If you wish to continue following my little adventure then please direct your browser to: http://roadtrip.debastion.com 

Cheers!

The coach journey was as much fun as a coach can provide for a person with long legs like myself but I managed to nod off some before awaking to a scene of congestion; merely the hundreds and thousands of vehicles ploughing their way into the terminals at Heathrow.

The coach clipped a luggage trolley that had escaped the clutches of two teenage girls, sending their belongings sprawling alongside the kerb. The coach got stuck but was freed by an assistant and eventually parked. Everyone stared on haplessly.

My mother had decided to see me off at Heathrow for it was not definite when I would see her again, I appreciated her company if not her nagging and constant checks to see if I had everything but the kitchen sink with me. I knew it would be difficult for her to see me go but such things had to be done. We both were aware that this was an important moment, when the parent has to let go of the child, hoping that they will fly free and be strong on their own.

The queues were about as bad as could be expected thanks to the extra security checks in place. My hand luggage just squeezed into the maximum size restrictions enforced and thankfully was able to continue carrying my hard drives with me containing all my work and data (approx. 600GB worth).

At 11:30pm I parted ways with my mother which was pretty tough especially seeing the emotion in her eyes but with some brave steps forwards I passed the corner and joined a huge queue for the main security check.

12:40pm saw me putting my shoes and belt back on and settling in the departure lounge.

1:10pm There was a call to Gate 1 for the flight to JFK, NY. There was one more final security check here where upon they decided to confiscate some of my hearing aid batteries which I found a little odd. One cannot underestimate the paranoia it seems.

2:30pm Saw me boarding the Boeing 747, a refreshing change to be able to walk upright through the plane doors and along the aisles. Had been recently flying a lot on small Airbuses to various European destinations you see.

A handsome picture of a member of the Virgin Atlantic Fleet. A Boeing 747. (Probably not the one I flew in mind).

Around 4:30pm we actually took off, original flight was scheduled for 3pm but I guess those security checks really ate into the plans.

I have to commend the in-flight entertainment on-board that Virgin provide for their long haul flights. Everyone got their own screen in the back of the seat in front and to the side you could pick up a little controller that allowed you to navigate the wide selection of entertaining things to do. You could watch many recent releases of films, browse a sizable catalogue of classic and modern music albums, watch TV episodes (both UK and US), find out flight information with a GPS map and also play simple games. Some games were multiplayer, I sat waiting to play chess with any unsuspecting passenger but maybe I was too eager as I waited 10 minutes for someone to join my game. I didn’t get around to playing anyone, next time maybe?

The flight was 7 hours long, the food was pretty good too, I don’t know why people tend to condemn on-flight meals but my past experiences have been good. I quite enjoy the challenging cramped etiquette of eating a 3 course dinner off a tray not much bigger than the keyboard I am typing upon now. A little game of ‘who can spill the least’ if you will.

Aside from playing with my food, I chose to watch a Chinese movie called “The Shoe Fairy” it turned out to be highly entertaining with some beautiful cinematography. The audio was spoken Mandarin with English subtitles. I prefer subtitles on all the media I watch so I went with a foreign film vs. the uncaptioned blockbusters.

I couldn’t find too many sites about it but you can read a little overview here: http://www.twitchfilm.net/archives/004364.html

“The Shoe Fairy” is a striking and charming little fairytale that I would recommend to anyone who would enjoy a quirky and humorous tale of romance. It was also shot in HD although I wasn’t exactly reaping the benefits on the low resolution and poor contrast of the in-flight screens.

I landed finally (in one piece) at the John F. Kennedy Airport in New York. I entered on my US passport (I have dual UK-US citizenship), without hassle but unfortunately had another hours wait till my luggage finally was ejected and came around. Stepping out into the arrivals lounge my father greeted me at about 7:30pm (EST).

If I thought that was it for the queuing and waiting well I thought wrong and it took at least another 45 minutes of car queuing to make our way through the parking lot toll booths. A musical cacophony of impatient New Yorkers tooting their horns and a wallet freed of an extra $12 saw us off finally on our way through the Long Island traffic. Ducking, weaving and generally fearing for your life yet again was the state of expressway driving.

Considering all I had been through this day I was pretty thankful when I stepped up to the doors of my Grandparents to give them my greetings. I lasted another 15 minutes before having to concede defeat to my jet-lag and I hunkered down to sleep on the basement couch.

If you’re still with me then I commend you for getting this far, I promise to condense future posts as much as I can for your reading convenience.

-myles

I am a composer, musician and creative digital artist.  I was also gifted with the interesting obstacle of being deaf, a blessing and a curse at many times in my life however there is no doubt that I would not be the person I became today without the challanges, and experiences such an impediment places on a patient and inquisitive person like myself.  

 There is much I can say on my experiences of life thus far but that can come in due course.

The main purpose of this blog or ‘online diary’ if you will is to allow people to join me as I find out what it is like to be a deaf composer in the yesterdays land of the free; the USA.

I shall be purchasing a car and visiting as many places as I can until my money runs out and I will be forced to settle down somewhere.  Hopefully I will know where that ‘somewhere’ is before then.

 Feel free to bookmark my site and return back to read up on where I’ve been and the experiences I will have.

Till next time…

-myles