1995

3 Months

NYC

A Jewel

Eivissa

Tree Abuse

ECO

Black Friday

Bocadillo

Danger!

Estofado

Sangria

Rave

Cannibis

Camino Viejo

Neutrinos

Weather

Roosters

JCS

The PM

Plongeé

Smila

Customs

O. J. Verdict

1995 Eivissa (Ibiza): Fish Monger

A Roar

MacWorld

Padinkos

Bye E, Hello GC

Gran Canaria

Where

A Tour

How

Food

Yumbo

Las Palmas

Playa

1995 Gran Canaria: Potpourri

Norteños

More Food

Irishmen

Heading Home

USA

With Dad

Back at Home

7 Nov 1995

It's 0830; I've just dragged myself out of bed. I should know better than to stay up until 0300. Dad's downstairs making coffee and slicing Alaskan salmon for our bagels. I shower, pack my toiletries, and drag the bags to the car. We head towards JFK.

John F Kennedy to San Francisco International Airport

The TowerAir Boeing 747-100 takes off and rolls to the left, giving me a great view of Long Island and then Manhattan. We're flying a straight line that appears as a curve on a flat map. Our route takes us up over Chicago, into Canadian airspace, and back down over Fargo, North Dakota and Salt Lake City, Utah. We're informed that the jetstream has meandered unusually south this year, so we'll be fighting 290 kmh (160 mph) headwinds, making our trip last almost six hours. It seems that during this strange condition the eastbound trips are correspondingly shorter (but of course not when I flew east three months ago).

The in-flight snack is simple and edible, but the movie is Disney's The Dumbo Drop, which underwhelms. The passengers and the flight crew are friendly, and conversations break out all over. Behind me two artists, separated by fifty years of age, are holding a heated discussion about agents. The younger one doesn't seem to like the idea of commissions.

My three-month trip is at an end. I'm exhausted and exhilarated. Soon I'll be back in the Pearl of the Pacific, in Baghdad by the Bay. I can hardly wait.

   
Good-bye from Gran Canaria and Eivissa!