At long last, someone has finally explained to me why in the world I keep ending up with an American Airlines group 4 ticket!

For those who aren’t familiar with flying American Airlines, the planes are loaded by group starting with first class, uniformed military and so on, then they move on to Group 2, Group 3 and finally Group 4. So, it is not unusual for me to get on the plane and find no overhead storage left for my rolling carry-on.  This leads to me “gate checking” that bag quite often, which always makes me nervous as thats usually my “emergency” clothing and so on, but sometimes I simply have no choice.

I found myself in this situation yesterday at the Santa Ana airport in California.  As they announced the flight was nearly sold out, they needed people to hand over whatever bags they could, so I went ahead and opted to turn mine over as I was on my way home.  While getting the bag processed I made an off-handed comment about how I always seem to end up in Group 4.  ”That’s because you checked-in with an agent,” the airline agent told me.  After I asked her what she meant, she told me that online check-in gets you in Group 2, checking-in at a self-help kiosk would get you Group 3 and checking in with an agent got you into Group 4.

See, I’m almost always in a hotel the night before I fly, so I normally don’t check-in online as it’s a pain in the butt.  As for self check-in, I just figured I was right next to the agents, just use an agent.  Little did I know it was actually causing me issues with my position of getting on the flight.  Perhaps if American Airlines publicized this a bit more I would have seen a reason sooner to not use an agent, but if you don’t see any real line, with them, why not use them?

I have no issues with the group idea, but at least explain to your customers how the heck they work!

While I normally don’t do super short posts any more, I’m just too tired to give you a super long post.  I’m home, and I have a ton more things to tell you through out the week, so stay tuned for more thoughts.

After my success with finding a Banksy the other day, I decided on my last day in London to go out and find another one that was supposed to be intact.  Sadly, it wasn’t in as good as shape.

“Bubble Writer – Tox” as it’s being called is a nod towards street artists Tox who got caught and is now serving four years in prison for his actions.  It depicts a young blindfolded boy blowing bubbles to spell out the arrested artist’s tag, and it was quickly put behind perspex when it was discovered.  Sadly that wasn’t enough to defend it.  (click image for a larger view)

Besides the large tag over “TOX,” there is also black paint now running down the bubble blower. How did that get there? Well, someone made a hole in the protection:

While a lot of folks respect Banksy’s art, it’s still street art, and that means rivals will want to show they’re superior or can one up the others in the area. Despite this one being protected, it joins the ever growing list of defaced works by Banksy, and that’s just sad in my opinion.

Long time readers of this blog will know I’m a bit obsessed with street artist Banksy.  For whatever reason it didn’t dawn on me until Wednesday, “Sean, you’re in London … where Banksy does the majority of his work …”

A quick Google search later, I found a list fo all his known works and what condition they are currently in on a handy Google Maps listing.  I picked the one that seemed the easiest to get to and headed out first thing Thursday morning.  Thanks to the wonders of technology it wasn’t that difficult to find and the results are below.  (click the image for a much larger view.)

This particular one appears to have shown up over the summer and the building owner has covered it in perspex to protect it from other taggers.  It doesn’t really change the work in any way, and I would much rather have it that way then have it easily lost.

After years of admiring his work, getting to finally see one in person was a treat for me, I took a ton of photos to remember it by.  There was also some fun in the hunt of finding it, enough so that I’m going out hunting for another one tomorrow.

While I know a lot of folks qualify this as graffiti, even Banksy himself, but I see this as something totally different than some one who just writes their names on things.  Banksy, and those like him, are artists, and they just happen to use walls as their canvas.  If you have a problem with it … too bad.

As for me, this was one of the highlights of my entire trip.

I am one of those people who has always have friends tell me, “You should have been here!  So-and-so from TV/movies was here earlier!”  Not that I much care about spotting them, I have just always found my timing amazing.  Yet, somehow, while here in England I am up to six!

Now, let me preface this by saying I was delayed on the BBC tour when I went there and was held back to join a later tour in the area they call “Stage Door” where all of the celebs arrive to film shows.  Five of my sightings happened there and included:

• Matt Lucas from Little Britain (Who seemed very sour when someone else on the tour dared to say hi to him)
• Len Goodman from Dancing With the Stars and Strictly Come Dancing (They were filming the Christmas special the day)
• Bruno Tonioli from Dancing With the Stars and Strictly Come Dancing
• Some blonde girl From Eastenders that was appearing on the dancing special
• Said blonde girl’s pro dancing partner

Like I said, I was at the BBC itself, so not totally unexpected, but then came the randomness that happened outside 10 Downing Street.

Having missed a turn for somewhere else I was going, I found myself outside of the street that houses the Prime Minister. I had never intended to go there, but I was there, so why not look? As I looked through the gate down the road, I saw someone approaching with shoulder-length salt-and-pepper hair, and a huge smile. I just thought, “Oh, what a happy guy.” … and then did a double take.  I turned to one of the policemen on duty, tossed my thumb towards the man and mouthed, “Is that …?”  And he just gave me a big grin and said, “Yeah.”

