HOP/Air France F-HBXJ Embraer 170 170.0031 OSL Oslo Airport 2013

The deal follows a string of other Class A building sales this year – 550 Madison Avenue, 30 Rockefeller Plaza, 237 Park Avenue and 75 Rockefeller Plaza – which accounted for $3.8 billion of the city’s first quarter dollar volume and created a 46% year-over-year jump, according to data from Avison Young.

125 West 55th Street

“We have started to see a notable uptick in the number of large, class A buildings being put on the market,” said Avison Young’s Neil Helman in an analysis released earlier this month.  “The persistently low interest-rate environment, coupled with cap rates moving downward and improving rental rates have created a veritable ‘perfect storm’ for sellers.”

Other Class A properties on the market include 425 Lexington Avenue, 499 Park Avenue and 650 Madison Avenue.

“Many funds and REITs are now looking to sell as they feel the current environment is such that the returns they were seeking have or could be met with a disposition today,” Mr. Helman added.

The 552,000-square-foot, classic curtain-walled structure at 125 West 55th, known as Avenue of the Americas Plaza, was developed by Macklowe Properties, completed in 1990 and sold to Boston Properties in 2008.  Its facade incorporates blue-green glass within a steel and reinforced concrete structure, while its interior features classical statues.

Boston Properties owned a 60% stake in the building, while the remaining stake was split between Meraas Capital and a fund run by Goldman Sachs, known as U.S. Real Estate Opportuni­ties 1, according to Real Estate Alert, which first reported on the sale.

City records show that Boston Properties and investors paid just under $444 million for the property in 2008 as part of a package that also included the GM Building, 540 Madison Avenue and Two Grand Central Tower – for $3.9 billion in total.

(Credit: Macklowe Properties)

Earlier this month Vornado Realty Trust CEO Steven Roth gave investors a heads up in a letter stating that “the fat lady” was “entering the building,” meaning that the year would be marked by careful buying, and more selling than buying.

“My belly tells me that prices are now higher than future prospects,” Mr. Roth said.  “It also feels to me like interest rates will stay lower for longer than the pundits expect.”

Avenue of the Americas Plaza was 94% leased at year end, with major tenants including Macquarie Group, Clear Channel Communications subsidiary Katz Media and Air France.

A representative for J.P. Morgan Chase declined comment on this story.  Boston Properties did not return calls seeking comment in time for publication.

Federal prosecutors said Tuesday that 61-year-old Philippe Jeannard of La Rochelle, France was charged with one count of fraud in connection with an identification document after authorities said he was found in the cockpit of a Florida-bound US Airways flight on March 20 at the airport.

Officials said Jeannard, wearing a shirt with an Air France logo, sought a seat upgrade and later used a fraudulent Air France ID card belonging to an ex-employee to gain access to the plane’s cockpit, where he was found sitting in the jump seat behind the pilot.

Jeannard’s attorney didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment.

(TM and © Copyright 2013 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2013 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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Back in 2007, I got to attend the big celebration held for Air France at the Sea Tac Airport in Seattle, Washington. Governor Chris Gregoire attended the event to celebrate the non-stop flights to France from Seattle. Rick Steves also attended the event.

To bad, that five years later, Air France left Seattle and it’s Amercian partner took over the route. I would have loved to fly on Air France to France one day…

Look for the upcoming video of the Air France plane arriving with water cannons on the next vid and Rick Steves interview.

Air France landing in Mauritius Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport
Air France Atterrissage à l’aeroport de l’Ile Maurice aussi connu sous le nom de Plaisance.

Vol directe depuis la France: Air France Air Mauritius CorsairFly

When we arrived in Turkey, there was a very long process of buying our Turkish Visa for access into the country and then customs.  You’d think we were getting on the Indiana Jones ride with a line up that long.  To make the whole process that much worse, we were stuck for the fourth time of the journey behind 3 German teenagers with the strongest body odor I have ever whiffed.  I mean, if they took a ride in my Saab, I’d have to sell it after.  Finally, we got a sweet stamp in our passports but ended up at the baggage claim with only a few lonely bags still rotating.  I immediately spotted mine but the other 3 bags were distinctly not C’s.  I feared the worst but kept hope alive as we walked the circumference a few times.  When we asked someone of authority, he let us know that the plane had been entirely unloaded and her bag was nowhere to be found.  We’d have to make a claim.  Every bit if news was worse than the last.  The bag isn’t here.  The bag wasn’t on the plane.  The bag has not been reported at the Paris airport.  There is no record of the bag.

