Travel

ZOOOOOOOOOOOMG!

I have been waiting for this documentary since I saw Morgan Spurlock at SXSW last year, when he was there presenting What Would Jesus Buy?, a documentary about Reverend Billy & The Church of Stop Shopping's crusade against conspicuous consumption.

This from Apple.com's trailer park :

If Morgan Spurlock has learned anything from over 30 years of movie-watching, it’s that if the world needs saving, it’s best done by one lone man willing to face danger head on to take it down, action hero style. So, with no military experience, knowledge or expertise, he sets off to do what the CIA, FBI and countless bounty hunters have failed to do: find the world’s most wanted man. Why take on such a seemingly impossible mission? Simple-he wants to make the world safe for his soon to be born child. But before he finds Osama bin Laden, he first needs to learn where he came from, what makes him tick, and most importantly, what exactly created bin Laden to begin with.

Usually when my family travels to California we stay with my friends and family. But over the last winter break, my wife, son and I took an unexpected trip to California due to an illness in my family. Due to the short notice, we stayed in a motel rather than with friends. Which allows me to do a review for my readers who might travel to Los Angeles.

We flew in on Christmas day. Late. We got our luggage and rented our biodiesel Jetta and drove to our hotel.

I picked out hotel based only on proximity to my mother (who lives near the LA County Museum of Art and La Brea Tar Pits) and low cost. Looking through a bunch of hotels, mostly too expensive or too far from my mother (we could have gotten a GREAT deal on a room in Little Tokyo in a NICE hotel, but it was too far). But one was a perfect balance of cheap and close to where we needed to be in the Mid-Wlishire district: The Beverly-Laurel Moter Hotel on the corner of Beverly Blvd and Laurel.

When my wife looked into it, we got worried. It was billed as a "hipster" place where young, cool people stay and party all night. Well...we are not so young, not hipsters and have a three year old. I was worried that we would have trouble sleeping and would spoil the hipster image of the hotel. I mean a nerdy family with a three year old doesn't exactly make for "cool."

Joy, Jacob and I travelled to California in December to visit my family. Even after 10 years in NYC, I still miss living in California. I am so much more relaxed and happy in California. Sure, NYC is more exciting and it is far easier to get around without a car in NYC, which I greatly appreciate. But Los Angeles is still my favorite city to live in, with the possible exception of Kyoto which was WONDERFUL to live in as well.

Got a lot to blog about that trip, including some restaurant reviews. But first I want to blog about car rentals. Joy and I don't own a car, but we rent whenever we need a car. Whenever we can, we rent a green alternative kind of car. Which means slowly we are gaining personal experience with several kinds of car rentals in Los Angeles...and many options are available elsewhere.

We are willing to spend somewhat extra for a green car, particularly since you save money on gas. But sometimes the difference in cost is too much, so we just rent a regular car with good gas milage. But I always feel better when we can rent an actual green car.

This last trip we rented a biodiesel through a company based in Hawaii that specializes in biodiesal Volkswagen rentals. The company is called bio-beetle. We rented a Jetta, not the eponymous bio-Beetle. Jacob loved calling our car "The Bio-Jetta," and would greet it every time we got in, "Hi Bio-Jetta!"

Mi silla en El Alambique, Isla Verde (Puerto Rico)

after i come back home from going home, i get this melancholy limbo of a feeling : that i have left a home behind in search of a home that is not there and yet is familiar and welcoming and soothing and incomplete for the lost years and the lost house because i have no real place to be home but the few couches and extra beds to crash on my families places and even my mother's house is this foreign, mold controlled zone in which my lungs collapse, my heart stops with the toxic molds that makes me feel unwelcomed and pushes me into the asceptic living of hotels with their climate controlled hells drowing the sound of coquis and the rustling of platain and palm trees in the middle of the night and making my body remember how to go to sleep.

after i come back home from going home, the place i come back to is so familiar and yet so removed missing the little bit of heart and soul and pain and laughter i left back in spanish with its ay benditos and ave marias and its tu sabes and its bochincheo with arroz con gandules and alcapurrias and habichuelas and sancocho de medio día and el cafecito para empatar.

This is about the same spot I end up everytime I go to El Alambique beach in Isla Verde, Puerto Rico.

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Este es el sitio en donde termino sentándome cada vez que voy a la Playa del Alambique en Isla Verde, Puerto Rico.

I am sitting here on a runway at La Guardia airport, looking out the window and seeing about 5 other airplanes idling on the tarmac. I am in American Airlines flight 313 allegedly en route to Chicago. I emphasize the word *allegedly* due to the fact that our being sequestered here comes after a one hour delay at the gate. So we were one hour late when we boarded, have been waiting for an hour and now comes word that we will be sitting here for another 2 hours.

With no food.

With no beverages.

With no way out.

To say I am furious it is to put it mildly.

There are people here who woke up at 3AM to make it in time for the pre-boarding harassment that passes as a security check. I woke up at 5AM, got in a bit before 7AM and was forced to check my carry-on after a about half-an-hour of standing in the mess that American Airlines calls "the service counter".

After that mess, I had to wait in line for another 15 minutes to get to the gate. Not to actually go through it but to get to the gate. Once there, a Latino woman found it in her heart to question the validity of not just my passport but also my New York City issued driver's license. Yes. She didn't believe either was real --and boy do I have tons to say in another post about Latinos and African Americans working as security personnel in airports.

Once in the gate I had to wait another 30 minutes or so to go through it. Me and my 2 bags, computer and terrorist loving sneakers.

I used to love flying. I used to love airports. Well, the cost and increasing inconvenience have taken the fun out of flying in America. Only when flying overseas does my former love of flying come out because overseas the security is more sensible, the flights more comfortable, and the personnel more friendly.

What are we getting for our inconvenience and increasing costs? Supposedly increased security, but does it really make sense to force parents to pour out their child's milk or juice or to prevent parents from taking aquafor onto planes? Does this really make us safer?

A friend of mine in California flew back from a trip to Europe recently. She flew from her European destination through Paris, to a stopover in America and then home to Los Angeles. In her carryon was an unopened jar of Nutella. For those who don't know about this, it is a hazelnut spread that some Europeans love on toast. Obviously a threat to our national security.

My friend got on her plane in Europe without anyone caring about her jar of Nutella. She then went through the Paris airport without anyone caring about her jar of Nutella. Then she reached America and she was told that she could not take her unopened jar of Nutella on her next flight. The security agent took this VERY seriously, was stern and even threatening.

Now, my friend managed to convince the person to let her take it using methods I will not reveal...suffice it to say age and gender can be used to advantage. But what struck me was that an item that is completely harmless was not viewed with suspicion in Europe but was considered a major concen by security in the US.

8am in Puerto Rico

This is what, in theory, we have been doing for the past 7 days here in Puerto Rico. We have allegedly gone to the beach each day, played and enjoyed ourselves.

The reality is that, as part of the new working class, I have been squeezing in vacation time around my work schedule. I will blog about all the things I have been working on while here, but I just have to say that in spite of how difficult it is to have to work while being in a remote part of the island and alone with the kids, I am happy to be here. It's good to be back home.