Winding down

Last couple of days at Lisas house before I start the trek back, Monday is not a bank holiday here so life goes on as normal, I have to pack the bag again, finally managed to get the orange blow up matress into its bag, at the airport it was like trying to struggle an unruly inflatable octopus back into its bag.
 Everything important (apart from Al's Bourbon) in the hand luggage in case the big case goes missing in the short connection. 

My route home is PHL-CLT-ATL-LHR-(BRU) we know why the BRU is in brackets don’t we?? 

       No wonder the AA flyers liked the BA lounge, this lounge in PHL is very sparse, a school dinner lady hatch to ask for a drink with a few nibbles set out. I didn’t stay long as I had a flight to catch . The nice ladies did offer to route me direct to BRU if I wanted but I declined! I guess they wouldn’t understand  truth being stranger than fiction as you know.

Well of all the picturesque airports that I have departed from in the past 2 weeks, I have come to the conclusion that PHL is not one of them, arriving on BA, it’s cool to be hanging above the Delaware for so long but departing…well, its not that interesting either

Over the last couple of weeks I have seen the inside view on  airports, the domestic flight side that us tourists don’t usually see, the reality is the arriving into an international airport does not equal what the locals are going through day after day.

MIA was a particular surprise, away from the palm trees and the brass inlays of sealife on the floor is a whole other side to the airport, grey, somewhat seedy, not what tourists are used to !

 PHL-CLT

The 757 seat  experience on US is better than AA on a 757, remember being crammed into the seats on the 757 to LAX or perhaps to HNL well, my feet don’t even touch the floor, there is no way I can reach the seat infront of me and judging by the gyt 2 rows up, they have an infinite range of adjustments you can make

Drinks in plastic glasses for take off, a pack or two of nibbles from the tray and a couple of photos out the window is all I can say about this 1hr trip. I would say it makes a reasonable 60TP leg if you are in the area but not worth going out of your way for!

Pretty much bang on 15.22 the wheels touched the runway and then the agony of a 10 min hold for a gate while my precious connection time is ticking away, the FA seemed unconcerned that I was boarding again in a different terminal in a mere 20 mins. The chap next to me reassured me that it wasn’t too bad to connect from the B terminal to the C terminal and calmed down a little.

My “friend” at check in at PHL had said something like “well if the airline are silly enough to sell it to you , they must think you can make it” but that hadn’t filled me with confidence after the rest of her performance!

It turns out although it is a yomp and 3 moving walkways between B13 and C13 which is manageable in about 8 mins so I was just in time to get on board with the tail end of the priority boarders. Clt looks like a nice little airport but I cant say for certain as I spent precisely 45 mins on the ground.

What is it with people and smelly FOOD on planes, at PHL there was a woman tucking into a man sized slice of greasy smelly pizza and now there is someone eating sushi with chopsticks (which she cant manipulate very well) I should be grateful no one has brought any smelly cheese or perhaps that is to come.

CLT-ATL

This plane is a whole step down from the 757, its usually the case that after you have been on a 757 you are praying for an airbus but not this time, crate is the best description, rattly and crashy, alledgedly it has wifi so I am going to log on to facebook and say “guess what I am on a plane” on there!.

Both flights were about an hour and the only reason I took them was to increase my points, having said that Atlanta is a stonking good airport, the connection train to the international terminal is exactly the same at the underground in Brussels, the same swaying, the same forks in the track. Dunc would have just rolled his eyes and got on the plane, I liked to give him the chance to relax and have a couple of drinks by adding connecting flights, he never drank on the flight home because he was driving. I struck a different sort of bargain with Al when we went to NJ, he drank on the way over and I drove in the US, I drank on the way back and he chauffered me home.

Cheers!

I have tried to experience US airways so that I can “share my wisdom”, I am afraid to say, the general experience hasn’t improved all that much over the last few years and unless there is a routing you particularly want to take, then stick with the tried and tested AA routes

Smiley faces on US...not

Atlanta is humid and sunny, the international terminal is pristine and full of light, only the sun in my eyes and the fact that I had a couple of drinks on each of the 1 hour flights spoiled the party by conspiring to give me a headache. Bummer, I usually drink myself "tired" in the lounge before an overnight flight !

The Lounge in ATL is shared with other airlines but is small and nearly full, sandwiches, nibbles, soda machine, bar the usual stuff, if anything I think it resembles the Galleries in Heathrow but on a much smaller scale and without the branding.

Night is falling so it must be time to get on another plane!
The overnight from Atlanta to London- see you in the morning 
Nite xx