I was feigning optimism but internally I knew it was looking pretty grim.  A little bonus to losing her bag, C was given the ok to spend 100 euros on whatever necessities she needs.  Shopping spree!  They said they’d work on tracing her bag, gave us a claim number and told us to check in with them throughout the next couple of days.  So, rather disheartened, we made our way to the metro station.  When we walked out of the doors of the airport, I felt like a celebrity.  There were crowds and crowds of Turkish people holding handmade signs and ipads bearing the names of their relatives, shouting into the slew of arrivals.  Knowing no one was yelling out for us, we just kept scanning signs for the metro.  After some confusion, we managed to buy an Istanbulkart (their metropass) and off we went.

Being in other countries, I’ve started to notice how much of a relic our metro system is.  Thailand, Paris and Turkey are light years ahead of us.  We’re just getting turnstiles installed and every other country has photo ID cards with chips in them.  A Turkish lady picked us out as foreigners immediately and sparked up a conversation.  Turns out she’s a tour guide and she gave us a ton of tips on how to pronounce the insanely confusing words and some of the places we have to check out.  Just to give you  a taste, this is how you say thank you: teşekkür ederim.

When we got to our stop and read the seemingly easy directions from the tram station to our hostel, we ended up wandering around for what seemed like 3 days when you’re carrying your belongings on your back like a lame mule.  Eventually we found and were ushered to our room.  Overall, I really like the place but the light in our room might as well be a singular candle since I can’t see further than a few feet in front of me.  In addition, it’s the first time in all of my travels that I don’t have a bathroom connected to my room.  It’s a shared bathroom with 3 toilet stalls, 2 showers and 4 sinks.  It’s a hassle and a little strange to get used to but private bathrooms seem to be non-existant in this city so you have to make a few compromises.

Anyhow… By the time we got here, it was about 7:30pm.  Our extremely knowledgeable and friendly hostel host/owner pointed us in the direction of Taksim St.  It’s a key street for shopping here and has everything from big name stores like Mac, Sephora and Zara to little independent holes in the wall or booths set up with home made goods.  Unfortunately, everything was closing at 9pm (or so we were told) so it was a mad dash up some of the steepest hills I’ve ever seen to try and get the things we needed.  On our list, shorts and a shirt for C to sleep in, and a hair brush for the both of us.  Particularly for me because by this time, my hair had grown 40 fold and was slowly starting to turn into a tumbleweed in danger of flying off at any moment.

C is not great under pressure and with 100 euros under her belt and a serious shopping addiction, she started a slow browse of ornate tops and 50 dollar jeans.  I had to stomp my foot down and reprimand her, we have priorities, honey.  Finding an underground mall of big box store’s defected rejects being sold for pennies, she managed to get an “Ibiza” shirt and some pj pants for about $8 total.  Now that C isn’t sleeping naked, the name of the game was hairbrush.  Where the hell do you buy a hairbrush when wal-mart doesn’t exist?  I went into any and every store that looked girly all while speed walking up this dark, densely populated street.  Finally, Sephora.  I had low hopes but miraculously, 3 choices of hair brushes for a staggering $20.  Ugh.  That’s painful when you just bought a shirt for 2.50 but a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do.  On the plus side, I was a minor celebrity again when the employees saw my nails, “ohhh, Lady Gaga!”

Feeling much more relaxed with all of our bounty, we strolled home and got a scoop of gelato on our way.  When we got back to our hostel, C decided to be social but I was done for.  Completely wiped, it was snoozeville for me.

What a shit show.

 “Climate change is not just warming the Earth’s surface, it is also changing the atmospheric winds 10 km high where planes fly,” said study co-author Paul Williams of the University of Reading in England. “That is making the atmosphere more vulnerable to the instability that creates clear-air turbulence. Our research suggests that we’ll be seeing the ‘fasten seat belts’ sign turned on more often in the decades ahead.”

