Musings of an Inveterate Traveler Iii

By Dr. Robert H. Schram

Musings of an Inveterate Traveler III is the personalized experienced of a pleasure traveler to: Costa Rica, China, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Slovakia, and Hungary. It includes text referenced pictures, personal comments and insights, history, travel snafus, animals, plants, people, places, humor, ironies, and the sheer joy of traveling as one of lifes greatest gifts. The book will be enjoyed by experienced and inexperienced travelers of all ages who can relate to the manifold experiences or who enjoy those adventures vicariously from the comfort of their easy-chair. The writing, like life, is filled with humor, ironies, ups and downs, twists and curves. It is written without trying to judge the world, its leaders, or its economic systems; it takes place over four years, one unrelated trip at a time, with my partner Jean (aka Jean Lou, Jeanala, JR,) and me as the only repeating characters. Each chapter contains opinions, personal preferences, various insights about other people and me. My musings involve 8 Dr. Robert H. Schram experiences common to all travelers; e.g., travel connection problems, errors and omissions, comic cultural contacts, joyful interludes, camaraderie, dining, shopping. Uncommon to many travelers I include spiritual musings about humans, animals, plants, rocks, the Earth, and the universe. Read, laugh and most of all, ENJOY!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Dec 21, 2010
• ISBN: 9781456832025

Dr. Robert H. Schram

The author Dr. ROBERT H. SCHRAM is a fellow in the American Association for Intellectual Disabilities and Autism for his meritorious service supporting children and adults with Intellectual Disabilities and Autism over forty-two years in Bucks County Pennsylvania. He has degrees in Political Science and Personnel/Counseling with a Doctorate in Public Administration and is Executive Director Emeritus of BARC Developmental Services (1977-2020). His prior published books include the following: Maximize Life by Living for Peace, Harmony, and Joy Oh My God it is all the Same! Zohar - The Book of Radiance Revealed Life is but a Dream! Musings of an Inveterate Traveler Musings of an Inveterate Traveler II Musings of an Inveterate Traveler III Illusafact the Inevitable Advance of our Technologies & Us Musings of an Inveterate Traveler IV Company Management…Policies, Procedures, Practices Mixed Marriage . . .Interreligious, Interracial, Interethnic Worldwide Human Corruption

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Copyright © 2011 by Dr. Robert H. Schram.

ISBN: Softcover    978-1-4568-3201-8

ISBN: Ebook         978-1-4568-3202-5

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Contents

INTRODUCTION

AIRPORTS, FLYING, AND TRANSFERS

RIVERS, OCEANS, HORSES, TRAINS, CARS, BUSES, FEET

ACCOMMODATIONS and DINING

PEOPLE

PLACES

THINGS

LIVING LIFE THROUGH TRAVEL

INTRODUCTION

Musings of an Inveterate Traveler III is the personalized experienced of a pleasure traveler to: Costa Rica, China, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Slovakia, and Hungary. It includes text referenced pictures, personal comments and insights, history, travel snafus, animals, plants, people, places, humor, ironies, and the sheer joy of traveling as one of life’s greatest gifts. The book will be enjoyed by experienced and inexperienced travelers of all ages who can relate to the manifold experiences or who enjoy those adventures vicariously from the comfort of their easy-chair. The writing, like life, is filled with humor, ironies, ups and downs, twists and curves. It is written without trying to judge the world, its leaders, or its economic systems; it takes place over four years, one unrelated trip at a time, with my partner Jean (aka Jean Lou, Jeanala, JR,) and me as the only repeating characters. Each chapter contains opinions, personal preferences, various insights about other people and me. My musings involve experiences common to all travelers; e.g., travel connection problems, errors and omissions, comic cultural contacts, joyful interludes, camaraderie, dining, shopping. Uncommon to many travelers I include spiritual musings about humans, animals, plants, rocks, the Earth, and the universe. Read, laugh and most of all, ENJOY!

