Back in the US(S)A...

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Back in the U.S.(S)A. (to paraphrase The Beatles), for the first time in quite a while...

Random scenes and thoughts:

--The price of crude oil may have dropped by half in the past few months....though gasoline certainly hasn't... at least not in California, not yet... Was around $4 a gallon last time I was here... now down to $2.80 to $3 a gallon around these parts...

--Technology passing me by... Picked up a rental car at the airport... the car agency guy handed me a little remote control fob with the lock and unlock buttons, but no keys... I sat in the car, and couldn't figure out how to start it. Apparently now... there's keyless ignition, whereby I just turn the starter knob in the car where the key would normally have gone...and as long as the little remote control fob is on my person or nearby, the card will start! For my entire life before now, I'd only ever started cars with car KEYS!!!

--Eating out just isn't at much fun as it used to be. Apparently since the last time I was here, someone has passed a law (not sure if it's state or federal) requiring restaurants to list on their menus the calorie counts of all their menu items... Seen that all over this time, both on the printed menus at sit-down restaurants and on the display board menus of fast-food places... And actually, it's a bit scary to see (which I suppose was part of the intention).

Here was my visit to In-N-Out Burger, for a double-double burger with fresh onion and french fries. Burger was OK, but by the time I got the fries back to my hotel room about 10 minutes later, they weren't quite so good. At any rate, $5.45 including tax for a double-double with cheese and french fries... roughly... 180 baht... Pretty hard to match in Thailand for that price.

And here's the damage it did to my waistline, almost 1100 calories just for the burger and fries:

Meanwhile, elsewhere, stopped by both International House of Pancakes (IHOP) and Denny's for breakfasts... not on the same day!!!

Had 2 pumpkin cream pancakes with 2 eggs, 2 bacon and hashbrowns at Denny's on their holidays special menu for $7 plus tax. And most of their other regular breakfast choices were in the $5 to $10 range.

And meanwhile, over at IHOP, had a holiday special menu item of some kind of cheesecake flavored pancakes along with 2 bacon, 2 eggs and hash browns for about $7... But their regular menu was considerably more pricey than Denny's, with the typical breakfast entrees in the $10 to $13 range.

--Meanwhile, the weather's cool and crisp... Haven't sweated a drop since my arrival, haven't had to mop my forehead, and even turned on the heater at bedtime a few nights when going to sleep. Ahhhhh...and I forgot to mention... household faucets with separate hot and cold taps in the bathroom, kitchen and everywhere else!

All in all, a very pleasant holiday season get-away....

As usual.... buying everything I can think of in my life's routine to carry back home that isn't readily available (or economically available) in LOS. And unfortunately, that's a pretty long list! Went over with half a suitcase full. Coming back with two filled to the max!

Edited December 25, 2014 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[craigt3365]

I love In-n-Out. Fudruckers is pretty darn good also! Enjoy your trip!

Happy holidays!!

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Thanks Craig! I swung by Fudruckers on my last trip (which was a first time visit there for me). This time, I happened to have an In-N-Out just down the street from my hotel.

Re mobile phones...I ended up updating my plan with T-Mobile for a mobile I just use when traveling back to the U.S.

T-Mobile's latest/current offering is a no-commitments $2-a-day service that includes unlimited domestic calls, unlimited domestic SMS and unlimited (more or less) 2G data. TMobile's 2G data, at least in Southern Cali, is plenty fast enough for instant messaging and even for VOIP voice calls. But more involved web pages are pretty slow to load on that plan.

I believe, they also offer a similar no-commitments plan for $3 a day that keeps the same unlimited domestic calling and SMS features, but upgrades the data part to their 3G/LTE network.

That's pretty nice for all one's inside U.S. phone use while on a U.S. trip. But, as you might expect, those plans don't include direct phone calling or SMS messages from the U.S. to foreign countries such as Thailand. Both foreign calls and foreign destined SMS messages would incur additional per minute and per SMS charges, with the specific prices depending on the destination country.

However, one night, I did use the T-Mobile 2G for a VOIP voice call with my wife in Thailand via Line, and I was surprised that the voice quality was pretty good, and certainly useable in that manner.

