Je suis revenu
And at the airport
Originally uploaded by filkerdave. So, a tiring day's travelling yesterday and here I am, back in New York. I'd gone out on Thursday night with one of the guys from $CLIENT for dinner and "a couple of beers" (for very...large...values of "couple"). He took me to Hurley's, another local Irish place, where I had the traditional Irish vegetable curry with rice. (And I still had to pack when I got back!)
I'm glad I got to the airport early. Check-in was quick, security was quick...but when you fly out of Canada to the US, passport control and customs are in Canada. I suppose it makes some sort of sense, but they had ONE passport control officer for a hundred people who wanted to get through. Everyone else must have been off at lunch (what, at the same time?). Sure, they came out after half an hour or so, another 7 or 8 officers and then we started to move, but it was FRUSTRATING.
The flight itself was short and uneventful (although I'm sorry I didn't have my camera with me as we flew over Manhattan!). But getting my luggage...good lord.
When I flew back from London in September, it was on a large, crowded plane. By the time I got through passport control (about 15 minutes from when I was off the plane) my luggage was waiting. This time though, on a much smaller plane (a little regional jet, 60 seater or so), the luggage took...forever. And ever. And ever. It took longer to get my luggage than it did to fly from Montréal to New York.
An hour after we deplaned, the luggage hadn't come down the carousel, despite them announcing it for half an hour or so. The car service driver was beginning to worry that I'd missed my plane (I couldn't call him because I had no signal down in the depths of Terminal 8 at JFK).
It's odd being back. When I was at the supermarket last night, I kept wanting to speak to the people there in French! My money looks a little weird now. And I have a mountain of laundry to do.
But it's also kind of nice to be back; I was able to get up. make tea and MAKE breakfast. Mmmm...egg and cheese on a seeded roll. Can't GET that in Montreal!