AIRPORTS, FLYING, AND TRANSFERS

Jean and I spent the evening packing, discussing our travel needs, bringing Puka the cat to his animal hotel, going out for a newly discovered low fat pizza at Pizza Hut, and watching television. Fortunately, the next morning was raining ‘cats and dogs’ but not the forecasted icy wintry mix. Pavel, our newly arrived Russian immigrant, showed up on time in his brand new Lexus sans wife Natalie by his side. He could not get out of his car to help us since he had broken his leg playing with his six-year old son on a motorized scooter. We had plenty of time so the pouring rain and Route 95 traffic was of no concern. We arrived 2.5 hours prior to our flight so we did some walking and discovered an electronic accessory store. The young Asian clerk was very well versed in all the latest gadgetry. Since the theft of my chariot and loss of my cell phone and palm pilot I was without a compatible portable keyboard for my new palm 100. I had purchased one on the Internet from Texas but unfortunately it had not arrived prior to our departure. The absence of a keyboard is huge to 21st century writers since longhand is not only more laborious but redundant since every word needs to be typed for electronic filing. In a rare moment of selfish fiscal abandon I plunked down $77 to buy my second keyboard in less than a week. Thankfully we had two hours before our American launch so I requested the clerk to assist me in insuring the working compatibility of my new device. Palm Inc. had upgraded keyboards since my last ‘dumb’ one and this new one came with two flat cadmium batteries and a computer disc. As I searched for the disc portal I was informed that it downloaded to my computer and then is synchronized with the palm pilot that communicates to the keyboard by wireless infrared signals. I informed the helpful, but poor listening clerk, that it defeats my entire purpose of splurging on a second $77 purchase for the same item since I will not be near my laptop for two weeks. Undaunted, he called another store in the airport, who agreed to deliver the palm pilot’s synchronization cradle, and he would download the program on his store computer and synchronize it to my palm. As we waited for the cradle courier, the clerk realized that it would not work since he did not carry the palm pilot software on his computer or in the store. He quickly called in time to cancel the cradle delivery and sadly refunded my $77 purchase. I thanked him for his solution search and we strolled by the various stores. I was taken by some beautiful crystal jellyfish art entombed in a heavy glass coffin and some perfume decanters. The Philadelphia Museum store offered some delightful Buddhist carvings, Rodin’s The Thinker, which I had previously procured for Aaron’s birthday, and some very nice 16th century wood figures. We had no intention of schlepping gifts throughout our trip and hoped we would see more unique objects in Costa Rica. As we shared a large café con leche, our attentive Asian palm pilot clerk returned my palm pilot stylus that I had inadvertently left on the counter.

Our flight to Miami boarded and taxied without incident until we were near the runway; the pilot informed us the starter motor for the engines was clogged and we needed to return to the terminal. Thirty minutes later we were back at the runway, only to be told, that the wind was too dangerous for an easterly take off, so we would wait for it to die down or use another runway in the opposite direction. We became airborne one hour past departure time and to our relief arrived in Miami Terminal E in time to make our connecting Costa Rican flight in Terminal A, the farthermost point from our arrival portal. Miami Terminal directional signage was large and simple; A, B, C, D, E with red directional arrows and walking time indicated at each sign; it was a sixteen minute walk from A to E. We arrived much earlier than sixteen minutes only to be told that boarding was delayed due to the late arrival of the pilots followed by further delay . . . the late arrival of the stewards and stewardesses. Jean took a stroll and purchased two chicken breast sandwiches for dinner since many flights no longer provided meals; we consumed both in the vertical position while patiently waiting to board in the fully occupied A-22 portal. The flight was unremarkable with clear skies all the way to San Jose. We went through customs without a hitch and were greeted by an enormous array of travel agents, guides, skycaps, and taxi drivers. We quickly located our OAT guide Carlos Arceyet who marshaled us with a couple from Minnesota for a thirty-minute drive to the San Jose Courtyard Marriott.

Juan Carlos took Jean and me to the airport at 7:30 AM for our noon flight to Dallas and on to Philadelphia. I had finished another book With Roots in Heaven by Rabbi Tirzah Firestone and completed Robert Silverberg’s The Longest Way Home by the time we arrived in Philadelphia. In Dallas, we had a four-hour layover and since our flight was on time from San Jose, and we had to obtain Jean’s checked baggage for customs, I figured we could get an earlier flight. My hopes were dashed, however, when I encountered another KNSA (know nothing say anything) club member at the bag check. I told him we would like to take an earlier flight and he pointed us to another man ten feet away after taking our to-be-checked bag and putting it on the conveyer belt. Within minutes we learned from his colleague that the bag he took would be going on our original flight no matter what flight we took. We spent the four hours walking, reading, eating, and meditating. For some reason, unlike our bagged pretzel flights thirteen days earlier, both flights home had hot meals. Pavel had become lost and we only had Natalia’s home and cell phone number and she did not answer so we left a message. She called Pavel who was riding around the airport looking for the American Terminal. Since we were tired at 11:00 PM, I started to negotiate a ride home with a Philadelphia family, whose initial reaction was not favorable. Fortunately, Pavel pulled up in the nick of time, and we were home before midnight. As with all our adventure trips, things we take for granted, living in civilized America, are most appreciated when we are forced to do without them. This time it was smooth paved roads. Route 95 north felt like we were driving on velvet after two weeks of being exposed to very bumpy and frequently unpaved roads.

