Report #1 from:
The 4th International Congress on Drug Therapy in HIV Infection,
Glasgow, Scotland

From Jules Levin

Friday, Nov 6

I'm in Glasgow covering the annual European AIDS conference. As you may know if you read my daily highlight reports from conferences I usually do not enjoy foreign cities. I didn't like the food, service or hotels in Geneva or prior to that at the Resistance Meeting in Italy at Lake Maggiori. I didn't enjoy being in Germany or Birmingham, England for the last 2 European AIDS conferences. The air conditioning was sub-par in both Lake Maggiori and Geneva. Birmingham was dismal and the hotel and food was horrible. Although this trip started out with mishaps, Glasgow and its people so far seem great. I'll know about the food tonite when I take the recommendation to eat across the street at Mitchell's Restaurant.

The trip didn't start well at JFK. Upon arrival at JFK I found out British Airways booked me on a flight that was cancelled, it only runs in the summer. Of course I was not notified. I did though get a flight to Heathrow followed by a change to Glasgow. Of course they wouldn't let be carry my suitcase on board because 13 pounds per bag is the limit. I was carrying a bag of 16 pounds, 2 camera cases and my laptop. I carry my drugs in the 16 pound bag. There was no way I wasn't taking that bag on board. The supervisor said I had too many bags. Give me a fucking break. I finally did take all my bags on board with me. This always happens. Now they limit how many bags you can bring on board and how much they weigh. But when I reserved my seat initially they didn't say one word about a 13 pound limit. On top of that I must've walked 5 miles lugging my bags through JFK, Heathrow and Glasgow airports going to gates and 25 security checkpoints. Well maybe not 25 but I felt like 50. Listen to this one, at Heathrow they asked to turn on my camera to make sure it wasn't a bomb and then they told me you can't take pictures in the airport. They are ones who turned it on, I was turning it off and they tell me not to take pictures like that's what I want to do- take pictures in Heathrow Airport.

Once I arrived in Glasgow everything changed. The cab driver was great; the service is terrific at the hotel. So far my experience is the service is better here than in America. Eeryone has been very nice. I was surprised to learn several interesting things about Scotland. They will be independent of the UK next year. They will have their own government. In addition, the police generally do not carry guns and it is illegal for citizens to carry guns. So, violent crime is low. There are no partitions in the taxis between the front and back seats like in New York. Glasgow has 1 million people and Scotland 5 million. When I arrived at the hotel the staff was very nice in making sure I have everything I need. First thing I did was set up my laptop with proper adaptors and connections so I can file treatment reports back to the NATAP web site and the internet. Second thing was I got a refrigerator in the room for my meds. When I entered my room they had my name on the TV and nice rock music playing. The conference starts Sunday, so I have some time to relax and catch up with some writing. Its time to catch some sleep. Its 6am NY time, but 11am Glasgow time.