In Wales
This will be a short post, as we are about to leave on our second day’s adventures.
To the right is the plane that finally got us out of the U.S. to London, where we had to transfer again to get to Dublin. Twas nice to fly on a 747, rapidly disappearing from the fleets of American airline companies. British Airways however appears to still be flying a lot of them. A super smooth flight on this magnificent plane.
Transferring planes in Heathrow was horrible, as it seems all international travel is becoming. Even though we were never leaving the terminal they still forced us to go through customs.
The second picture shows the view from the coastal village of Rhosneigr at the end of the day. We had met up with our group and had just completed a 4 mile hike along the beach. It seems there are a lot of bird watchers among us. It also seems in a way like we were back at Cannon Beach, without any crowds at all.
Time to go! More later.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
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This will be a short post, as we are about to leave on our second day’s adventures.
To the right is the plane that finally got us out of the U.S. to London, where we had to transfer again to get to Dublin. Twas nice to fly on a 747, rapidly disappearing from the fleets of American airline companies. British Airways however appears to still be flying a lot of them. A super smooth flight on this magnificent plane.
Transferring planes in Heathrow was horrible, as it seems all international travel is becoming. Even though we were never leaving the terminal they still forced us to go through customs.
The second picture shows the view from the coastal village of Rhosneigr at the end of the day. We had met up with our group and had just completed a 4 mile hike along the beach. It seems there are a lot of bird watchers among us. It also seems in a way like we were back at Cannon Beach, without any crowds at all.
Time to go! More later.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
@Bob
“Even though we were never leaving the terminal they still forced us to go through customs.”
You should try being an Englishman flying from Sweden via Chicago to Pittsburgh!
I think you are going to enjoy your trip… As a child growing up in the industrial wasteland that is the Midlands of England, my best childhood memories are of regular trips to my grandparents summer retreat in Wales… And on many visits since…
You are in one of the most beautiful parts of the United Kingdom and I hope you have a wonderful time!
( Pro tip…. If you have a pint, I recommend “Brains SA”… A VERY good beer if kept well… But treat with caution… It’s nick name is ” Brains Skull Attack” ;-)
I don’t there are any US-based/owned passenger airlines that still fly 747s.
“Even though we were never leaving the terminal they still forced us to go through customs.”
You may have left the international security corridor and entered the domestic one. Did they require you to go through customs again in Dublin?
Lee S:
Interesting stuff!
Does everyone from the “industrial wasteland,” have a “summer retreat in Wales?” (HA, just goofin’ ya.)
–here in Michigan, (Midwest USA,) quite a few folks have “a cabin Up North,” which could be anything from an actual log-cabin up to a full blown 2nd home. (Minnesota is similar.)
Edward asked if we had to go through customs again in Dublin. Of course. We were traveling between two different nations, from London, capital of the United Kingdom, to Dublin, capital of the Ireland.
You also wrote, “You may have left the international security corridor and entered the domestic one.” Well, common sense says you restrict all international flights to one terminal, so that no one on these flights has to exit the international security zone, until they decide they need to leave the airport or have to board a local domestic flight, in another terminal. That would be when you go through customs.
This is how every other international airport I’ve ever traveled in operates. If Heathrow was set up this way, things would have been simple. We were coming in on a flight coming from a foreign country, and flying out immediately on a flight to another foreign country. Going through customs should have been entirely unnecessary.
@wayne
It was acctualy what you guys would call a small trailer… It would sleep 6 at a push…
Parked in the grounds of this country hall..
https://www.mellingtonhall.co.uk/
The country house and grounds were much more run down 40 years ago and offered much fun and adventure.. ( and I had my first kiss from the managers daughter!) Happy times Indeed! :-)
Lee S:
Good stuff!
“the manager’s daughter…,” oh, to be young again!
pivoting for the obligatory clip-
Fawlty Towers:
“Satisfied Customers”
[After a bad night with an American guest, Basil learns the truth about his hotel….]
https://youtu.be/7_uDB-0iBR8
2:15
@ Wayne….
Bloody Yanks…. “Over paid, over sexed, and over here!” (As the saying went back in the LATER years of WW2…) ;-)
( No offence intended… Just banter!) :-)
Lee S-
that’s ok…we saved the World twice in one century.
totally off-thread
Gerry Anderson’s UFO (1970) –
Opening Titles
https://youtu.be/j2PoXfZdYVU
1:20
futuristic world of… 1980.
Lee S wrote: “Bloody Yanks…. ‘Over paid, over sexed, and over here!’”
Over paid? The value of our work justifies our pay. Although, come to think of it, Al Gore, Bill Clinton, and Hillary Clinton were being paid way too much for speeches that were bogus or meaningless.
The French are way more oversexed than we Americans, which does not help my point much, because that is oversexed indeed. Bill Clinton also greatly raises the average for we Americans, too.
As for being over there, we spend most of our time over here, not over there. Although Al, Bill, and Hillary certainly made quite an impression while they were over there — not in a good way — so I guess the saying still applies after all these years.
*Sigh*
Other people’s children. What can you do about them?
@ Wayne and Edward…
I’m a bit late in responding…. But thanks for the giggles!! :-D