Tuesday, September 23, 2008
My First Meal in the US
From On The Border in Atlanta airport: Chicken enchiladas with green sauce, refried beans, rice, tortilla chips, and salsa:
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.
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.
Final Moments in Austria
Everyone woke up this morning pretty eager to get on with the day's activities. We walked across the street to the terminal and got Erica, Paul, Bonnie, Bruce, and Shawn checked into their Northwest flight, which had an on-time departure at 9:45am. I'm flying alone on Delta and have about 2 more hours before my Atlanta flight leaves. It's another 767, which is not the best trans-oceanic aircraft. However right now the online seat map is only about 40% full with no one assigned next to me, so maybe it won't be so bad. The flight is 11 hours total.
Once in Atlanta I've got about 4 hours before my flight to Grand Rapids leaves. I'll have to clear immigration and customs during that layover, which I hear can be a multi-hour ordeal there. If everything is on time my plane should land in Michigan at 10:55pm (a 2 hour flight) and I should be home before midnight (which will feel like 6:00am to me).
Vienna airport is pretty nice, and is a great place to people-watch. Like everywhere else there's a lot of smoking here, but I think I've gotten more used to it. Maybe I'll need to chew Nicorette for a few days when I get back to wean myself off the secondhand smoke. The passport procedures for departure are non-existent - you hand it to them and they stamp it. No questions, 20 seconds max. Here they screen your carry-on luggage (a laptop case and backpack in my case) at your individual gate instead of all together.
There's very little seating near the gates here, so right now I'm in a big room (smoke-filled, of course) tucked back into a corner. My plane starts boarding in 15 minutes, so I guess it's time to go stand over there. I land in Atlanta at 4:55pm (Michigan time), so if I have time there might be one additional update today from there. Then I'll have a wrap-up post or two tomorrow before putting this blog to bed.
Once in Atlanta I've got about 4 hours before my flight to Grand Rapids leaves. I'll have to clear immigration and customs during that layover, which I hear can be a multi-hour ordeal there. If everything is on time my plane should land in Michigan at 10:55pm (a 2 hour flight) and I should be home before midnight (which will feel like 6:00am to me).
Vienna airport is pretty nice, and is a great place to people-watch. Like everywhere else there's a lot of smoking here, but I think I've gotten more used to it. Maybe I'll need to chew Nicorette for a few days when I get back to wean myself off the secondhand smoke. The passport procedures for departure are non-existent - you hand it to them and they stamp it. No questions, 20 seconds max. Here they screen your carry-on luggage (a laptop case and backpack in my case) at your individual gate instead of all together.
There's very little seating near the gates here, so right now I'm in a big room (smoke-filled, of course) tucked back into a corner. My plane starts boarding in 15 minutes, so I guess it's time to go stand over there. I land in Atlanta at 4:55pm (Michigan time), so if I have time there might be one additional update today from there. Then I'll have a wrap-up post or two tomorrow before putting this blog to bed.
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