One thing that did make things insanely easy is the ESTA programme, as I am from the UK, I am one of many citizens who can take advantage of a visa waiver agreement. What that entails is filling out a form with some awesome questions. For example; are you a terrorist? Have you committed an act of genocide? Were you a member of the Nazi party between 1933 and 1945?
Fortunately this form you complete no later than 72 hours before you fly in the comfort of your own home. Had this been a one to one conversation with a border guard I imagine it would have ended up a bit like a Bill Bailey comedy gig! The downside to this is that it does cost you $14, however, it lasts for two years and gives you unlimited 90 day blocks that you can visit for. So the New Jersey formula 1 race is now very enticing in 2013...
So with this form being passed with ease, I was all set having converted sterling into dollars and all that jazz. Now the day started very annoyingly, my flight was due to depart for London at 10am, with my cab I ended up being at Manchester airport at 6:20am... They wouldn’t let me check in until 8am! An extra hour in bed missed, denied!
Swallowing this through a coffee shop and a book, all started to go smoothly again, until I get to the gate and board the plane. All seems perfectly normal, full of people in suits going for business meetings in the main. When the pilot comes on the radio, “well Ladies & Gentlemen, we know that you are all ready to depart, as are we, we’d like nothing more than to take off now. Unfortunately, there has been some very severe weather in London, and it has caused a backup of planes on the runways. As such we have not been given permission to take off due to the very short trip, we aim to be airborne in around 70 minutes!”
Being a naturally cautious guy, often to the point of paranoia, this really started to set me fraying. Originally I was to have a layover in London of just under four hours, which I booked in case anything should go wrong. Score one for planning ahead!
So with the 70 minutes up, we start to move, when we suddenly pull over at the side of the runway. Mass confusion arouses in the passengers when the pilot comes back on the radio, “well Ladies & Gentlemen, we now have permission from London. The problem though is that the aircraft has developed several glitches which stop us from taking off, we have tried the work arounds and unfortunately they have failed. So we now have to do a hard shutdown of the craft, like a computer, and hopefully it should all be ok. We’ll then need around ten minutes for the navigation systems to detect where we are and then we’ll be ready to go.” So half an hour later and finally we are in the air, three hours of lost time, what in the world was gonna happen next?
Well I arrive in London two hours late and get through connections to see a customer service desk with one agent and a huge queue... Fuck that! Next! So I walk up to the main concourse of terminal 5 and this place... I hate it!
Seriously, what is with this place? It’s not that it was packed, I expect that from a huge international airport. It was the food, all the places were brands like Harrods! The only place that looked promising was a sushi place called itsu, but it was absolutely jam packed with about forty people waiting to pay.
All I wanted was something like a burger, maybe pie and chips, something filling, simple and relatively inexpensive. Absolutely nothing on the main concourse, but then, my gate gets announced as B47, now this is where T5 is even more flashy and modern. If your gate is either B or C, then you have to go underground, jump on some form of train and be ferried over.
Fortunately, on the other side was a rather swanky styled sandwich store, but they did a delicious ham & cheese on thick crusty bread for just £3.80... At Heathrow I will take that! Rest of the wait went by without incident, just a case of a quick Vlog and rest.
The flight to Atlanta itself was scheduled for around 9 hours, but due to favourable conditions we were looking at 8 and a half... Until some Germans had been affected by the same problem we had towards Manchester, cue them arriving twenty minutes late, doh! Recovery wiped out.
Still, it was an ok experience, the flight was on a Boeing 777 which I had never flown on before. Some things about it freaked me a little, the overhead lockers for instance. Instead of simply being a case of open a hatch and throw in your stuff, instead you pull on this bar and the shelf kind of pulls down like a bunk bed, very very weird!
I was in the middle bank of seats but luckily had the aisle seat so at least had some room, next to me though was a Mother and child and I was just thinking ‘oh now you’re taking the piss!’ Anticipating wailing, crying, arguing... None of it whatsoever, easily the best behaved child I have ever seen on a flight. Little girl fills out the colouring book, sits watching some kids films and then sleeps. The only disturbance I got out of her was one tiny little elbow bump, and I barely even noticed that due to my reading!
