LG our house sitter was kind enough to offer me a ride to the airport. The street have been plowed at this point, squeezed everything into the civic and was dropped off around 4am. The adventure begins. UA has about 3 employees to deal with about a crowd of 100 people (and growing). There were only 20 people ahead of me in line but it took about 1.5 hours to get to the front of the line only to be told that my flight is delayed (crew availability). I'll definitely need every minute of my 3 hour layover in ORD, all that marathon training will sure pay off.
After being yelled at by UA staff and bonding with the rest of the delayed/cancelled folks I was able to check in and assuming the flight took off on time, 1 hour layover in ORD. Some of the other folks in line were not so lucky, one fellow who had been rescheduled from friday was told to fork over $7000!!!!!! in order to complete a reservation he had confirmed in hand (cou'dn't stick around to see this one through). A few people heading to Whistler on a scientific conference (with skis) managed to get out as well.
After the check-in chaos everything seemed like smooth sailing. I was 'randomly' selected for extra screening, my yogurt drink was confiscated but the red dust on my hiking boots reminded my TSA checker of her time in Flagstaff. Turns out that we had hiked some of the same places (Havasu Canyon for one).
Finally on the plane, bonded with a compatriot who was sitting next to me, also headed to YVR. Plane made up time on the way to ORD, everyone on board had a tight connection. Landed 30 minutes ahead of schedule so plenty of time to make connection.
Walked with one of the pilots from T1 to T3, got some good tips on where the shortest security line in ORD are and managed to get my boarding pass with time to spare.
Thursday, March 22, 2007
St. Patrick's day Luck of the ...
Woke up at 6am to call AA reservations, my wait time is 30minutes as I and thousands more are trying to reschedule cancelled flight. Finally get thru to find out that Finnair reservations don't open until 8am. Call back at 7:45am anticipating a 30 minutes hold time only to have someone pick up immediately. Hang up, call again at 8am, now I'm waiting for 5 minutes. Finally talk to reservation agent. Just as we are about to book the round the world, two stopper she finds room for the flight the next day on AA, have to take UA out of BOS at 6am. No problem. Now need to rebook PVG-ICN ticket which is not connected to any reservation system in the US.
The extra day allowed me to enjoy a little bit of snow in Beantown, watch all the drunks enjoy St. Patty's day and walk down to Harvard Square. Met MS for lunch at Diva's still one of the best Indian lunch buffets in town and much better than our work one in Woburn. The cricket world cup was keeping the staff occupied as India was losing to Bangladesh.
After barely being able to move we walked in a couple of doors down to Redbones for a drink to celebrate MS b-day and talked a bit about travel plans and possibly meeting up in Asia.
Back home to some more packing, everything somehow magically fit, the rest will be bought overseas.
Got a call from my contact in PVG that the PVG-ICN flight was successfully rebooked and was ready to snooze for about 3 hours before heading to the airport. Might as well have a messed up sleep schedule ahead of the jet lag.
The extra day allowed me to enjoy a little bit of snow in Beantown, watch all the drunks enjoy St. Patty's day and walk down to Harvard Square. Met MS for lunch at Diva's still one of the best Indian lunch buffets in town and much better than our work one in Woburn. The cricket world cup was keeping the staff occupied as India was losing to Bangladesh.
After barely being able to move we walked in a couple of doors down to Redbones for a drink to celebrate MS b-day and talked a bit about travel plans and possibly meeting up in Asia.
Back home to some more packing, everything somehow magically fit, the rest will be bought overseas.
Got a call from my contact in PVG that the PVG-ICN flight was successfully rebooked and was ready to snooze for about 3 hours before heading to the airport. Might as well have a messed up sleep schedule ahead of the jet lag.
Last day in Boston (for a while)
friday 3/16, last day in Beantown for a while. Lotsa of things to finish up at work, lunch at Mandarin for a good chinese food sendoff. Oh yeah, it's winter in Boston, wonderful storm coming thru.
Tried to leave work a little ahead of the game but had to finish a few things. Drove to Kenmore to meet with GDL and HDL to give them the car they'll be taking care of.
Already about 6" on the ground, so far mostly fluffy. We went for a nice dinner at Petit Robert which was surprisingly busy considering the weather.
After dinner we headed over cross the river (they don't like to plow our streets in Cambridge) to drop me off. Got home started to finish up packing when i decided to try and check-in...... flight out of Boston was cancelled, need to try and rebook.
Only thing AA agents can offer would leave 4 days later. Thanks to Kayak and Orbitz was able to find a 2 connection options that would go through London and Helsinki (can you say around the world) and get me in only slightly late but not early enough to make my connection to ICN.
Anyways, Finnair reservations don't open until 6am so can't book until next day. Set alarm for 6am.
Tried to leave work a little ahead of the game but had to finish a few things. Drove to Kenmore to meet with GDL and HDL to give them the car they'll be taking care of.
Already about 6" on the ground, so far mostly fluffy. We went for a nice dinner at Petit Robert which was surprisingly busy considering the weather.
After dinner we headed over cross the river (they don't like to plow our streets in Cambridge) to drop me off. Got home started to finish up packing when i decided to try and check-in...... flight out of Boston was cancelled, need to try and rebook.
Only thing AA agents can offer would leave 4 days later. Thanks to Kayak and Orbitz was able to find a 2 connection options that would go through London and Helsinki (can you say around the world) and get me in only slightly late but not early enough to make my connection to ICN.
Anyways, Finnair reservations don't open until 6am so can't book until next day. Set alarm for 6am.
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