Text 17296, 78 rader
Skriven 2011-11-01 13:25:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: MKE trip winds down 140
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Next morning we returned the car and got to the airport
in jig time. The info booth lady said there was a place
for drinks inside security, but "you have to watch out for
the prices they charge." We got through security in a few
minutes. I was for checking out the offerings in the public
area, but Lilli wanted to play it cautious, so we ended up
at Chili's Too, where what is served is not my kind of food
to say the least. Or alcohol, for that matter - one glass of
Cabernet that would have done discredit to the free stuff
at the club, if there were a club here, plus a scant pint
of Dos Equis: $21. We could not afford another round at
those prices. The leftover roast goose, noshed at the gate,
was most welcome.

AA5005 MKE ORD 1240 1330 ERJ 11C

Nice upholstery and adequate if not ample room.

This flight takes 15 minutes, but they schedule it at 50.
It took 60 counting taxiing around seemingly in circles in
that Byzantine world that is the Chicago airport.

Cheap red wine at the Admiral's Club, and then we said our
goodbyes yet again, and Lilli went to the other terminal
for her flight back to California, and I crossed the
corridor for

AA3879 ORD DCA 1500 1740 CR7 10A

The Canadair is a much more uncomfortable aircraft than the
Brazilian jungle jet, but the ability to sleep in the air
rescued me yet again.

One thing I must say about this plane - the bathroom was
cleaner than any other small plane bathroom I've ever been
in, bar none. Maybe it had just had its annual maintenance
or something, but I was actually quite impressed.

We landed in Washington at the same terminal that United
uses; I tried to take the bus to the other terminal, where
US Air is based, but the service was shut down for lightning
(why this weird itinerary, costing twice what I could have
paid? My concert in Rhode Island was pushed up a week, after
I had my tickets bought, without anyone bothering to tell me
until it was time to arrange pickup: and the tickets were
nonchangeable, and didn't want to forfeit the value and the
miles), so I ducked into the United club for a glass of
the house red, Copper Something Cabernet, which was not
nearly so bad as the other wines I'd tasted recently. I had
to call across to get served - the bartender's body language
exemplified disinterest, perhaps displeasure at being there
or at what Continental is doing to its subsidiary, who
knows. I considered withdrawing the usual dollar tip but did
not do so. The wireless was sort of balky. 

Eventually they started running the bus again, and I went
over to the US Airways club, where the wine was worse but
I at least was in the same terminal as my flight.

US1242 DCA PVD 2120 2233 319 3A

The plan was to sit at the club until it closed and board
the aircraft right away. No such luck - the club closed on
time at 9 (nothing like the unwelcome announcement "your
attention please, the US Airways Club is now closed"), but
the flight was 90 late, so there was over an hour of getting
increasingly squashed in an increasingly chaotic small space
with an increasingly more apprehensive bunch of folks. There
were lightning strikes that we could see in the neighborhood
so at least we knew why they were delaying the flights. Most
of us, anyway - one overheard occasional loud increasingly
irrational complaints ... eventually we boarded, took off,
and landed 90 late in Providence, where my extremely sleepy
ride awaited.

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