English anyone?

One of the joys of being English speaking is that we can almost travel anywhere and expect to find the local people fluent to some extent in English.  The summer of 2008, we visited Austria, the Czech Republic, and Hungary and had not issues talking with people (well, actually we had a little communication problems, but nothing major).

Now, we were not just whisking off to Europe as solely English speaking, between the two of us, we speak some German and a little French and Spanish.

We ate in small mom and pop restaurants and we ate in gourmet 4 star restaurant in all three countries and had little to no problem order food.  Riding the trains were a little more complicated especially en route to Prague and Hungary … English was scarce.  A couple of tour companies also sparsely spoke English.  All the tour guides spoke English quite well.  Of course, all the hotels had fluent English speakers.

Despite the criticism of being arrogant, because we speak English in non-English speaking countries, I remember (actually, I was not born) that prior to English, there was another international language … French.  We have hundreds of dialects throughout the world and dozens of major languages.  It makes sense that we have an unifying language, and right now, it is English, but lets not get too arrogant … there have been other standard languages in the past.  By the way, who speaks Latin these days?

Passengers Bill of Rights … update

I am a free market person, but only when the free market works.  In my opinion, I do not think that the free market is working when it comes to passengers and airlines.  I am also a skeptical of government intervention, because the situation typically does not improve … that’s as positive as I can be.

The airline industry is making it difficult for me to be a free market person.  What would be ideal would be for the airlines to propose a “Passenger Bill of Rights.”  This “Bill of Rights” could even be different from one airline to another.  I think that we consumers are smart enough to decide if the “Rights” are important enough for us to decide to fly or not to fly with a particular carrier.  But the airlines have not do this, so who is left to give us a “Passenger Bill of Right?”  Congress of course.  If I were an airline excutive, I would be feverishly developing a “Bill of Rights.”  Of course, Congress can not produce one and the courts have ruled early in 2008 that individual states cannot write a “Bill of Right” … this may be a blessing in discuise, but I would like some protections or rights as a passenger that extends beyond what the airlines offer now.

The Senate proposed a bill that would guarantee that passengers have clean water, food, bathrooms, and the ability to get off a plane that is delayed by 3 hours.  The House bill proposed that airlines have procedures for addressing passenger complaint, provide information to passengers about delays, publish frequently delayed flight information, publish lowest fares and schedule information, make reasonable efforts to find and return baggages within 24 hrs, and all the Senate rights.

I don’t have a problem with any of the Senate’s or House’s requirements, but don’t the airlines try to do this anyway?  I fly often enough to get delayed quite frequently, and I am certain that the airlines and their employees would prefer not to deal with irrate passengers, which I am not one.  The airlines could do a much better job of updating passengers about delays, but often the poor gate agent doesn’t know why a flight is delayed.  I would like the airlines to have to honor what they promise.  For example, what does it mean to be a frequent flyer who has earned elite status, because they are a loyal flyer?  What does it mean or is worth to accumulate all of these miles? 

Sometimes, the airlines and airport do not honor what I consider to be a contract like elite passengers are supposed to have perks because they have demonstrated loyalty.  I can count the airlines and airports that actually provide a reason for being an elite passenger.  The airlines can also at any time change the rules for airline miles.  Why not lock the airlines into the initial contract that entered.  Airline miles are not like credit cards where you are asking for something like credit.  Airline miles are something that you have earned.  I want “rights” for the things the airlines explictly promise us.

A case of big brother or a little help with your international travels?

It’s almost time for me to start planning my summer holiday and every trip I debate whether or not I want help … from a travel agency and almost for every trip I research my destinations myself with a little help from Frommer’s and Expedia, and depending on the place, the United States Department of State Bureau of Consular Affairs.  The Bureau is an excellent source for information and a place for US citizens to “register” when traveling abroad.

Now, I am the suspicious type and do not necessarily like volunteering information about myself to the government, but if I am traveling to a potential trouble spot or unstable country.  I want my country to know and I want the closest US Embassy or Consular Office to know and come rescue me if I do something unintentionally stupid or illegal like taking pictures of a protest or indigenous children.  Perhaps, I am a paranoid US citizen or maybe I should not travel to places where this is a concern, but I actually register even when traveling to western Europe too.

Along with the Department of State knowing where I am, they provide a tremendous amount of information about the country including macro cultural beliefs, values, and behaviors, as well as cautions about doing things legal in the US, but illegal or disrespectful in the hosting country.  Remember, we are the visitors and if everyone was the same, why travel.

So unless, I write later that the Department of State is questioning me about my international travel, I will continue to register.  It’s not like they couldn’t find out this information anyway.  At least, I know that the Department of State has this information … I think.

What I learned from “Joe”

The summer of 2007, I visited Johannesburg, South Africa and I learned a couple of things from “Joe.”  The first thing that I learned upon arriving in Johannesburg was that the warnings about crime were not exaggerated, but beyond this I learned quite a few things from Joe. 

Joe was our driver while we were visiting the city.  Our gated hotel, the Peech, recommended using a driver and Joe, a native South African, was a contracted driver for the hotel.  Interestingly, only after the end of apartheid was he allowed to operate his self-employed business in Melrose. 

So, unlike universities in the United States and Europe, access to the University of Wits is controlled by security.  I asked Joe, “so, we have to go through security to get to the University.”  Joe explained that there had been many campus crimes, including crimes involving vehicles.

When Joe was younger, we was not even allowed to attend the University of Wits.  There were very few schools for blacks and those schools were inferior.

