It’s time to settle the cliffhanger and to give due praise to Northwest Airlines. As I arrived at Memphis, the gate crew immediately tried to assist me with my passport issue. The final result: My passport was to arrive the next day and I was rebooked for the flights for that day. I was also given hotel and meal vouchers for Memphis.
I used the extra night to rest and change, and the next day I went so see Elvis’ mansion - Graceland. Later I arrived at the airport and got my passport at the gate.
The flight from Memphis to Amsterdam was on a brand new A330 which included a VOD entertainment system for all passengers. The system also allowed sending text messages from the plane for only $2.50 per message. I sent two.
The next flight was a short flight to Lisbon ok KLM. The scheduled arrival time of this flight left little time between arrival and the time I should present my poster.
As Murphy would have it, this was the only flight that did not arrive early. We had a 5 min delay on departure and then during final approach, after the crew was ordered to sit down, the pilot had to abort the landing and perform a “go around”, which means take off again, circle the airport and re-attempt. The reason given: the runway was “occupied”. KLM had their share of problems using occupied runways, the most spectacular at Tenerife.
That, however, was not the end of my problems. My luggage did not show up at Lisbon. A quick check recovered my luggage which has been mistakenly labeled “RUSH”, which means it does not show up at the belt.
After retrieving my luggage. I had to wait in line for a taxi. The driver then took me to the wrong hotel and had to correct himself (I think he did it on purpose to make more money). I ended up paying €55, but arrived on time.
Later I took a taxi to my hotel, used the very small shower and reasonably priced restaurant and went to sleep.
Tomorrow: I fly to Germany on AirBerlin, seat 1-A. Stay Tuned.
May 15th, 2008 at 14:58
Posted by
epsalon |
Portugal, US Travel |
no comments
… But what an eventful week it was! For those of you that don’t know, last week I have flown back from Israel, and this week I’m flying to a conference in Portugal.
Some people (ahem, ahem) have commented on the lack of personal perspective in this blog, and it being just a dry collection of facts. Hopefully this post will be an improvement in that regard.
I know I haven’t posted in a while. This is a result of a combination of two seemingly contradicting things: there was nothing to write about, and I was too busy. Well, now, from my first class seat on NW272 SFO-MEM, I can tell you all the news.
BREAKING NEWS: I was just notified by a flight attendant that I have left my passport in SFO. This is very bad since my next flight is international. I will check with the staff at Memphis about how to get it back.
Until we land, I’ll tell you about our planned German family reunion. It seems that 4 out of my 5 immediate family members will be at Saabrücken with me the coming weekend touring around and playing boardgames.
I’m now really worried about the passport issue and hope I could board the SFO-AMS flight without it and also pass the passport control at AMS, since my I-94 has already been affixed to my boarding pass.
May 13th, 2008 at 04:36
Posted by
epsalon |
Portugal, Frequent Flyer, Personal, USA, Travel |
one comment
My 11B seat in the KLM 747 was comfortable, but the flight was delayed for about an hour while they tried to fix the broken entertainment system. The entertainment system on the KLM 747 economy cabin consists basically of TVs around the cabin that play some bad movies — not a big loss. In fact, it’s easier to concentrate without those stupid TVs.
However, KLM thought this was a serious discomfort and offered all passengers compensation vouchers for 2000 miles and a 50 EUR discount on a future KL/AF/NW flight of 150 EUR or more. I already cashed in the miles voucher, and will try to sell the discount voucher on eBay.
In between the flight I had a long layover (about 11 hours). I started my layover by visiting the KLM lounge and checking my e-mails and stuff. Then, I left my bag behind and took the train to Amsterdam, where I started to walk aimlessly among the canals. At that point I decided I have to actually go somewhere, and looked up the address of the ILLC using an open wifi hotspot, and using Google Maps mobile, I got directions on how to get there.
After about half an hour of walking I arrived, uninvited, at the ILLC. I walked among the corridors looking for recognizable names, and found a former colleague and co-author of mine, Khalil Sima’an, who was meeting with an Israeli student of his. After they concluded their meeting, they came over to talk to me. We talked about my whereabouts and my current academic direction, and concluded when they both had to leave. I finished my visit by walking towards the general direction of the train station, and then back to the airport.
In the airport, I rested at the lounge and went (too early, as usual) to the gate. After a small delay, the plane was boarded and took off. However, as the plane was almost full and lots of people were religious jews, it took forever for the cabin crew to hand out all the special (mostly Kosher) meals. The problem was, that they would not start beverage service, or even give water until this was over, which means I was basically dehydrated for more than two hours. I have written a complaint to KLM.
In the flight itself, I was seated next to two young women who were flying alone. One was connecting from New York to visit family for passover, while the other was a dutch citizen coming to visit her long-distance Israeli boyfriend. The nice conversations and sleep compensated for the lack on an entertainment system on this flight (which is standard for KLM 737s).
Now I’m in my brother’s house in Hertzeliya, and will come home for the “Seder” tomorrow afternoon.
For my detailed travel plans and locations, see my travel calendar.
April 18th, 2008 at 12:40
Posted by
epsalon |
Frequent Flyer, Family, Academia, USA |
2 comments
I’m flying transatlantic again, this time direct from San Francisco to Amsterdam and then to Tel Aviv (after a 12 hour layover). I’m sorry about the lack of updates, there was quite a lot going on, but I just didn’t have the stamina to post.
So, today I’m flying to Israel to visit family and friends. I’m bringing two suitcases, one huge and one small. The huge suitcase is full of boardgames, while the other includes some clothes. I’m also carrying a backpack full of electronic equipment (laptop, hard drive, two phones, three iPods, etc.).
On the Internet, I was assigned a really bad seat on the back of the plane, but I could change it to an aisle seat somewhere in the middle of the plane. However, at the airport I asked the check-in agent for a better seat (given my Platinum status) and was reassigned to seat 11B. Though not as good as my favorite 11E seat, it’s not that bad. It’s a center seat in the smaller front cabin.
April 16th, 2008 at 22:29
Posted by
epsalon |
Frequent Flyer, Family, USA, Travel |
2 comments
Today and yesterday I spent cleaning up my room and car. I’ve dumped all the packaging I have accumulated in the car and room, sorted all the paper, and brought all the bottles and cans in for recycling. Got more than $5 for the bottles (5¢ each).
After recycling, I went to the Toyota dealership where I bought my car for a 6-month service. Because I only drove 2,900 miles, the service included only an oil change and general inspection. However, they took a long time to perform the service, so instead of paying $28, I got the service and materials completely free.
Now I’m back the office. Later today I’ll go to another boardgaming session in San Jose (30min drive from here).
March 29th, 2008 at 02:04
Posted by
epsalon |
Daily Life, American Culture |
one comment
