Safe and sound
by Volker Weber
Just heard that DL 27, the flight we got on Saturday was diverted to Ireland this Sunday because of a terror alert. Boy, were we lucky. At best we would have been stuck for hours on end at the airport in Shannon.
It got me started thinking what I would do if I found a piece of paper in a lavatory threatening a bombing. This has got be a joke, right? But how high would you gamble if you were sitting with 140 people on a plane at 30000 feet in the middle of nowhere.
We however had a very uneventful travel, excellent seating at the emergency exit in coach, no delay, zero wait at Immigration. Weather was nice in Orlando and we picked up a biggish Chevrolet Blazer. Yesterday we had torrential rains in the morning during the ride down to the coast -- did not miss the convertible that we usually rent -- but it cleared up in the afternoon. Today it was all sun and a few clouds. Getting a nice tan. :-)
Posting from a simple drive-by connection. This is so easy nowadays. Open a stumbler, drive through a residential neighborhood until you pick a a WLAN and connect. I got my mail, you got your answers where necessary. I am making myself invisible again.
Comments
Freaky. In 1988, we flew PanAm to Germany for Christmas. One day before we flew, the plane with the flight number of our return leg exploded over Lockerbie. So I know the feeling.
I also know the feeling of knowing I'll be in Florida... we've got a vacation house for 3 weeks starting April 10 :-)
Hm, similar experience here...
Went back to my friends from college. I like the American style condos... Light structure buildings, not blocking any waves too much. The friends I'm staying at don't have a broadband, not even a fixed line phone (everyone's cellular these days ;-)). But there are enough neighbours in the area who do and who are willing to share. Came here, started my stumbler, saw 5 WLANs, one of them encrypted, 3 of the unprotected strong enough to connect with a very good signal. :-) Love this...
See you all in a few,
Thanks Volker. I was wondering how my iBook and I would find some cheap access. Now I have myself a "stumbler" (MacStumbler 0.75) to come to Florida with. Would have been lost otherwise!
Do you know if Lotus provide a free wi-fi connection at the event or not?
See you there hopefully.
Jake
I had the "pleasure" to sit in a flight (shortly after 9-11) from Frankfurt to Singapore. When we reached the Turkey-Iran borderline the pilot announced over the PA, that a bomb threat has been found in one of the toilets and that he will return to Frankfurt (a 4 hours trip). Quite an interesting social study how people cope with panic. We also had a nice trip into the high security part of Frankfurt airport...
The plane was checked, nothing found and we reached Singapore with a 24h delay... and 20% less passengers. My personal conclusion: it is not worth the individual panic, since it can't change anything. I admired the SIA staff, beeing stressed from all 9-11 delays still coping profrssional and compassionate with the passengers.
;-) stw
According to Irish news agencies...
A 19 year old German student has been arrested and released without charge and a file sent to the DPP. More details here :
http://home.eircom.net/content/irelandcom/breaking/2377733?view=Eircomnet
To Jake's question, yes, there will be wifi in several places at LS. See you there.
