Off the Cuff / My Other Journal

Economy woes, our trip, etc.

I haven’t written in my blog for such a long time. Although I was away for most of the last month, for the time before that I have no excuse.

From a long overseas trip, we came back to an economy that went from bad to worse. Now panic has gripped the markets and the big seven (G7) will meet in a matter of hours in Washington. We just listened to Bush’s sermon on TV. It seems he is leaving it in God’s hands, even if he didn’t say that exactly. Out of not knowing what to say, I can only say, Well, God Bless! Maybe we can add up John Mc Cain’s IQ of 138 to Joe Biden’s 146 and convert their sum to cash.

One thing we did good was to take this trip. At least, we’ll have this one last memory of splurging if all banks go kaboom and our retirement funds and social security go bankrupt.

Our itinerary was Southern Europe from West Palm Beach, FL airport to NYC (JFK), then to Rome, then Athens, a day trip to Santorini, on to Istanbul, to Turkish islands on the Aegean, back to Istanbul, then a direct flight to New York, and to Florida (PBI). It was like the old times of air flight in the Turkish airlines airbus from Istanbul to NYC.

They fed us non-stop with the best airplane food I have ever eaten, and they gave each passenger a gift package containing socks, earplugs, and portable toothbrush and paste. Each seat had its own TV, and they handed out earphones with no charge. (Jet Blue, shame on you! You don’t give earphones anymore.) The plane personnel were extremely helpful to passengers. They worked non-stop, and they even cleaned up the toilets every now and then. Although it was a long 12 hour-flight, we enjoyed it greatly. This was almost nostalgic for us, since it made us reminisce what air flight in US planes had been once upon a time.

Another thing, in Istanbul’s airport, we went through six security checks. If anyone is complaining about the security checks in USA airports, which is only one, they should go through Istanbul’s. In the last security check, they opened every bag and handbag, three female officers women’s things, three male officers men’s carry-on bags. Although terribly unpleasant, it made me feel better that they are taking such care. Those people must care about us, I thought.