Schönen Grüßen Neuen Jersey!
Well, I'm in the US. My flight here was pretty uneventful. They almost rescheduled me onto a different itinerary because my flight to Düsseldorf was delayed, but I still had a forty minute layover there, which was plenty. I sat next to two (handsome) German brothers around 18 and 20 years old on the plane to Newark and the whole flight I communicated with them and the crew only in German. I really like that I've been able to use this language over the past two years because I was getting close to losing a lot of it. Lufthansa's inflight movie service was great, with a generous selection and the ability to fast-forward and rewind, as well as the ability to start watching before the plane has even taken off the ground. Public announcements that interrupt the movie are also set at a reasonable volume. I HOPE this is one thing Continental will improve on account of the merger. One amusing touch: the American movies were all edited for content, while the German ones weren't (I guess because they didn't expect easily offended Americans to watch them?). This led to the funny situation where I first watched a German movie with several casual scenes involving fully exposed breasts, only to follow it with The Blind Side where an utterance of what I presume was "titty bar" got dubbed as "booby bar" by the censors.
One downside to Lufthansa: their tray tables. You practically had to whack and throttle the seat in front of you to get the tray lined up with the latch.
From Newark, I had to catch a cab to my parents because no one was able to pick me up. The dispatcher didn't ask me whether I was paying cash or charge and assumed cash, so I got into the cab and when we arrived at my parents', I presented my credit card for payment but the taxi driver said that he didn't have a way to accept card payment, only cash. I rifled through my wallet and scrounged up all the dollars I had, but I was still $5 short, so I ran into the house to borrow some from my mother. I paid the driver and he drove away and the minute he did I realized I didn't have my credit card anymore. I must have placed it down on the back seat. Ironically, this card was going to expire in just six days at the end of the month and I had my new card waiting for me at my parents', so I thought I could just let it go. But I called my credit card company and they cancelled both my old credit card and my new one, since they have the same number and now they're sending me a new one to arrive before I leave again for France. What a hassle for a moment's fluster.
So, being back is nice so far. I strangely immediately got a craving for an old-fashioned donut (these were always so plain and unsweet to me as a kid, but now they're oddly appealing). I'm going to satisfy this craving one of my coffee/lunch breaks during the conference. Things I don't miss about the US: 1) all the SUVs on the road -- my mother and I almost got into a car accident today because of a blind spot created by two parked SUVs 2) smog -- NYC's not usually that bad, but today it was an ugly haze 3) people who talk on their cell phones while take a piss or a crap 4) all the big puffy white sneakers people here wear, even with khakis. It really looks bad.
One downside to Lufthansa: their tray tables. You practically had to whack and throttle the seat in front of you to get the tray lined up with the latch.
From Newark, I had to catch a cab to my parents because no one was able to pick me up. The dispatcher didn't ask me whether I was paying cash or charge and assumed cash, so I got into the cab and when we arrived at my parents', I presented my credit card for payment but the taxi driver said that he didn't have a way to accept card payment, only cash. I rifled through my wallet and scrounged up all the dollars I had, but I was still $5 short, so I ran into the house to borrow some from my mother. I paid the driver and he drove away and the minute he did I realized I didn't have my credit card anymore. I must have placed it down on the back seat. Ironically, this card was going to expire in just six days at the end of the month and I had my new card waiting for me at my parents', so I thought I could just let it go. But I called my credit card company and they cancelled both my old credit card and my new one, since they have the same number and now they're sending me a new one to arrive before I leave again for France. What a hassle for a moment's fluster.
So, being back is nice so far. I strangely immediately got a craving for an old-fashioned donut (these were always so plain and unsweet to me as a kid, but now they're oddly appealing). I'm going to satisfy this craving one of my coffee/lunch breaks during the conference. Things I don't miss about the US: 1) all the SUVs on the road -- my mother and I almost got into a car accident today because of a blind spot created by two parked SUVs 2) smog -- NYC's not usually that bad, but today it was an ugly haze 3) people who talk on their cell phones while take a piss or a crap 4) all the big puffy white sneakers people here wear, even with khakis. It really looks bad.