Back In the Land of Tiny Beers
Lo, I have returned after a) being stranded at the Munich airport for 4 hours on Saturday morning in an ice storm, b) missing my connecting flight in Amsterdam and having to spend the night in Schiphol, and c) sharing an 8-hour trans-Atlantic flight with multiple screaming infants and some asshat who wouldn't stop kicking the back of my seat.
Whee.
Photos of my trip, meagre though they may be, can be viewed here.
Gute Nacht.
UPDATE: Now that I've had a bit of sleep, I'd like to elaborate a bit on the "screaming infant" portion of my trip. When I say "screaming", I mean it...nonstop...top of their little lungs, for hours on end. The parents made absolutely no attempt to console or distract them, nor had they brought any playthings on board. The passengers in the nearby seats were yelling at these parents to try to get them to attend to their children, but they just sat in their seats like drugged zombies. Finally, some volunteers began distracting the poor kids by playing with them and they eventually calmed down for the rest of the flight.
Now, I've flown with my kids many times when they were babies and we never, ever ignored them when they cried, deprived them of toys, and refused to change their diapers for the entire flight. I mean, WTF?!
This flight had originated in Bombay, and the children involved were all Indian. Is this a reflection of some sort of cultural gap between Asian and European child-rearing techniques that I was hitherto unaware of, or is it just piss-poor parenting? Inquiring minds want to know.
Comments
Worst trip ever? Maybe you should take a tranquilizer gun with you next time?
Posted by: orangeguru | December 5, 2005 3:20 PM
Bringing a gun onboard an airplane would ensure that I'd receive a very quiet cage in Guatanamo Bay, at least.
Posted by: MrBaliHai | December 5, 2005 3:58 PM
Bavaria IS a very quiet cage of/in Guatanamo Bay. :-)
That's your son? Compliments!
Posted by: The Cartoonist | December 5, 2005 4:09 PM
... or is it just piss-poor parenting?
I think you hit the nail on top. Idiot parents, that's it.
Posted by: The Cartoonist | December 5, 2005 4:13 PM
That's your son?
Yes, sensibly drinking tea...unlike his father, the old drunk...:-)
Posted by: MrBaliHai | December 5, 2005 4:22 PM
Wow. Suddenly the drunken hen party that sat behind and next to us on the flight back from Dublin doesn't seem so bad.
My sympathies on the air travel mishaps. :(
Posted by: czeltic girl | December 5, 2005 7:15 PM
Welcome back! Too bad about the flight and its noise level. That beer you're hefting makes me wax nostalgiac. Hmmm, German beer.
Posted by: jim | December 5, 2005 8:47 PM
Czelt: sounds like you and I both went for the World Beer Tour.
Jim: they can say what they like about the Hofbrauhaus and its touristy atmosphere, the bier there is excellent (and LARGE).
Posted by: MrBaliHai | December 6, 2005 8:31 AM
Yeah, that's his son ... ;-)
Posted by: orangeguru | December 7, 2005 8:16 AM
Welcome back world traveler.
Posted by: Collin | December 7, 2005 4:41 PM
Thanks, it's good to be back, but it looks like I'll be heading out again pretty soon, so stay tuned.
Posted by: MrBaliHai | December 7, 2005 7:57 PM
Did you get a chance to pop into the Munich Trader Vic's? The pictures I've seen look truly lovely.
Gads, I'm turning into a real one-note song with this tiki business. You visit Germany and the first thing I want to hear is if you visited an American outpost of idealized Polynesia.
Posted by: Humuhumu | December 10, 2005 5:24 AM
I'm turning into a real one-note song with this tiki business
Ha! I know what you mean. I try to avoid becoming too focused on the tiki stuff, but I often find that the first thing I do when planning a trip these days is stop by your Critiki site to see if my destination offers any o' them faux-Polynesian outposts...;-)
I did visit the Munich Vic's. I just stopped by for a quick Mai Tai and a plate of Cosmo Tidbits, since my company's too cheap to cover the cost of eating dinner there. It is indeed one of the more beautiful Vic's that I've visited in my travels.
Posted by: MrBaliHai | December 10, 2005 8:16 AM