AMERICAN GRAFFITI

Press, 2 November 1982, Page 25

AMERICAN GRAFFITI

by]

LES BLOXHAM

One of the nicest things about visiting the United States is to have Americans approach you and say how nice a country New Zealand is... they mean it too. Such compliments were again echoed repeatedly, and genuinely, on my latest visit to the United States for the World Travel Congress in Miami. Must admit that the more of the world I see the more I agree with them that New Zealand is a pretty hard place to beat.

Two agents from Texas who have visited New Zealand on several occasions are so taken with the country that they are now planning to sell up and, they hope, settle here.

Australians will love this: Specialty on the menu at a Miami hotel — “Fresh fish from the icy waters of Australia ...” Blue cod?

If you are planning a trip to the United States, then avoid Los Angeles as your

first American port of entry. In other words, fly via Honolulu rather than Tahiti. Los Angeles International Airport is a shambles at present as contractors work on a multi-million dollar modernisation plan for the 1984 Olympics. Honolulu Airport, on the other hand, processes its airline passengers with courtesy, speed and efficiency, even during the early dawn hours when most flights from New Zealand arrive with . their sleepy loads. * « * “E.T.— call home urgently.” Note on the passengers’ message board at Honolulu. New Zealanders have yet to meet E.T., the lovable little bulge-eye space alien who is continuing to capture the hearts of millions of American cinema goers. But beware: NASA has issued a warning that anyone who, like the boy hero in the movie, hides a lost alien, is in for heaps of trouble.

United States law forbids anyone from approaching rockets, spaceships or satellites from outer space. The authorities advise that such alien ships could carry unwanted viruses. No worry here, though: our agriculture boys would be at the ready with their spray cans. ♦ * ♦ Good grief, what next? New Orleans high school principals have been told they are not permitted to use metal detectors' to find weapons concealed on pupils. Twenty-six schools which had been using the airporttype friskers have been instructed by education board officials to stop. One principal said that using the metal detectors saved the embarrassment of manual frisking. Incidentally, some schools in the area are now using specially trained dogs to search for drugs on public school campuses. The dogs are allowed to sniff for contraband in pupils’ lockers and cars, but are not permitted to sniff the students

themselves. A federal appeals court ruled a few months ago that it was unconstitutional and an unreasonable invasion of privacy to use dogs to sniff out drugs on students. ♦ ♦ * It's the little things that count... travelling women are receiving special attention from Ramada Inns in the United States. Employees. from front desk to bar-room staff, are being trained to be aware of the requirements of a business woman. For example, the front desk is being instructed not to call out a woman’s room number to the bellhop — and when a woman checks in with a male colleague, not to assume that they are a couple, or that he is in charge.

The old French Quarter of New Orleans offers many pleasant surprises apart from its music and colourful night-life. These unique hitching posts, for instance, are still used for tethering the horse-drawn caleches that trundle tourists around the cobblestone streets. .