As Joe was driving us around, I kept seeing signs, offering to help people who have been black listed.  My thoughts were that this related to apartheid … people who targeted by the previous system of government, but no.  Being black listed refers to people who are equivalent to being bankrupted.  After the end of apartheid, the government was wrong-headed in providing loans to almost anyone who wanted them.  The result, people could not make their loan payments and defaulted.

While Joe was driving us around, he told us that he lived in Soweto.  I learned that Soweto is diverse, but there is a lot of black on black crime and that there is a lot of envy among residents in the area who believe that some people are uppity and deserve “to lose” their property.

While Joe readily acknowledged the problems and lingering effects of apartheid, he also recognized the work that he and fellow South Africans must do to continue healing their country.  I probably learned much more riding with Joe than any other encounters.

What anti-Americanism?

Ever since the United States’ invasion of Iraq, a certain segment of the population, specifically liberals and left of center individuals have pointed to poll after poll, stating that anti-Americanism is on the rise or at all time highs.  Some have gone as far to suggest that international travel could be perilously for US citizens.  I think that this line of thinking oversimplifies international relationships.

I have traveled to several countries after 9-11 and the Iraq invasion and must say that I am either blatantly oblivious, which I doubt, or this anti-Americanism where I must feel threaten has not materialized … at least in the countries that I have visited, which included North America, South America, Europe, and Africa.  As an aside, I did not masquerade as a Canadian, nor did I wave the US flag at every opportunity.  Bottom line, when asked where I am from, I proudly said the US without sounding boastful.

Conversely, I am not naive enough to believe that a lot of countries and their citizens are unhappy with us, primarily because of our Iraq policy.  I give people in other countries much more credit than some alarmists.  People in other countries can understand the difference between a government policy and its people.  Perhaps, people in other countries are more tolerant of different views and ideas than we are here, while they disagree with us, they are not going to spit in our face.

The four continents that I have visited since 9-11 and Iraq, I must say that everyone has been courteous and friendly.  But I always try to comport myself in a non-arrogant way, remembering that I am a visitor.  I am also respectful of local customs to the extent that I understand them and make a serious effort to speak and understand the language.  I remember being in Portugal in 2006 and receiving compliments on my Portuguese.  My Portuguese is terrible, but I tried, and didn’t just assume that everyone would speak English, which most people did.

So, maybe how we conduct ourselves abroad has much more to do with how others perceive us than our foreign policy.

Jo’burg, a truly wired city

June 2007, I visited Johannesburg, South Africa to present a paper on culture and medical education at Wits University.  I was “culturally shocked” and found the lingering and persistent effect of Apartheid pulsing throughout the city and its character.

We didn’t stay exactly in Jo’burg, as the citizens call the city, we were in one of the “upscale” suburbs, Melrose, at a boutique hotel.  The hotel was nice and the staff were friendly and helpful, but it did seem to attract a somewhat pretentious crowd, especially for an event the hotel was holding; however, that is a tangent.

Since we arrived to Jo’burg late, it was not until the next morning that we realized how wired the city is … wired in the sense of barbed wired and security.  One of the things that we like to do is take a walk after dinner … not advisable here.  I don’t even know if the hotel staff would have allowed us.  So, the next day as we are out with our driver … yes, the hotel has a contract with a driver to transport guest around, because it is too unsafe to walk.  We did not see any buildings that did not have barbed wire or jagged glass atop their gates and barriers.  We passed large beautiful homes that were enclosed like prisons and secured with barbed wire.

Then, there are personal security firms that provide escorts and security officers.  Our first inkling of the security concerns was our hotel with was gated and manned with a private security officer.  I thought, “I thought I got a nice hotel in a good part of town, why do they need this type of protection.”  One night, we went out for dinner via our driver and noticed that many of the whites walking and dining had black escorts, while the blacks did not.  I thought, how interesting.

Last word, despite the vast disparity between the wealthy and the poor in the suburbs, they both are prisoners trapped in the status quo.  The whites, typically the wealthy cannot or will not leave and threaten their lifestyle, so they leave in fortresses, prisoners to safety issues.  The blacks who seem to make up the majority of the poor do not really have anywhere else to go either and many consider Jo’burg home, as do the whites.  These two cultures are like binary stars, circling each other with one feeding off the other.

JNB … the worst airport in the world! Part III

I have been very critical of Johannesburg airport and they deserve it, but the problems with their airport runs much deeper than confusion, lack of organization, and rude incompetent employees.

While in South Africa, I learned that the country has a quota policy for employment where blacks are at the top of the quota system, followed by colors [which is not considered pejorative like in the United States], and finally whites.  The intent of this policy is to reverse and remedy the generations of apartheid.  So, what the country is experiencing is a degree of white flight by whites who can leave or don’t have so much invested in the country that they don’t want to leave or don’t have to leave.

So, a lot of blacks who were denied equal education are getting jobs that they are not qualified to do.  Not jobs that they can’t do, but jobs they have limited training to do.  Does this mean that the country should do nothing, but displacing whites before blacks can be trained is not the answer.  The result is a brain drain … a la Zimbawe. 

The airport is just one example of the disastrous effects of displacing capable workers with people who have not been trained.  This also further divide people.  The quota system also has the effect of creating a feeling of entitlement.  The majority of the airport employees that we encountered were rude, disinterested in what they were doing, or seemed completely overwhelmed.

I certainly think that South Africa should remedy the legacy of apartheid, but is this the way?