The 23rd of July flight date is beginning to give me a definite 'last helicopter out of Saigon' feeling
By the way, I think Pyroclastic Flow is one of my favorite terms ever. It should be the name of a band.
Tampere
Showing posts with label Chile. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chile. Show all posts
Thursday, 23 April 2015
13 weeks to go - VOLCANO!
So in the last year there have been some crazy things happening in Chile. Floods, landslides, forest fires and now exploding volcanoes.
The 23rd of July flight date is beginning to give me a definite 'last helicopter out of Saigon' feeling
By the way, I think Pyroclastic Flow is one of my favorite terms ever. It should be the name of a band.
The 23rd of July flight date is beginning to give me a definite 'last helicopter out of Saigon' feeling
By the way, I think Pyroclastic Flow is one of my favorite terms ever. It should be the name of a band.
Saturday, 4 April 2015
Into April - Bad capitalism. Did Jesus die for this?
Me: "Hi. Are you a business that provides services for money?"
Business: "Yes."
Me: "Can you help me? I have money."
Business: "Meh."
My mate from the states says that Chile is an extremely capitalist country, the problem is that it's rubbish at it. This week his observation has been ringing through my baffled brain as time and again I've asked travel agents to help me, in exchange for money, and they have, time and again, failed to do so.
It's a model you see a lot in Chile. Businesses steadfastly refusing to change their 'unhelpful' M.O. despite other businesses right-next-door doing so much better by offering good service. It's amazing. You want to take the owner of the empty restaurant by the hand, walk him down the road to the heaving popular restaurant and say, "Look how it could be. Just be nice to your customers."
On the other hand, I kind of respect the defiance of the bad companies. Like some old boy refusing to move despite the cliffs below his house slowly crumbling into the sea.
So. I still don't have a flight.
However, I did read an amazing story about a man known as D.B. Cooper.
He hijacked an aeroplane, demanded a parachute and $200,000 in 1971 money, locked the pilot and the crew in the cockpit then jumped out the back, never to be seen again. Hero. As I write I'm looking at Cat and Dog and wondering if they'll need their own chute or if we can get away with just the one for the three of us.
Business: "Yes."
Me: "Can you help me? I have money."
Business: "Meh."
My mate from the states says that Chile is an extremely capitalist country, the problem is that it's rubbish at it. This week his observation has been ringing through my baffled brain as time and again I've asked travel agents to help me, in exchange for money, and they have, time and again, failed to do so.
It's a model you see a lot in Chile. Businesses steadfastly refusing to change their 'unhelpful' M.O. despite other businesses right-next-door doing so much better by offering good service. It's amazing. You want to take the owner of the empty restaurant by the hand, walk him down the road to the heaving popular restaurant and say, "Look how it could be. Just be nice to your customers."
On the other hand, I kind of respect the defiance of the bad companies. Like some old boy refusing to move despite the cliffs below his house slowly crumbling into the sea.
So. I still don't have a flight.
However, I did read an amazing story about a man known as D.B. Cooper.
He hijacked an aeroplane, demanded a parachute and $200,000 in 1971 money, locked the pilot and the crew in the cockpit then jumped out the back, never to be seen again. Hero. As I write I'm looking at Cat and Dog and wondering if they'll need their own chute or if we can get away with just the one for the three of us.
Have a lovely Easter.
Sunday, 29 March 2015
23rd of July. D - Day
So. Based on the fact that the winter holidays begin on the 13th of July and I'll probably need two weeks to tie up loose ends, settle debts, do some housework, chase up some cheques etc., I've chosen the 23rd of July as the magic day. My thinking is, it's a Thursday so if I need to do any last minute things then relevant offices will still be working before the normal go-slow-leave-early Friday.
This week I've spent most of my free time achieving nothing (regression to the mean?) but it´s not been for want of trying. The problem was (and always will be) that if your flight needs two airlines it's basically impossible to reserve space for animals on the plane. I had a lovely flight with IBERIA all ready but they couldn't reserve space for cat and dog on the Madrid to Helsinki bit. After all attempts to call Finnair from here failed, girlf. called them and was told that it's impossible to book space because the flight was booked with IBERIA. Ha! Blessed be Yossarian.
This week I've spent most of my free time achieving nothing (regression to the mean?) but it´s not been for want of trying. The problem was (and always will be) that if your flight needs two airlines it's basically impossible to reserve space for animals on the plane. I had a lovely flight with IBERIA all ready but they couldn't reserve space for cat and dog on the Madrid to Helsinki bit. After all attempts to call Finnair from here failed, girlf. called them and was told that it's impossible to book space because the flight was booked with IBERIA. Ha! Blessed be Yossarian.
So I gave up and put my faith in the capitalist market to resolve my situation. Out into the metaphorical street I now wander with fists full of dollars shouting, "Travel agents, Romans, Countrymen (but mostly travel agents), my kingdom for a solution."
I've sent off a couple of emails. Let's see what happens.
And that's about it. Oh. Also the north is flooded, the south is burning, some friends got married and Icarus fell into the sea (I am soo bloody cultured).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)