Adventures in Gastronomy

I’ll start with the negative then work my way back to the good stuff. My flight back to Boston was scheduled for 6:59 p.m., but when I printed my boarding pass, it said it was now a 7:15 P.m. departure. I thought I could deal with that so I went through security (shoes and belt off, pocket items scanned in bucket, my belly button ring making the metal detectors go off – same old, same old).

As I was sitting at the gate, at about 6:45 p.m. the flight staff notifies us to come to the counter to discuss our flight possibly being delayed. But when I got to the counter, I was told that I wsa being switched to another flight. Now, this wasn’t just a switch from one American Airlines flight to another, they were putting me on a USAirways flight – across the airport – that departed at 7:30 p.m.

I had to take their documentation, exit the gated/secure area, go up a level to the USAirways ticketing counter, get a new ticket, then find the new gate (for the new airline) that was at the other end of the concourse (fortunately, this is a small airport). But, just as my luck would have it, the last minute ticket change (which wasn’t my fault) prompted them to question my safety as I tried to get to my new gate. I got to be pulled aside, scanned, had my bags completely searched, spread my arms out, get padded down, had to once again expose that belly button ring, and then finally, three TSA employee searches later, I was permitted to go to my gate (it took 5 minutes or so just to pack up again; put on my boots, my belt, watch, wallet, jacket, etc…).

Then, I’m sitting at the gate only to find that my new flight is now going to be delayed, too. So, we waited an extra 30 minutes (it’s now 8:00 p.m. and we’re still boarding). We finally depart and after flying, walking, bussing, subway-ing (blue and then green lines) and then more walking, I finally made it home after 10:30 p.m. PHEW On the positive side, I had absolutely no fear flying and think I may be ready to work my way up to longer flights. Perhaps Chicago next. Then Maybe California.

But just for my fans, I already updated my blog AND my photo gallery so check out the pictures in the Washington, DC 2005 gallery

I’ll write more about the actual activities of my last two days in Washington, DC (as opposed to this airline diatribe*) in my next posting.  Anyway, here’s a picture to give you an idea of my impression of DC.

*Is it just me, or are airplanes essentially glorified busses?

January 18th, 2005
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl

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