05.30.08

I’m Back Again

Posted in Uncategorized at 5:56 pm by Administrator

Well, I’m back after a two week blogging break. Brian and I took a trip to the UK, and while I am happy to be back again, I’m shocked at how the gas prices here in LA have once again risen in such a short time. Last January when Andrew and I took a short two week trip to the Philippines, we came back to find that gasoline prices had increased about 30 cents per gallon while we were away. Then just this May, Brian and I took off for another short two weeks, and alas, the gasoline prices increased yet again about another 30 cents! Regular unleaded is now over $4.00 a gallon. The cheapest I’ve seen since we’ve returned is $4.07 per gallon, regular unleaded. Cripes, if this keeps up, I’m gonna have to get my bicycle back in working order. Driving will be reserved only for “necessary” long distance driving. Ha! Let’s see if I can hold to that! Well, to look at it with a little more perspective, the gasoline prices in the UK is over $9.00 a gallon! Yikes! You’d think I should be thanking my lucky stars that we are only up to $4 a gallon, but then again, the British pound is worth double our American dollars, so it kind of balances out. However, I was happy to see on the British news that they are pressing their government to lower petrol prices. Hopefully, America will come to their senses and follow suit.
I know I haven’t finished my travelogue of the Philippines, but for the most part, I’ve pretty much covered the basics. I do want to go back to a bit of it, particularly some of the things I found interesting or unusual, but for now, I want to share some stuff on our recent trip to the UK. The original intent was to visit the Isle of Man. As we researched flights and bookings, we decided if we’re gonna go all that way over there, we might as well visit London, too, for the heck of it. This was actually put together on somewhat short notice when I saw that we had a window of opportunity to make a short trip. So we tried out Expedia.com for the first time to see what flight rates and bookings were running. (BTW, we turned out to be happy with how things worked out with Expedia.com. It was easy to book and no problems at any points along the way). Naturally we wanted to find good rates, and we found that flying out in the middle of the week is cheaper than flying out on the weekends. Expedia got us booked with American Airlines starting from LAX to Chicago, then connecting from Chicago to Manchester. We had to get in to Manchester because there are no flights from London Heathrow to Isle of Man. I really didn’t think much of it other than I supposed that there likely isn’t a big influx of people flying in to the Isle of Man, and thus I shouldn’t expect lots of direct flights to Isle of Man. It wasn’t until we landed in Manchester that the light went on in my head. The trigger to my revelation was the first sight we saw as we disembarked from our plane. The terminal gate had glass windows where we could see the plane from which we were disembarking. It was one of American Airlines’ 767s, a fairly large plane. Right next to it was a tiny little white plane with the large lettering that read, “Flybe” in baby blue. Ack! Our connecting flight to IoM is with Flybe. This will be my first time on such a small plane. Granted I know there are much smaller planes, but I’ve never been on one of those. It actually looked rather cute, so I tried to get a comparison pic of the size of the Flybe plane next to the American Airlines plane. The terminal didn’t allow for such a good shot, but maybe this shot will give a slight idea.

The plane we had just gotten off of was the sliver AA plane on the left with the red and blue stripes. The Flybe plane is the cute little one on the right. So I thought, “well, this should be interesting.” After getting through the checkpoints for our connecting flight, we were directed to our connecting gate. It didn’t take long before we saw this approaching:

Erp, that plane has external propellers! Hee hee.

Seeing that it parked itself near our gate (I don’t think the plane was tall/big enough to reach the arm that lead from the building to the planes. We had to board from the ground and climb a short ladder to board), we realized that this was our chariot to the IoM.

It reminded me of the story my dad told us about his first flight to the U.S. from the Philippines many years ago. My dad actually came to America first before the rest of us. He said the planes back then (in the 1950s or so) were quite small and slow. The chairs were like wooden auditorium chairs bolted to the floor of the plane. And it had propellers since jet engines were not standards for commercial flights. (Maybe not any flights during that time, for that matter!) He said it was also quite loud. Well this Flybe plane was a bit louder on the inside than the other larger commercial airliners. The cabin space on the inside, although not as bad as wooden chairs, reminded me of the size of the inside of a school bus–two seats on either side of the bus with one aisle going down the middle.

Fortunately, the flight from Manchester to the IoM is only about 30 minutes, and it was actually a pretty nice flight. We received a friendly greeting as we boarded the plane, which turned out to be the beginning of a wonderful experience that followed. And I can’t help it, I’m a geek about taking pics from the air. Here’s a shot of Manchester as we were leaving for the IoM. It was a bit too foggy to get a good shot of the IoM from the air.

We were met at Ronaldsway (IoM’s airport) by our friends, who got us set up and situated for a nice week in the Isle of Man. We found that another reason for the very small planes is that their airport is rather small, and the runways are not suitable for the larger commercial airliners. There is currently talks on the table as to whether they (IoM) will shell out mega bucks soon to upgrade and extend Ronaldsway to accommodate the larger planes.

It didn’t take long for me to see that Isle of Man has the terrain and history of what legends and fairytales are made of. And they do have their own! The rolling green hills dotted with sheep and cows, the glimmer of the ocean, the ancient castles, and the lush glens are but a few sights that have no doubt impressed not only myself, but many other people who have seen it. Ellan Vannin, they call it with much affection and much love. I believe Ellan means island, and Vannin refers to man. There is even a song with the following lyrics:

Eliza Craven Green, before 1896

When the summer day is over And the busy cares have flown, Then I sit beneath the starlight With a weary heart. alone, And there rises like a vision, Sparkling bright in nature’s glee, My own dear Ellan Vannin With its green hills by the sea.

Then I hear the wavelets murmur As they kiss the fairy shore, Then beneath the em’rald waters Sings the mermaid as of yore, And the fair Isle shines with beauty As in youth it dawned on me, My own dear Ellan Vannin With its green hills by the sea.

Then mem’ries sweet and tender
Come like music’s plaintive flow,
Of someone in Ellan Vannin
That lov’d me long ago,
So I give with tears and blessings,
And my fondest thoughts to thee,
My own dear Ellan Vannin
With its green hills by the sea.

I’m happy to say that there are still lovely green hills by the sea there!

Toodles for now!

Marlakins

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