Eagles land in Philly

 

Been a little while since we last took a jaunt, and probably saved the biggest and best to last for the year.  A trip to the US, not without a little bit of trepidation in light of current political events, and perhaps one trigger of the bout of insomnia that appears to have been a personal feature leading up to the trip. Not least last night where a 5 hour window for sleep barely achieved more than a handful of minutes as we were up and on the road at 5am.

The road of course being the M4, now shrouded in darkness, with dawn breaking just as we pulled into Heathrow Terminal 3.  With a bit of internal shenanigans and with wanting to do a bit of compare and contrast (but still get the points) we had decided to use American Airlines for this trip, and to sample their Premium Economy service.  This of course meant no perks pre flight so we hopped into Giraffe for a bit of breakfast before sitting at the gate before Heathrow could drain any more of our hard earned cash.

(New top tip for Heathrow today, if you don't have the luxury of the business lounge but need access to quieter toilets - the further away towards the gate gives you the less busy toilet option.)

So anyway with that aside, onto the American Airlines Boeing 777, it felt new, modern and hugely focused on the passenger. The space was more than recent Premium Economy on BA, although lets see if that is the modern plane as opposed to a fundamental feature of AA.  The big 21st century modcon was the ambient window, long gone are the pulling down of flaps, its now dimmer switches to create the night time feel even though our entire flight was in daylight, you wouldn't believe from the photo above?  I used them early to stop the sun glare on my TV screen, but it turned out American Airlines wanted us all to have a kip anyway as the whole cabin descended into darkness after first eats.

The first bit of grub was a fairly simple pasta based meal, that didn't feel much of a step up from BA. And the boxed wine in a plastic cup felt more backpacker than VIP.  The tech though was pretty top notch, meditation music, assortment of films, games etc I watched Final Destination Bloodline which didn't require too much concentration, and I was able to sleep and read a bit around that. Snacks kept coming, not so much booze (but that wasn't high on my list trying to stay hydrated with a run around the corner) and the pre touchdown meal of noodles and spicy veg a better ending than beginning on the food front.

Philadelphia Airport felt like 1960s/1970s university design, functional and concrete.  But not with the influx of passengers one might get at other hubs and plenty of space for all. Not sure if it is a top tip but baggage collected and out amongst the ubers in the blink of an eye.  So fears of unwelcoming officials and social media scrutiny unwarranted, we felt instantly comfortable if not bowled over by the grey architecture, albeit an art exhibition in the airport tried to add a bit of colour.

Not much more of a blink of an eye and we were in the city centre driving past the Eagles stadium and the docks. A 20th century industrial city was first feel with massive shipyards  but then moving into the suburbs,  festooned with Halloween decorations and quaint townhouses it was then 18/19the century colonialism.  Back in the actual city centre felt a little more drab american, again perhaps more 20th century than 21st century and the Double Tree by Hilton our accommodation I'm sure would have been quite the thing in its day, just its day was half a century ago.

There is a whole other historical side to this place though and our first stroll was an area called Society Hill  First settlers religious freedoms were my first impressions of some of the architecture and helped by signage on houses that explained the kinds of people who had lived there, traders, and political figures such as James Madison, 4th president of the US.  Famous scientist and intellectual Benjamin Frankin seems to have had a lot to do with the development of the city pre independence in the 18th century and William Penn also laid the foundations for some initial enlightened thinking. A quick scamper through history does not seem to show that was always the case here though, as people have turned against each other even after all the colonial falling out, and post independence, plenty of hostility based on background and creed. We are a predictably, pointless species.  

Adjacent to Society Hill we had also walked through the diverse Gayborhood district a sign that its not all doom and gloom and we stopped for a coffee to get our bearings and for me to locate a barbers. I always like to have a chat with a local and a haircut a great way to do this, although he was a New Jersey fella in this case, and we talked sports, kids and history as he chopped my locks.  So this year I've had a haircut in Gosforth, Whitby and sadly Caldicot and for sure this was the most enlightening, although the lady in Whitby did provide some helpful personal insights into the decline of the area!

The day was long and felt the need to have yet another meal, but perhaps with fatigue creeping in, nothing that was going to be expensive or too drawn out. The fast food haven of Panda Express beckoned, once a staple on our US trips but with Chrissi turning vegetarian in recent years, it provides less choice on that score.  Centred in the main shopping area it did give us chance to walk through the more modern part of town, albeit the rather grandiose city hall caught the eye, and feels like a real centre piece to all parts of this town come city.

We walked back to our hotel through some less populated streets and ended the day with a cider in a rock / sports bar, (Bar named Bar!) a quirky townhouse of a building with some interesting local brews, loud music and a halloween feel.  Just about kept us awake but was still an early night local time, even if would have been the early hours back in the UK.