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Diffstat (limited to 'viaggi/AU/day2')
-rw-r--r-- | viaggi/AU/day2/document.en.rest.txt | 115 | ||||
l--------- | viaggi/AU/day2/du2html.xsl | 1 |
2 files changed, 0 insertions, 116 deletions
diff --git a/viaggi/AU/day2/document.en.rest.txt b/viaggi/AU/day2/document.en.rest.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 367c81d..0000000 --- a/viaggi/AU/day2/document.en.rest.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,115 +0,0 @@ -Diario - 11 July -================ -:CreationDate: 2003-01-29 10:51:59 -:tags: viaggi - -Feeling deceleration: 20 minutes to landing. All passengers seated, cabin crew -prepare yourself, you know the drill. Dubai by night from on high is a sight: -orthogonal streets outlined by yellow lightglobes, white lights marking houses -or plants (not sure which). Front camera shows the approaching lane, rear -wheels touchdown, front touchdown, brakes brakes brakes, down we are, get out -of the way, do a nice parking, it's been a pleasure to fly you, now get out of -my plane! and take every thing yours out with you! - -So out we go, to the warm welcoming of Dubai International Airport: 0200 local -time, 37°C outside temperature, and rising. Warm indeed. - -Transit passengers this way (how do some people accomplish to get confused by -ONE, SIMPLE, LARGE sign? how do they expect to survive in a foreign country -without knowing this much of either English or the local tongue?), transit desk -gives me (as an Emirates transit traveller with more than 4 hours wait in front -of me) a ticket for refreshments (more below). Baggage screening, and the -airport is all mine! - -They said Dubai Duty Free is impressive. That's an understatement. 40 meters -wide, about 150 long, it comprises so many shops: you can buy anything you'll -ever need while traveling, and most of what you'll need not. My Newton, after -deceiving me with the local time (which is one hour ahead of what Mr.N thinks) -tells me he never knew the exchange rate for the Dirham (UAE currency). A -cashieress (is there such a word?) tells me 1 USD = 3.6 Dh; couple of mults -give me 1 Dh ∼ 500 ITL. I need some batteries for my CD player, so I go -exchanging some liras. Walk many a hundred meters to find someone willing to -buy liras, discover 1 Dh = 588 ITL. Not bad for a quick estimate. Buy -batteries, buy Pink Floyd - The Wall live (because it's there). - -Go find where to reclaim refreshment ticket. Info desk. MacDonald. Oh great. -Actually, it's a french-sounding croissanterie and-the-like-erie. Get a tea and -an apple-filled whatsitsnameagain. Microwaved. Ten minutes to recover use of -tongue. Another ten minutes to reduce tea at acceptable temperature. - -I'm boarding at gate 7, take off about 0730. I'll listen to some music now. -It's another two hours before gate opens. - -Fog! And I was thinking about asking 'which way is north?' to see the sunrise -on the (quasi) desert! No chance: sun is probably rose by now, but I'll not see -it till I am well above fog and clouds. Oh hell. - -Countermand: Ek 463 to Johannesburg is late, so I board at gate 18. Thanks me I -asked. - -Regular boarding, no problem till taxing. I'm 25G, that is, right-hand side -aisle is on my right. Emergency exit is right beside me. R3 (flight assistant -Iutoi) is uncomfortable: he notices a clunking sound coming from below. Captain -is notified, crew members come and go. Captain drives the plane back to dock, -for examination. In the following hour and a half we get to know that: no -problems exist with the hull, none with the cargo, but: one of the cargo shells -is broken. Cargo gets down the plane, changes shell, gets on again. OK, taxing -to the lane. Uh oh, same sound. Captain says ignore it. So we do. Take off two -hours later than due. Captain announces he'll try to make up for the time lost, -but the atmosphere is not of the same advice: we encounter turbulence right -after take off, and never really got out of it. Fasten seat belts sign is often -alight, the plane rises to 37kf from the 33kf promised (to speed up the flight: -we're running on an arc with a radius of roughly 6Mm, what's 1Km more or less -gonna do?! He's the Captain, he knows better. I hope). More: my TV screen goes -on strike: it doesn't respond to touch, it doesn't show controls or messages. -Later I discover where they hid the hand control, but there's no way to control -video params (and they're quite out of their senses). Food is not so good as -the first flight: chicken with mashed potatoes and some vegetables, salad, some -unidentified fish. Nice sweet piece: some kind of candied fruit with (probably) -milk-based cover. - -We're nearing Singapore, where a one-hour stop was programmed. Don't know how -they'll manage it, since we should have been here **two hours ago**! And -probably we'll not arrive to Sydney before 0800 local time (due 0605). Will the -guy (gal?) from Wollongong wait for me? After all, they have my flight number, -they can check. Even thought about faxing them (this plane has a satellite -phone system), but is full night there, and they'll leave to get me before even -noticing the fax. We'll just have to wait and see. And hope my baggage is here, -in the cargo area... - -I've slept most of the flight, and my bio-rhythms are quite screwed up. If they -expect me to start working the same day I arrive, I'll ask Markus how he felt -after making the opposite trip. What I want when I get there is a shower, know -my hosting family, **then** I'll go and look around the campus. Not the other -way round. They sound like sensible people, after all. - -Oh, I finally made sense of a picture in the air show (where they tell you nav -infos and show you nifty maps with a plane in the center): draw a plane, draw a -black box somewhere around it, and a black arrow pointing from the center of -the plane to the box. What is it? Bingo! Have a cigar! It tells you where Mecca -is! Remember this is a Islamic airline! (no pork in the meals, if you were to -ask). So, using the Mecca-arrow as a compass, I quickly recalc my orientation, -and discover I was looking for sunrise facing west-south-west. Would not have -seen it anyway. Oh well. - -Landing: I'll pack the Newton. - -Changi airport (i.e. Singapore)... not much time to visit it: just got off, and -that lady tells me to be back in half an hour. No problem: I'll just go look -around. Around is a half-a-kilometer hallway, then some shops, then start -coming back because time is running out. - -On the plane again. Getting tired of this; luckily it's the last take off. To -comply with Australian regulations and such, we are sprayed with some -pesticide, just to make sure we don't get nasty insects to land. They have -plenty already. - -This time I get to watch some movies. The screen is still not working properly, -but I'll make do. So I select channel 1 and watch The Tigger movie. It's not my -kind of cartoon (Disney: songs & good feelings), but it's not that bad either. - -Dinner. Sleep. Not so well, actually. Succeed in a two-hour near-sleep. We're -over Australia mainland, but still two hours and a half ahead prior to landing -(yes, 7 hours between takeoff and landing): another movie. Mission to Mars, -understading one word out of four. Finale cut out by Captain saying we're -landing. Finally! Another spraying, just to make sure. diff --git a/viaggi/AU/day2/du2html.xsl b/viaggi/AU/day2/du2html.xsl deleted file mode 120000 index b6e8ebc..0000000 --- a/viaggi/AU/day2/du2html.xsl +++ /dev/null @@ -1 +0,0 @@ -../../../common/du2html.xsl
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