Edited December 25, 2014 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[khwaibah]

Five guys is my favorite http://www.fiveguys.com but I see that In n Out has just became number one http://www.in-n-out.com

[craigt3365]

Five guys is my favorite http://www.fiveguys.com but I see that In n Out has just became number one http://www.in-n-out.com

Wow! New one for me. But I've not been in the US much for the past 10 years. Will keep an eye open for this one next time I'm there!

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

There's an interesting kind of back story about what The Beatles intended with Back in the USSR.... Some, including McCartney, have claimed it was a parody of the Beach Boys "California Girls" song, while others ascribed some political motivation to it.

But in returning back to the USA, albeit briefly, I found myself thinking of its lyrics (as slightly amended)...

Been away so long I hardly knew the place
Gee it's good to be back home
Leave it till tomorrow to unpack my case
Honey disconnect the phone
I'm back in the U.S.S.A.
You don't know how lucky you are boy
Back in the U.S.
Back in the U.S.
Back in the U.S.S.A.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Regarding everyone's friends at Customs and Border Protection, I encountered a very different arrival experience vs. the past after landing at LAX.

In the past, although I'd never been stopped or searched on arrival, I always had what felt like slightly uneasy exchanges with the arrival and customs officers there, even though I never had anything amiss in regards to their issues. A feeling of somewhat unfriendlyness, somewhat suspicious, curt, clipped exchanges. And I'm an American with a real U.S. passport, for whatever that is worth. And usually, it was two different rounds of encounters, first with Immigration over my passport, and then later with Customs over my Customs declaration.

This time, upon entering the CPB arrivals area, all the "visitors" were routed into one section of officers to the left. But the U.S. citizens and greencard holders were routed to an entirely different area to the right where there is now rows of odd-looking, slightly robotic passport scanning terminals with ATM-like interactive video display terminals. After placing your passport in to have it scanned, you're asked to enter basic info via the touch screen, such as DOB, and then answer a series of questions, such as the purpose of your trip, if you're carrying declare-able items, and then the machine adjusts up or down to take your photo with a flash, before printing out a ticket with your photo printed on it.

That was quite a new experience, and one of the staff I asked there said the passport scanning terminals had only recently been installed. But where the whole experience was really different was on the subsequent interactions that occurred first with an Immigration officer and then much later down a hallway with a Customs officer. In both cases, neither asked any questions at all, just looked at my printout receipt, and actually had a somewhat friendly seeming demeanor. One of them even wished me "Merry Christmas," with some seeming sincerity, as he sent me on my way.

Interestingly, while the airline I took for arrival was still handing out the traditional paper U.S. Customs declaration forms to all passengers, it turns out that U.S. citizens at least coming into LAX no longer need or use that form at all -- at least if the value of your incoming items don't exceed the legal $ value limits. And one of the CPB staff I overhead specifically mentioned and confirmed that. The basic questions about prohibited items are asked via the passport scanning terminals and whether the valuation exceeds the specified amounts. In my case, I had no prohibited items and nothing close to exceeding the Customs valuation limit. So onward I went, and when I arrived at the final Customs officer check, he just wanted to see my terminal printout receipt, and never asked to see or present the paper Customs form I had filled out on the plane.

[Gonsalviz]

I was thoroughly amazed at machines that count your change and give you a receipt to spend in the store. Fast food is the same crap everywhere.

[A1Str8]

Is the USA in California?

[55Jay]

Gained A LOT of weight on our recent 2 month vaca in California. Thankfully, able to shed most of it after return to Thailand.

We also brought back a lot of new gear and after looking into various ways to do that, ended up being most economical to purchase 2 second hand suit cases at a retread shop (1 each) and paid Korean Air for the extra bags/weight. The US Post Office was priced out of the game for our purposes.

Enjoy your trip.

[keith7777]

Regarding everyone's friends at Customs and Border Protection, I encountered a very different arrival experience vs. the past after landing at LAX.

In the past, although I'd never been stopped or searched on arrival, I always had what felt like slightly uneasy exchanges with the arrival and customs officers there, even though I never had anything amiss in regards to their issues. A feeling of somewhat unfriendlyness, somewhat suspicious, curt, clipped exchanges. And I'm an American with a real U.S. passport, for whatever that is worth. And usually, it was two different rounds of encounters, first with Immigration over my passport, and then later with Customs over my Customs declaration.

