THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL MODEL AUTOGYRO FLY-IN
MADRID, SPAIN SEPTEMBER 1997
A personal report from gyroNUT Jim Baxter....
Needless to say, my friend John Fecht and I experienced a real problem trying to enjoy the 9+ hour flight from Seattle to London on the 12th. Looking at that huge British Airways 747 from the outside would lead you to think you were about to enjoy the luxury of spacious, comfortable seating regardless of where they put you... .. Not!
Fortunately I was lucky to be seated next to a lawyer (yes, believe it or not.. a real live lawyer) who seemed to have a lifetime goal of aiding/leading uneducated, unprepared ethnic peoples into the 21st century. I thoroughly enjoyed a facinating (several hour?) briefing on how this person has been working with the native American Quinalt Indians and the Vietnamese people to help them improve themselves....
The lengthy discussion certainly helped passed the time... believe me the featured movies left something to be desired. We arrived in London shortly after lunch time, and were shuttled off to our hotel downtown.
Customs, passport checks, etc., were not a problem, but I would recommend you keep the passport handy... . Basically it is your ID card, and it seems like you needed it frequently for just about everything..... . The British pound, paper bills, did not pose a problem, but the coins drove us crazy! They must have 30 sizes, shapes, denominations... you name it. I immediately accumulated a pocket full of metal and everytime I tried to spend it for something small, I would receive change in the form of even more varieties. Being an intelligent(?) fellow, I found a money exchange and tried to trade it for paper.... naw... they didn`t want it back!
Our hotel room was delightfully British, small, but very neat and comfortable. Don`t let anyone tell you the British brew is lousy compared to the US variety. We found it to be not only smooth and tasty, but they must somehow remove the headache/hangover from the brewing process.... is it the preservatives we use? All the tourists are expected to motor over to see the palaces, the changing of the guard, etc., etc., but since we have seen it so much on US television, we decided that the thing to do is get out out of town, and see a little of the countryside.
Photos above....
Top: Early morning London street from our hotel window.
Bottom: Just a few of the hundreds of modelers and their models along the grass runway at the Old Warden..."Festival of Flight"
On to page two...
rev. 10-26-97..jb