Back in the USA

After a 10 hour flight, I'm now in Atlanta. Even though the plane was only about half full, I still say that the 767 is not a comfortable long-flight plane, at least not in coach. The seat next to me was empty so I could stretch my legs that direction. However, the seat backs in front of you are so close that watching a movie on a laptop is impossible even if the person in front of you doesn't recline. The plane doesn't have seat-back entertainment systems, so they showed 3 movies on the "big screens"; I watched all of one (Kung Fu Panda), part of another (Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day), and none of a third (Then She Found Me). I dozed off a few times, maybe an hour total for the flight. Interesting note: There were two US Air Marshalls on board (as evidenced by the 2 plain-clothed guys going through immigration in the "Crew" line).


Passport control and customs was pretty easy - nothing like Europe, but not bad for the US. It's still amazing how rude the security (TSA) people are to foreign nationals. If someone doesn't speak English, it doesn't seem like getting closer and yelling louder is going to make things better.

Unfortunately my connecting flight to Grand Rapids is already delayed. Instead of departing at 8:45pm, it's now scheduled for 9:38pm, which is supposed to get me home at 11:30pm. Hopefully it doesn't get any worse - or get canceled all together. Right now it's 6:40pm here but it feels like 12:40am to me. I'm already wiped out.