with sinking the Japanese merchant marine in the Second World War.

Today, MSC is integrated into the fleet structure and many of its previous sealift missions are shared with the Army’s Surface Deployment and Distribution Command and the United States Transportation Command. With the end of naval manning of auxiliaries in 2010, all of them are operated by MSC mariners, with some hybrid crews. No longer do MSC tankers and supply ships shuttle up to U.S. Navy auxiliaries attached to battle groups, but mariner-crewed oilers and combat supply ships are both shuttle and station ships for the U.S. Navy. Yet these ships lack two critical assets from their grey hull counterparts.

First, they have no means of defense at all. MSC ships, except for small arms, are completely unarmed. Ships that are intended to provide the fuel, ammunition, and vital supplies to keep an entire carrier strike group or Marine amphibious assault task force at sea lack even point-defense weapons. In the world wars, the U.S. Navy assigned armed guard detachments to merchant vessels to defend the ships. While Kaiser-class oilers have the mounts for close-in weapons systems (CIWS), they lack the weapons. If an enemy nation wanted to eliminate the threat of the U.S. Navy, why would it go head-to-head with a Nimitz-class carrier when all it could to do is wait, shadow, and sink unarmed supply ships and then wait for the task force to run out of gas?

Additionally, those mariners who now find themselves not dead or killed in the initial attack, but afloat in a life raft, face another challenge – what is their status? Not whether they are dead or alive, but are they considered veterans? They face on a common day the same challenges and threats as that of U.S. Navy sailors, but they are not considered veterans. Even those mariners that experienced the Second World War had to wait over 40 years, until 1988, to get their service acknowledged as veteran through a lawsuit.

Some argue that merchant mariners are contractors and therefore do not deserve this. But how many contractors command assets in the Unified Command Structure of the military? No contractor commands a squadron in the Air Force, or a battalion in the Army or Marines, yet one-fifth of the Navy’s ships have a merchant mariner in command. The Navy gets all the benefits of a sailor without giving the mariner those same benefits. That is a deal, but for the Navy.

Some say the easiest solution is to replace mariners on the 60-plus ships with U.S. Navy sailors, but it has been tried before. This unique arrangement came into being at the founding of the Navy. The first ships brought into the Navy were merchant ships along the dock in Philadelphia. The two founding fathers of the Navy – John Paul Jones and John Barry – learned their trade as master mariners. In the Revolutionary War and War of 1812, private men of war (privateers) vastly outnumbered public men of war. In the Civil War, mariners kept the Union army supplied along the coasts and rivers. At the end of the Spanish-American War, with a global empire, the Navy needed to prioritize its personnel and decided to hire a civilian crew to man USS Alexander, a collier. By 1917, almost all the Navy fuel ships were civilian manned by elements of the Naval Auxiliary Service. With the outbreak of war, and concerns of foreign elements in some of the crews, and a massive increase in the size of the Navy personnel, the crews of the NAS were militarized, and later the commercial passenger ships in the Transport Force. The Navy resisted civilian crewing, and in 1942 President Roosevelt placed the building, crewing, and operating of the commercial merchant marine in the hands of one person – Emory S. Land.

After the successes of the Second World War, the use of civilian-crewed merchant ships was cemented with the creation of the Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS). It was expanded in 1972 when the first underway replenishment oiler, Taluga, was transferred to civilian control. While some in the Navy may advocate for removing the civilian crews from the MSC ships today, the Navy already lacks the necessary personnel for its current assets, let alone an additional 60 ships, or the expertise in handling such assets.

Creating Paths to Command

This comes to the final point – how to address the issues raised by the heads of the unions based on the current situation facing the Military Sealift Command. The solution comes from the history of MSC’s forerunner, MSTS, and its counterpart across the seas, the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) of Great Britain. Within MSC’s command structure are five Senior Executives – Legal Counsel, Director of Total Force Management, Director of Ship Management, Director of Maritime Operations, and Executive Director. They are all stellar and outstanding qualified people, and MSC is fortunate to have them. I know many of them and have worked with some of them in the past. They have impressive biographies and two of them graduated from merchant marine academies.

Yet nowhere in the chain of command for MSC is a Master or Chief Engineer from the fleet. They serve as Port Captains and Engineers and advise area commands, but there is no career path from the deckplate to the headquarters. That is a fundamental flaw in the organization and leads to the disconnect currently besetting the fleet.

In comparison, the Royal Fleet Auxiliary is commanded by Commodore Duncan Lamb. He has been in the RFA for 38 years and commanded many vessels in the fleet. His announced successor, Capt. David Eagles, has served with the RFA for more than 30 years. Unlike MSC, the RFA integrates their personnel into the command structure of the Royal Navy and therefore they have the opportunity for billets ashore and work within the shore base Navy.