The study, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, said planes already spent about 1 percent of their time in the skies in strong clear-air turbulence. This kind of turbulence occurs where air at one altitude is traveling faster than the air immediately below, leading to atmospheric instabilities.

The study found that a doubling of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere from pre-industrial levels, predicted within 40 years, would cause turbulence to become up to 40 percent more forceful at typical cruising altitudes.

The study authors used simulations of the North Atlantic jet stream, which is driven by temperature differences between colliding Arctic and tropical air. The jet stream affects traffic in the aviation corridor between Europe and North America — one of the world’s busiest with about 300 eastbound and 300 westbound flights per day.

 “Turbulence strong enough to make walking difficult and to dislodge unsecured objects is likely to become twice as common in trans-Atlantic airspace by the middle of this century,” Williams said, adding, “This could also increase the risk of injury to passengers and crew,” especially in winter when Northern Hemisphere clear-air turbulence is thought to be most intense. With perhaps five minutes of a typical 8-hour flight today subject to such turbulence, a 170 per cent increase – to around 13½ minutes – might seem trivial to anyone but those with an extreme fear of flying. “You could argue a few more drinks will get knocked over. So what?” says Williams. But he says that the extra turbulence could cost the aviation industry dear, by accelerating aircraft wear and tear, for instance.

On June 1, 2009, Air France 447 traveling from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to Paris, France plunged into the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 216 passengers and 12 aircrew on board.

Early speculation on the cause of the crash pointed to extreme weather conditions that the pilots of the doomed flight had entered.

Although investigators are still not certain what brought down Air France 447, it is beyond doubt that the pilots were dealing with the ‘perfect storm.’

“If you take a look at the satellite information online it was like an explosion of weather at the time the Air France flight would have been trying to pick its way through the Intertropical Convergence Zone,” William Voss, head of the Flight Safety Foundation, told Bloomberg shortly after the Air France catastrophe. “The area of weather along that route of flight wasn’t even there when the aircraft was leaving the coast.”

Williams said carbon dioxide causes non-uniform warming, which increases the jet-stream winds and “creates more turbulence,” he explained.

 “Flight paths may need to become more convoluted to avoid patches of turbulence that are stronger and more frequent, in which journey times will lengthen and fuel consumption and emissions will increase,” they wrote.

“Aviation is partly responsible for changing the climate in the first place,” Williams added. “It is ironic that the climate looks set to exact its revenge by creating a more turbulent atmosphere for flying.”

Michael Sprenger at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich says future technologies should make it easier to identify and avoid clear-air turbulence, so any rise in the level of turbulence might have little impact on flights. However, if planes begin taking more convoluted routes to avoid turbulence, flight times and fuel consumption will rise, say Williams and Joshi, which may only aggravate the problem by adding yet more CO₂ to the atmosphere.

“A consequence of global warming is that the frequency and severity of such events (severe weather conditions) is higher,”Aleksey Kokorin, head of Russia’s World Wildlife Fund’s Climate Program, told RT in 2009. “Unfortunately, the risk for airplanes, especially in tropical areas above water, will be higher.”

Sources: New Scientist, The Japan Times, The Financial Times, rt.com

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“We’ll see whether something comes from it,” said Virgin Atlantic’s founder and chairman when asked about the possibility of a tie-up with Air France-KLM during the launch of Virgin’s new domestic service Little Red earlier this week.

“But the most important thing right now is for us to get the Delta deal through,” added Branson. “That’s going through its due process and once that’s happened I wouldn’t be at all surprised if we had some discussions.”

Virgin Atlantic and Delta have this week filed an application for antitrust immunity with the US Department of Transportation, ahead of their proposed joint venture on flights between the US and the UK.

Craig Kreeger, the airline’s new chief executive – who took the helm in February after 27 years at American Airlines – said: “From the UK perspective, it offers a whole new set of destinations and frequencies to places we don’t fly to or fly to infrequently, by connecting our network to Delta’s network in the US.

