Detroit Travel notes - day 2
Howdy all, and greetings from my hotel room at the Marriott, in the Renaissance Center itself! I’ve got a pizza and basketball on ESPN - does life get much better than that?
Well, yeah, it does actually. I could have my family here, too. But if you’re going to be stuck somewhere halfway around the world, then being there with a pizza and Kobe Bryant makes it better.
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Thanks for all the power adaptor advice. Eggs and Gripen have both sent a solution by overnight mail, and to matters even more adaptable, I purchased a universal unit at O’Hare airport in Chicago. I thought I better grab it while I saw it.
The posted units won’t go to waste, however, as I have other electrical goods that need to be charged and I’m sure at least one of them will be in the same boat as the laptop.
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So, on to things Saab….Lets kick it off with sightings so far in the US:
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The US is an interesting and entertaining place for a tourist. This is going to sound rather stuffy, maybe even patronising, but it’s interesting to watch anyone in a service industry ‘on show’ whilst they’re on the job.
The pursar on the flight from Chicago to Detroit today was absolutely hilarious. It was like he was an FM radio DJ who took an airline job when things went bad. When he got on the microphone it was game-on. The guy on the desk at my hotel last night was the complete opposite. So laid back he was almost in a coma. Which was good.
I’m not a naturally friendly person, so the personable nature of everyone here is actually quite confronting.
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Everything smells good here, too. Several times the airline staff came up tha aisle collecting garbage and they had to most fragrant garbage bags you’d ever smell.
Made me want to jump right in and try out some leftovers.
Or not. It’s just another curiosity of being in the US, I suppose.
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I asked everyone about tipping a few weeks ago, then promptly forgot all the advice. I had a room service guy deliver a pizza tonight and leave with a very forlorn look on his face. D’oh!
I went down to the service desk later and left a tip and a note for him. Felt bad.
The pizza was great, which was a surprise. I’d heard bad things about US pizza, but it was great.
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OK, there have been a couple of Saab sightings……
Gripen and I came across a few yesterday, including a sweet looking FL9-5 Combi in LA last night.
I haven’t seen any 9-7x’s or 9-2x’s though. I thought I might. I’ve only been on the road between the airport and the hotel here in Detroit and didn’t see any Saabs at all.
I did see a 9-3 Aero and a 9-5 Aero in the valet parking here at the hotel, though.
Overall, there’s been a very low visibility situation with Saabs here so far. I guess I expected it, but didn’t want it to be that way.
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I haven’t seen a Saab ad, yet. Neither by way of billboard or TV ad.
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The story on the 9-1 has drawn a lot of comments. I feel totally out of the loop on that as it’s all happened while I’ve been travelling and offline.
I’ll try and find out what I can over the next few days.
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Tomorrow will consist of catching up with a few guys here for lunch, and just trying to find my way around seeing I arrived in darkness tonight.
Thanks for hanging around. I’ll get up to speed on Saab events and happenings in the morning.
For now, I really need to catch up on some sleep.
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You should know Detroit is not NOT the, um, market for Saabs. It is more of a Cadillac town…
Birmingham and Bloomfield Hills are more Saab areas. Also, do not mess with the staff at the People Mover stations; they mean business. If they says don’t step over the yellow line, don’t do it.
Hey I am watching the Lakers game too! They are on a great run right now…
:)
I’ve flown a ton the last few months and most pursers are the same, just as you described. After giving the same spiel a million times you’d think they’d be tired of their own voice!
Said flights have been between So Cal and the northeast. I just spent 9 days in upstate NY and NJ, and saw one 9-7x. The day I got home I saw three in the first 20 minutes back.
With that said, the northeast is absolutely TEEMING with 9-5s in comparison to the greater LA area….go figure…
Hey, don’t go enjoying the smell of our garbage bags and the flavor of our pizza. Didn’t you get the hint when you were being fingerprinted and photographed at LAX? Foreigners aren’t welcome here. That includes you Canadians. I don’t care if your dollar goes further here now. Come in, do your business and get out!
You’ll see more Saabs during the week when the GM people come to work. A fair number drive Saabs. If you make it out to the suburbs, you’ll see even more.
Oh, and welcome to Detroit.
it’s good to hear of your experiences in the u.s. hehehe: the nba and something to nosh at the hotel…. you’re “preaching to the choir.” yes, there’s nothing like simple pleasures.
for all it’s worth, i rarely see 9-2/7x’s on the road. maybe 2 per year. i found it especially odd last year when i was on the road quite a bit, to the tune of about 60,000 miles, mostly in (snowy) colorado.
sounds like they should have charged a 2-drink minimum during the purser’s “show.”
Sorry to hear you were in Ohare and you didnt take take a lap in the diesel.
My neighbor across the street just traded in her 04 9-3SS for 9-7X 4.2i and there are 2 9-5s for sale down the street from me at a used car lot. One’s a 2000 and they want $9800, the other just showed up yesterday but doesn’t have and details on it yet. I rarely go a day without seeing a Saab around town, but they are mostly in the suburbs. I bet the garage at the Ren Cen has quite a few during the work week. Welcome to Detroit!
Bad US pizza, really? I never knew our pizza had a bad rap! The good round here is Papa John’s while Buddy’s and Cloverleaf are great deep dish squares. There’s also Pizza Papalis in Greektown that serves a mean Chicago style pizza.
From what I heard from Italian’s visiting the US, the pizza over there bear close to no resemblance to Italian pizza other than the name. And the same goes for the things they serve at pizza joints in Sweden…
Hey Swade –
Glad to hear that you are enjoying the US and we are making a good impression on you. Be sure to check out a Cleveland Cavaliers game out – LeBron James is very entertaining.
Sorry we missed each other again – five days of electrical training in Dearborn wore me out and I am glad to be home.
Looking forward to hearing (reading) what you think about the Detroit show.
You want real pizza? Go to New York. It’s the only redeeming thing about that city.
And go Bullets.
I swear, I’d be into the NBA today if they hadn’t changed that name. Wizards, please.
wow whoever said US pizza was bad either lacks taste buds or has only had pizza hut/dominos/papa johns. chicago and NY are the places to eat. over here in NY, there’s a pizza paradise on every corner, which is why we have a gym on every block.
I agree with blix. The pizza in New York and Chicago is the best. The reason pizza in the U.S. is nothing like the pizza in Italy is because Italian immigrants to the U.S. brought the old recipe but modified it so it’s even better now! Then an Austrian (Wolfgang Puck) made it suck again. Just don’t eat a Wolfgang Puck pizza. Or like blix mentions stay away from the major chains.
That’s one of the things that makes America so great. The melting pot of cultures makes our food so great. People complain about the number of Mexican immigrants in California, but damn, we have great Mexican food!
I believe Swade’s pizza was made by room service at the hotel, but I’m guessing it wasn’t made from scratch by hand. It was probably some other brand of pizza and heated up. I hope they didn’t give you a frozen Freschetta pizza or something!
I like Pizza Hut’s stuffed crust and Papa John’s pan pizza.