London calling...

Welcome to spring! Warm sunny days have been drying us out after the usual winter deluge and visibly lifting everyone's spirits.

I jumped on the plane to London last week for a brief visit. The predominance of low cost airlines make Santiago's connections to the rest of Europe something of a hit and miss affair. My first low cost flying experience proved to be relatively painless, I wouldn't say flying Ryanair was a pleasure but you get what you pay for and the train in from Stansted is quick and convenient. Arriving in buzzing, multicultural central London was a bit of a culture shock, especially after Galicia or even Madrid.




After logging in some hours at the office we headed off around the corner to the Spanish Moroccan restaurant, Moro and had a great dinner and a good bottle of tinto reserva from Ribera del Duero. Having spent a few months helping market a local wine region I can now confidently navigate a Spanish wine list, not something I was expecting to do before coming here.

Turbulencia?

After some wonderful sun and warmth in recent weeks, winter is back.

For Iberia turbulence and rough weather look forecast for some time yet. Flying with Iberia regionally and internationally has never been a particularly pleasant experience regardless of whether we have been at the back of the plane or managed to slip up the front. Today's news included an update on their ongoing difficulties, "Iberia ha perdido 620.000 pasajeros en España en 9 meses . El beneficio de la aerolínea se ha reducido un 83,5% entre enero y septiembre pasados."

In the inimitable style of the coddled and uncompetitive flag carrier - see Olympic, Alitalia, Air India, Garuda, Aeroflot, the old AirFrance etc - Iberia has been a hotbed of poor management, unmotivated staff and bad customer service. The recent debacle at Barcelona Airport that left thousands of passengers stranded for days was a great example of all that is wrong.

We can only hope that they follow the example of Air France and poach a talented executive team from some of Spain's many successful multinationals to revistalise the company. Air France is now competing effectively with the low cost carriers and a perennial basket case has been given has a new lease on life. At least Iberia's website seems to work well, fewer people involved I guess.





In the meantime there's always Ryanair...they don't pretend to offer more than a bench on a bus. Here's some artistry with flight patterns...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPv8psZsvIU

The US in A

Next stop NY and a visit with Julio who has been studying medicine there and is now working with a hospital in New Jersey. The trip there was one of ups and downs preceded by the usual 5am start from Santiago after a couple of hours sleep.

Immigration refusing to let us leave Spain due to C’s new passport not being machine readable (nice to see the Spanish consulate in Sydney is still using obsolete passports) was a serious setback. After some terse words in the airport and reviewing various worst case scenarios C found herself with a new passport (to complement the old one) 15 minutes later at a cost of about $20. Amazing how easily things can be done when they really need to be; all that bureaucracy is just a job creation scheme.

The kitchen and our two chairs in Yonkers

The upper was getting bumped to business class for the flight with Iberia, Spanish service isn’t quite BA or Singapore but a whole letter better than economy. We arrived in NY about 8pm and had no entry problems (despite not quite meeting some of the tourist visa requirements) and after a two hour odyssey around Queens and the Bronx in the airport shuttle bus arrived at what we suspected was Julio’s place in Yonkers about a half hour north of Manhattan. Luckily it was his place and we set up camp in his large but Spartan (i.e. bed and two chairs, no tv or radio) pad for the next two weeks.

Our travelling companion Jeero in Yonkers

We're looking forward to staying in a plush Manhattan pad next time as Julio has since landed a job but Yonkers was an authentic and 'character-building' retreat.

A rainy day in Times Square

Julio unfortunately couldn’t make it as he was delayed in Spain waiting for his work visa but we did share the place with a foul smell that we put down to broken plumbing but later found out was a skunk that had set up under the floorboards to escape the torrential rain that plagued our first week there. A taxi (walking at night dangerous) and train ride away from the city, Yonkers is a working class suburban but with lots of characters from the friendly Honduran taxi drivers; to the locals who gave us directions and paid our fares; to the courteous homies from the hood with whom we shared rides; to the many menacing looking guys hanging on the corners and the various Mafiosi that were arrested while we were there (including a guy who was also an actor on the Sopranos and shot a cop dead). Lots of local colour.

Near Wall St and Ground Zero

New York is my favourite city in the world for its energy, diversity, size, style and history. Two weeks there gave us the chance to:

Get cultural and see all the major museums and spots such as Times Square, Park Avenue and Central Park.

South side of Houston St (i.e. SoHo)

You & I getting about in cabs

We wandered and shopped ‘til we got tired and grumpy in Soho, Brooklyn, East Village, Meatpacking and the Upper West Side. Then ate some great food at places from Zabars www.zabars.com, to little Mexican joints, to flash Chelsea and Soho restaurants.

East village street art

C takes a break on the way to Brooklyn and the world's best cheesecake at Junior's on Flatbush Ave

Go on a cruise and do the Empire State which C underestimated until she got up there and was blown away by the view.

Cruising past Brooklyn

Wifey enjoying the Empire State commentary, beats listening to me

Stay a night in a uber trendy hotel www.hotelonrivington.com with great views over the city, awesome food and a great location.

Looking from East Village hotel towards Downtown

East Village 'La Caverna'. They were filming next door, 'Law and Order' perhaps?

NY being NY and us being us, we couldn't leave without name dropping so we: bumped into Woody Allen on Park Ave; hung out with Missy Elliot at Adidas in Soho; got stopped by Charlize Theron and her minders outside Warner Bros; and saw Drew Barrymore on Brooklyn Bridge; and Fran Drescher (the Nanny) at the movies, but not sure that last one is really worth mentioning.

Back out to JFK and onto an American flight to LA.