“Delta is, as of now, the largest airline in the US – in the Americas – and we’re suddenly going to have connections for our customers where they will be able to earn frequent flyer miles in our programme, their corporate relationship with us will apply on to the network that Delta flies, and they’ll have lounge access and enhanced connectivity as we work together with Delta to make that as seamless as possible.

“But equally important for Virgin Atlantic is that from the US perspective we suddenly now have access to Delta’s frequent flyers, Delta’s corporate relationships, Delta’s travel agency relationships, and Delta is really excited about being able to offer our service to their customers, because they think that’s going to take them off other alliances and other airlines and move them on to us and Delta.”

He added: “Delta has been very clear in all of my conversations with them that what they are really excited about is our service to Heathrow, but that it remains Virgin Atlantic service to Heathrow, that it is a product they believe they will be able to sell effectively to their customers.

“For us, that’s a whole new source of potential customers and will also diversify us away from a large reliance on the British economy, which has not been a great thing to be relying upon in the past couple of years.”

Kreeger confirmed that the airline would consider a further joint venture with Air France-KLM – like Delta, a member of the Skyteam alliance.

“What I would say is that our first priority is executing the Delta relationship as excellently [as we can], and at the right time we will evaluate whether Air France-KLM – or, in fact, a broader relationship with Skyteam – makes sense. We haven’t made those decisions yet, nor have we begun the evaluation of them.”

Sourced by bbt

© William Verguet

Two of the aircraft would have been delivered this year, the remaining two we’re planned to enter into service in 2014. When the aircraft will eventually enter the fleet is not known yet. Earlier, the delivery of a Boeing 777-300ER was postponed as well.

Copyright Photo: Christian Volpati.

Air France: 

Frameable Color Prints and Posters: 

Irish regional CityJet CEO Christine Ourmières said she is impressed with the caliber of bidders for the carrier.

Air France-KLM is seeking a buyer for the subsidiary and is expected to decide on the future home of CityJet this summer. Two or three bidders are understood to have expressed interest.

“We’re waiting for our shareholder to decide on exclusivity [in the negotiations] quite soon,” Ourmières said on the sidelines of the European Regions Airline Association conference in Edinburgh.

“We’ve been very happy with the process so far [and] happy to see quite positive interest from the market; the bidders in the race are very serious players who have put forward serious proposals. All of them have ideas to develop the company. All of them are a little bit different from each other but all see the potential of development.”

CityJet operates a mixed fleet of Avro RJs and Fokker 50s and there has been speculation over replacements for the two aging types.

Ourmières is cautious on the future shape of the fleet: “I think that will depend on the choice of the investor,” she said.

Sourced by ATW

Question. Where can you go in March for some (relative) warm water diving without spending a fortune or travelling for days to get there?

Criteria 1 – It’s not Egypt (that’s too easy)
Criteria 2 – Good diving without crowds
Criteria 3 – No more than 6 – 7 hours fly time
Criteria 4 – Budget less than a cheap last minute Red Sea liveaboard including the diving (£750 head)
Criteria 5 – By able to chill out as well as diving
Criteria 6 – Not too many Russians please.

Well that should be not too much trouble then. So where can we fly to? Possibly the edge of the Caribbean? Or how about Dubai! a quick sortie through the internet search engines found that flights are available for around £300, but what about good diving?
We knew the diving around Dubai is not what you would call spectacular and as with most things in Dubai it’s bound to be quite expensive. Staying in hotels and eating will definitely eat into the budget pretty quickly, but you are only 150km from the Indian Ocean so what’s over there?

Oman has a good reputation as an up and coming dive destination but again there are extra costs with getting there from Dubai (visa, additional car hire fees etc.) but the UAE has a little known Indian Ocean coast, which are part of Fujairah and Sharja and only a two hour drive, how bad could it be!

A good search on the internet brought up a couple of possible dive centres but the one that stood out to us was Divers Down at Khorfakkan, a British run PADI five star IDC dive centre only five minutes from the main dive sites and at the 4 star Oceanic Hotel. After a few emails with Carla the decision was made and Sharja bound we were for 5 days (with a couple of days in Dubai for retail therapy).

