18 July 2007

Trip Blog. Day One.

14:09 17 July 2007

The wireless network which is allegedly available to me in Terminal D, Gate Nine is not connecting to itself. They're losing money by not loading up, but whatever thrills them the most. At any rate, this might not get posted until tomorrow morning, which I know is a great disappointment to those of you waiting with baited breath to hear of my exploits.

I have not yet really actually exploited that much, so perhaps it is immaterial. Highlights so far: chastised by irritated TSA lady because I did not take out my Quart Size Zip-Top Bag of Liquids or Gels(TM) which caused both of my bags to be searched. Things I -did- take out of my bags:

-- Computer
-- Camera
-- GPS
-- PDA
-- Phone

And I remembered to take off my shoes without asking and managed to get my (aluminum) wallet into the tray at the very last second. Therefore I think that my lack of getting my Quart Size Zip-Top Bag of Liquids or Gels(TM) is really not something about which she should be mystified. Her other issue with me is that I had the temerity to use Nalgene bottles for all of my stuff and that they are not labeled. Her exact words were thus:

“We have no idea what could be in there. You can buy travel-size.”

1.I KNEW it! It is a conspiracy with the travel-size product industry! I -told- you, Amber, you with the “Oh, yes. Because they have such a strong lobby.” Clearly they do, because TSA lady was clearly advertising for them.

2.Because I clearly could not empty the travel size and put a liquid or gel of my own choosing (say, habanero salsa) into said travel size bottle, naturally if I would just conform or whatever, they would completely know what is in my less-than-three-ounce bottles. We will ignore that most shampoo bottles are opaque.

Whatever. That whole exchange took like thirty seconds, and I do not believe that the TSA lady suspected that the object wrapped in my windpants was my bunny. Which reminds me that I completely forgot to get Bob the Stormtrooper off of the shelf. This is unfortunate because he would have been perfect for photographs.

This morning, Amber very kindly took me to Kerbey Lane, where I had NOT a baked potato omelet, but pancakes, eggs and watermelon, and then kindly went with me to Target for the watch I forgot to buy yesterday, and thence to Texas State Optical for the contacts that I bribed them into selling to me despite my “expired” prescription.


HOLY cow. Those of you who went to Lee College, Mister Britt's doppelganger just walked into the gate. I am going to take a picture to prove it. Ok, I will as soon as he walks away from the pay phone which is about four feet from me. I swear, y'all. He looks like him, he walks like him, he's even wearing one of those shirts that look like they have a pattern of weed on them. It's crazy.

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Right. Amber, Kerbey Lane. I was expressing my anxiety that I would not be able to fit my small bottle of habanero salsa into my Quart Size Zip-Top Bag of Liquids or Gels(TM), and Amber was telling me that I had to make a choice between bathing on the first day or having salsa for a month. I replied, “You don't understand how much bathing means to me!” and the lady at the table next to us pipes up, “I hear you, sister!” and she and Amber proceeded to gang up on me on the subject of my body wash and its relative importance compared to the salsa. The upshot of this is, I managed to fit both the body wash and the salsa into the Quart Size Zip-Top Bag of Liquids or Gels(TM). The salsa comes from Freebird's World Burrito and the guy who made mine yesterday was nice enough to fill my bottle for me.

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So, I am here now, after finding my gate completely without assistance from anyone except for someone who kindly confirmed to me that Mickey Leland Terminal (D) is still, in fact, the International Terminal. My gate was not assigned at the time I left Austin (and actually, Amber, it turns out that my whole itinerary is via Continental, but the service is British Airways. Who knew?) so I sort of wandered around until I found a bank of screens that actually acknowledged the existence of my flight.

It's now twenty to three and boarding starts at quarter past. The flight is at 3:55 and we will be landing at 7:05 GMT tomorrow morning. That's 1:05 to you people. I should probably go check in now.



14:59

WOO! Exit Row! Go British Airways! I also have an aisle seat; I sort of wanted a window on account of having something against which to sleep, but this is NOT going to be the flight to Honolulu with the giant smelly men and being in the very middle of the middle section. Rocktastic! The Interweb still does not seem thrilled with my existence, which I find rather upsetting. I am feeling a lot less freaked out than I was earlier. I am not really sure what changed. Perhaps it was the actual goodbye that I was dreading.

Ah ha. My computer has detected another network which is apparently the Lufthansa lounge. Whatever. Two euros == three and a half bucks. Hello, Interwebs. Wow. Blogger is in German.

1 Comments:

Blogger Rebecca said...

You left yesterday! I thought you were leaving today. I can't seem to keep things straight. Hope you flight went well!!

5:43 PM  

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