Transit to Beijing

Terminals: Modern, Big, Clean & Efficient

Beijing was the seventh Chinese city we visited. By the time we made the trip from Xi'an we were pretty used to the process of traveling in China. There were no more surprises on this leg of the journey.

For the most part, China seems to be pretty good at moving people from point A to point B, especially if you are on the 'beaten path' which Xi'an-Beijing clearly is. Because of the Terra-Cotta Warriors, there are probably more tourists in Xi'an as a percentage of the city's population than anywhere else in China. Xi'an is a pretty small town by Chinese standards (only 3 million, city proper.  Greater Xi'an - 10M) and is visited by pretty much every tourist on a China tour. They know how to get you in and out of town.

Airplane meal served in the terminal during delay

They just don't know how to do it on time, it seems. The trip to the airport was a breeze. The shuttle bus waits at a downtown hotel.  As soon as it fills, it takes off. At 25 Yuan (about $4), it was pretty easy and pretty painless. We got to the airport so quickly we were too early to check in (only two hours before take off). Once that time came it is the usual drill - except that they don't charge you to check a bag or even two, best I could tell. They even let you keep your shoes and belts, but if you need an extra once-over they don't seem to care about gender as regards who will pat you down. You get what you get.

At the gate is where things went south for us.

Consistently. We took three domestic flights within China and for all three of them we experienced significant delays. Each time it was the same cause - delays in air traffic control resulting from heavy traffic. It seems to be a persistent problem.

It's not hard to understand. China has experienced an explosion in domestic air travel by Chinese citizens. We encountered manifestations of it everywhere we went. Of the tourists we saw, (groups are everywhere - all wearing their group hats) the overwhelming majority are Chinese. They are starting to have some disposable income and are spending it on travel. Which explains the high traffic but not the delays. Takeoffs and landings are predictable events. You know how many you will have in any given day. You could build a schedule you could keep. But they don't seem to. We averaged more than an hour delay. Three flights, three delays.

Transit to Shanghai

For the purposes of my project, there has to be a second city. In China we have decided to be much more ambitious than the minimum requirements that the project demands. In China there is not just a second city, but a third, fourth and even fifth. Still, one of them has to be chosen as the one I will write about and so I have chosen Shanghai. For the record, we have also visited Hong Kong, Guilin, Yangshuo, Nanjing, and  Xi'an.

Shanghai is China's second city in much the same way New York is America's second city (this probably comes as news to New Yorkers) Washington DC is first, only because it is the capital. Shanghai is number two, only for the same reason. Its population is larger. In terms of economic activity it is more vibrant. Walking along the Bund at night, it is hard to imagine a more vibrant spot anywhere on the planet. It is lit up like Las Vegas and several times the size.

Our visit to Shanghai began with a chance encounter. My son, Alexander, is in law school at USF and this semester is taking a class in comparative law. One day he told me they had a lecture scheduled by a visiting professor from China. Was I interested in attending? Absolutely. So I went and heard a very interesting talk on the Chinese Constitution given by a Professor Ma, from Shanghai. After class, I said hello and explained I would soon visit China. "Shanghai?", he asked. "Then we must meet when you are there", he said. I was expecting lunch, maybe tea.

A month later and our plane touches down in Shanghai, he is there at the gate to meet us. He dropped pretty much everything he was doing to show us Shanghai, take us to Nanjing and eventually back to the airport for flight to Xi'an. His remarkable generosity and that of his lovely wife Vivienne, made our visit to Shanghai an extraordinary experience. As if the city itself were not remarkable enough.

Transit to China

After the experience I had getting my visa to visit Russia, I was prepared for the worst as I contemplated the process of obtaining permission visit the People's Republic. Russia and China were the only two countries for which we had to apply for visas in advance. Turkey required a visa but it was issued at the airport in exchange for some cash. Cuba issued a travel card and collected an exit tax and Germany was part of the EU Schengen zone. They literally had no idea we came - though they did check us out on the way to Turkey.

