If I remember correctly, the escalator at CNN Center in Atlanta at the beginning of the tour is at least 3 or 4 or 5 stories high/long...anyone else who's been there can confirm? (It's been years for me.)

If you have a chance, check out the ones in the St. Petersburg (Russia) metro system. The city is full of rivers and canals, so the metro lines had to be dug very low to be under all of them - and, of course, some lines then have to run below others. The escalators are so long that you can become disoriented as to what is vertical: the people on the opposite one look as though they're leaning over. You wonder, subconsciously, what's holding them up.

:confused:

Uh, they have those in the US too. They're not common, but they have them. From my experience, they're not that common in Europe and Canada either.

Some of them are fairly steep too.

The metro escalators in Moscow freaked me out the first time I rode on them. Very steep, I had to hold onto the hand rails, or I would feel a bit of vertigo.

Actually on the Thai flight, it was a really hott thai chick( i checked and i didnt see an adams apple, so hopefully she wasnt really a lady boy).

Perhaps you could have farted and said "Thank you God for my previous meal":D

I'm English, I went to a public school and I'm absurdly polite, but I'm afraid I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. Standing in the aisle and inconveniencing a number of people is clearly rude, and insisting on an "excuse me" is typical alpha male arrogance, not some cross-cultural misunderstanding. The guy was a jerk; no excuses; end of story.

Now I would be calling that nothing short of excellent in flight service :eek:

Well done. I'd have been tempted to reply with "No, but a simple 'Get the f#@k out of the way you ignorant b@$%@#d" seems more appropriate."

While passing through security, the woman in front of me was fussily arranging her stuff in the trays for x-rays. She was slow about it so the line ahead of her cleared out while the line behind us grew. Instead of sliding her stuff forward to give room for the next people to prepare their stuff, she remained at the back of the table. I stepped past her and dropped my bag onto the conveyor belt (no need for shoe inspections then and I had all my pocket stuff in the bag). She blustered some sort of "Well I never!" comment and started muttering about rudeness. I shrugged and lightly quipped something uninspiring about the necessity for efficiency.

Some time later, I took my window seat on the plane. Guess who sat down right next to me? "Hey, how ya doin'? Glad ya made it!" She stared straight ahead during the whole flight, never once glancing in my direction.

Right on. ^

From the trivia desk: I believe the longest escalator in western Europe is at Angel Tube station on the Northern Line in London. You can't see the bottom from the top.

I had a similar problem when I first got my trifocals.

Have you ever used a paternoster?

Interesting, it's usually to cold for me for just wearing a t-shirt on almost all planes, but often too warm for wearing a sweater. And I'm a person that generally like it cold, up to the extent that I try to spend the northern summer skiing in the southern hemisphere because I can't stand the heat :)

That woman is reading to her child!
 

DL flight ATL-LAS. We're in cattle class on some 3-3 seater a/c. My wife was reading some kids' book to our 6 yr old son. In front of us were three rather boisterous middle-aged women travelling together. After a while and a drink or two, two of them napped off (day time flight). Then one sits up and starts turning and staring at us, then looking away. Given their previous manner, I didn't respond.

So she bangs on the call button a few times, and when the FA comes complains "that woman is reading out loud to her kid". FA looks confused, "And....???". The woman made a big stink. FA tells her to chill, then tells my wife "In my entire career as FA, I don't think I've ever heard that complaint. It's good to read to kids!"