What works for the Royal Navy may not work for the U.S. Navy, such as how Prince Edward* is the Commodore-in-Chief of the RFA, and they are much more regimented than MSC. However, they do have Royal Navy detachments on board for self-defense. The Royal Navy has a better understanding of how RFA ships work as demonstrated by their integration into the fleet during the Falklands Conflict of 1982.

A model where MSC mariners, starting at the junior level – 2nd Mate or Engineer – have the option for a career path that would involve assignment ashore to MSC area commands and fleets may better inform naval personnel of the particular needs of merchant mariners. Additionally, the appointment of senior master or chief engineer as vice commander at both the area command and headquarters level could ease the transition of new commanders who have little to no experience with MSC and provide a conduit and perspective from the fleet to the headquarters.

It is very doubtful that the Navy would allow any of its commands to be structured in a similar way. A small group of naval officers – 323 active Navy sailors – oversees MSC from its headquarters in Norfolk, to the five area commands and in dozens of offices around the world. This disconnect, with officers and civilians who have never served or commanded vessels with merchant marine crews or any of the types operated by MSC, explains why the issues raised by the union heads pervade the fleet. It appears that the role of merchant mariners in the role of national defense is reaching an inflection point.

Conclusion

Merchant mariners crew the fleet auxiliaries providing fuel, ammunition, and supplies to the U.S. Navy at sea. They operate the afloat prepositioning ships that would deploy the initial elements of Marine and Army brigades, along with materiel to a potential battlefield. They crew the 61 ships maintained by the Maritime Administration in the Ready Reserve Force and MSC’s sealift force, and they crew the 60 commercial ships of the Maritime Security Program. They are foundational to the nation’s ability to maintain, deploy, and sustain its armed forces abroad, and they cannot be easily replaced by naval personnel.

Yet despite this vital role, they lack representation within the command structure of the U.S. Navy. They are taken for granted by the Department of Defense and the public in general. They are overlooked in most strategic studies of American military policy and posture. And yet it is not clear whether in a future war the nation will be able to count on the U.S. merchant marine as it has in past conflicts.

This issue is not one caused by Admiral Wettlaufer, or any of the previous MSC commanders. It is a problem that has manifested itself as the command evolved from a primarily transport force of cargo, troops, and fuel, to one that is firmly integrated into the fleet structure in terms of ships. But the same cannot be said of its personnel.

MSC has undergone periodic transformations, alterations, and inflection points, and COVID-19 may be one of those moments. A group of former commanders, retired masters and chief engineers, and experts in the field should be formed to examine how to restructure MSC and present recommendations to the Secretary of the Navy and Chief of Naval Operations. The Royal Fleet Auxiliary and past civilian shipping entities can serve as models for how Military Sealift Command can proceed into its 72nd year of existence, and ease the issues facing the fleet and mariners today.

Salvatore R. Mercogliano is a former merchant mariner, having sailed and worked ashore for the Military Sealift Command. He is an associate professor of history at Campbell University and an adjunct professor at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy. 

*Editor’s Note: Prince Andrew was originally listed as being the Commodore-in-Chief of the RFA when it is Prince Edward.

This article appears courtesy of CIMSEC and may be found in its original form here.

from Storage Containers https://maritime-executive.com/article/covid-19-and-the-straining-u-s-merchant-marine via http://www.rssmix.com/

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11 Tips for backpacking in Oman on a budget

Oman, a country with absolutely great outdoors and fascinating people, should be a real paradise for adventurous, budget backpackers but, unfortunately, it is a surprisingly expensive destination. 

Like all Gulf Monarchies, the Government has primarily focused on promoting luxury tourism, which means that budget hotels are practically non-existent and you won’t find any backpacker hostels, not even in Muscat. 

On top of this, the public transportation system in Oman sucks, plus the cities are not walking friendly at all, so, during your journey, you will have to rely on either renting a car or taking a lot of cabs. 

However, spending little money in Oman is very possible.

I actually backpacked in Oman for over a month, traveling from north to south and visiting everything in between, and I swear that I spent less money than in other backpacking destinations, such as Kyrgyzstan or Georgia. 

In this post, I will tell you several tips for backpacking in Oman on a super low budget.

    Index:

11 Tips for successful budget backpacking in Oman How much does it cost backpacking in Oman on a budget? More useful tips

Remember to have proper travel insurance for both Israel and Jordan. For this, I recommend you read: How to find the best travel insurance

  11 Tips for successful budget backpacking in Oman

My 11 best tips:

Public transportation sucks but hitchhiking is very doable

In one entire month, I only took two taxis within Muscat (2.50OR-6.50USD each) and the 12-hour bus from Muscat to Salalah (7OR – 18USD). 

