Settling in
I have arrived in England. It was so tough leaving Steve yesterday. As he walked me to security, I broke down and cried. He just held me, and then helped me fish out a tissue so I could clean up my face. It took me several minutes to compose myself and part from him.
Of course, the TSA security people just HAVE to be little Napoleons, don't they? They have new rules regarding laptops. If you have the computer in its own sheath, you don't have to remove it from the bag. The sign said something like "if it's in the bag with nothing above or below it" you can keep it in the bag. I was pleased, because my new laptop is bigger than my old one and squeezing it into the little insert sleeve for my rolling laptop bag is very time consuming. So I happily removed the sheath, taking the time to remove the mousepad from its front pocket (nothing above or below) and plopped the sheath into a bin. I was carrying too much crap, so I then plunked my shoes on top of the computer.
Well, apparently the English on the sign isn't completely clear. Nothing is to be above or below the computer AT ALL. So my shoes got me into trouble. Well then the grumpy cow who brought this to my attention not only kept me waiting about five or six minutes for a rescan, she took my laptop OUT of its sheath! There was no reason to do that. She did it just to be spiteful. Bitch.
So I had to wrestle with my computer on top of everything else. Then my plane starts boarding EARLY whilst I was buying a bottle of water, so I had to hustle onboard. Of course, no bin near my seat was free and I have two carry-ons. Luckily, the flight attendant did some rearranging and my bag got stowed across the aisle from my seat. I was worried she was going to put it in the back and I'd have to wait for the plane to empty before I could get it. Not good when you have a connection in Atlanta to make!
So after them hustling us aboard early and making a big to do about pulling away from the gate a smidge early, we get stuck on the tarmac for about half an hour. It seems Atlanta's air traffic controllers wouldn't clear us to depart for some unknown to us reason. So we didn't take off until about 5:20 - our original departure was set at 4:42.
Fortunately, my connection was at 7:30, so even with the delay and the need to transfer from Concourse A to T Terminal (for international flights), I made it there in plenty of time.
The flight over was good. We had a brisk tailwind, the food was decent, and the girl seated next to me was very nice. I even slept! I got a good solid four hours of sleep, which is amazing. Upon arrival, though, we weren't parked at a ramp. Instead we had to schlep down a set of stairs (and the first step was easily a foot high) to a bus that then drove us around for about ten minutes before dumping us a a terminal door. It took over 20 minutes just to start deplaning. Then it was a good 15 minutes between the bus ride and the long walk to immigration. But immigration took less than 10 minutes!
I had a bit of a wait for both my cases, but nothing too bad. What's weird is the free trolleys were gone. Not sure if they were simply all in use or they're no longer available. But I had to wrestle my bags through cutoms and to the meeting point.
I've had a nice, easy day today. We went to the grocery store (we being me and my in-laws, Tony and Jean), I got unpacked, and I took a nap (even sleeping on the plane did nothing for the jet lag). We had a nice meal and then a good chunk of Steve's brothers and sisters have come by. So yes, a nice day.
Tomorrow at some point, I'm going to take a bus into town. I need to learn the ropes with it, and I want to hit Harris Library for some of the old history books I managed to get through ILL. It's a bank holiday this weekend, so the archives are closed on Monday. I've decided to give myself time off from intensive work unti Tuesday. I may as well enjoy myself, right?
So not much history yet. But it's a start.
Of course, the TSA security people just HAVE to be little Napoleons, don't they? They have new rules regarding laptops. If you have the computer in its own sheath, you don't have to remove it from the bag. The sign said something like "if it's in the bag with nothing above or below it" you can keep it in the bag. I was pleased, because my new laptop is bigger than my old one and squeezing it into the little insert sleeve for my rolling laptop bag is very time consuming. So I happily removed the sheath, taking the time to remove the mousepad from its front pocket (nothing above or below) and plopped the sheath into a bin. I was carrying too much crap, so I then plunked my shoes on top of the computer.
Well, apparently the English on the sign isn't completely clear. Nothing is to be above or below the computer AT ALL. So my shoes got me into trouble. Well then the grumpy cow who brought this to my attention not only kept me waiting about five or six minutes for a rescan, she took my laptop OUT of its sheath! There was no reason to do that. She did it just to be spiteful. Bitch.
So I had to wrestle with my computer on top of everything else. Then my plane starts boarding EARLY whilst I was buying a bottle of water, so I had to hustle onboard. Of course, no bin near my seat was free and I have two carry-ons. Luckily, the flight attendant did some rearranging and my bag got stowed across the aisle from my seat. I was worried she was going to put it in the back and I'd have to wait for the plane to empty before I could get it. Not good when you have a connection in Atlanta to make!
So after them hustling us aboard early and making a big to do about pulling away from the gate a smidge early, we get stuck on the tarmac for about half an hour. It seems Atlanta's air traffic controllers wouldn't clear us to depart for some unknown to us reason. So we didn't take off until about 5:20 - our original departure was set at 4:42.
Fortunately, my connection was at 7:30, so even with the delay and the need to transfer from Concourse A to T Terminal (for international flights), I made it there in plenty of time.
The flight over was good. We had a brisk tailwind, the food was decent, and the girl seated next to me was very nice. I even slept! I got a good solid four hours of sleep, which is amazing. Upon arrival, though, we weren't parked at a ramp. Instead we had to schlep down a set of stairs (and the first step was easily a foot high) to a bus that then drove us around for about ten minutes before dumping us a a terminal door. It took over 20 minutes just to start deplaning. Then it was a good 15 minutes between the bus ride and the long walk to immigration. But immigration took less than 10 minutes!
I had a bit of a wait for both my cases, but nothing too bad. What's weird is the free trolleys were gone. Not sure if they were simply all in use or they're no longer available. But I had to wrestle my bags through cutoms and to the meeting point.
I've had a nice, easy day today. We went to the grocery store (we being me and my in-laws, Tony and Jean), I got unpacked, and I took a nap (even sleeping on the plane did nothing for the jet lag). We had a nice meal and then a good chunk of Steve's brothers and sisters have come by. So yes, a nice day.
Tomorrow at some point, I'm going to take a bus into town. I need to learn the ropes with it, and I want to hit Harris Library for some of the old history books I managed to get through ILL. It's a bank holiday this weekend, so the archives are closed on Monday. I've decided to give myself time off from intensive work unti Tuesday. I may as well enjoy myself, right?
So not much history yet. But it's a start.
Glad you arrived without too much trauma ... we're carrying two laptops and related attachments and flying into Frankfurt on Monday. I'll let you know how THAT goes!
ReplyDeleteSo happy you're blogging on a regular basis. I'll be one of your biggest fans!