Driving to Khorfakkan

Our flights were with Air France via Paris and we arrived in Dubai late on a Sunday night. We booked into one of the growing number of budget lodges that are springing up in Dubai right by the airport and compared with the luxury hotels are a fraction of the price but with much better facilities than a budget lodge in the UK (Swimming pool, Restaurant, Bar etc.). We also hired a car for the week and for just over £100 had a full size car which fitted two set of full dive kit in the boot without any effort. (a full tank of fuel was around £10 how different from the UK). Driving in the UAE is fine when you know where you are going, the majority of trunk roads have slip road exit and entries but are well signposted and the roads are very good quality although pretty busy around the cities. Driving to Khorfakkan was pretty easy from Dubai airport take the airport road to route 611 north (to Sharja) then route 89 east across the desert where you pick up signs for Khorfakkan. We did the journey (without a map although we had checked out the roads on Google Maps and Carla from the dive centre had also given us some directions) in around 2 hours. The mountain areas before you hit the Indian Ocean are quite spectacular and make a nice drive, but beware of 4×4’s driving like idiots. Speed limits or any road rules do not apply to these vehicles and they have a god given right to pass by any means once they have flashed and honked the horn at you (whilst being in toughing distance to your back bumper) regardless of the fact you are sitting behind a 40 tonne truck, you have been warned.

Hotel & Dive Centre

Oceanic Hotel Khorfakkan

The Oceanic Hotel was a very nice 4 star resort hotel sitting on the sandy beech as far as it is possible to be away from the container port which is Khorfakkan main industry. The hotel rooms are currently being refurbished, and are of a good quality (ours had been refurbished) large rooms and enormous beds. A nice swimming pool and beach area made this a very comfortable base. The dive centre was a two minute walk away by the beach and we had a very friendly welcome from Carla, Paul (the owner) and Phil on our arrival. We were diving for the next 4 days and planed to make 10 dives during our stay, 3 days during the week and 1 day at the weekend when the town, hotel and dive centre were transformed from a quiet sleepy place to a very busy dive centre. The dive centre was in a U shape setup with the dive shop/office on one side, classroom & kit store on another and kitchen and store room making the third side. In the middle were 4 picnic style tables with a mesh cover to give a slight relief from the suns harshest rays and plenty of drying racks for your kit at the end of the day. The centre ran two fast dive boats one taking around 12 divers the other around 18. Most divers here come out for a day or two from Dubai & Abu Dhabi. For most of our visit we had the pleasure of Phil as our captain for the day. Dives were at 9:30, 12:30 & 3:30 and sea conditions during our stay were as flat as a pancake. Phil was previously a skipper of a boat in Weymouth and knew a boat inside out. The longest trip we had to a dive site was around 15 minutes but most of the sites were a quick 5-10 minute trip, at the majority of the dive sites we were the only boat there and on some of the dives we were the only divers in the water.

Divers Down UAE – Excellent Boats

The Diving

We dived nine different dive sites during our stay they were all reasonably shallow with very few dives deeper than 20mtrs. Visibility was variable to say the least a few days before we arrived there was 20 meter vis, at the worst we had 2-3 meters at best 10-12. This was mainly due to some coral spawning which after a couple of days settled into the top 2-3 metres of water, this coral/plankton rich soup had its benefits as local boat captains were reporting whale sharks in the area with some regularity. Divers down had been diving with one individual a few days before we arrived and another two a couple of days after we left which is not surprising as the conditions were absolutely perfect for these magnificent animals. The water temperature in March was 23-24C pretty similar t o the red sea at this time on the year, but can rise to 35C in the height of the summer, you don’t want to think about what the air temperature is like at that time of year. Our favourite dive site of the week was Martini Reef. One end of this reef where the current splits is covered with purple soft coral, along with the coral are large shoals of fusiliers, snapper and Arabian mackerel all feeding on the plankton rich waters. We spent 40min just hanging by the shoals watching the fish and getting extremely close to the shoals once they got used to us. Other dive sites that are worth a mention are the two Inch Cape wrecks, both purposely sank boats around 20m long, one at 20m the other 27m with great fish life and the best sites we found for nudibranches. Hole in the Wall was another interesting dive site with some large feather tail rays on the sandy bottom, Shark Island also lives up to its name in the shallows where the black tips reef sharks have their nursery in 1 -2 meters on the sheltered rocky shores.

