Every so often, when I get brain dead, now that I have the means, I get drunk, and think about the places I have been, and want to go again, and have TWICE in the past two years, put my ass on a missile 40k feet up, bouncing around like a ping pong ball, wondering why the fuck I tricked myself into going.

Flying would not bother me if it was always smooth as glass. I have noticed that during certain local conditions under clear skies and slower planes, the ride seems smoother. I'd love to visit Japan again, and even visit the ruins of Pompeii.  Shit, I would also love to visit Darwin Australia just because of the name. BUT THOR FUCKING DAMN IT, why cant humans invent   a passenger jet that DOESN'T   bounce around like ping pong balls in a jar!

If it weren't for turbulence, I would probably be broke by now.

Have you considered booking passage on a freighter or tanker? They keep cabins for incidental travelers, company men or people with political pull, and those are often empty otherwise. You're not going to see any feather covered showgirls or go snorkling with a 1,000 pound grouper, but you'll get there.

And if you chose wisely you can get in several intermediate stops, like Hawaii, Bali, etc.

(April 7, 2020 at 3:43 pm)Gawdzilla Sama Wrote: Have you considered booking passage on a freighter or tanker? They keep cabins for incidental travelers, company men or people with political pull, and those are often empty otherwise. You're not going to see any feather covered showgirls or go snorkling with a 1,000 pound grouper, but you'll get there.

And if you chose wisely you can get in several intermediate stops, like Hawaii, Bali, etc.

i don't know where to look for that. But yea, if I could take a cruise ship instead of a plane I would. But seeing what cruise ships have been producing lately, it seems you have the choice of  bouncing around like a ping pong ball, or living on a floating petri dish.

(April 7, 2020 at 3:48 pm)Brian37 Wrote:

(April 7, 2020 at 3:43 pm)Gawdzilla Sama Wrote: Have you considered booking passage on a freighter or tanker? They keep cabins for incidental travelers, company men or people with political pull, and those are often empty otherwise. You're not going to see any feather covered showgirls or go snorkling with a 1,000 pound grouper, but you'll get there.

And if you chose wisely you can get in several intermediate stops, like Hawaii, Bali, etc.

i don't know where to look for that.

LMGTFY.com

Quote:But yea, if I could take a cruise ship instead of a plane I would. But seeing what cruise ships have been producing lately, it seems you have the choice of  bouncing around like a ping pong ball, or living on a floating petri dish.

Container ships move all over the planet these days.

I love flying (not mad about airports, though). To get where I’m going that quickly makes it worth a bit of turbulence.

Boru

Don't fly, and feel fucking AWESOME about not flying. To explain:

Quote:I have been concerned for many years about global warming and unnecessary air-travel's contribution to that in particular. I have come to the conclusion that this COVID-19 pandemic has taken this devastating global form due to the explosion in the volume of air-travel this planet has seen over the last 20 years or so. I'll spell out my reasoning for this as concisely as I can so please bear with me. Briefly put: I was very disapproving of air travel before COVID-19, due to global warming. Well, now....I absolutely loath it. 


The COVID-19 virus is virtually identical to the SARS virus of the 2003 epidemic (NOT pandemic). It is fair in my opinion to call this outbreak "SARS2." The COVID-19 virus' official name is, after all: severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), as opposed to "SARS" which was called severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV). Both also originated in China, likely through wet markets, bats and civets.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SARS_(disambiguation)


The 2003 SARS outbreak was reported to have a mortality rate of 10% and COVID-19 is widely reported as having a mortality rate of around 1%. However, if the figures for the UK at time of writing (51618 cases; 5373 deaths) and/or Netherlands (18803 cases; 1867 deaths), for example, were taken as they stand, then this SARS2/COVID-19 outbreak would be recorded as ALSO having a 10% mortality rate. If the figure for Italy were taken, that would return a 12.5% mortality rate – higher than SARS. It all depends on how widely testing for COVID-19 is carried out. It seems more than fair to deduce there'd be less widespread testing in Chine 17 years ago, which would explain to a large extent the 2003 SARS figures of 8,98 cases and 774 deaths.

If the two virus' (SARS and SARS2) are virtually identical then why has this 2019/20 outbreak been so very very much worse than the 2003 SARS epidemic? A massive increase in air-travel. According to the linked graph there's been a 10 fold increase in air travel out of China since the time of the 2003 SARS epidemic. There has also been a similar increase in air-travel between the various regions of China, and a huge increase in air travel globally in general too over that period. One reason Italy has it so bad is due to skiing season, it has been suggested, for example, and for a time Switzerland had the highest per capita infection rate in the world too – ski season. A single coughing SARS2 patient in a packed airport could infect carriers to a dozen different countries at least, by reason.


