overlap

I've learned a few things on my recent travels, and there's now two
different flickr streams showing stuff from the two parts of the trip.
One flickr account you may already know, and one I've just set up in
the last few days - ask if you need directions.

One thing I learned was that a better class of accommodation or
transport does not necessarily guarantee a better class of punter -
I'm thinking of the guy flying business class who went a long way out
of his way to complain about his crackers not coming with a postage
stamp sized piece of cheese. To the point of telling the poor air
steward guy he was 'really not happy about this' on his third go.
Blimey but life's too short, and I bet the guy working on the plane
doesn't get paid enough to put up with much of that sort of nonsense
either.

Something else that seems to be inescapable fact is that some people
will never be happy wherever they are. And as with the guy on the
plane, some fabulous surroundings are wasted on some people who are
determined that everything is a problem that requires being
extraordinarily pissy with people.

Another thing I learned is not to be too trusting of people who say
they are going to do something if you can't stand there and watch them
do it. There are gradual signs of progress from my insurer and the
airline on looking for and I hope eventually paying up for the
contents of my lost luggage, but it's certainly not going to get
sorted out overnight, and it's a bit of an inconvenience in the
meantime.

Despite the aggravation, I met some great people too and took a couple
of thousand photos of all sorts of things and places, so on balance I
had a pretty good time. And I'd never seen a tarantula before either!

* Hey Jack Kerouac is a 10,000 Maniacs song. I have just been to Sarawak.