Six upcoming write-ups shall cover various topics involving two or more countries. They shall come out not necessarily in sequential order.

The first one is provisionally titled Airport Pick-Up of Children: A Reflection of Friendship Closeness/Intimacy. Airport pick-up is one of the most personalized gestures that your close/intimate friends may extend to you. When you arrive at a foreign land, they will surely pick-up you up at the international airport. But would they necessarily extend the same hospitality to your children? If they do, that may be considered as a higher level of closeness/intimacy that your friends accord to you. What I shall share are stories/reflections of my two overseas friends who were kind enough – meaning they went out of their ways – to pick my two children up at the airport. One happened in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia while the other circumstance occurred in Sydney, Australia.

The second article I shall write about is Right-hand drive versus left-hand drive. There is never ending debate on which side of the road must one drive. In Southeast Asia, if I observe it correctly, only Cambodia and the Philippines drive on the right. They follow the transportation system in mainland Europe and North America. The rest of the countries drive on the other side. That is, they follow the British and the Australians. The British claim that the industrial revolution started in England, and therefore, its driving tradition is the right one. Rejoinder: While studying in Townsville, Australia, I once wrecked a brand-new university vehicle because I was looking at the other side of the road!

Thirdly, I shall also express my views about Racism. The stereotype is the Caucasian guy bullying either the black or colored guys. But racism has many forms and manifestations, some of which are tacit ones. The worst racial gestures I experienced while in Australia came from two Germans. I repeat, two Germans whom I wanted to punch in the nose. (Certainly, I do not forget them.) There is no way to eliminate racial discrimination. Overall, though, the racist people are only a very tiny fraction of the world population. The vast majority are rational and level-headed persons who treat everyone as co-equal regardless of the color of skin, religious background or political persuasion. As an pragmatist, I focus my attention on this vast majority of considerate people who believe in oneness of the human family.

Fourthly, I shall provide a discourse about the BYO tradition. I am referring to the practice of either ‘Bring Your Own’ or ‘Buy Your Own’. (Others use the variant PYO or Pay Your Own.) In Australia, and to a certain extent of the US and England, I have been to parties where we had to bring our own food and drinks. In most of Asia, you only bring yourself when you are invited to parties. While bringing tokens to share in the party is very much appreciated, it is not a compulsory requirement. There is really no hard-and-fast rule. I reckon that the essence is more of cultural acceptability.

The fifth article is about a discourse on the Location of International Airport in the capital city. The prevailing view is the main international airport must be outside of the city proper. The incoming passengers then could be serviced by a modern train system. Among the countries I visited that exemplify these are: London, England; Paris, France; Tokyo, Japan; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; and Washington, DC, USA. The Philippines’ Ninoy Aquino International Airport is at the heart of the metropolis. How does this situation bear on our traffic congestion and state of development?

Sixthly, I will narrate my experience of Lost Luggages. I believe that all frequent flyers must have experienced losing his luggage at one time or another. At the moment, I could readily recall five incidents in chronological order whereby my luggages were missing when I arrived at my destined airport: 1989 – London, England – Manila, Philippines (British Airways); 1994 – Copenhagen, Denmark – Manila, Philippines (Cathay Pacific); 2002 – Manila, Philippines – Penang, Malaysia (Singapore Airlines); 2007 – Dubai, United Arab Emirates – Khartoum, Sudan (Emirates); and 2008 – Manila, Philippines – Fort Lauderdale Florida, USA (Delta Air Lines, Inc.) Only Singapore Airlines paid the on-the-spot monetary compensation and provided other travel amenities as well for the inconvenience! Plus all the its excellent services and facilities, could you really blame me if I rate Singapore Airlines as the best in the world?

Kindly wait for these blogs.

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