Holiday Overview

A definite alternative to diving in the Red sea. Uncrowned dive sites, excellent marine life as you would expect in the Indian Ocean. Good hotels and restaurants (the dive centre gave us some great recommendations of where to eat) The only drawback is that Khorfakkan is in a dry emirate so no drinking, but for those who can’t live for a few days without a beer it’s a 10-15 minute drive north into Fujairah where the bars in the international hotels would be all to pleased to serve you. Divers Down is a great base to dive from, very professional and efficient but very friendly at the same time. The dive centre Monday to Thursday is quiet and you can almost guarantee you will be the only boat at the dive site. At the weekend (Friday/Saturday) the dive centre will be busy so booking you place on the boats in advance is a must. A very relaxing dive holiday to be recommended, maybe not a place to spend a two week holiday but a super place to escape the hustle and bustle of Dubai for a few days.

I am still receiving e-mails and instant messages professing her love and adoration — as well as seeking ‘bail’ money. They are from a woman who had previously been writing me very affectionate love letters and planning for our future. That is, before she was purportedly seized at the airport. She is being detained, putatively, over customs documents, involving $6.5 million dollars in diamonds…in Johannesburg.

That’s in South Africa for you geographically challenged NCAA basketball tournament players who didn’t even know where Wichita always-was-and-still-is when you were interviewed on national TV. (G-d must love stupid people. Because he made so many of them not smart enough to recognize that they are still embarrassingly obtuse – even after 4 years of a very expensive overnight camp called college.)

Anyway, Johannesburg, appropriately enough, is not only South Africa’s biggest city and commercial center – particularly in gold, diamonds and other mining — it has, also, long earned the reputation as the “world’s crime capital.”

Hmm… Like I said: How apropos…

So when this ‘gemologist’ first reached out to me with the flatter that she just loved my columns, we started communicating thru e-mails and IM’s. And to tell you the truth, I had never utilized Instant Messaging before she hooked me up.

And soon the perfumed lavender letters flowed as the ballet of seduction roiled.

Day, night, top of the morning and well past the other side of midnight, we were eager, if not breathless. With about a seven-hour time difference from America’s East coast — before Daylight Savings robbed a precious hour — we whispered and crowed like hens and roosters awakening the dawn.

It was, indeed, invigorating. I love letters.

We exchanged pictures. Hers was only a thumbnail face pix. All I could see was blonde hair and a long attractive face. We spoke of our aspirations and limitations. Shared hopes and regrets. Tears and joys. As a writer, I sometimes forget there’s a real person on the other end of my scribes. I get lost in the illusion. But Susan didn’t. To her it quickly became more than an incipient affair. She gushed.

She related that she was born and bred in Germany, but received her college degree and gemology training in London.  Her husband, an American, who sometimes accompanied her on business trips, had died a couple years back from renal failure. He left her a widow to raise and nurture their now 4-and-one-half-year-old daughter.

Finally she was exhaling again — coming alive to renew life’s vigor. She was ready, so to speak, for a new amorous gem. And now from my columns and electronic letters she was falling in love with a fellow world traveler. And planning a life for us – together.

This was all in three, or at most, four weeks. She wondered how we were doing… If I would be accepting of her young daughter… Where we would all live… And to send her pictures of houses I might find….

She and her husband had resided in either northern New Jersey or Northern Virginia. I was never quite sure. But she was perfectly willing to relocate to Philadelphia.

Hmm…

It was enough to make a guy like me more than a tad edgy. Especially after barely surviving the near-death, five-week, emergency hospitalization from the poisoning of the last ex’s perfidy. I’d be less jittery examining an elephant’s bloated rectum with a gas light.

I could actually see the looming headlights of the oncoming fatal car crash.

Susan also sent me a copy of her official certificate. It was a document verifying her to examine $6.5 million dollars worth of diamonds in South Africa for a company called Robbins Brothers. The American company, I later learned, has a retail chain of jewelry stores throughout Southern California and Texas.

