It’s not a coincidence that road rage was born here, little daily eruptions of fury like geysers that occasionally explode volcanically in Watts or South Central. A city that evolved in lockstep with the auto industry, it isolates its 9.5 million people in their cars spread out across more than 4,000 square miles, militating against the most basic aspects of what makes cities work, things like interacting, gathering, seeing each other and learning how to coexist. It’s a wreck, just farcically bad by any metric a reasonable urban planner or city theorist or rational human being might use. They recently opened a VIP terminal that essentially provides the sort of experience you get at a regular airport for the rich and famous who just can’t put up with the airport in its natural state anymore. When added to American airport security systems, two-hour layovers can turn into mad dashes to make your flight. You may have to walk for close to an hour to get from one terminal to another, for instance, in the absence of something as basic as a shuttle. It is, like the city that surrounds it, just tragic. Zurich’s is perfectly clean and plain, nothing much to see there, unless you know exactly where to go, in which case you find things like the Swissair lounge, where they have more than 150 whiskies, served by knowledgeable bartenders, for free.Īnd the Los Angeles airport, known universally by its IATA code, LAX, is a huge big mess. Vancouver’s is gorgeous, and despite way more effort and money having gone into Doha’s and Dubai’s, Shanghai’s and Beijing’s, it effortlessly beats them all. Toronto’s, for instance, is all grey and cold blue, unremarkable but way more efficient and workable than Torontonians give it credit for. I wonder if airports really are reflections of the cities they serve, or if I’m making it up. Here, why Los Angeles is, despite what you've heard, worth a walk around. In this occasional series, travel writer Bert Archer will highlight some of the reasons why a trip to America is worth your time and travel dollars. than contentious politics and civil unrest. Despite the news, there's much more to the U.S.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |