I wish I had been everywhere in the world. Northwest only flies to certain places, and that’s mostly where I’ve been. Asia and Europe and the United States are the only places I’ve seen. I still need to go to South American, Africa and India! Oh, and Antarctica. Speaking of which, I am going to South America and Antarctica with my mom and her friends in January 2008! I can’t wait!
Singapore was a city I loved to visit and never tired of. Growing up in Florida, the humidity in Singapore wasn’t a problem. Deciding what to do was! I visited the Jurong Bird Park and the Crocodile Farm, of course. The zoo was my favorite place, because it was like walking in a rain forest. It is set up so that you are almost always next to the water, and it is beautiful. Komodo Dragons, kangaroos in an environment you walk through, and little Tamarin monkeys were my favorites.
Chinatown, Arab Street and Little India were always fun. There were gardens and neighborhoods to explore. Raffles Long Bar is the best place to read on a rainy day. When I wasn’t exploring, I was swimming in the hotel pool with underwater speakers and the swim-up bar.
Chinatown was famous for their reflexology, and I was a skeptic of the worst sort. One time with a good reflexologist changed my doubting-Thomas mind. I was hooked, and often walked out of one reflexology place and into another one down the hall. For only fifteen dollars U.S., I could get a fifty minute session which included my hands and shoulders. We pilots need to be pampered and de-stressed!
Hong Kong had great reflexology, too. I liked the “Wooden Bucket”!
Cab drivers took me on tours of their city, sometimes turning off the meter to show me the temples and houses they lived in. Some residents loved their “fine” city; others hated the government’s intrusion into their lives. I liked talking to them and learning about their lives and families. My mom claims I’ve never met a stranger, and she is right. I love meeting people.
Supposedly, there was an underground of huge proportions, but tourists never knew. I felt safe there, but never tested the 3AM theory and was always home at a decent hour. Once we went to a dinner show which turned out to be topless, buxom Australian women dancing onstage. It was quite a night.
Another time I was awakened by an argument in the hotel room next door. A California porn star was filming a movie in Singapore. She kicked her boyfriend out of her room because he wouldn’t leave her alone at night when she needed her beauty sleep. It was an interesting conversation…. I couldn’t hear all of it, but the flight engineer had the room on the other side, so we were in stitches filling in the conversation gaps.
I enjoyed getting to know the real Singapore. A monkey tried to attack me near the ferry on Singapore’s Sentosa island. My friend, Bill, was trying to take a picture of me with the monkey and had me step “Just a little closer….” My seniority is better than his, and I still think he was trying to gain a number by taking me out. I still have a picture of me running as the monkey’s barred its teeth and jumped at me! Talk about stupid. She had babies in the bushes and I was too close.
Sitting on the wall, watching the sun go down on the same day, Bill remarked that the wall seemed alive. It was. With rats!
That reminds me of another time I was in Thailand at the world’s largest restaurant, Tum Nuk Thai. The menu was fifty pages long, including shark fin, and the waiters wore roller skates. I was told the place could seat 3000. My girlfriend remarked that there were cats down by the creek underneath us. I told her they definitely rhymed with cats.
I often took ferries from Singapore to Batam, Indonesia to visit friends. I loved Batam, but the island was so poor. The people had fish to eat, but jobs were hard to come by. My friends took oil and rice to the people living in kampoons on the island, but they couldn’t make a dent in the rampant poverty. All the high tech computer companies were establishing factories on the island and the population grew too fast. Prostitution and drugs were everywhere.
I took tours to Malaysia, too. I was surprised that, as poor as the people seemed, they had Nintendo and televisions in their huts! I learned about rubber trees and the effects of AIDS on their economy. Suddenly everyone needed rubber gloves to prevent infection.
One of my best girlfriends, Akiko, lives near the hotel in Narita, Japan. She drove me to places I never would have been able to see on my own. Some days I just ran errands with her or drank coffee and talked. When I had more time we would hike or tour the “Street of Dream” designer homes in Narita or visit her mom in Chiba City.
The guys joke that I have a girlfriend in every city. I do have friends and family all over the world. One month I had Boston layovers, and I was meeting my Aunt Jane. I didn’t realize the pilots thought I was having an affair; “Aunt Jane” was a term for boyfriend. So, on the last layover of the month, she met me at the hotel and was waiting in the lobby. The captain went inside first; I was still waiting for my bags. When I got into the lobby, he was hustling my Aunt Jane! Boy, did his face turn red when she told him who she was.
If there is one thing I miss about being retired, it is the traveling. I never realized how much fun seeing the world could be until I became an international pilot.
Hotel pool in Narita, Japan
Our last vacation, we traveled to Canada. Kevin, Colt and I drove to Aunt Irene and Uncle Sams’ first, and spent the night. Then we were the last ones to board the ferry the next day to Vancouver Island. It was funny – they were closing the gate when one of the guys said “Hey, we can fit that little car in.” So I drove the Rav 4 on and we were off on vacation!
I called ahead and booked the last room in Nanaimo for the night. It was jazz festival weekend and the city was full! We had a great dinner at the Coast Hotel and listened to an amazing jazz concert on the waterfront, just below our balcony. What a night!
The next day we drove to Campbell River and stayed at the Dolphin Resort, a cute little motel with cabins and fireplaces and jacuzzis right on the ocean. That’s what they call the salt water out front, and that’s where the killer whales swim. We took a boat trip and saw pod after pod – what an awesome experience. Colt biked the mountain and found mountain biking more strenuous than expected. We hiked and explored, finally ending up on Quadra Island, just across from Campbell River. There were floatplanes everywhere, and I realized Colt had never been in a small plane, much less one with floats. I booked us a floatplane ride for the next day.
The Beaver pulled up right in front to pick us up. The pilot was Bob, and the passenger was Jack. We were taking Jack home, getting a two hour flight for the price of one. Turns out, we had quite an adventure. Jack was a local author and prospector who had discovered gold. You would never know it, judging by the dump he lived in. His home was at the bottom of a glacier, and he told us he bought the land all around – 40 km north and 8 kilometers west. Turns out, he not only owned two gold mines, but also the glacier which is receding and giving up diamonds! Oh, and two of the ships the Spanish had loaded with gold sunk in his harbor and he had finally, after 20 years, acquired rights to salvage and mine! We unloaded the Beaver (lots of whiskey, an outboard motor, etc. – a Beaver can carry a lot) and took off for Quadra Island.
I kept watching the internet and the Discovery Channel for news of Jack. He was supposed to be on. Nothing. Finally I searched and searched one night. The Campbell River Mirror (newspaper) reported him missing two weeks after we dropped him off. I called the flying service the next day and they confirmed it. Except they said he was dead, murdered, and that his murderer was in jail in Nanaimo. Bummer. I so wanted him to get rich and fulfill his dream.