Then, I hitchhiked back to Muscat through the coastal road and visited pretty much any spot in between. 

I calculated it and, in total, I hitchhiked over 1,400km.

Seriously, hitchhiking in Oman is super easy and, during all that time, I think the maximum I waited for a lift was 20-25 minutes, and that was because I was standing on a road with very little traffic on a Friday, so most of the few cars that passed by were families and, if there are women inside and you are a man, they are unlikely to pick you up. 

From trucks driven by Indians to wealthy Omanis driving extravagant 4×4, Western tourists and even Bedouins with their pickups, except for families, everybody in Oman is willing, and happy, to pick up a random foreigner. 

Sometimes you have to hitchhike in roads like this one but trust me, someone will eventually pass by

  And pretty often, Omanis are willing to make big detours, so they can drop you as close as possible

Something you need to know about Omani people is that, on the one hand, they are really nice, kind and hospitable to foreigners and, on the other, many of them don’t work, or just work a few hours a day, so they have a lot of free time.

It happened to me several times – really, several times – that I was going in a completely different direction, yet, the Omani insisted in taking me to my actual destination, even if that involved him driving 60-80 additional kilometers, no kidding. Omanis are awesome. 

I had similar experiences when I was backpacking in Pakistan. 

Read: How to visit Saudi Arabia – Tips & tricks

  If you are hitchhiking, don’t rush and don’t plan much

Omanis are extremely hospitable so, when hitchhiking, expect Omanis to invite you to their house before you continue with your journey. 

Telling them ”no” would not be polite, so always say ”yes”, but this also means that when backpacking in Oman, your plans will be constantly changed, thanks to the Omani hospitality. 

You may experience this all around the country but it particularly happened to me when I was hitchhiking in Central Oman, the least visited part of the country and a land of Bedouins. That inhospitable part of Oman is composed of a road several hundred kilometers long with absolutely nothing but desert and occasional tiny villages inhabited by Bedouins. 

Well, there wasn’t almost a single Bedouin who didn’t want me to hang out at his place after dropping me off, which led to me having a very high heart-rate due to the 20 cups of qahwa (local cardamom coffee) I had to swallow in one single day. 

That delayed my trip significantly but, if you want to enjoy the country to the fullest, go with the flow and don’t rush.

Read: A guide to visit Musandam in Oman

With a family of Bedouins, somewhere in Central Oman

  You will also need to hitchhike within cities, even in villages

From Muscat to Salalah, the different towns and villages in Oman are some of the least-pedestrian-friendly places you may ever encounter. 

They are always so spread out that you will regret not having a car, even in the smallest village. 

Fortunately, Omanis are aware of that, so hitching a ride in a city is as easy as when you are standing on a highway. I hitchhiked in Muscat, Salalah, Sur and all villages in between without any problem, always. 

Looking for a ride in Muscat

  If you are 2 or more people, look for apartment hotels. Otherwise, check Airbnb

As I said before, in Oman there are no hostels and, for a hotel, you will pay a minimum of 25€ for a private room, usually a single one. 

You may find some cheaper deals on Airbnb but it won’t be much cheaper. By the way, if you create an Airbnb account through my link, you will get 35€ of FREE credit on your next booking. 

Otherwise, apartment hotels are a very big deal in Oman and, if you are 2 or more people, they are great value-for-money. 

During my 30-day journey, I did a few Airbnb and stayed in a few random hotels and always paid around 20-25€. However, I have to admit that all the places I stayed in were excellent. 

Read: What to do in Saudi Arabia in 2 weeks

This Bengali man was extremely amazed by me traveling with such a big backpack and didn’t believe it had a tripod, a sleeping bag, a tent, a mattress, besides all my clothes

  Alternatively, Couchsurfing is great

Some of my greatest Couchsurfing experiences ever have been Oman. 

In Oman, Couchsurfing is a big deal and you can find active profiles in pretty much any city and, if you send requests well in advance, you may also find couches in smaller towns and villages. 

I did Couchsurfing in Muscat, Salalah, Sadeh, Sur, Bidiyah and Nizwa.

Moreover, since Omanis are really hospitable and treat all guests as honorable guests, if they accept you, most of the time they will be completely free, as they really want you to have the best experience, so they will show you around and, if you are staying with a family, the mother will cook some delicious local food. 

My best experience was with Musab, a kind-hearted Omani from Sadeh. I visited him during a national holiday, so we spent 4 days together with his friends visiting all around Dhofar province. From driving to the Yemeni border to visit his friend’s camel farm and loads of traditional food, every day, we had so much fun and today, I am glad to say that I have a brother in Sadeh. 

