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The trip in process…….
May. 2nd, 2008 11:46 amI made it to SFO with plenty of time to spare.
When I logged on this afternoon from work to try and get a seat assignment, I found I had already been placed in a middle seat and no window or aisle seats were left available anywhere on the plane. Damned few seats were open at all. Once at the gate, I found that the flight had been oversold and they were seeking volunteers to take a later flight in the morning for a $300 voucher, which quickly got bumped up to $350. I was tempted, but not with a connecting flight awaiting me in Houston. I just prayed I would NOT be seated between a couple of other bears. Ursine sardines.
I sort of lucked out. I was between two slender young women. It still was a tight fit. I tried vainly to get some sleep and I think I did actually loose consciousness for a short while. It was however just to uncomfortable for me to get any meaningful sleep.
The difference between bolt upright and reclining in an economy seat on Continental is about 10 degrees. Mercifully, the overhead compartments are on the roomy side and I did not have to put a bag under the seat in front of me. However, the seating is narrow enough that any time I started to drift off, my arms fell to my sides, against the leg of the woman on either side of me. Not appropriate. (see the video I posted yesterday – I’ll be damned if I impose on another traveler.) Eventually I pulled my arms inside my scrub shirt which kept them off my seatmates, but by that point we were already making our initial descent into Houston.
I am reminded in part why I don’t like Texas much. It’s 5 am right now on May 2nd and it’s painfully hot and humid here. I had to take the train that runs between the terminals here (arrived at “E”, departing from “B”), and the humid heat is stifling even at 5 am. How do people live in this?
So now I sit, nursing a cup of Mickey D’s coffee, which surprisingly is not bad. I’m hoping the headache I’m nursing is caffeine withdrawal and nothing else. At first I was impressed with the strength of this cup. It has to be one of the heaviest weight Styrofoam cups I have ever seen. very effectively insulated. Now the green inside me wants to know how long for it to biodegrade (if ever?). I’m observing all the packaging waste strewn about this airport food court. There have probably been a couple of hundred people through here as I’ve sat nursing this cup of joe. The amount of debris is staggering. There are two cleaning people/worker bees hovering about. I’ve seen them fill and empty two 33 gallon trash cans twice in the past 15 minutes.
Now that was a surprise. I was debating a second cup and decided to simply toss this cup away after a single use was wasteful. The woman at the counter raised her eyebrows when I returned and asked for more coffee, and decided not to charge me for a refill. I think I’m going to toss the cup into my bag and see how long I can continue to use it over the next few days. How long can I keep this out of a landfill?
When I logged on this afternoon from work to try and get a seat assignment, I found I had already been placed in a middle seat and no window or aisle seats were left available anywhere on the plane. Damned few seats were open at all. Once at the gate, I found that the flight had been oversold and they were seeking volunteers to take a later flight in the morning for a $300 voucher, which quickly got bumped up to $350. I was tempted, but not with a connecting flight awaiting me in Houston. I just prayed I would NOT be seated between a couple of other bears. Ursine sardines.
I sort of lucked out. I was between two slender young women. It still was a tight fit. I tried vainly to get some sleep and I think I did actually loose consciousness for a short while. It was however just to uncomfortable for me to get any meaningful sleep.
The difference between bolt upright and reclining in an economy seat on Continental is about 10 degrees. Mercifully, the overhead compartments are on the roomy side and I did not have to put a bag under the seat in front of me. However, the seating is narrow enough that any time I started to drift off, my arms fell to my sides, against the leg of the woman on either side of me. Not appropriate. (see the video I posted yesterday – I’ll be damned if I impose on another traveler.) Eventually I pulled my arms inside my scrub shirt which kept them off my seatmates, but by that point we were already making our initial descent into Houston.
I am reminded in part why I don’t like Texas much. It’s 5 am right now on May 2nd and it’s painfully hot and humid here. I had to take the train that runs between the terminals here (arrived at “E”, departing from “B”), and the humid heat is stifling even at 5 am. How do people live in this?
So now I sit, nursing a cup of Mickey D’s coffee, which surprisingly is not bad. I’m hoping the headache I’m nursing is caffeine withdrawal and nothing else. At first I was impressed with the strength of this cup. It has to be one of the heaviest weight Styrofoam cups I have ever seen. very effectively insulated. Now the green inside me wants to know how long for it to biodegrade (if ever?). I’m observing all the packaging waste strewn about this airport food court. There have probably been a couple of hundred people through here as I’ve sat nursing this cup of joe. The amount of debris is staggering. There are two cleaning people/worker bees hovering about. I’ve seen them fill and empty two 33 gallon trash cans twice in the past 15 minutes.
Now that was a surprise. I was debating a second cup and decided to simply toss this cup away after a single use was wasteful. The woman at the counter raised her eyebrows when I returned and asked for more coffee, and decided not to charge me for a refill. I think I’m going to toss the cup into my bag and see how long I can continue to use it over the next few days. How long can I keep this out of a landfill?
