November
5, 2014 - Leave for the airport.
Prime Time
Shuttle picked me up about 10 minutes late, but I still made it to the airport
with plenty of time. The check-in system at LAX does leave a little to be desired.
You have to go to a machine and print a ticket, then get in line to check your
bags - a line they only let you in if you have a ticket from the machine.
Tickets printed at home, I found out from the disgruntled couple in line, mean
nothing. So, I printed my ticket and got in line. The line moved pretty quickly
and to my surprise, when I checked my bags they tore up the ticket I printed at
the machine and printed a new ticket for me. What an amazingly efficient
system. And good for the environment, too, with all the torn up and discarded
tickets.
The
security check was the same as on a domestic flight. The only delay was when a
whole group of flight attendants from a Saudi airline showed up and had first priority
going through the security screening. After that, just find your gate and wait
to board. My phone didn't work at LAX, but they have free wi-fi, so I sent a
few emails. The terminal area is like a giant shopping mall, and the only bad
part about that was having to walk forever past the shops to actually get to
the gate. I had time to get a pizza and iced tea before my flight, so I did.
Me waiting at LAX.
The plane
was more cramped than I ever remember a plane being. For some reason, I thought
when I was little if someone in the window seat wanted to leave the row, they
others didn't actually have to get up, but did to be polite. Now my small
carryon bag didn't even really fit beneath the seat in front of me. I put my
skirt out to cover it so the flight attendant wouldn't make me move it, although
I didn't end up needing anything from it anyway.
The back
of the seat in front of you has a screen which offers tons of TV shows and
movies, enough to entertain me for the whole 11 hour flight to Paris. I watched
5 movies - Edge of Tomorrow, The Lego Movie, How to Train Your Dragon 2, Sex Tape
and The Grand Budapest Hotel, and the one episode of Veep that was available.
The most
alarming thing the screens have available is a view from three cameras mounted
outside the plane - one looking straight down and the other two to front and
back. Every seat can be a window seat! I just thought about how much my sister
would have hated to be able to see outside the whole plane for the whole journey,
although most of the time it was clouds, so nothing to see.
The earth, as seen from the back of an airline seat.
I
pre-ordered a vegetarian meal and for the most part I'm glad I did. I got my meal
first, before the food cart came down the aisle. And even though there was a
choice of cheese ravioli for the lunch meal, they ran out just before my row and
only had chicken left. Also, instead of a pastry, the vegetarian meal had fresh
fruit. The vegetarian breakfast, however, was not good at all. Sure, there was
a muffin and apple sauce. Bread and butter. Orange juice. But along with that
there was a tray of boiled veggies - mushrooms, carrots, asparagus. Just what
you want first thing in the morning.
My layover
in Paris was very short - just shy of an hour. It was in Paris where we went
through customs and got our passports stamped. Then a change of terminal. My
flight gate was at F51, but all of the signs directed you to terminal F2. You
just had to have faith that since they both said F, it was the right thing to
do. Luckily, my connecting flight was delayed by 40 minutes or I would not have
made it to Barcelona. And, unfortunately, my luggage did not make the
connection.
The gate
in Barcelona had two ramps for two different planes at the same gate, boarding
at almost the same time, causing great crowds and mass confusion. I looked at
the other gates and it seemed to be standard operating procedure to have two planes
at each gate. I think they might need a bigger airport...