Thank you, Musab!

Read: How to visit Dubai on a backpacking budget

Somewhere in Dhofar province, with Musab and his friends

  Sign up for Couchsurfing events and join their weekend escapes

Muscat is where the big Couchsurfing community is and, every weekend, they organize different outdoor activities, which usually involve going to the desert or camping at the many wadis (valleys). 

Those events are a great way to meet open-minded Omanis and explore Oman on a budget. 

  Bring a tent and take advantage of the outdoors

Oman is a huge country only inhabited by 4.6 million people, which means that most of the country remains pretty wild. 

From great wadis to loads of natural pools, outstanding mountains and 1,700km of coastline, Oman is known for its great outdoors activities and, since the country doesn’t really have a proper, nice nightlife, plus Omanis aren’t party people either, going camping on the weekend is a big thing here, and a great way to cut costs when backpacking around Oman. 

Places like Jabel Akhdar, Jebel Shams and most wadis are easily reached by hitchhiking, no problem. 

So yeah, do bring a tent. 

Read: How to visit Dubai in 1 week

Somewhere in Jebel Shams

  Camping in the middle of a city is also good

I have to admit that I was not always able to find a Couchsurfing host, so when I didn’t feel like paying for an expensive hotel, I didn’t mind pitching my tent in one of the comfy palm gardens that abound in most cities. 

Technically, I heard that camping in Omani cities is not allowed but nobody ever cared about my tent and trust me that I camped in quite a few places, including in the palm garden next to Nizwa Fort. 

Read: Everything you need to know to visit Iran

The palm plantation next to Nizwa Fort

  Always eat in Indian or Bengali-run restaurants

Controversially, in Oman, you can eat for cheaply, like very cheaply actually.

Nearly two-thirds of the population in Oman are from the Indian Sub-Continent (India, Pakistan and Bangladesh), so restaurants serving food from their respective countries are plentiful and, actually, in villages they tend to be the only option. 

From daal to chicken curries, for just a few dollars, you can easily fill your belly with Indian food. 

Moreover, restaurants serving purely Omani food, which usually consists of rice with chicken, meat or fish, are also inexpensive, usually 1-3USD more expensive than Indian food. 

On the other hand, in Muscat and other big cities, the restaurants serving international food will charge you like a restaurant in Dubai or Western Europe. 

Grilled meat plus a huge amount of rice. This massive Omani meal cost around 7-8USD and it could feed 3 people

  If you are planning to backpack in Oman on a budget, don’t come in summer unless you want to die

Oman is one of the hottest countries on Earth, with summer temperatures averaging 45ºC , and the bad news is that summers last forever. 

From May to October, day temperatures are nearly unbearable, so if you are planning to hitchhike, camping in cities and stuff like that, you should avoid backpacking around Oman during these dates. 

Even when I came in mid-November, some days were disgustingly hot, especially in Salalah and Central Oman. 

Read: What to do in Iran in 1 month

  Conclusion – How much does it cost backpacking around Oman on a budget?

Like I said in the introduction, in Oman I spent less money than backpacking in Kyrgyzstan for example. How can that be?

Well, in Kyrgyzstan, accommodation is cheap, like 10USD per night, and you can go by public transportation everywhere. However, despite being cheap, I still had to pay for it and, in Oman, since I was always hitchhiking and mostly camping or Couchsurfing, I didn’t have to pay for any of those things. 

Oman budget travel – Typical costs

One-month visa – 20OR (52USD)

Welcome package SIM + Data – 3OR (7.80USD) but then you pay 3OR for 1GB

Budget Hotel – 10-12OR (26-31USD)

A plate of daal – 500bias (1.30USD)

A biryani – 1.5OR (3.90USD)

A big bottle of water – 200 bias (50¢)

A beer – 4OR (10USD) – Only available in hotels, avoid it

Short taxi rides within Muscat – 2.50OR (6.50USD)

Bus from Muscat to Salalah – 7OR (18USD)

If you are a serious budget backpacker, so you will basically Couchsurf and hitchhike, besides the cost of the visa and the SIM Card, you will only have to pay for food and, for that, you can easily survive on 15USD a day

Half Omani Rial, the most curious note

  More useful tips for backpacking in Oman and around the region

Here you can find all my articles and guides to Oman

Traveling to Saudi Arabia? Here you can find all my articles and guides to Saudi Arabia

Are you traveling to Dubai and have little money? Read how to travel in Dubai on a budget

Iran is so close to Oman, are you going there? Remember to check then my tips for visiting Iran

And here all my content to the Middle East

    source http://cheaprtravels.com/11-tips-for-backpacking-in-oman-on-a-budget/