Up before the alarm again at 7am. Had a long shower and got my stuff repacked for my journey back to LA. Checked my email and some news sites before having a breakfast of tea and toast with Nutella. Hit the road a little after 10am. Dropped Annett at the Wansee S-Bahn station and continued on to Tegel in fALk’s van. Bid goodbye to fALk and jumped into the check-in line.
Everything was very orderly but took a little longer than I had hoped. One of the gate agents was being a real stickler about the size of carry-on luggage. I was fortunate not to have to stand in his line. The gate agent that checked me in probably would have made a big deal out of my bag, but I was careful to keep it partly concealed from her. The seat I was assigned was not so great, a middle seat toward the back. I was just happy not to have had any hassle about my bags, so I didn’t bother to ask for another one. Proceeded to the immigration and security section. The immigration officer gave me a number of dirty looks. Looking nothing like any of my identification photos has caused a number of interesting encounters with authority figures.
The security folks had a field day with my bag full of computer and photographic equipment. I was glad that I had insisted on getting to the airport a full two hours before my flight. Finally got cleared and was able to relax and start to read Cory Docktorow’s “Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town.” Boarding finally commenced 10 minutes before our scheduled departure. After the first two sections were invited to board, my name was called. Not sure what to make of this, I was pleasantly surprised to be assigned a different seat. This new seat turned out to be in the section where the crew rests during the flight and had the amenities of business class. I was excited to find a power connection in the seat and finally be able to take advantage of the computer power cable I have carried on every flight waiting for just such an opportunity.
Got into JFK right on time and through immigration without any hassle. Baggage claim took close to half an hour. Breezed through customs and then out into the sweltering New York summer. Immediately shed my jacket and wished I wasn’t wearing long sleeves. Called up Liz to see if I could make an appointment for a bleach re-touch. She will be working a bunch of 12-hour days for the next week, so no plans were made.
Got checked into Jet Blue with no trouble and out to the gate with an hour to spare before boarding. There was free wireless in the terminal, so I uploaded all of the blog entries I had completed on the flight from Berlin. Checked in with Mom and had a long chat with Peter Shapiro. Began boarding at 5:55pm. Technicians were scampering throughout the passenger compartment trying to get the DirecTv sets working. We waited over an hour while they tried to get things up and running before they finally gave up and sent us on our way.
Got some more work done on the blog and napped intermittently. Finally pulled into Burbank at 11:15pm. Got my luggage by 11:45pm and was on the bus to downtown at 12:10am. Unpacked my laundry and started a load while I showered. Checked email and uploaded blog entries until 3am.
Everything was very orderly but took a little longer than I had hoped. One of the gate agents was being a real stickler about the size of carry-on luggage. I was fortunate not to have to stand in his line. The gate agent that checked me in probably would have made a big deal out of my bag, but I was careful to keep it partly concealed from her. The seat I was assigned was not so great, a middle seat toward the back. I was just happy not to have had any hassle about my bags, so I didn’t bother to ask for another one. Proceeded to the immigration and security section. The immigration officer gave me a number of dirty looks. Looking nothing like any of my identification photos has caused a number of interesting encounters with authority figures.
The security folks had a field day with my bag full of computer and photographic equipment. I was glad that I had insisted on getting to the airport a full two hours before my flight. Finally got cleared and was able to relax and start to read Cory Docktorow’s “Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town.” Boarding finally commenced 10 minutes before our scheduled departure. After the first two sections were invited to board, my name was called. Not sure what to make of this, I was pleasantly surprised to be assigned a different seat. This new seat turned out to be in the section where the crew rests during the flight and had the amenities of business class. I was excited to find a power connection in the seat and finally be able to take advantage of the computer power cable I have carried on every flight waiting for just such an opportunity.
Got into JFK right on time and through immigration without any hassle. Baggage claim took close to half an hour. Breezed through customs and then out into the sweltering New York summer. Immediately shed my jacket and wished I wasn’t wearing long sleeves. Called up Liz to see if I could make an appointment for a bleach re-touch. She will be working a bunch of 12-hour days for the next week, so no plans were made.
Got checked into Jet Blue with no trouble and out to the gate with an hour to spare before boarding. There was free wireless in the terminal, so I uploaded all of the blog entries I had completed on the flight from Berlin. Checked in with Mom and had a long chat with Peter Shapiro. Began boarding at 5:55pm. Technicians were scampering throughout the passenger compartment trying to get the DirecTv sets working. We waited over an hour while they tried to get things up and running before they finally gave up and sent us on our way.
Got some more work done on the blog and napped intermittently. Finally pulled into Burbank at 11:15pm. Got my luggage by 11:45pm and was on the bus to downtown at 12:10am. Unpacked my laundry and started a load while I showered. Checked email and uploaded blog entries until 3am.
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