Russia and China are in a different category. Both of them collected hefty fees -

(China was $140) and required a visit to the consulate. I had discovered that much by looking at their website - and having had the Russian experience, I was prepared for the worst. I was surprised that the process was quick, efficient and painless (except for the $140 - which I am pretty sure is just tit for tat - that's about what we charge their citizens).

First, the form was basic and straightforward. I did not have to list every school since high school or every employer for the last decade. Just the basic details: name, address, current employer. Once I got to the consulate, the application process was the model of efficiency. I walked in the door and took a number. Before I could sit down, they were calling that number. 5 min. later I was out the door. Three days later I went back and picked it up.  I'm told I went on a good day - but even so - their system is setup to process a bunch of people quickly and it works. You can't ask for much more.

Transit to Cuba; Trinidad, Cienfuegos, Santa Clara

Mass transit in Santa Clara

About 60 miles due east of San Francisco is Stockton, California. Having been to both, I think it is safe to say that it is unlikely anyone would ever confuse the two cities. They and the people who live in them are as different as night and day.

Proximity does not mean similarity. Spending the week in Havana did not mean I had experienced Cuba. I knew this, so getting out of the big city was important if I really wanted to get a sense of the place. But how to do it? Public transportation in Cuba is difficult and frankly a lot less comfortable than I was willing to accept. Like those quaint 1950s Chevys, Cuban buses have a few decades on them and nowhere near as much charm.

Cienfuegos

You could rent a car, but imagining the legal and financial hassles that would come with a fender bender was more than enough to deter me. That and the thought of trying to arrange hotels at each stop.  No, I wimped out. Took the easy way - a packaged tour. Destinations all laid out, lodgings reserved and meals arranged. Even better, it could all be paid in advance by wire transfer to a Florida travel agency. “Just don't mention to your bank that it is for Cuba” they told me.  I'm not sure why they give you those instructions or what your bank does if it slips out.

My tour began by changing hotels in Havana to spend the night before being picked up in the morning. It was a step down from four stars to three stars (Cuban) and you could tell the difference.  Not a big deal, just kind of dingy. It didn't really matter - all I was doing was sleeping there. At 8:30 AM the guide would pick me up and off we go.

Trinidad

About 9:15, Odalys finally arrived. When she found me, her first question was whether I spoke Spanish. “Not really,” I said. I could see from her expression that this could be a problem. The tour was supposed to be with an English speaking guide, but she did not really speak English. I tried my alternates: Deutsch? Français? She lit up. “Vous parlez français?”  I do and it was a good thing.  My tour had seven people in it. Four were from France, two from Argentina and me. Our tour was in Spanish and French. It was lucky I understood and kind of fun to do the tour in French but I wondered what we would have done if I hadn't spoken French. I don't think there was another tour to join. I would've been out of luck? It does not seem like a minor detail. To me it spoke to a deficiency that plagues the Cuban tourism industry.  It is not enough to have great beaches and great weather. You have to take care of people when they get there. They let a lot of things fall through the cracks in that department.

Transit to Havana

On February 5^th, I was sleeping in Rome, Italy. On the sixth, Montréal and on the eighth, Havana. When I left Rome, I had an idea of what I wanted to do in Cuba, but I still had not booked any part of the trip. I was having trouble working out the details of what was not a typical Montréal-Havana trip.

Montréal is a great place to begin a trip to Cuba. Winter in Montréal can be long and dreary and Quebecers love to escape. You will see them all over the Caribbean from Miami to St. Kitts, grabbing a week in the sun. As a result, there are lots and lots of flights from Montréal. Cuba is a favorite destination and tour companies sell packages at great prices.

Because of the financial restrictions imposed on US banks, buying a package and paying for it in Canada in advance was perfect for me. But I did not fit the mold and that caused the complications. The mold is leave Friday or Saturday, spend seven days and come back on the same plane that will take the next group down. I was trying to break up their model but still get the price break. If they had empty seats it would work, but they had to check, organize and then confirm.

