Text 11623, 95 rader
Skriven 2014-03-30 19:17:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: Konak Izmir trip 406
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UA 285 BOS IAD 0947 1131 320 21F

In contrast to previous trips, when I seemed to have hit
every available snow and thunderstorm, it appeared that I
dodged pretty well. There was a backlog of passengers
inconvenienced by previous weather, though, so my upgrade
didn't even come close to clearing. I was double digits into
the list. Even on the 320 this seat is decent, with enough
legroom, and as my butt isn't that big, a 6-across is just
fine. I leaned against the coldish exit door with its
stubby armrest and slept a bit. I can't report on the
quality of the service. I took a side trip to the club to
get some e-mail and stuff done and then hunted down Lilli
at her gate and convinced her to join me at the Lufthansa
lounge, where Martell VSOP and some red abomination were
poured freely by a pleasant but quizzical Arabic-looking
staff. Is it intentional that a lot of these places have
bartenders who don't drink (this is based not just on
appearance, but also on inquiry)? Probably.

Oh, yes, the lounge hadn't opened yet when we had first
arrived so we went to Five Guys and had the usual, and
it was the usual.

Back to the low C concourse, where at boarding time 
nothing was ready, so I had my third club visit of the day.

Eventually we returned to the gate and were loaded up;
took off a bit late.

UA 132 IAD MUC 1715 0740 764 5AB

Predeparture Champagne wasn't too bad though probably not
the real thing.

I'd not tried the 2-1-2 business configuration on the 764
before. To achieve this arrangement, the seats are angled
outward (the center ones are angled left, I think), which
is slightly peculiar though not unpleasant. The seats are
a little spartan for a supposedly premium product, and as
usual, the mechanisms are fragile - Lilli's seat was
broken, which a FA knew exactly how to fix, so this must
not be a rare occurrence. They're okay to sleep in, though,
especially if you can sleep on your side.

No in-flight audio except for the movie channels.

Our flight attendants just seemed to be going through the
motions and were absent pretty much except at mealtime.
This can partially be excused because it's a redeye, but
when my water glass hasn't been filled in two hours,
something can be improved.

My dinner was a pork chop with green peppercorn sauce,
sided with shiitake bread pudding and white asparagus and
broccolini. Other than the meat being trimmed of all fat
and then cooked to the consistency of floor tile, and the
sauce being made with some kind of industrial solvent,
the food did the job and was followed, as food often is,
by ice cream (vanilla). The starter had been two kinds of
salmon. bad baked wrapped in okay smoked, with a sad
little salad next to it. I think Lilli didn't eat, having
had that burger and not being an aficionada of plane food.

The wines were fine for everyday.

Ch. Argadens 09 Bordeaux was kind of stemmy still but
softish and okay on the palate. Not a whole lot of fruit,
but that was fine with me, as big fruit isn't my style;
I prefer balance, and this had it. Plus I wasn't drinking
it, my seatmate was.

I enjoyed the Selbach Riesling kabinett 12, sweetish
and tartish with a balance of apple and pineapple; sort
of what a moderately optimistic child might imagine wine
to be like.

I slept through the deli plate that came later.

Even though we came in quite late, there was time for a
leisurely breakfast at the lounge before our next flight.
I ate some gummi bears and licorice allsorts; Lilli dared
to try the real breakfast offerings, I think. Unfortunately,
the regular beer was out, and they just had the Franziskaner
Weiss, which I don't like, so I had nothing.

It was a bit of a hoof to our next gate, but as it was still
in the non-Schengen area, we got there in plenty of time to
find a bunch of disgruntled Turks roaming the area. After a
couple calming announcements in English and German (not in
Turkish) we boarded.

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