Tag: Travel

How many flights to Europe each night?

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

While watching a meteor shower last summer, probably two jets a minute overhead, I was surprised how big they still looked or the fact that we could hear them at all, considering they may well be five to seven miles above us, and then many miles away before disappearing.

How many passengers and how much freight a day? And then, how much coming the other way? And how many military?

Within the U.S. every day, there are 2.9 million passengers and 45,000 flights – not all of them commercial.

Think, too, of the number of diseases that could be carried from one continent to another or some other social upheaval.

It averages out to 46,500 passengers U.S. to Europe a day, or nearly 2,000 an hour. The United Kingdom and Germany are the leading destinations.

Surprisingly, U.S. to Central America flights predominate over the European traffic.

Altogether, 44 airports in the U.S. and Canada have nonstop flights to 41 European airports.

Each day has between 355 and 435 flights in one direction, up to 117,000 seats for sale – roughly 5,000 an hour.

So they’re rarely flying to compacity.

 

Now for Machias

~ Jnana Hodson ~ 2 Comments

The governmental seat for sprawling Washington County is the town of Machias, or “bad little falls” in the river where it meets an arm of the Atlantic. Well, others have suggested the Passamaquoddy term would be more accurately rendered as “nasty” or something I suspect is much worse. From what I’ve seen, going over the cataract at the tidal line in a canoe or any other kind of boat would have been fatal. Not that I want to tempt anyone to prove me wrong, like those who have actually gone over Niagara Falls in a barrel.

That said, let’s look at some more facts about the town and its neighboring East Machias, Machiasport, and related neighborhoods.

Centre Street Congregational Church, erected in 1836.

~*~

  1. It’s pronounced “maaah-chEYE-us,” the central syllable running along the lines of a hardened SHY.
  2. Washington Academy in East Machias is not only among the oldest boarding schools in the country, but thanks to publicly-funded tuition students from neighboring towns, it’s also the largest high school in the county. It does attract an elite from abroad. Go Raiders.
  3. The state university branch campus is often ridiculed but definitely working toward an upgrade.
  4. An initial English attempt at settlement in 1633 was rebuffed by a French attack, creating a gap of more than 120 years.
  5. Machias is the birthplace of the U.S. Navy, and its inaugural victory was won, in part, with pitchforks. I’m not kidding. Look it up. I’ll even suggest it as a plot for a comic opera. Notably, Passamaquoddy Natives were instrumental on the colonists’ side.
  6. It briefly flourished as a lumber exporting center in the late 1800s.
  7. ATV riders will find a great entry to the Downeast Sunrise Trail here. The path follows an old railroad line.
  8. The flea market atop the causeway on U.S. 1 can be delightful, especially Earle’s fresh seafood truck toward weekends. I do have to wonder how the reconstruction of that crossing will affect tradition.
  9. Its emergency room and hospital are often favored over those in Calais. I won’t get into the details.
  10. We do love the general store and natural foods emporium. As for the tiny movie theater? Still on our to-do list. Best wishes.

 

Back from sea

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

Or should I say “bay”? My weekend at the Common Ground Fair was followed by the better part of the week cruising Penobscot Bay in a historic schooner. My first time overnight in a ship, at that.

I’m just beginning to digest the experience, but it was my second digital detox within a month – a healthy opportunity, to my mind. I’m sure you’ll be reading a full report sometime in the future here.

At least my body’s home now.

How long did wooden ships last?

~ Jnana Hodson ~ 1 Comment

In one recent historical society presentation looking at locally constructed ships, we learned that a working span of 50 years or so “was a long time” for such vessels.

Many went down at sea, of course, and captains routinely expected to lose a proportion of their crew to death on each extended voyage.

I suspect hard numbers are hard to find, though I’m curious.

Besides, are there really as many retired boats propped up in yards and boatyards around here as there are people? Sometimes it seems that way.

And I can think of the remains of three sailing vessels that are visible at low tide.

So here I am, out on the waters for the better part of the week on a 152-year-old schooner, assuming that the odds are in our favor.

When’s the last time I had a vacation? A REAL vacation?

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

Not since remarrying 23 years ago, curiously, even though we have taken some delightful extended weekends here in New England but not yet beyond.

The closest I’ve come to solo is the week of the annual sessions of New England Yearly Meeting of Friends, held on college campuses in early August. But there, the emphasis has been on doing Quaker business and spiritual renewal together.

Maybe that’s one reason I’m so excited by my upcoming windjammer adventure, whatever the weather.

Better yet, it’s following on one of our family weekends away, the Common Ground Fair in Unity, Maine. Even if I expect to be spending part of that manning the Quaker booth there.

And better yet, I’ll be with a dear friend of my retirement years – somebody who grew up on the waters, unlike me.

So what’s your idea of a “vacation” Even in a shoulder season, where we are now?

 

We were awaiting the return of the Raold … and then Hurricane Lee thickened the plot

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

We were hoping the Norwegian expedition cruise ship would get better weather than it had last year on its inaugural port-of-call stop in town. It was greeted by a blustery deluge. The event planned for Friday was to be the ship’s first stop in the USA for the Pole-to-Pole, four- ocean cruise that originated in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Here’s how it looked last year in some really nasty wind and rain. Now I’m getting superstitious.

The trajectory of Hurricane Lee is increasingly looking like a landfall somewhere near us, and that had the Norwegians deciding to change course and bypass Eastport.

However, it’s also caused two other cruise ships to head for shelter here, both return visitors who appreciated their previous welcome.

We do hope our electrical power holds up in the coming storm and that Lee veers more toward the Nova Scotia side of the latest forecast.