Monday morning (2/7) it was all sorted out. For a little over $500 I got a round trip ticket, transfer to hotels and five nights in a four star hotel. Okay, a Cuban four star, but still it was a great deal. Especially since I could book the return flight when I wanted.  Tuesday morning, I was out the door.

The flight down had a carnival atmosphere. Champagne served right after take off, your vacation starts when you board the plane!  Arrival in Varadero (a tourist airport an hour outside Havana, but minutes from the beach) was unusual. There was a full-blown security check coming OFF the plane. Belts off, computer out, through the metal detector - the whole 9 yards. Not sure why - I guess they do not trust the airlines to catch all the things they care about. After that there was the immigration. I got sorted out. 

“What are you doing here?” I was an anomaly. Not there for the beach, and an American on a flight full of Canadians - staying too long for vacation. “Who are your friends in Cuba?”  They had trouble believing I had none. “Why are you here?”  “To discover Cuba” that seemed dubious, I guess, but eventually I got my Tourist Card and was sent on to the next official - Customs - who also could not understand what I was doing there. I unpacked my suitcase for her. She consulted someone and finally they let me pass.

Now clear, I looked for my shuttle. I felt bad, I was sharing my ride with five other people who had no doubt sailed through, then stood around waiting half an hour while Cuba figured out what to do with the suspicious American.

Transit to Cuba

Okay, so maybe I picked the wrong day for it - but my hotel in Havana has a wonderful veranda and seems like the perfect place to sit and write about Cuba. Wednesday, it was 30 something degrees Celsius. Blistering and humid. The veranda was packed. On this day, if the temperature is half that I would be surprised. It's cool, windy and raining and I was alone out there. If I was a snowbird I would be disappointed but actually I prefer this weather to the hot stuff. I am not cut out for humidity.

So, then what am I doing in Cuba? Well, on my list of the countries I wanted to visit, Cuba was number one. Iran was number two, but I chickened out. Early. Already in September I knew that one was not going to happen. At that point it wasn't clear that I would get to Cuba either. For Americans, going to Cuba is not as simple as booking a flight. No, the freest people on this planet need to ask their government's permission to visit a small island 90 miles off our coast.

Of course, you could go illegally. There are flights from both Canada and Mexico and the Cuban government thoughtfully does not stamp your passport on entry. You could come and go without leaving a trace - but you would be breaking the law.

Not wanting to do that, I applied for a license. The purpose of my trip actually does meet one of the criteria - research. And so, I did get my permission. We also applied for a license for MC, on the grounds that she would be supporting my research by providing her linguistic skills. I stopped learning Spanish in the 10th grade 40 years ago. Spanish was one of her fields at university. Having her to translate really would have opened communication possibilities that I don't have on my own.

No matter, the US government in its wisdom thought it was too dangerous to allow her to accompany me. Permission Denied.

At that point, I felt like forgetting the trip altogether. There are 10 countries on the list for a reason. Five alternates.  We'll just go someplace else.

MC would have none of that. "You have to go" she said, "it was your top priority." It was, and so I went alone. I'm having a great experience (thanks MC) but it could've been better (No thanks, Uncle Sam).

Transit to Ankara

Okay, in Turkey we were definitely spoiled (rotten).  Nowhere else on the trip have we had it anywhere near as good. In six trips to and from airports in Turkey, only once did we use public transportation. Public transportation, of course gives you another slice of life and so while I know we were lucky to be so well cared for, I think we were also lucky to experience getting there on our own. That happened on our trip to Ankara.

