Text 3559, 105 rader
Skriven 2013-08-16 23:02:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: trip 4
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So I am in need of a certain number of segments to make my
flight quota on US Air so I can keep gold status and get
lots of upgrades, so I did this weird itinerary and took
4 flights in 2 days to get from Boston to Providence. The
actual amount of time spent was approximately the same as
it would have taken me to walk. I did get to look in on
my brother and listen to him expound his worldview for an
hour or two, so maybe it was worth it.

US2111 BOS DCA 1000 1129 319 3F

I presented myself two hours before the flight, but
security was negligible. I had the PreCheck insignia on my
boarding pass, but there was no PreCheck; on the other hand
the security line had only 20-30 people in it, and my
special people's line had but two, and the procedure took
about 5 minutes, including my discomfited scurrying about
the floor when my one quart resealable plastic bag decided
to unseal, the result being medicine and toiletries
scattering about the area.

My friend Sonia was on vacation, so the club concierge was
the almost as agreeable Penny. Wireless signal strong;
coffee weak. Breakfasty snacks unattractive.

So I was hungry enough for the plane fare -

180 Snacks almond pops - these are sort of crispy rice
treats with some almond slivers and some dried blueberries;
also "natural" flavoring, which tastes about as artificial
blueberryish as possible. Vaguely sweet. Unattractive on
the face of it, but actually not horrid, and I asked for
seconds.

Utz's gourmet medley - russet, blue, sweet, and ordinary
potato chips, thin-sliced; they're okay, but as they're
cooked in oil rather than lard, they haven't got the rich
flavor of real Utz's, and as they're sliced thin, they have
no textural interest, All the chips taste the same, except
the sweet potato ones, which are slightly sweeter.

There are also Clif bars and a couple other similar things,
which I did not deign to look at.

We were a bit late coming in - actually, we landed well on
time but had to wait for a gate to come open -, so I had
to hustle to get to my next flight, which was only a
hundred feet away.

US1755 DCA CLT 1210 1329 319 3F

The food offering - an ounce of cocktail mix that consisted
of cheese corn sticks, honey sesame sticks, ranch-flavored
pretzels, and a cashew.

I had a nip of Canadian Club and a glass of hot water to
try to soothe my throat. It might have worked.

The flight was not unpleasant and reasonably on time.

US1978 CLT BWI 1450 1618 320 3F

This flight was an hour and half late, which was fine as
it was it for me for the day, and the only misconnection
was for the bus, of which there is one every hour. The sad
thing, for four unhappy customers, was they'd had some
trouble and a 320 was substituted for the scheduled 321,
which meant that row 4 was now coach instead of first class.
Which is why I never book row 4. Anyhow, there was an
airplane, and owing to some bumpy air, we didn't make up any
time, despite the outrageous padding that they put in for
just this purpose. Little surprise they are putting in more
and more 350-400 mph barbie planes instead of the 530-550 mph
ones that they used to have: what's the point if the air
congestion is so great you can only go 200-250 anyway.

Oh, the US Air 321 has the worst first-class section of any
aircraft I have ever been on; the 319 and 320 are somewhat
better, as there's more legroom.

I had another nip of Canadian Club and a glass of hot water
to try to soothe my throat. It might have worked.

Snacks:

Boulder kettle cooked potato chips - better than the Utz
product that has replaced them. This flight was catered to
the old specifications, which meant better though still not
luxurious food.

I grabbed the last 100 Calorie pack of Emerald walnuts and
almonds; my seatmate asked the flight attendant if there
were any more and was more crushed than one would expect on
being told that that was the last one. I gave it to him,
and he was appropriately thankful.

When we arrived, the 5:00 bus to Shady Grove was a mere
memory, and I had some time before the next one, so I went
and had a Big Mac, which was not unpalatable and actually
filling enough (though not really very big). The bus driver
tried to double charge me, an annoyance, but maybe he was
at the end of a long shift and not very with it.
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