Travel used to be a lot of fun. I remember the thrill of getting on an airplane, the flight attendants smiling and handing out bags of peanuts and all of that. Things have changed for sure. Aside from nearly having to strip to your underwear to clear security, now airlines apparently do not even provide headphones. I watched "Paul Blart Mall Cop" without sound. I don't think I missed much but it would have been nice to hear what was being said.
I spent a hellish time in Miami airport. I am definitely spoiled by airports such as Bangkok and Singapore, where you can eat great food, get massages and pedicures, go shopping and even rent a day room. Miami has very little, which is quite disturbing, since it is an international airport which receives a lot of visitors. I thought USA was number 1.....
My flight to Santo Domingo was supposed to leave at 5:30 p.m. and get me into Santo Domingo at 7:40. It would have given me time to check in and go out and get some water and things to stock up my refrigerator.
When I arrived in Miami at 2:30, thinking I would have a short layover, I saw that the departure had been changed to 7:30. Shit!
I got some terrible Chinese food because I was starving, and then walked and found my gate. The departure lounge was pretty empty. They had these mobile charging stations and I plugged my laptop in and tried connecting to wireless. No success.
I got up and walked around a bit. Stopped at another mobile charging station and tried again. No success.
Finally, after repeated attempts, I was able to connect to the internet and purchase 30 minutes of wireless time. I sent an e-mail to my hotel telling them I would be arriving late and called some guy an asshole on facebook.
I went and looked at the departure board and my flight was now scheduled to leave at 8:20. I e-mailed my hotel again and told them it was delayed until 8:40, and gave them the flight number so they could check. I was afraid I was going to spend the night in Miami airport.
Turns out the departure time was changed to 8:40.
The departure lounge was now full and very noisy with kids running around and people yelling at one another in both English and Spanish (they were having conversations across the room but for me it was yelling). I was irritable and wanted to find a quiet place but there were none. Two pizzas later, we finally started to board. It took forever.
The plane of course was packed. It was obvious that many people boarding had never flown before and people did not know how to find their seats. The flight attendants were not helping.
Once everyone was settled I fell asleep. I woke up an hour later to find we were still sitting on the runway. Finally at 9:45 we took off.
I got in after 11, got my bag, grabbed a taxi and arrived at my hotel at about 12:30 a.m. My room was hot and smelled like mildew. It is not very nice, but what can you expect for $45 per night? After reading about Paul Farmer in Haiti, and thinking about poor Haitians sleeping on dirt floors with hardly a roof over their head, what I had was luxurious. Still, it made me decide to spend less time in Santo Domingo. It is hot and noisy here and I came for the beach, so I am trying to contact my hotel in Boca Chica to see if I can arrive one day earlier and stay until June 8 when I leave for New York. Even if there is nothing to do there, there will be the beach and a pool and I can relax without horns honking all day long.
It is nice to be back though and see some familiar faces. I recognized the waiter at the restaurant where I had breakfast and saw the very buxomy newspaper girl. I know my way around and know where to change money and find a cool internet cafe, which is where I am now, even though I foolishly brought my laptop with me.
Now I have to tinkle, so I´d better go.
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