One thing I wasn’t impressed about was the food, first meal was standard chicken and mash affair with bread, brew, beer and a chocolate mousse. This was ok actually. No, what happened was it got served less than two hours into the flight, there was then nothing else served until about an hour and a half before we landed...
And good god was it shit, if it wasn’t the biggest fucking insult I have experienced. It was, no joke, a sandwich and a cupcake. I am dead fucking serious! Oh it had fancy packaging and all that bullshit, but the fact was, it was a Gregg’s meal deal without the bag of crisps! I take it back, it’s not an insult... Insults have done nothing of worth to be associated with it! Debacle, farce, pathetic, useless... Take your pick, they all apply!
So anyway not long after this we land at Maynard jackson airport and begin to taxi along to the terminal... We taxied very very very very slowly! We hit the tarmac at around 19:20 local time, I didn’t get to disembark until 19:45! Fortunately the walk to customs was rather short and I joined the queue of internationals that need to be vetted about entry.
There was a fairly long line, but, it was processed quickly. I got to join a queue at a desk for a customs agent after less than ten minutes, and then another seven or so and I was up at the desk for my adjudication. I get there, present my passport, remove my glasses so the agent can compare the photo with my face.
I then get asked the question, ‘why are you here?’ So I just told the lady that I was here for Anime Weekend Atlanta. Suddenly, ‘how long have you been into anime?’ I wasn’t expecting that so just went, ‘oh lord, since about 1999, it used to air on television and I watched it when I was in college.’ She wasn’t done! ‘What do you collect in regards to this?’ I was a little caught out but did my best to avoid being flustered. ‘Dvd’s, photocards, books, soundtracks, albums, figurines, lots of things.’
By now I am thinking that we were almost done... We weren’t! ‘How did you hear about this event?’ Well for this I then explained who Kikkawa Yuu was, how I had found out about the event through her e-mail blog that is sent out by her management, and that I was one of her biggest fans. Agent was like, ‘So you had to get on this? She announces that she is coming to the USA and you can’t miss it?’ I just went ‘yes, it is a very special concert appearance.’
Agent finally started smiling so I am guessing that at this point she had reached the conclusion that I wasn’t lying and coming up with a very creative method of illegal entry. She then switches to the very standard questions about currency I have, any food and all that. Before finally she orders me to present all four fingers and thumb on both hands, and facial shot. This all checked out and I was through.
Phew! I wasn’t expecting it to be as easy as when I went to Japan, but I wasn’t expecting all of that! Fortunately this coincided perfectly with bags coming off the airline, so I was able to pick it up and head out into a taxi.
I enjoyed the cab ride a lot as it ventured from city street driving into motorway, and on the horizon I could just see all these skyscrapers and the drive in places. It was an awesome experience, felt very different to the UK. Cab cost me about $60 which is about what I expected and was no less expensive than any other method I got quoted, with the added advantage of not having to provide all my particulars to companies.
When I got to the hotel area, it turned out I had booked a motel. Trust an englishman to book here with no car! Had an amusing experience at first in that I was given a room and keys, get there and they don’t work. No matter, I’ll just inform the reception. Well, right after, the door opens and a guy goes ‘hello?’ I was like ‘err... I have the room... You’re not staff are you?” Dude is like ‘nope that’s sure wrong!’ I just went, ‘sorry mate I’ll speak with reception’
Needless to say the guy on the desk was rather red-faced about this! Fortunately he took me to another one, which is actually very nice. Big bed, large tv, fridge, freezer, cooker, bathing facilities... Almost like an apartment rather than a hotel. Yeah, it’s a bit odd being on foot compared with every other resident, but then, mostly likely I am the only one from the UK here so that figures!
Having slept until 4:15am local time I got up, wrote this and released the vlogs. My plan for today is to start with breakfast and a shower, then later find the venues so I can have a look at those and hopefully get the jump on what is happening. Gonna be a lot of fun. Until next time, sets sail.
Glad to see you made it to Atlanta safely! I'm set to arrive there myself Thursday morning.
ReplyDeleteYeah glad I made it too! I am going to be updating with my blog about reaching the venues and that later on, but awesome you are coming Thursday, we'll have to hook up at some point ^_^
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