Xplane11.34 Old and new crossing of the Channel

[John_Cillis 2,406]

I last crossed the channel and back from the Dover ferry, the busiest waterway in the world....

John

[P_7878 6,605]

The Channel Crossing has always fascinated me. Coincidentally, I was speaking with someone last week, who took the under-sea tunnel train across it, and was telling me about the experience...must be a bit un-nerving to know you’re hundreds of feet under water...inside a tunnel...

Anyway, Dover Ferry, I can handle and enjoy...never been anywhere near the Channel, though....

[John_Cillis 2,406]

9 hours ago, P_7878 said:

The Channel Crossing has always fascinated me. Coincidentally, I was speaking with someone last week, who took the under-sea tunnel train across it, and was telling me about the experience...must be a bit un-nerving to know you’re hundreds of feet under water...inside a tunnel...

Anyway, Dover Ferry, I can handle and enjoy...never been anywhere near the Channel, though....

I used to take the transbay tube on Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) all the time when I wanted to go from Napa to SFO.  I would park my car in Walnut Creek or Orinda after driving there from Napa, and take BART the rest of the way, traveling the five or so miles under the bay.  It was so cool to board the train in the East Bay, then come up the escalator right in the heart of SFO, at Embarcadero center.  Even better now, BART goes from SFO airport some fifty miles or so to the East Bay, some 30 miles towards the North Bay, and some sixty miles towards Livermore. 

It is Rapid Transit that works, like the DC and Atlanta Rapid transit.  I have been on the L in Chicago, and on the New York Subways, and neither compares to the DC, Atlanta and SFO rapid transit.  In Phoenix we have light rail which people diss, but I love it, if I want to enjoy a stroll thru Sky Harbor Airport, which has great landside eateries and shopping in the mall it has in American's, Southwest's, and the International airlines like Condor, Aero Mexico, and British Airways, I can take a bus a few minutes up the street I live on to our Light Rail station, then take Light Rail to the airport Transfer Station on Washington Street, then board the airport people mover which currently runs from there to the east parking, terminal four, and terminal three.

Eventually it will continue to terminal two and our car rental facility.  So like DC, Frisco, Atlanta, and some other cities, if you are traveling light, and live on a bus route, for (in my case, a senior fare) $1.00 one way, I can get all the way to the airport vs. a $45 taxi ride or Super Shuttle ride, knowing I will get there without traffic delays since Light Rail has priority over every other form of transporation. 

Sadly the landed gentry in Phoenix (i.e. those that are well financed for life, which make up the majority of our population since they are 60 and over), refuse to extend the Light Rail needed for the rank and file people, they quiver at anything that takes away their cars, and they have been causing many fatal accidents due to their age (I know being run over recently by an errant driver).

I am sorry to say, not having the reflexes the younger folks do.  And even I admit I am not as good of a driver as I once was as I am in my 50's, though my flying skills have improved because in flying it is not physical reflexes you need, but mental ones.

John