I couldn’t get a good picture by the time I figured it out, but it was James May, one of the three hosts of the ultra-popular Top Gear.  Why he was at the British equivalent of the White House is beyond me, but what a completely random encounter.

And the police officer who confirmed it was him?  He immediately went in behind the gate to ask May for a picture, which he very cheerfully obliged.

Okay, I have two more days, anyone else want to run into me?

Do you remember back to the days where you would go on vacation and then have to trudge down to the developers and pay an arm and a leg to get all of those pictures developed? Eventually you became more picky with what you shot as you hated the bill.

… I kinda miss those days.

Each night I have come back to my room and popped my memory card into my laptop to import the photos to iPhoto in case anything should happen to the memory card.  Tonight set a new personal record with 240 pictures to import.  Between the Churchill War Museum, the London Museum of Film and Big Ben shot from every conceivable angle (you can click the image on the right for the full-sized one, although I shook a tiny bit in taking this one), I was a picture taking machine today.

Is this a good thing?  True, it really isn’t costing me any money, but five years from now is anyone going to care – myself included – that I took a good chunk of these images?  Who knows, for now it makes me happy knowing I’ve documented so much of this trip I’ve always wanted to go on, and I’ll worry about if anyone cares about the images another day … or possibly never.

I thought when I came to England I would see all sorts of great British shows I haven’t seen yet, and instead I’m finding a wasteland of reality shows. Case in point: Geordie Shore.

I had heard of this copy of the American Jersey Shore trash, but guess what? It’s worse. How is that possible? Easy, you add in unbleeped cursing and nudity.

Yep, nudity. In the five or so minutes of I’ve been watching this – mostly out of shock – I’ve already seen one of the main girls flash her breasts out a group of guys, and, no, they weren’t blurred out.

While I don’t really care about nudity being shown, considering the target crowd for this shore and I’m just … wow.  Really?  And what makes it even better?  Now there’s a Toys R’ Us commercial on during this.  It’s 11:41 PM here on a Monday night and I’m seeing breasts and commercials for toys … just who is this show targeting?!?

Oh, okay, now they’re in a strip club …

To the people of England, I apologize on the behalf of the United States.  This may be the worst thing we have ever done to you.

And just as I finish this post, the preview for the next episode shows one of the girls taking off her bikini top and shaking her breasts … really, I’m sorry.  So, so sorry.

Of all the blog posts I hoped to write while on this trip, this was probably the one I looked forward to the most: Traveling from Manchester to London by train.

I have long been a lover of trains, but my schedule very rarely allows me to take them as a means of transport.I believe the last train ride I took of any length was in the summer of 1993, and that was just an eight hour ride to Chicago.  In this case this ride is slightly under three hours, but it affords me the opportunity to take a look at a country I have seen so much of on TV and in movies.  (Before someone goes, “But Sean, how are you looking at the countryside while typing?”, I have become a pretty good touch typist, thank you, and I’m looking out the window and not at the keyboard as I write this.)

There was another option for gtting down to London, but it was actually more expensive than the train, even with me opting for the first class ticket (£34.50/$53.99).  I figured I could either have the misery of air travel, security checks and so on, or I could take a nice train ride through the countryside, sit at a private table and use free onboard Wi-Fi.  I think you can see the clear winner in this case.

Is it everything we have been shown in the U.S. when it comes to rolling, lush hills?  Judge for yourself.  You can click the image for a larger view, but do remember this was shot from a moving train … and the table lamp in the corner.

By far this is the majority of what I am seeing as I ride along the rails. Sure, there’s industrial areas, cities and so on, but in-between are these lush, rich pockets of land, just as you’ve always heard about and seen in entertainment.

While I am spending the majority of my time in cities such as Manchester and London, this is part of what I came here to see, and with that, I close out this blog post that serves but one purpose: To confirm the countryside does indeed exist as you’ve always envisioned it.

It’s hard to describe the feeling one gets when they finally ascend the stairs of a stadium that they have dreamed of going to for years, and then being confronted with the reality of it being right in front of you. Before Manchester United had even hit the field, I was already a happy man.

After more than a decade of following Manchester United, I finally got a chance to see them in their home stadium today against Newcastle United, and even though the final result was 1 – 1 (it really should have been 3 – 1 … that penalty kick and the off-sides call are going to haunt me for some time), it was still worth every penny I spent to get here. Would I do it again? In a heartbeat, but the odds of the chances presenting themselves again are fairly slim. So, even if I never get to do it again, at least I have this one time to remember.

Now, normally this would be where you would assume I would insert a picture of the game or the inside of the stadium, but they actually have extremely clear rules about posting photos from inside the stadium to the Internet, so, instead, I bring you the Wall O’ Scarves from the official store in front of the stadium.

