Three Cheers for Airline Companies

I knew it was a bad omen when I bought an edition of The Economist before my trip to Brussels and there was a 14-page section decrying the state of the airline industry in the U.S. and abroad. I scoffed at the magazine's negativity. "Airline travel is the miracle of the 20th century," I said aloud, startling the TSA representative molesting me ever-so-gently in Heathrow's Terminal 4. But, as always my optimism has failed me again (i.e. the Mets 1986-2007). At Charles de Gaulle in Paris on Wednesday evening, we waited for 2 and 1/2 hours for a 1 hour flight to Nice. Our captain apologized, eloquently, I might add, in 3 languages, for the disruption, and said there was a 1/2 hour delay at each airport the plane touched down at that day. Add that up, and voila!, 2 and 1/2 hours tacked on to our short flight to Nice.

Maria and I arrived in Nice about 1:30 AM and after eating shit with a smile (paying 30 euros for a cab ride) found ourselves still a little hungry. We found a kebab joint still open and chowed down. Two drunk Australian dudes approached us and one, picking up on my hint of an American accent, exclaimed "Happy 4th of July, mate! It's your day!" And that completed the least American 4th of July ever celebrated. Me, in enemy territory (France) eating some Turkish kebab and getting clapped on the back by an Australian guy.