Graph of increase in China's outbound flights: https://fm-static.cnbc.com/awsmedia/char...183660.PNG


As if global warming weren't enough of a reason to stop doing an impression of the demise of Icarus, now we have SARS2/3/n. We cannot afford to sleepwalk into a "SARS3" pandemic by continuing to globe trot at a whim like there's no tomorrow, I conclude.


I hope this information will help with your/our objective to drastically cut air travel and do keep up the good work. As with many things perhaps, the darker the dark cloud (COVID-19) the brighter the silver lining.

(April 7, 2020 at 3:59 pm)BrianSoddingBoru4 Wrote: I love flying (not mad about airports, though). To get where I’m going that quickly makes it worth a bit of turbulence.

Boru

Yes and no. 

I actually LOVE airports, Even with delays. You  basically end up in a giant mall with tons of shops and restaurants. The only thing I hate about flying is feeling like the plane is going to go belly up like a turtle on it's back. 

I have actually gotten mad in the past at other passengers, LONG AGO, who bitch about mechanical or weather delays. That actually pisses me off. Airplanes are not like cars, if something goes wrong at 20/30/40k feet up, it isn't like you can pull over and change a flat tire. 

Back in 2000, when my X wife and I were flying to Tokyo from Chicago, the flight was delayed because a hurricane in the Pacific. I went up to the counter and THANKED THEM. 

Even on my last trip coming back from Australia recently, my flight home was delayed 9 hours and I was stuck at the airport. But again, the reason they delayed it was because of inspections on the LA end. I'd rather them slow down and do the right thing, than rush and kill me.

(April 7, 2020 at 4:07 pm)Brian37 Wrote:

(April 7, 2020 at 3:59 pm)BrianSoddingBoru4 Wrote: I love flying (not mad about airports, though). To get where I’m going that quickly makes it worth a bit of turbulence.

Boru

Yes and no. 

I actually LOVE airports, Even with delays. You  basically end up in a giant mall with tons of shops and restaurants. The only thing I hate about flying is feeling like the plane is going to go belly up like a turtle on it's back. 

I have actually gotten mad in the past at other passengers, LONG AGO, who bitch about mechanical or weather delays. That actually pisses me off. Airplanes are not like cars, if something goes wrong at 20/30/40k feet up, it isn't like you can pull over and change a flat tire. 

Back in 2000, when my X wife and I were flying to Tokyo from Chicago, the flight was delayed because a hurricane in the Pacific. I went up to the counter and THANKED THEM. 

Even on my last trip coming back from Australia recently, my flight home was delayed 9 hours and I was stuck at the airport. But again, the reason they delayed it was because of inspections on the LA end. I'd rather them slow down and do the right thing, than rush and kill me.

No, not ‘yes and no’. Just ‘yes’.

Boru

(April 7, 2020 at 4:09 pm)BrianSoddingBoru4 Wrote:

(April 7, 2020 at 4:07 pm)Brian37 Wrote: Yes and no. 

I actually LOVE airports, Even with delays. You  basically end up in a giant mall with tons of shops and restaurants. The only thing I hate about flying is feeling like the plane is going to go belly up like a turtle on it's back. 

I have actually gotten mad in the past at other passengers, LONG AGO, who bitch about mechanical or weather delays. That actually pisses me off. Airplanes are not like cars, if something goes wrong at 20/30/40k feet up, it isn't like you can pull over and change a flat tire. 

Back in 2000, when my X wife and I were flying to Tokyo from Chicago, the flight was delayed because a hurricane in the Pacific. I went up to the counter and THANKED THEM. 

Even on my last trip coming back from Australia recently, my flight home was delayed 9 hours and I was stuck at the airport. But again, the reason they delayed it was because of inspections on the LA end. I'd rather them slow down and do the right thing, than rush and kill me.

No, not ‘yes and no’. Just ‘yes’.

Boru

Um no, you can like the idea of getting somewhere, and parts of the process, without liking the bumpy side of the process.

I love Japan, I love Australia, I'd love to see Pompeii. I love the restaurants and shops in airports, even with the delays. But I fucking hate turbulence. 

So all I really hate is turbulence, not travel, not delays.

It does no good for any human to bitch about delays in air travel if that bitching causes the business to lead the crew and pilot to make deadly mistakes. 

I sat in Brisbane's airport coming home this last time expecting an AM flight, but didn't take off until 9pm.  I still had fun because I had a mall and bunch of food courts and designated smoking areas to go to.  I actually hated the bouncing around for almost 13 hours once the flight to LA from  Brisbane took off.

Flying commercial is as boring as riding a bus.


I'd rather get stick time.