I’ve been writing a lot for the slowtrav contest, which is now over (thank god, I didn’t even finish everything, but I can always enter it in the next contest, whatever). This is partly why I haven’t been writing here much, but also there was the Super Furry Animals show at the House of Blues last Thursday, and THAT was fucking awesome. Then I had a party on Saturday, and THAT was fucking awesome. So I am just completely worn to a nub.

Anyhow, getting back to what I was almost talking about before, I was working on my trip report from my very first trip to Italy for the slowtrav contest, and I was adding some resource links for places I went and stayed, like the Autogrill. And this is when I discovered, Autogrill, that fantastic roadside Italian chain, is this huge conglomerate that also owns HMS Host here in the U.S. HMS Host, operators of bars that serve up nasty-ass chowder and seven dollar glasses of Fetzer Chardonnay in airports from coast to coast.

WHAT UP WITH THAT? OK… I love the Autogrills in Italy, even though after years of eating at them I realize that they are pretty much Italian fast food and that they serve up the same stuff year after year in all their locations. At least it’s good “same stuff,” and you can get a plate of pasta and a half bottle of wine for about the same amount as a double Stoli Bloody Mary at one of HMS’s fine Sports Bars or a Half Caf Whacked Snack at Starbucks. My question is, if Autogrill is responsible for feeding us at our airports, how come they aren’t busting out the REAL Cafe Macchiatos? Where are the hunks of Parmesan cheese? Where are the half bottles of Chianti?

I guess American airport visitors don’t know, or want, what the Autogrill in Italy has to offer. And I reckon that if Autogrill changed the name and concept of it’s restaurants/holdings in whatever American airport from Sbarro or Wolfgang Puck cafe (which they own) to an actual Autogrill they would still charge $7.50 for a crappy piece of pizza, and they would still make you pay $7.50 or a crappy glass of wine. I have my ways of having what I want, when I want in an airport terminal, but still, the thought of an Autogrill in one of our airports is almost orgasmic, especially when I think of the airport in San Diego.

Kind of trippy… all the talk of globalization and how McDonald’s is taking over the world, yada yada. And here there is an Italian company, running a bunch of food franchises in the U.S, and they SUCK! And more importantly, we are all SUCKERS! Americans, demand the right to have the actual Autogrill in our airports! Demand decent wine at a reasonable cost! Me, and the two of you who are reading this, we can make a difference. Oh, we can’t? You are probably right. Guess I’ll have to keep drinking my smuggled wine out of a Starbucks cup. Oh well.