This time, upon entering the CPB arrivals area, all the "visitors" were routed into one section of officers to the left. But the U.S. citizens and greencard holders were routed to an entirely different area to the right where there is now rows of odd-looking, slightly robotic passport scanning terminals with ATM-like interactive video display terminals. After placing your passport in to have it scanned, you're asked to enter basic info via the touch screen, such as DOB, and then answer a series of questions, such as the purpose of your trip, if you're carrying declare-able items, and then the machine adjusts up or down to take your photo with a flash, before printing out a ticket with your photo printed on it.

That was quite a new experience, and one of the staff I asked there said the passport scanning terminals had only recently been installed. But where the whole experience was really different was on the subsequent interactions that occurred first with an Immigration officer and then much later down a hallway with a Customs officer. In both cases, neither asked any questions at all, just looked at my printout receipt, and actually had a somewhat friendly seeming demeanor. One of them even wished me "Merry Christmas," with some seeming sincerity, as he sent me on my way.

Interestingly, while the airline I took for arrival was still handing out the traditional paper U.S. Customs declaration forms to all passengers, it turns out that U.S. citizens at least coming into LAX no longer need or use that form at all -- at least if the value of your incoming items don't exceed the legal $ value limits. And one of the CPB staff I overhead specifically mentioned and confirmed that. The basic questions about prohibited items are asked via the passport scanning terminals and whether the valuation exceeds the specified amounts. In my case, I had no prohibited items and nothing close to exceeding the Customs valuation limit. So onward I went, and when I arrived at the final Customs officer check, he just wanted to see my terminal printout receipt, and never asked to see or present the paper Customs form I had filled out on the plane.

This really sounds great to me TallGuyJohninBKK, the last time I went through LA I missed my plane to my destination because they were having some kind of work slow down and when I told the woman about my short transfer time she just looked at me and sent me through second immigration check. I only had a small bag she could have looked in. Talk about a sorry situation I could not get on any other flights as they were all full, no consideration from the airline employee as she let people who showed up for the flight on the plane and left me sitting there for hours. Wish they could do that at those desk also. Never encountered such rude, non helpful, uncaring, bad attitude, chip on shoulder people in all my flying experiences. No one would help me and I had to take what they had to offer or leave. Will never forget that experience.

Now SF was as good as LA was bad and I always go through SF now, if I can help it will never go through LA again

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

We also brought back a lot of new gear and after looking into various ways to do that, ended up being most economical to purchase 2 second hand suit cases at a retread shop (1 each) and paid Korean Air for the extra bags/weight. The US Post Office was priced out of the game for our purposes.

I haven't inquired specifically of Korean Air... But I always ask, whatever airline I'm flying, and the answers always have been north of $100 for one extra 50 lbs suitcase or package.... sometimes well north of $100.

In the past, but no longer unfortunately, I had frequent flier status that afforded a free 3rd bag, beyond the normal two check-in bags that are provided. That make return trip shopping very NICE!!!

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Now SF was as good as LA was bad and I always go through SF now, if I can help it will never go through LA again.

Well, there's at least two different issues afoot there.

1. is the seemingly never ending construction work going on in and around LAX, which has the potential to complicate and burden the whole arrival process, not to mention the traffic outside.

and then 2... there's whatever's going on at that time with CPB and the whole immigration/customs bureaucracy. This arrival, FWIW, that part went VERY smoothly... Using the new passport scanning machines, I was through that in just a few minutes.... got lucky somehow to find my bags on the carousel within 10 minutes later or so, and then onward thru Customs checkpoint with no line at all... and my plane arrival was about 6 pm on a weeknight. Was out of the airport less than an hour after touchdown.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Ahhh...I forgot to mention TAXIS... especially with the recent news about a price hike for taxi service in BKK.

After arriving at LAX, I had a bit of a snafu with my hotel shuttle bus arrival... So while I was waiting, I passed by and checked with the airport taxi queue there at LAX, where they have a curbside "handler" that assigns taxis as customers arrive.

