Category: Travels

From my Inbox:

Cheap Flights: Dallas to London, United Kingdom $647-$683 r/t [Sep-Oct] – American Airlines / British Airways / Iberia / Finnair

Ordinarily, this little deal would cause my ears to prick up like a Kardashian’s at the sound of rap music, because:

 

…or more likely:

…and:

…etc.

However:

Heathrow Airport chaos: Passengers fume at ‘utter carnage’ with queues ‘outside terminal’

…and:

British Airways ask for passengers to scrap summer holiday plans

…and:

Heathrow imposes daily passenger cap and tells airlines to stop selling tickets

…and then there’s this:

And those silly people who think that all this will be resolved by September should heed the words of one of my Brit friends on the topic:  “September?  In which year?”

Not to mention that at any time, the Brits could panic over some trivial health issue and lock the whole fucking country down again (and with my luck, I wouldn’t be in a pub when they did).

Sad, really.  So… no.

…nor Cannes, nor even Monte Carlo.  The best place to be on the French Riviera (the Midi, if we’re going to be travel snobs) is none of the above, but at the gorgeous Juan-Les-Pins.

Here’s its location:

You need to get there in late March / early April, because when the season starts, the place fills up with celebrities (they know a good thing, the bastards) and the prices shoot up accordingly.

It is probably my #1 Lottery Destination (depending on when those bastards get their act together and realize that I am a Deserving Winner).  But out of season, even the Hotel Belles Rives is amazingly affordable.

…and that’s the ugly side.  Imagine staying for a week or so in this hotel room:

…with this sort of view:

…with this restaurant (one of two):

…offering this kind of food:

Oh, and did I mention the terrace bar?

Of course, you’ll be wondering if there are any sights to see.  If you can drag yourself off their private beach, you’ll see lots of the following:

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Took off…

…and landed safely:

…all on the same day, after a 60-hour flight*.

“Now,” she asks me, “…exactly what day is it, and what’s the time?”  Always with the difficult questions.  She’s lucky I recognized her walking through the Customs gate…

---

*I know, I know… she says it just feels like it took sixty hours.

Seems as though the air travel industry is having tough times nowadays.

On Thursday, JetBlue and other carriers laughably claimed that they were canceling the flights because of weather. This was garbage, as the weather where we were (NY) was perfect. Why would they do this? If they can claim it was the weather, they don’t have to pay for your meals, your hotel—anything. (Yes, there were some scattered thunderstorms across the nation. Hardly enough to cancel 10,000 flights.)

What?  You mean airlines will lie to you to save money?  (In other news, politicians lie and water is wet.)   And:

How does this keep happening in America, over and over? (By the way, things were no less of a disaster over Memorial Day weekend.)

Mostly it’s due to staffing shortages: pilots, crew, and air control. This is partly due to the fact that the Biden Administration mandated vaccines for pilots and other personnel, many of whom either quit or were fired for refusing. Guess what, Joe; you need pilots to fly planes.

Here’s the situation, luggage-wise, in Britishland (where they can’t blame Biden, but they can blame their own BritGov for mandating similarly moronic policies):

That’s just one airport and one baggage gate, but apparently similar scenes can be found at all Brit airports right now.  What a fuck-up.

My rule of not taking checked luggage on any flight is looking better and better — and if I can’t pack sufficient clothes for a trip, I just set aside a little money to buy whatever I need Over There.

Not, mind, that I’ll be able to afford to fly anywhere for the next decade after Qantas Fucking Airlines emptied my wallet, twice in one year.

Speaking of which:  New Wife gets in tonight from Oz, U.S. Immigration permitting.  (That’s another whole kind of cock-up, but I’ll talk about that tomorrow.)