Scarves of your favorite football club is darn near an industry onto itself, and it amazed me just how many they had stocked up.

… I bought four different ones.  Hey, they’re only £10, leave me alone!

This trip was made possible due to several people helping with scheduling and making sure I got here, and while I would love to name them, I know they would rather I didn’t.  They know who they are, and I thank them from the bottom of my heart for an amazing day at Old Trafford, also known as The Theater of Dreams.

As trips go … I’ve had better.

After an excruciating seven hour layover in O’Hare, I was able to get a great exit row seat with no chair in front of it, and I was sure I was set.  Sadly, my tailbone totally disagrees as it’s stil hurting almost 17 hours later.  A situation I definitely need to figure out before I return home.

Beyond that, the flight got in nearly an hour early and that meant getting to the hotel way before check-in, but they rushed to get a room ready for me and by 9:30 I was back on the streets and heading over to Old Trafford, the home of Manchester United.

Some shopping (you have to have the right gear for the game … right? That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it!) and then off to a mall and … back to the room for sleep. While I’m normally not a fan of taking a nap on the day arrive somewhere, there just wasn’t an option this time. So, four hours later and I was off to dinner at a Chinese restaurant and then an open air Christmas market that was just insanely crowded, and cooked things in open pits that would make me think there is a high number of employee injuries. (and I still don’t get the hats …)

Overall a fun first day, and we’ll see how the game goes against Newcastle United … because I’m sure you’re all desperate to know.

Fun notes:

• Wash clothes are called “first clothes” … at least by the maid staff.
• The people of Manchester are amazingly nice and helpful.
• Some folks have had trouble understanding my accent …

I’m big on holidays; always have been, always will be. There was a time where the idea of spending the holidays away from home was just so foreign to me that I couldn’t comprehend it.

… Greetings from the O’Hare Terminal 3, Concourse K American Airlines Admiral’s Club.  Below is a picture of my cubicle in the business center where I am camped out until my flight to Manchester, England starts boarding at 5:20 PM CST.

When the opportunity for this vacation came up, I was reluctant at first to go at this time of year because it is the holidays, but too many things lined up to make this the nearly perfect trip: I get a few extra days of vacation without using up time from work, I get to see a Manchester United game and I get to see England all decorated for Christmas. It seemed like a pretty winning combination to me.

I still asked my family multiple times if they were okay with me being gone for Thanksgiving, and they assured me that while it wasn’t ideal, they totally understood that it was just too sweet of an arrangement to not do it.

So, that’s how I find myself killing seven hours in O’Hare airport.  (I took an early flight to allow for problems and there would be backup flights.  Note to everyone: Airports are ghost towns on Thanksgiving Day and planes are only about 75% full.)

I wish you all a happy and wonderful Thanksgiving, and thanks to everyone who helped make sure I got out on this much needed vacation.  When next you hear from me I shall be in England for the first time in my life.  (And, yes, I will be blogging every day as I usually would.  I’m not breaking my streak at this point when I’m coming up on my 7th anniversary.)

If Homeland Security gets their way, there will be no way to take luggage on a plane with you that somehow don’t pay extra for.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano went before Congress this week according to USA Today and told the Congressman that carry-on luggage is costing taxpayers $260 million annually.  Apparently the rise in carry-on luggage due to growing checked baggage fees is increasing the work load at security gates, and is in turn causing the expenses of running the nationally mandated security system to increase.

Sen. Mary Landrieu (LA – D) asked:

Checked-bag fees are increasing, it looks like, the cost to TSA because people don’t want to pay the fees so they are not checking bags and putting more on the planes.  My question is, do the taxpayers have to pick up this fee? Or should we be looking at the airlines for some of the profits that they make from these fees to offset the cost to the taxpayer?

Ms. Napolitano suggested that a $5 fee be assessed to each one-way ticket, which would in turn bring in about $600 million a year to the security agency.

Excuse me, I may not be a math expert, but if the carry-on luggage is costing the department $260 million a year, why do they need to bring in $600 million in fees?  Additionally, why shouldn’t the airlines, which are bringing in billions a year, team  up to pay what would be a measly bill when split up amongst them?

It is becoming increasingly less attractive to bring any luggage with you on a plane, and as much as I’m sure the airlines would love if we brought none on board, we, as humans, have this silly need for clothing at our destination.  I know, how pedestrian of me.

The good news is that Homeland Security has asked for some sort of fee every year since 2002 and have yet to have it approved.  The problem is, you know as well as I do, it will eventually get approved, and airline travel costs will once again rise.  I had to buy a ticket last week for a business trip next week, and I don’t even like to think about how much it ended up costing.  True, it was somewhat “last minute”, but considering how much it cost, I hope I’m getting a solid gold seat.

At what point are all of these fees going to end?  There has to be a “breaking point”, but one has to wonder where exactly that is.