Jason Becker: The flight

I thought I'd give you an overview of the 12 hour flight to San Francsico... I write this with jet lag hopefully behind me... staying awake over 24 hours seems to be illogical to fix the problem but it works! It could also be the burger and beer on the pier 39 and the view of Golden Gate bridge and Alcatraz in a cold and damp atmosphere!

I got on the flight at Heathrow airport terminal 5. The plane is late, held on the tarmac waiting for a slot. Were told that they'll make up the time in the air.  Never been on a jumbo 747 400SP, it lumbers a long the runway much further that a A300 or smaller aircraft.

I sit back in the seat, check out the facility, inflate my neck pillow. The later will turn out to be a good investment... if you fall asleep, no neck ache. The seat arrangement is 3,5,3 and I share my 3 with two teachers from Oslo who speak Norwegian... so I check out the movie channel. Lots of new movies that I've not got around to watching yet... so I pick True Grit. The seats are narrow and with 12 hours a head of me, the business class seat arrangement is starting to look a great option..  the movie stops.. time to reboot the windows powered system so I lose the movie. I scratch a few notes on a paper napkin.

Being disconnected from the Internet is a different thing for a blogger. I can use the phone to post, but not on an aircraft, no doubt another reason to be able to use the business class, although at £145 extra may be a little too expensive. I'm thinking about how I might blog during the visit, I think the phone will be out because of the cost of using it! So it'll have to be the hotel wi-fi. The performance is reasonable, ok for blogging, but not to hot for video watching...

God I need to move... the sitting in one position is not good for me. Watching a video does distract, but being next to the window you don't want to have to get up and down too much. I look at the time on my watch for the San Francisco time, 05:44. I know we don't land until 14:40!  That's a lot of time! Food comes from the galley. In this case, pasta chicken dish followed by a ginger, rhubarb pudding, sounds bad, but it's nice and hits the spot! Hunger satiated, I fast forward to the the part I'd got to in True Grit. Then along comes a much needed black coffee.... I keep moving my legs as recommend to fight off the dreaded DVT, the flight socks also work!

 I'm on my second movie, the Social Network... that Zuckerberg seems like a real likeable guy... Not sure how true to life this is. Interesting to see the association with Napster and Bill Gates too.  Then bang! the guy in front decided to recline his seat... I resist! I can't move if he gets his way. I decide it's time to it's time to get up and go for a walk.

Good thing I do as I catch up with fellow Jason Becker traveller Michał Kubicki. He's flying in from Poland. Like me he can't believe that he's travelling so far... we discuss things like Earthquakes and liquifaction... a possible problem in the Bay area. However, move on to talking about all things guitar.  He's worked on guitar shows in Poland and he's also a producer for the Jason Becker movie. He's a really likeable guy and mad keen on guitar, even though he's a drummer. He's got some meetings arranged to see Jason Becker on Friday.

Time flies... 3 hours later... time to sit down. Watch the end of the social network and start my third movie, The Dispensables, full of Hollywoods finest hero actors, including Arnie.  I won't get to the end of this one as time on the flight is starting to run out. Flight now is rough, the sky is closing in, grey rain filled, bumpy turbulence.  We circle around as we descend... some kind of delay so we are in a holding pattern... then we are down with a big bump, the passengers clap... 12 hours of journey over... a new friend made...

Now on to the customs... these guys mean business, they "pack heat", they scan you hands, thumbs and iris's... I'm only here for a few days, but it's all in a days work for the guys who protect the border of "God's greatest nation" .  I get through to the other side and catch up with Kris Clarehout. We'll share a taxi from the airport with Michał Kubicki.  Just $45. Not sure if that's good or bad.  The rain has stopped but there is  a cold wind blowing.

Kris and I head out to the pier after getting the hotel room sorted. Time to look at some memento's from the trip...may be a hat?   So find some American burger... the aim is to stay awake... more that 24 hours for me. But you must do this to beat jet lag. More beer and shops. Back to the hotel and try out the wifi and some blogging. I start falling asleep around 21:30... that's over 24hours awake... I sleep like a baby until 04:20... but I got to stay asleep to beat the jet lag.  Finally awake about 08:30... time for some American coffee...

Alcatraz

Golden Gate Bridge in the distance

Some seals on the pier

This hat suite me?

American Burger

American Bud!

Comments

  1. Very cool. Keep the photos coming.

    -Chris "Mr Green" Monk

    ReplyDelete

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