The Editor’s Travels –What Happens on the Road
As I was sitting in the domestic departure lounge of the Perth Airport, I decided that my location was the key for this month’s editorial. An essay began to flow on some of the exciting things that have happened to me as I have traveled around the globe.
The international character of the industry has resulted in many of us traveling to some rather exotic or obscure locations. Last year I joined Continental Airline’s Million Mile Club! When I was growing up, I thought traveling across a state-line was a big deal and I never thought that I would visit six of the seven continents. For many people travel to exotic and even not so exotic locations is exciting. After 30 years the excitement is gone and it is just part of the job. But these travels have yielded a number of great travel stories, many of which might be difficult to believe even if you were there. For the fun of it, I would like to share a few stories. And, because they impact me and largely me alone unlike Vegas, “what happened in Perth, Moscow, and Antalya needn’t stay in Australia, Russia, or Turkey”.
Let me begin with my latest trip to Perth. I had just finished a day in the office, after having another poor night’s sleep in a hotel room. As I started back to my hotel to pick-up my luggage and head to the airport the sky opened-up and a major series of storms hit Perth. Although I had an umbrella the strong winds made it useless. After getting back to the hotel I changed into some dry clothes and attempted to grab a cab. It took about two hours to ‘grab’ one. Upon arrival at the airport I found that the airport had closed! Authorities needed to determine if the building was safe after part of the roof collapsed and was sitting in the middle of the baggage area. When the airport reopened I was required to check my carry-on. I continued onto security, the gate, and then the plane. After 30 minutes the pilot announced that a problem existed. Ninety minutes later we were asked to deplane while they attempted to make a repair. A miracle, a replacement plane was found, but it took some time to prepare and I finally departed for Sydney six hours late and missed the first half day of my meeting.
A frightening experience happened on a trip home from Moscow. Our group arrived at the airport and began the check-in process. While I was receiving my boarding pass, my brief case seemed to be of interest. I was asked a few questions, such as how long did I have the briefcase and who bought it for me. I answered the questions and moved on. Then as we began boarding the plane, a very large gentleman placed his hand on my shoulder and motioned me to come with him. He spoke no English and I spoke no Russian. He just kept repeating not KGB. After having my brief case pulled apart and half of the clothes I was wearing removed, I was allowed to board the plane. No explanation or apology was given. It turned out that six of us on that 747 underwent this treatment. After arriving at JFK, and checking in for the Houston flight, the searches began once more. This time I did speak the language and in my best ‘New York’ I asked what was going on. It turned out to be the brief case. A bomb threat had been phoned in warning that a passenger with a brown hard shell brief case was carrying a bomb. I was permitted to board after allowing another detailed search. Needless to say, I no longer carry that brief case.
My classic travel story is associated with my field work in southern Turkey. The three week program began with a flight to New York. All went well. We arrived only a few minutes late after holding at the gate for a few passengers making a connection. I switched terminals to find that my flight to Paris was delayed because of a toilet problem. No, you wouldn’t want to be on a transatlantic flight without a working toilet. While waiting I was paged; the airline staff needed to re-route me because I was going to miss my connection in Paris. After being sent to a new gate, I was informed that my luggage was missing and would not make the transfer. I boarded my plane knowing that my luggage and I had different travel plans. I headed to Geneva, Zurich, Istanbul, and then finally Antalya. I grabbed the last cab and showed the driver a note with my hotel’s name. After about ten minutes of driving the cab died, and I helped to push it into a gas station. An attendant at the station actually finally drove me to my hotel. The next day the hotel staff neglected to tell me that the remainder of my field team was going to be late, so I spent much of the day in the hotel lobby just waiting. I explained my lack of clothes to my associates when they arrived and we went shopping, which is a story unto itself. At this point I was hoping that the ‘excitement’ was over. Unfortunately, where Barry goes ‘excitement’ seems to follow. As our team was driving to our next field location, down an isolated highway, a car passed us, pulled off the road and signaled us to stop. We did. There was concern that something might have fallen off of the roof of the jeep. A woman ran to our car, opened the door and jumped into the backseat. By the time we got her out, a matter of a few seconds, she had managed to pick my pocket. Luckily, the remainder of the two weeks was largely uneventful, except for the usual flat tires and overheated radiator. But a legend grew after I put in my expense account, which included my new clothes and the money lost from my wallet. I gained the reputation for having the nerve to have the company pay for a woman that I picked up on the road and spent a few minutes with in the backseat of a jeep! Remember my luggage? We were re-united about six weeks later when another airline called, asking if I had lost some luggage. A suitcase with my contact information was found sitting in Paris. Apparently my suitcase had toured Europe!
So the next time someone comments on the exciting travels that a geologist must have, remember not everything that is exciting is enjoyable. But then again when I am on vacation I do travel – by sea!
Until next time…