When I made the reservation for the flight, I thought I had chosen a reasonable hour (10:30 AM).  That might be okay if you're anywhere near the airport when you start. Istanbul has two airports, I knew that. One on the European side and one on the Asian side. When we arrived from Germany we came in on the European side, about a half an hour from our hotel. We were leaving from the Asian side - how bad could it be? Well, it could be about an hour and a half. It wasn't, but it could be and you know how it is with airline departures.  It's okay to be a half an hour early but half an hour late can be trouble.  We wanted to arrive at the airport at 8:30 AM.  That meant rolling out of our hotel at 6 AM to be sure we did not miss the 6:30 bus.

And so we did. Even at 6 AM. There was a cabbie sitting in front of the hotel waiting. We did not need him, as it was a short walk to the shuttle at Taksim Square. We made the bus easy. At 6 AM, going east, there is no traffic on the bridge that can create the 90 min. ride to the airport so we got there in 45. 7:15, too early even to check in. Early, but that's how we roll.
The flight to Ankara was uneventful. That's how people move between Turkish cities.  It seems flights are efficient, cheap and frequent. Before we knew it we were there at Ankara international.

As befits the national airport of an important and large country, Ankara International goes the extra mile to impress. There is a river in the airport, if you can believe it. It runs for hundreds of meters. I'm sure its job is to impress important foreign officials to come to call. I think it does its job.

There were not a lot of people at the airport. I am not sure what the flight schedule was but when we stopped for coffee after the flight, we were the only ones there - except for airport workers on a break. Huge airport - no one there. Only in a national capital could you justify the expense.

The emptiness may also have been a result of how hard it is to get into a Turkish airport. They put you through a full security check just to walk in the front door. There is a second one to get on the plane. That may seem excessive, or it may just be the future considering the recent attack at the Russian airport. Planes aren't the only target nowdays. Turks already know this.

WiT? Clue:  A few weeks ago, we were on a 'Father of his Country' kick.  Well, this guy may be the best example ever - and he had lots of children!

Transit to Istanbul

Murat's Dad

One of the things I have noticed as I have started to execute my “25 Things” is that there really are not 25. The origin of this blog is the requirement that I write about each of the elements that are part of my sabbatical project. In writing up its parts, for some reason I separated the element of traveling to the country from the element of traveling to each of the two cities I would be visiting in each country. It doesn't make much sense to me now. When you transit to the country, you are likely headed to one of the cities.  That leaves you writing about the same event twice. It doesn't really work. There just is not enough to write about. Usually.

But Istanbul is different. (Noticing a theme? Turkey was different.) By the time we began our trip to Turkey, MC and I had been on the road for months. Istanbul was the 12th city we are visiting (not counting day trips from Brussels). We were old hands. We knew how to get to and from the airport using public transit and we were used to schlepping our bags.

That did not happen in Turkey. This may explain why Turkey is MC's favorite stop so far. In Istanbul when we arrived there was a very nice man waiting for us with my name on the sign. This was entirely Murat’s doing. The man worked for Murat’s father, who is a building developer constructing high-rise apartments. Murat told his dad we needed a ride and it was arranged. He took us to our hotel where it became clear I needed a Turkish SIM card for my phone. It was arranged. A person to show us around would be nice. It was arranged. I could go on.

Most places we have been we were a visitor. In Turkey we felt like a guest. A lot of that was Murat. I know.  But some of it was just how Turkey is different, I think.

Blog update:  I had some catching up to do with Germany, so the next few posts will be canned - since I do not expect to be able to put up new stuff from Cuba.  If I somehow find a suitable connection, I still have lot's of Turkey posts to write & upload - then once I am back the Cuba posts should start.

Transit to Turkey

The journey to Turkey was a long one. Not literally. Getting to Turkey from Germany is a piece of cake. No doubt a legacy of the hundreds of thousands of Turks who came to Germany as ‘Gastarbeiter’ after World War II. Today, there are large Turkish communities in many German cities and as a result, good airline connections between the two countries. No, the actual trip from Germany to Turkey was easy, short and inexpensive. It was the journey to Turkey that was long.