At LAX at present, the price just to get in the taxi is a minimum of $19!!! And that wasn't the illegal taxi mafia... That was the official, sanctioned rate.

Compare that to what's now going to be 45 baht (plus as 50 baht fee at the airport) in BKK... Yeesh!!!

[surangw]

ever see a family sized pizza in Thailand? ( like at a family run pizza place in USA)

[BKKdreaming]

Gained A LOT of weight on our recent 2 month vaca in California. Thankfully, able to shed most of it after return to Thailand.

We also brought back a lot of new gear and after looking into various ways to do that, ended up being most economical to purchase 2 second hand suit cases at a retread shop (1 each) and paid Korean Air for the extra bags/weight. The US Post Office was priced out of the game for our purposes.

Enjoy your trip.

surface mail stopped years ago so all Post office shipments are Air and expensive

[BKKSnowBird]

Nothing like a trip to the US to make you appreciate Thailand.

[Reincarnation9]

I love In-n-Out. Fudruckers is pretty darn good also! Enjoy your trip!

Happy holidays!!

That's why you are fat.

[Reincarnation9]

ever see a family sized pizza in Thailand? ( like at a family run pizza place in USA)

Sure. But they are only 8" in diameter.

[craigt3365]

I love In-n-Out. Fudruckers is pretty darn good also! Enjoy your trip!

Happy holidays!!

That's why you are fat.

You've obviously never met me.

[NeverSure]

When was in high school, we used to get the In-N-Out Burger bumper stickers and cut them and then piece them onto our bumpers so they said:

In-N-Out urge

[55Jay]

Gained A LOT of weight on our recent 2 month vaca in California. Thankfully, able to shed most of it after return to Thailand.

We also brought back a lot of new gear and after looking into various ways to do that, ended up being most economical to purchase 2 second hand suit cases at a retread shop (1 each) and paid Korean Air for the extra bags/weight. The US Post Office was priced out of the game for our purposes.

Enjoy your trip.

surface mail stopped years ago so all Post office shipments are Air and expensive

Guess that's what it was then. I remember mailing large, heavy boxes to LoS circa 2007, in the $60-$70 range using the slow boat to China rate.

[55Jay]

How about the ATM charges? 7-11 private machines were $2.50 or 2.95 - something like that. I used the Schwab card a few times before I got my head around being back in the US (it had been about 5 years) and that we could use our credit cards virtually everywhere, unlike Thailand - at least where I live. Funny how conditioned I got.

Sheeeeet, we about wore the mag strips off the Capital One cards after that. The cash backs were really nice those couple of months.

I also appreciated driving. The freeways get you places so quickly, you don't realize you've gone 20 miles. No motorbikes all around you or going the wrong way, massive tour coaches and over-loaded mini-trucks about to fall over if the wind blows.

Edited December 26, 2014 by 55Jay

[OMGImInPattaya]

I love In-n-Out. Fudruckers is pretty darn good also! Enjoy your trip!

Happy holidays!!

Fuddy's is the bomb! Love being able to dress my burger the way I want

[OMGImInPattaya]

Hey dude...you been meditating for years in a wat in Thailand of something...keyless ignition is getting pretty common in cars in Thailand too

Don't forget to get your fill of burritos and prime-rib too!!

Like you're doing, I too used to stock up on all sorts of stuff on my trips Stateside in the past...just picked it all off the stuff I would to my Amazon wishlist while in Thailand and have it shipped to my hotel. However, on my most recent trips I've been doing this less and less...just about anything I want is now available in Thailand and usually the price is pretty competitive. And the stuff that isn't, like a BMW X3 is too big for my baggage allowance. Even the expensive imported foodstuffs I buy in Thailand I don't bother bringing over anymore as there's only so much one can bring back and I'll end up buying more of it in Thailand anyways.

Yep, agree, the best part about being back for a trip is being able to walk around in the crisp clean Cali air without breaking a sweat...especially this time of year. Enjoy your stay.

[spidermike007]

Gained A LOT of weight on our recent 2 month vaca in California. Thankfully, able to shed most of it after return to Thailand.