The document was very official looking with all the Robbins Brothers branding and colors. And it was officially signed by the CEO. I checked.

Hmm…

Then quite suddenly – that is without a nanosecond of warning — I received an e-mail on a Friday from Susan. It included an Air France flight itinerary. She was not only immediately – that day—leaving for America, but coming to Philadelphia… and to me. “…Into your arms to forever hold you tight, my dear…” she cooed, plus so much more.

And bringing her young daughter with her. Which is the first time I discovered she had her daughter with her on this ‘business trip’.

Hmm… How were we ever going to perform all those absolutely divine carnal acrobatics with her daughter present?

I checked with Air France. Sure enough: Susan Moore and her daughter, Carole, were booked on the flight from Johannesburg via Paris to Philadelphia. Due to arrive on Sunday afternoon.

I have to admit that I worship surprises. I love the action. The anticipation. The upheaval.  And I don’t care when or where. Or even how? It’s how I’ve lived my life. I don’t make long range plans. And tomorrow is long-range.

So, I began to make arrangements for their arrival. Yet strangely I was both exhilarated and pestered by the impending adventure.

And then the other shoe dropped. The lightning ripped. The thunder crashed. And the rain began to pour through a leaky roof.

From the Johannesburg airport Susan sent me a series of urgent IM’s. She was having trouble with customs. The documents weren’t all in order for the plethora of diamonds and other gems in her luggage. It went from aggravation to a missed flight… and finally, to handcuffs.

Her story twisted and pivoted like a matador.

It was what I had presumed was going to be. It was what I had written about some years before when I had stumbled upon a large warehouse school in West Africa. It was a rather sizeable operation in Nigeria training the ready and willing to extract dollars from the unwitting.

A sting. A sham. Another cautionary tale of nothing is ever what it seems. If it is too good to be true, it is too good to be true…

Finally after a day or so, Susan popped the anticipated question. She wanted me to send bail money to free her and Carole from detention at the Johannesburg Customs House. She wanted the money-order directed to an ‘agent’ by the name of ‘Craig’. And she wanted me to find a Walmart, immediately. Because their money-order departments closed at 7 p.m.

She just needed $1,500.

At first.

Hmm…

Everything from our ‘courtship’ to her unexpected departure to her customs woes was in a ‘rush’. And, of course, it was over a weekend, when alternatives become inconvenient.

The game was afoot! Tally-ho!

From the outset of the airport fiasco I found any lingering credibility difficult. It was like she and her merry gang hadn’t thought out a good finale after executing such an enticing theatrical drama. It fell apart because… well, because no plan ever survives contact with the enemy. They ran into the unexpected. Namely me.

I have seen too much…from a front row seat. I have a difficult enough time believing things – even as the delusions are unfolding right before my eyes, ears nose and mouth.

And, now in the naked black holes of cyberspace things can seem so much more stark. Less like an illusion, a magic trick. Now you see it… and now you really see it.

I wondered to her: How could I be your only lifeline? What about your employer?

With some tenacity I tracked down the Robbins Brothers headquarters in California. And I ended up talking to some self-proclaimed, high ranking petulance.  Mike Espino simmered with attitude. I tried to explain what had transpired. I know it is particularly difficult for guys with over-tight knots in their red power ties. It shortchanges the exchange of life-saving gases — like oxygen and carbon dioxide. As well as cerebral blood flow.

I explained that if they had a gemologist under contract by the name of Susan Moore in South Africa she was either in trouble. Or, someone was using her name, face and credentials under the Robbins Brothers certificate for fraudulent activity. And I was just being a good Samaritan…Who was going to write a story – no matter what. So talk to me.

Hmm…

He claimed to have absolutely no clue about Susan or anything else.  And that’s not just because he was from California where most folks have no clue about anything but wine, whining and which way the wind’s not blowing. He seethed that he would check into the matter. Naturally he ratcheted his tie tighter. He never called back or returned my calls.

All the while I am receiving ‘rushed’ and anxious IM’s. Susan is pleading, begging and cajoling for me to send the money immediately to rescue her and little Carole.