When I originally made my application for the sabbatical, Turkey was not on the list. My ambition was to visit Iran, to experience life and politics in the muslim country. I knew when I made my list that Iran was going to be something of a stretch. US relations with the Islamic Republic have been bad for decades and took a downturn with Iraq war. Still, when I first made my application we were at the dawn of a new day - maybe. A new presidential administration, maybe things would improve enough to make a visit possible. Or maybe not. In the last year, if anything, things may have become worse. The kidnapping of the UC Berkeley hikers was a barometer for me. In late September, reluctantly, I abandoned the idea.

A Turkish Restaurant - In Berlin

If not Iran, then what? I think my primary goal in these travels has been to broaden my perspective. Iran could have been replaced with France, or even Canada, but doing that would not further my goals. I began to think about Turkey. MC was enthusiastic about the prospect. Greece and Turkey where on her list the whole time, if only for tourism. The idea got another nudge from Murat, a former student of mine at DVC. “Why not include Turkey in your project,” he said.
Indeed, why not? Well, changing the plan required the approval of the Sabbatical Leave Committee, so I wrote and got that. Turkey would give me a perspective on life in a country that just happens to be muslim (you have to be careful about how you phrase it. More on that in the religion post.)

Playing Wit?  There's a new clue.  BTW, if you guessed, you are wrong.

Transit to Dresden

Woman, waiting for a train in the cold

Not just efficient, they're pretty

I love German trains. As a matter of course, if you asked me my preferred mode of travel, I would say it is by train - but that's because when I think of train travel, I think of German trains. If you reminded me of experiences with Italian or American trains, I might reconsider that preference but nothing beats travel by German train.

What's so good? Well it starts with the departure - which will happen pretty much exactly when they say it will happen. Even with the difficult weather Northern Europe has been experiencing, for the most part the trains kept rolling and if they were delayed (as some we used were) they kept you in informed of the delays and delivered accurate information about them. Compare that to an airport experience.

But they are not just reliable.  They are also pretty comfortable and reasonably priced. MC and I traveled on what is called 'Schönes Wochenende' fare (nice weekend) that cost us only €39 and allowed us to go anywhere in Germany we wanted to go. In fact it would've allowed us to transport five people on that trip. Pretty reasonable - anywhere you want, about eight euros per person. We, of course under utilized ours. It seems we were not aggressive enough about finding partners. Some folks go to stations and try to find someone with extra room on their ticket to share the fare. The person sitting across from us had done exactly that. Did not even sit with her "group".

No reason to hurry

There is a catch. You have to ride the slow trains. On the Berlin-Paris stretch that might make a big difference, but on our route it only cost us less than one hour, in comparison. We used that hour to read, chat and have lunch on the way. At the end of the trip we stepped off our train in the heart of the city rather than 30 min. outside which seems to be a minimum for the airports we have used.

Transit to Germany - Berlin

I guess I should not feel so bad about the extensive reminiscing that I know you are soon to be subjected to. Comparison is at the heart of this project and for me the most obvious comparison is between how it was and how it is. 

And how is it, now?  Getting to Berlin today is a piece of cake. And a pretty inexpensive piece of cake, at that. Even though we spent the last three months in Brussels, our journey to Berlin began in Paris. The fact that Paris is a nice place to visit was not the deciding factor.  The ease and cost of travel was what took us west when our destination was to the east.

Brussels, despite being "the Capital of Europe", is still pretty small town by European standards. It is not an airline hub and not a major tourist destination. As a result, trains and airfares in and out are pretty expensive.  The fact that a lot of the travel in & out is charged to government expense accounts probably does not help boost competition.  Travel to Paris is one of the exceptions, Berlin is not.

Berlin Border Control - No one there.

