All posts by Genevive Bjorn

Travel

American changes Boeing 757

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American Airlines has reconfigured some of it’s boring Boeing 757s used on long-haul international flights. Here’s a run down of what you can expect:

• Business class finally gets the new seats the recline to near flat that American rolled out to it’s 767’s over two years ago. These seats have built-in personal entertainment screens, but otherwise look just like the others.

• The lavatories have new stainless fixtures, molded solid surfaces and clean seats. The 70’s might finally be over for the 757.

The stylish new bathroom doors curve outward, giving users more room inside. But the curves also make the doors harder to open, close and latch. Bummer for parents: American ditched the fold down baby changing table.

• Exit row seats keep the extra legroom but now lack recline, even in row 18. My seat today, 18A, reclined only about an inch, compared to about 9 inches in the former configuration. The woman seated in front of me in 17A was in denial the whole 7-hour flight from Paris to New York. She pushed that little metal button and tried to force the seat back repeatedly every so often to no avail. Breaking the seat is one way to get some extra space in coach.

The tray tables in the exit row seat armrests are also new, but beware. They’re incredibly flimsy. If you need to work on your computer, plan to hold it on your lap.

Culture, humor

Civilzations come, civilizations go

Tired of living in a violence-obsessed society, where teachers are barely paid enough to buy decent shoes and children are being poisioned by everyday objects?

Welcome to Valarium, the third largest city in ancient Roman Britain, home to about 8,000 souls and located on the site of the modern British city of St. Albans (now a leafy, trendy commuter neighborhood for London). Back in 400 A.D. at the height the city teachers were paid 180 denari per year, but a pair of boots cost 60 denari, or a third of the yearly salary, according to the Velarium Museum in St. Albans. About a liter of salt cost 18 denari, or ten percent of a year’s pay. By comparison, a skilled construction worker back then could earn two to five times the wage of a teacher. Sounds like Hawaii before the housing bust.

Cups, utensils, plumbing and other everyday objects contained lead, poisoning adults and children a little bit each day. (Recall the lead paint in childrens’ toys scandal of 2008.) Lead poisoning was a serious problem for ancient Romans, leading to insanity, infertility and premature death. But lead was an integral material in their way of life at the time and nearly as common as plastics are now.

For entertainment, citizens of Valarium went to the outdoor theater. Spectators gorged on violent sports such a bear fighting and gladiators fighting to death. The theater also hosted the occasional public hanging. (Violence is so widespread in our society that film, TV, sports and the death penalty provide plenty of examples.)

Eventually Rome fell and Valarium was abandoned by about 700 A.D. The East Anglians took over, eventually becoming the modern British city of St. Albans. (A Celtic tribe possessed the site for hundeds of years before Rome.) Civilizations come, civilizations go. If history is any gauge our society will eventually fade as well. But similarities persist, including those that helped the Romans undoing in Britain.

Culture, Lifestyle, Travel

Public shaming and punctuality

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At Schiphol airport in Amsterdam, a woman’s voice booms over the loud speaker, “Ellie Yudna you are delaying the flight. Please board at gate B80 or we will proceed to offload your baggage.”

I look up from my tea and paper expecting to see Ellie running harriedly through the gleaming modern terminal. Instead I see only an elderly couple sipping cappuncinos at a table nearby and a few travelers browsing the newstand, toting small rollerbags. Ellie must have been stuck in traffic, or worse, stricken with a sudden, severe illness. Why else would she caused her fellow passengers to suffer (*gasp*) a flight delay?

The woman on the loudspeaker booms again, “Patrick Gerha you are delaying the flight. Please board at gate H31, or we will proceed to offload your baggage.” Again I look around for the guilty passenger, and see only a young couple making out in the boarding loung and solo travelers tapping away on their computers. No sign of Patrick. I start to wonder. Maybe his business meeting ran over.

She booms again, “James Gibson you are delaying the flight…” I lose sympathy. James must be that guy I passed on the street last night on my way home. After stepping on mu foot, bumping my shoulder and spilling my beer, he ducked out of the bar and across the alley into a sex worker’s room at 2:30 am. No doubt he overslept the alarm and is now making everyone else late. Public shaming serves him right.

The announcements keep coming one after another. So many people are delaying flights. No wonder the Dutch take action with a loudspeaker. How else are wayward travelers going to learn to be punctual? The woman booms, “Genevive Bjorn you are delaying the flight…” Wait, that’s me. I get up and shuffle for the gate, embarrassment flush red on my cheeks.