det ar aldrig for sent att ge upp---it is never too late to give up


Architectural Film - Arlanda Airport from TENJIN VISUAL on Vimeo.


look at this awesome almost charismatic SAS propaganda.


ten rules jante lagom state:
  1. Don't think you're anything special.
  2. Don't think you're as much as us.
  3. Don't think you're wiser than us.
  4. Don't convince yourself that you're better than us.
  5. Don't think you know more than us.
  6. Don't think you are more than us.
  7. Don't think you are good at anything.
  8. Don't laugh at us.
  9. Don't think anyone cares about you.
  10. Don't think you can teach us anything.

snow storm!  force majeure!

now any cool person would have ditched arlanda for a tour or something.
a pub.

but the chance to stand in a line was too enticing!

appreciating the socialness of affluent tragedy at the airport! fur coats! screaming babies!
i got to talk to SVT about wikileaks!

tried to engage my co-queuers on foreign policy talk . . . wikileaks conversation, pirate bay, guantanamo.

my co-queuers explained how typically swedish it was to have no planning, no staff, and everyone waiting in a patient line for hours and hours.
disturbing?
customer service---?
janta lagom demands: who do you think you are that you would want to speak to a manager? nobody in sweden would protest---just accept the fate, and be normal. amazing!



but due to my vast amount of apathy and the very bizarre situation of it taking three days to get from north sweden to UK, it seemed the right thing to do to wait in line for seven hours.  truly?
for a cultural study in swedish queuing habits and the limits of their stoicism and lack of effective business planning.

see my ticket was only 178$  and it took me almost to london, then uturned back to north sweden where we stayed at a somewhat charming taxidermy lodge on SAS's expense, then flew down to stockholm, to commence queuing.

so now i have a rebooked flight to london this evening.

i was ready for a change of scenery, but oh well!  i didn't really have plans.

if i chose not to wait in the seven hour scandinavian airlines ticket counter line, then i would be stuck in stockholm at least several days---and might not be able to get any reasonably priced ticket out.

so by waiting----i got to redeem the previous ticket.

but overall---perhaps i made the wrong decision.  bc if tonight's flight is delayed, i will be stuck at either the airport---or in sweden---which is not such a bad thing.  it is very surreal.  i like sweden.
my hostel booking in london is on hold.

if i actually got to london, then what?
i just want to stroll around trafalgar square like a normal tourist.  that's about all.  and go to the tate.

as for SAS and arlanda: amazing people watching, amazing freshly squeezed carrot juice, cleaner more nicely designed bathrooms than you'd find in america, lovely design.
charming travelers!  charming reporters documenting SAS and our patience! great coffee!

so . . .
if i had to be stranded at an airport, arlanda is it.

but i think SAS needs a business strategy overhaul---bc they could have done so much more to process the suffering humans in the line so they could go rest! amazing lack of staff, computers,  explanation. amazing.

impressive levels of apathy and understaffing.

for actual swedish torture read:
http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/cat/decisions/233-2003.html
http://www.hrw.org/en/node/62263/section/6
http://www.aclu.org/national-security/aclu-sues-boeing-subsidiary-participation-cia-kidnapping-and-torture-flights

if you think you are having a bad time try this . . .

refoulement
deportation to egypt to be tortured

or sweden's contribution to be cablgate
http://213.251.145.96/origin/24_0.html

of particular interest: whether or not they take guantanamo detainees
http://213.251.145.96/cable/2009/01/09STOCKHOLM31.html
and
pirate party cable
http://213.251.145.96/cable/2009/06/09STOCKHOLM355.html
friend stuck at LAX trying to get to london, then india . . .

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