Thursday, August 14, 2008

Time Zonin': The Dollar vs the Euro

After a monstrous day of errand running, luggage buying, rapid packing and rushed departing, we made it JFK with Budweiser time to spare. As pictures and video can only partially illustrate, we have massive bags. As I would later find out, my two pieces of checked baggage ring in at 55 kilos combined. Lugging the luggage was a mere formality under the spell of adrenaline and optimism.

On the way out of NYC, we laid eyes up the fullest, brightest, most magnificent rainbow I’d ever seen. Simply breathtaking. A good omen?

The Air India flight was about what I expected, complete with chicken curry and mini-samosas. Smooth trasn-Atlantic journey, but, oh, that was merely the beginning of the day. Arriving at London Heathrow at 8:00hr, our next task was to change airports. We had to get to Stansted to catch the Ryanair flight to Karls-Bande, where we would then rendez-vous with DJ Rectape and T-Killa and drive to Strasbourg, just over the German border in France. The airport jaunt turned out to be a nearly 3 hour bus ride. Z’s all the way. Walking into Stansted was a like entering Ellis Island on a light day in 1898. Utter madness. Lines with no end, passengers yet no airline employees. Fortunately we had about 6 hours to kill before our flight.

We enter Stansted swinging.




Somewhere around hour 4 of time killing, I read some of the fine print on the Ryanair e-ticket. It is a “discount” airline, designed for the European day commuter, and built to royally screw anyone with over 15 kilos of luggage. Basically, the fine print read that the overweight charge is “12 GBP per kg over 15 kgs.” Considering I have over 55 kgs of shit, the “overcharge” was painful, to put it mildly. If you needed anything else to slam on the Bush administration, tack on the weakness of the U.S. dollar. Cringe-worthy prices. Big shouts out to Jacob from Ryanair. But be forewarned: “discount European” airlines can quickly become anything but cheap. If you have a choice, avoid Ryaniar at all costs. Real talk.


But we are here, all the merchandise made it overseas, and we’re readying to rock Strasbourg ce soir. Incredibly beautiful border city, across the Rhine River from Germany. Magical streets, lovely hosts. Turnableast crew is great peoples; it’s a dream realized to chill with global Hip Hoppers in NYC, then rendez-vous with them in their homeland. But, hey, that’s the theme of this trip.

“Summer Breaks” is taking on more meanings than I ever could’ve imagined…

Ciao for now,

RD

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

two thumbs up ;)

michaelle said...

hey, soo beautiful,the rainbow,amazing!!

such a trip!!
the kilograms is bad,man!!
crazy..

cute pics!

bonne nuit pour la derniere nuit !!!