We also brought back a lot of new gear and after looking into various ways to do that, ended up being most economical to purchase 2 second hand suit cases at a retread shop (1 each) and paid Korean Air for the extra bags/weight. The US Post Office was priced out of the game for our purposes.

Enjoy your trip.

surface mail stopped years ago so all Post office shipments are Air and expensive

I usually ship USPS priority international. It is about $5.50 per pound, to Thailand. Takes about 10 days to three weeks. Never had an issue with customs. One time sent USPS express, which is a little bit more. Arrived faster, but got knicked for 3800 baht at customs. They charge duty on shipping fees too! What a racket. Avoid express. Any express service. It is a red flag for customs. They love it. Deny them their payday. Few things in life are as much fun as denying Thai customs a payday.

[SinCityGr8One]

California has always been considered as, The Left Coast" of the USA. Over the past couple Decades, with it's Political Correctness, High cost of living, High Tax base and the Invasion of it by illegals, it just might as well be called,"The Peoples Republic of California"

[OMGImInPattaya]

California has always been considered as, The Left Coast" of the USA. Over the past couple Decades, with it's Political Correctness, High cost of living, High Tax base and the Invasion of it by illegals, it just might as well be called,"The Peoples Republic of California"

Is that your original thought for the day?

[SinCityGr8One]

California has always been considered as, The Left Coast" of the USA. Over the past couple Decades, with it's Political Correctness, High cost of living, High Tax base and the Invasion of it by illegals, it just might as well be called,"The Peoples Republic of California"

Is that your original thought for the day?

If You got a better thought than mine, share it with all of us.

[WatUp]

Regarding everyone's friends at Customs and Border Protection, I encountered a very different arrival experience vs. the past after landing at LAX.

In the past, although I'd never been stopped or searched on arrival, I always had what felt like slightly uneasy exchanges with the arrival and customs officers there, even though I never had anything amiss in regards to their issues. A feeling of somewhat unfriendlyness, somewhat suspicious, curt, clipped exchanges. And I'm an American with a real U.S. passport, for whatever that is worth. And usually, it was two different rounds of encounters, first with Immigration over my passport, and then later with Customs over my Customs declaration.

This time, upon entering the CPB arrivals area, all the "visitors" were routed into one section of officers to the left. But the U.S. citizens and greencard holders were routed to an entirely different area to the right where there is now rows of odd-looking, slightly robotic passport scanning terminals with ATM-like interactive video display terminals. After placing your passport in to have it scanned, you're asked to enter basic info via the touch screen, such as DOB, and then answer a series of questions, such as the purpose of your trip, if you're carrying declare-able items, and then the machine adjusts up or down to take your photo with a flash, before printing out a ticket with your photo printed on it.

That was quite a new experience, and one of the staff I asked there said the passport scanning terminals had only recently been installed. But where the whole experience was really different was on the subsequent interactions that occurred first with an Immigration officer and then much later down a hallway with a Customs officer. In both cases, neither asked any questions at all, just looked at my printout receipt, and actually had a somewhat friendly seeming demeanor. One of them even wished me "Merry Christmas," with some seeming sincerity, as he sent me on my way.

Interestingly, while the airline I took for arrival was still handing out the traditional paper U.S. Customs declaration forms to all passengers, it turns out that U.S. citizens at least coming into LAX no longer need or use that form at all -- at least if the value of your incoming items don't exceed the legal $ value limits. And one of the CPB staff I overhead specifically mentioned and confirmed that. The basic questions about prohibited items are asked via the passport scanning terminals and whether the valuation exceeds the specified amounts. In my case, I had no prohibited items and nothing close to exceeding the Customs valuation limit. So onward I went, and when I arrived at the final Customs officer check, he just wanted to see my terminal printout receipt, and never asked to see or present the paper Customs form I had filled out on the plane.

I recently came back from LA and it took me a little while to figure out those passport, scanner things but in the end they are way better and make everything go faster. Immigration was actually cool to me this time also. Normally they are pretty rude and ask me what I was doing out of the country with a why would I want to leave USA#1 for any reason type attitude. Just generally being male genitalia. I usually feel like telling them I was born in the USA#1 and it's none of their business, just do your job and chop the passport.