Rio de Janeiro: 32 degrees, hot and very sunny.
Today, I reserved and paid for my seat on my flight from Rio to Schiphol.
I had already paid for a seat from Schiphol to Birmingham. Stupidly, I thought that it was for both flights. Then I discovered that if you want a preference for where you sit and sleep, especially on a long flight, you must pay a reservation fee for that preference.
Of course, twenty-two years ago, this never existed. But nowadays, everyone is looking, fighting, and scraping for money in different ways to make ends meet or to be more profitable. Usually, I wouldn’t care about reserving and paying for a seat on a flight, but as I have broad shoulders—especially since I have been working out—the worst situation for me would be sitting in the middle with two passengers on either side.
People avoid sitting next to me on a bus. Imagine ten or eleven hours on an international flight; it would be completely uncomfortable for me and the people next to me. Therefore, I have seats reserved on both flights. I have my flight ticket, passport, and Brazilian ID; I think that is everything.
However, I don’t have travel insurance. A student of mine Antonio is dealing with this. Since I don’t have a specific return date, the quote he gave me for staying there for one month is too expensive. I looked on Google to find out if entering the UK with travel insurance is obligatory for expatriates. Fortunately it isn’t; that is one less item to pay for the trip.
Another unnecessary requirement is a vaccination card specifically for Covid and Yellow Fever. I will bring my two vaccination cards, just in case, but it shouldn’t be necessary.
So, everything is more or less done. There are a few small things to do, such as having my boots repaired, buying presents for my nephew and niece, and packing my suitcase. I think that’s about it. As for packing my suitcase, I will do it on the same day or the day before I leave.
As mentioned, I haven’t been to England in more than 22 years—that is almost a generation. Even purchasing an international air ticket is different now. In the past, it was a paper ticket; now, it’s all about e-mail, apps, QR codes, and other virtual means.
Once unnecessary, travel insurance has become a significant part of the checklist. Seat reservations and the option to pay for preference never existed before, but now they do. Simply travelling from A to B requires a few previously unheard-of tasks.
It got me thinking that we will be lost and out of date if we don’t live in a capitalist society, where everything is tied to consumerism, consumption, production, creation, and distribution.
If we want to keep up with others and the general evolution in the world, while also being competitive, or at least maintaining the same level as others, we must live in a capitalist society. Otherwise, we will return to an archaic and outdated society.
Any ruler, leader, Prime Minister, President, etc., who preaches a socialist agenda is excluding their people from the rest of the world. A leader must provide the opportunity for you to be competitive against others. You choose whether to take it, but the society you live in should offer you that opportunity.
Suppose the country’s leader does not provide you with conditions to work, learn, improve, and progress. In that case, that leader is incompetent, self-centred, spiteful, evil, and probably corrupt. Their main goal? Simply power for themselves. Ultimately, it leads to people’s ignorance.
The rest of the day involved teaching classes. I taught an in-person class in Copacabana with Dona Vera, who had already given me a shirt for Christmas, and today, she brought me a bottle of wine. Bless her.
In bed by 10.00 pm.
Thank you.
Thanks for reading this blog post. Please explore my other posts and share your thoughts in the comments section.
Richard