Our preference, all things being equal, would have been to take the train from Brussels to Berlin. Train travel is far more relaxing than that guantlet you run at the airport. It was a disappointment to learn that the train to Berlin would cost twice as much and take twice as long as going Brussels-Paris, then Berlin by air. Sadly, that's how we went.  (Bad carbon footprint)

The trip to Berlin was uneventful and pretty much just like a flight between SFO and PDX - a route I know pretty well. You can take good mass transit to the airport, catch your flight and ride the Metro on the other end. When you get there you grab your luggage and go. No border control, no hassles.   And that’s how Paris-Berlin is now.  A far cry from my first trip to Berlin. On that trip the train stopped for long stretches to give the East German border guards time to scrutinize every passenger, their luggage and the undercarriage of the train. It had to be done entering and leaving the GDR. Today, Europeans pop from country to country without a care. Schengen has made the trip very much like one with in a single country.

Transit to St. Petersburg

First Impressions of Russia

After all of the trouble it took to get a Visa to even undertake the trip to Russia, I was prepared for the worst as we approached the customs and immigration officials in St. Petersburg.  I remembered my experiences with Soviet era east European border controls – guards who seemed to go out of their way to make you feel insecure, even though you knew everything was in order.  That’s what I expected.

At the Air Berlin check-in counter they had reinforced those fears when they made us get out of line to print up a copy of our return flight itinerary for our eventual departure from Moscow.  Russian Border control would need proof we were leaving Russia before they let us in, or so Air Berlin told us.

So we arrive in St Petersburg, armed with our itinerary (which at the airport only cost us 9£ to print)  We were ready for the third degree.

We didn’t even get the first degree! Just a smile, a look-over and a stamp.  The German pass control was worse in Dusseldorf and all we did there was change planes!  Customs was even easier.  We had heard stories of people having trouble taking their expensive electronics out of Russia on departure, so we were warned to declare everything. 

At the exit you choose your line: Declare, or Nothing to Declare.  We chose the Declare line and went forward.  There was nobody there.  No one between us and the exit.  We stopped, waited, turned around, waited and finally someone noticed and came over.  He said something in Russian, I answered “Goods to Declare” in English and he responded in very nice English, “What do you have to declare?”  “A computer” I said.  “That’s nothing” he replied, “You go in the other line”.  So we did.  We passed that gate and again, no one was there. 

We were in Russia and it was about as easy as crossing the Canadian border at Derby Line, Vermont used to be before 9/11.  In those days all you would get is a wave and “have a nice trip!”.  That had been my easiest border crossing - until St Petersburg.  (Of course we have not left with our computers, stay tuned)

Transit to Russia

Getting to Russia is not easy. It's not just that Moscow is remote, hundreds of miles away - even from central Europe.  That is part of the problem, but it's more.  It is hard to buy train tickets, their website only works in Russian.  There are not a lot of airlines that fly there, but then that could be because they're not a lot of tourists who go there and that could be because Russia seems to go out of its way to make things difficult.

It starts with your Visa. Almost everyone requires a visa to visit Russia. That is not all that unusual. I have dealt with that before. In 1980 before the Berlin wall came down, MC and I traveled through Eastern Europe. We needed visas, so we got them. You get to the country, they interview you, take a few coins from you and let you in.

Not Russia.  It's a little more complicated.  Step one, you fill out their form. The form of Americans use is used by just two other countries -- the United Kingdom and Georgia. Yes, we are in the same class as Georgia, the country they were shooting at only a couple of years ago. Then they want the name, address and a contact person at every school you attended since high school and all your jobs for the last 10 years. Then, they charge you $140, but only after you pay your hotel $35 to issue you an "invitation". Then, they won't accept your paperwork by mail, so you either walk it in to a consulate or send your passport to a stranger and pay them to walk again. Five weeks later, you may get your passport back with a visa in it.

I walked mine in.

The process is enough to give you second thoughts about going. You wonder, if things were easier wouldn't more people visit?  And wouldn't that be good for Russia?  So what gives?

Well, its easier to understand after you check out how the US treats visitors from Russia. Believe it or not it is worse. They have to go for an interview and surprise!  The Visa costs...  can you guess?  $140. 

So in the grand tradition of US-Russian relations, we play tit for tat. Some things never change.