Text 34580, 73 rader
Skriven 2015-12-27 07:22:18 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: outta there 717
=======================
UA3740 MSY IAH 1641 1802 E75 2A

Security was very quick - somewhere I've been not too long ago, 
Charlotte I think, had a huge PreCheck line, almost as long as
the regular one; this one had maybe five minutes' wait for the
regular line, with nobody in PreCheck, so I was through in a
minute, maybe two. So more time to play on the laptop. One
thing I must add is that this airport has enough electric
outlets. One other thing I must add is that the wi-fi bites
the big one: it's okay outside security but weak weak inside.

It was raining cats and dogs, and our equipment was late, and
I was getting antsy, but it showed up around the time we were
scheduled to board, and we eventuallg got packed on there, 
and off we went into the gloaming, after the captain came out
of his cockpit and informed us that the seat belt was going
to be on for most of the flight, which it was. The winds were
such that though we got buffeted about a lot, we made up a
chunk of time and landed half an hour ahead of schedule.

But, as always happens when we land early, we waited around for 
a while to get a ground crew mustered up to take care of us.

I still had an hour and a bit to waste, so off I went to the 
club, which was two concourses over, but what the heck, I
needed the exercise. The concierge, who ought to have recognized
me (I've been troublesome here many times over the years) did
not but was pleasant enough anyway. Upstairs to the top floor,
where I picked out a nice work carrel and gave a thought to
taking a shower, but the attendant wasn't there, which was fine, 
as between tipping the housekeeper a couple bucks a day and 
putting money into the ravenous fare machines on the bus and 
trolley, I was running out of dollar bills. Then I thought
how nice a glass of whiskey would be, but that would involve
going back downstairs and possibly losing my coveted spot.
Ah, well, I sat and read for a while, and then it was time to
line up for my last United flight of the year, which of course
was delayed, this time by an indicator light that had gone
faulty (this being much better than the actual apparatus going
faulty). And then by a family that had lined up in the first
class line but turned ont not only not to have been in first
class, they weren't on the flight at all - they were going to
Mexico City, and how the sign that said Baltimore made them
think they were going to Mexico, I don't know.

I had a glass of Dr. Pepper before takeoff.

UA1986 IAH BWI 1950 2342 739 2A

There was food on this flight. A ramekin of mixed nuts, which
I washed down with red vin ordinaire, followed by a quarter 
pound of tenderized beef chunks in a fairly tasty orange-spiked 
sauce next to a pile of big pieces of steamed carrot and celery 
and little pieces of potato. If you cut the components into s
mall bites and then combined them on your fork, the effect was 
rather pleasant and stewlike. A roll, which was surprisingly
just as good as what most restaurants offer. No butter, strange,
but I sopped the gravy up with the bread. Respectable greens
in the salad but there were slices of unspeakable things on
it, to wit raw cucumber and insufficiently burned zucchini.
A sliver of red bell pepper; a little cup of honey dijon salad
dressing.

We encountered some major turbulence on this trip as well -
of course, we were going through the same nasties as we'd
encountered just a couple hours ago going the other direction.
The red wine splashed, the trays slid, nothing actually went
on the floor, though. Of course the same winds that sped us
along on the other flight retarded us, but once we got past
the front, it was off to the races, and we landed within the
rubric for on-timeness.
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