But, of course.

I finally told Susan that I was going to have an old journalist friend in Johannesburg not only check into the entire matter, but physically ‘hand’ her the money for bail. I told her I had sent him her picture and whereabouts. At that she seemed flummoxed. She fumed over how I could inject a stranger into her business. And why couldn’t I just send her the money. That is if I truly cared for her. And Carole…

Hmm…

But, of course…

And the never ending story is still continuing…It just won’t go away like my exes. Then again, they didn’t either. That is, until they got the money…

Hmm…

And dats yDrewIS on dis penal colony…

It’s been almost 3 years since I was last overseas.  I thought I’d get back this year for my 40^th but instead have decided on some other adventures for the time being.

I have been to France loads of times but was never in the South of France.  I found a ridiculous sale through Air France one weekend.  $699 for a trip in the Fall – all taxes in.  Believe me I have never seen that pricing again since and I’m constantly looking.  It was the most romantic and luxurious flight I have even been on.  I don’t think I can travel budget again after that journey.  The flight hadn’t even taken off but yet the flight attendants had already passed out the menu of what we would be eating and drinking for the next 5 -6 hours.  Yes a menu.  Consisting of choices of appetizers, entrees, desserts, coffee and tea in real tea cups and saucers, succulent wines and lovely chocolates to end the meal.  In the centre of the flight – the main gangway housed serve yourself drinks, pop, water etc. all night.  This way you didn’t need to wait for a flight attendant to pass you at 3 a.m..  Instead you could get up and just help yourself.  Easy!  Oh so civilized.

Air France even had an amazing magazine that detailed more about their travel experiences, where they fly and lovely photography.  Honestly I didn’t want to get off the flight when it landed in Paris.

When I did and had to transfer to a smaller regional flight from Paris to Nice – I could feel Grace Kelly’s ghost rambling around the plane.  All I could see was blue water, ocean front, quaint little houses and rolling countryside’s as the flight descended.

I was there for 7 days and in that time I discovered Chagall’s art work, checked out the Matisse Museum, visited St. Paul, inhaled the violet and lavender fields, went on a one day train trip to Monte Carlo (you can take a train for around 10 euros), the Grimaldi castle, ate countless baked patisseries, ate more pizza than I ever have in my life, learned about the perfume process at Fragonard Perfumeries, sampled dates, munched marzipan and checked out the church where Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier were married.

Would I go again?  In a heartbeat.

Press TV – April 5, 2013

A court in France has fined French flag carrier Air France 10,000 euros ($12,800) for removing a pro-Palestine activist from a Tel Aviv-bound flight because the passenger was a ‘non-Jew.’

On Thursday, the court found Air France guilty of a ‘clear-cut case of racial discrimination’ against Horia Ankour, who had intended to travel to Israel in April 2012 to attend the Welcome to Palestine protest.

On the plane, an airline employee asked the 30-year-old nursing student whether she had an Israeli passport or was Jewish. After answering no to the questions she was escorted off the aircraft.

The court has also ruled that Air France pay Ankour some 3,000 euros in damages and to cover her legal fees.

Meanwhile, the French airline has stated that the activist’s name was on a list of ‘undesirables’ provided by the Israeli regime. Air France said it would appeal.

During the fly-in protest, which was called by the media the ‘flytilla’ campaign, hundreds of pro-Palestine activists from across the globe tried to fly to Israel in an effort to travel to the occupied West Bank.

However, several activists were prohibited from boarding Israel-bound flights because their names were on the blacklist that the Israeli regime had given to a number of European airlines.

The campaign was not the first ‘flytilla’ that planned a trip to the occupied Palestinian territories.

In July 2011, Israeli authorities made intense efforts to interrupt the first ‘flytilla’ and arrested a number of activists. About 120 people were also denied entry and deported. In addition, several European countries prevented activists from boarding their flights as the Tel Aviv regime had already blacklisted them.

French railway giant SNCF has entered the budget travel market, promising high speed travel between Provence and Paris for as little as 10 euros. The all-new TGV Ouigo mimics that of most no-frills services – bag limits, no refunds and no meal options.