I returned home from my monthly Board of Directors meeting at 10:00 PM, calling Jean en-route who was just finishing her packing for our journey to China. She was concerned if she was taking enough warm clothing and not forgetting anything. I had packed the previous day and only had to attend to my passport, travel papers, itinerary, and the transfer of necessary items from my wallet to my wrap-around-my-waist money belt; a security must for world travelers. I decided to take all my cash, credit card, health insurance card, driver’s license, ATM card, business cards, and one business card containing all my pertinent phone numbers and pin numbers. In the middle of my wallet transfer Jean came into the bedroom with her one carry-on and proceeded to unpack the overstuffed bag in order to get my opinion on what she did not need to lighten the load. Since she had more than ample warm clothing I suggested she discard one sweater and her bulky raincoat. She seemed to concur and proceeded to re-pack absent the two items.

We both hit the sheets around 11:30 PM for our 4:00 AM wakeup and 5:00 AM departure to Philadelphia International Airport. Our alarm clock, having an artificial mind of its own did not go off and we arose at 4:40 AM rushing to shower, dress, and leave on time. Before we left the house Jean had second thoughts about not taking the raincoat and proceeded to stuff it in her already full duffle bag along with our lunch, bananas, water, apples, and her sundry toiletries. I groaned at the weight of our third carry-on but felt that Jean had really made an excellent transition from her huge check-in luggage from previous trips after having some of her jewelry and clothing pilfered by unknown and unseen villains.

We left the house to find our trustworthy neighbor Bruce ready to roll down Route 95. He handed me the keys, I assume, so he could finish his coffee and we had a rather uneventful ride to the airport bemoaning the high cost of gasoline since Hurricane Katrina, and having consensus that price gouging was at work since a barrel of oil before Katrina was selling at $70 and now, two weeks later, was selling for $63. I gave Bruce a healthy tip to more than compensate for his gas consumption and we groggily entered the United terminal to learn that the computer had our seats reserved for the Philadelphia to San Francisco leg of the journey but our status was non-existent for the San Francisco to Beijing flight. In disgust I informed the agent that this was second time in a row that United had ignored or changed our seat reservations. The agent informed us that the flight was full and she assigned us two interior seats 47J and 48J on the jumbo 747. She told us to make our case once we arrived in San Francisco but for now she wanted to insure we had something since the 1:45 PM flight was the only flight for China that day. The flight to San Francisco was not full and I had the luxury of an aisle seat with no one in the two seats next to me. After reading Time and Newsweek I was able to catch some shuteye in a fully prone position. Upon awaking I was able to view, due to the cloudless conditions, the incredible topology of what I assume was Kansas, Utah, and Nevada. The Wall Street Journal had an article on China’s continuing, and growing market share incursion into the world’s textile, manufacturing, and film industries. There was also a more disturbing article on the Draconian measures China was taking to control its population by demanding and enforcing the policy of one child per family. The article interviewed eight and nine month pregnant women who were held down by officials while they injected poison into their uteruses in order to kill their unborn infants. They also performed forced abortions and sterilizations. It was a rude awakening about the country we were about to vacation for three weeks. The article pointed out that the Government does not like conversations about Tibet, ghosts, corrupt police and government officials.

We had a close to perfect landing at the SF airport by the bay and waited about ten minutes to deplane due to a loading dock snafu. We arrived unharmed and ready to go on the next leg. We negotiated the rather attractive airport past a long corridor of hermetically sealed dinosaur fossils; a rather unusual display for an airport. Upon arriving at a major intersection we noticed an oriental woman marshalling overseas travelers down a staircase, into a secure airport bus that delivered us to the international terminal. We debussed and found a Mexican restaurant that offered its patrons free electric service; I charged my Ipod and Palm Trio so I could write this travelogue in route to China while listening to my favorite tunes. Jean procured some sparkling water to drink with our Shoprite lunches. After our leisurely repast Jean unsuccessfully went off in search of a United agent to insure our seating. I used the time to guard our luggage, write, leave a message for my life long friend Doug Carver in a nearby hospital and call high school chum Mike Cowles regarding his condition. Jean returned baffled at the total lack of any United staff anywhere to help us with our twelve hour seats to Beijing. We both departed the restaurant for gate 94 one hour before flight time to find over one hundred anxious travelers to the Orient. I guarded the suitcases while Jean made our case to the rather negative agent, only to return with the news that they will hold our tickets to see if they can find aisle seats based on changes and cancellations. After about fifteen minutes we were called with about seven others for re-issued seats. The negative agent gave us two seats, one aisle and one in the middle, in spite of Jean’s explicit instructions for two aisle seats. Defeated by the agent’s incompetence, I bit the fiscal bullet and spent an additional $1100 for business class seats. Jean was flabbergasted and a more