Got to Dubai

Got to National with no problems, but the line at the Delta counter was enormous. It took almost an hour to get through that, but I finally got my boarding passes for my flight and my connecting one at JFK. Went to the security screening and I was “selected for additional screening.” There were a couple of other people there too so I didn’t feel too weird, I figured my number just came up. Delta was a mess, my flight was supposed to arrive at JFK at 7:20, we actually got there at 9:30. Luckily, I already had my boarding pass and my flight didn’t leave until 11:00. It turns out that Delta had given me a piece of paper that said “boarding pass” on it but it was not, in fact a boarding pass. I had to go back up to the counter (luckily Eremites has a no checked baggage line that was really short) and then go back down to the security screening. I noticed that the agent at the counter had made some furious scribbles on my boarding pass, when I got to the person that checked the pass against the passport she said, “You have been selected for additional screening,” and made some more scribbles on my pass. GROAN, went through the whole thing again, I’m sure it was random, right? Each person that handled my boarding pass highlighted something or scribbled something on it. I got through all that and stood in line at the gate. A woman was going along the line spot checking passes. I showed her mine, she said, “Isaac Crawford, right? I’ll be right back.” She took it to the guys at the counter and eventually brought it back without any explanation. What a hassle but it didn’t matter, the flight left an hour late and then we sat on the tarmac for another 50 minutes.

I’m beginning to get the idea that JFK is the worst airport in the world, lots of delays all the time and the terminals are a total mess. When I got off of the Delta flight, there was no indication that there were other terminals let alone how to get to them. It involved a decent hike and the use of an elevator and a train to get over to the next terminal. I met a really cool woman named Kelly that I’ll probably never see again (although she seemed to think otherwise for some reason, “That’s the way things work,” she said when I said goodbye) that I managed to mislead time and time again. There was no ulterior motive, it was pure incompetence. It got to the point that if I guessed which elevator would come up first, she would automatically move to the other one, and be correct… Anyway, she’s a teacher at the American school in Bangladesh having transferred from Tanzania. Like I said, she’s pretty cool and made the JFK and Dubai part of the trip bearable.

The flight was insane, there were approx. 10,000 little kids on the flight. To be honest, most of them were very good, I didn’t even notice them until late in the flight. There were a couple of problem children of course, including one baby that was, as far as I could tell, pure evil. It screamed and screamed. Not in a “I’m in pain and I can’t talk yet,” kind of scream, but more of a “ME ME ME ME ME!!” scream. It spent most of its waking hours screaming at the top of its lungs, but if it got distracted, it would stop for 30 or 40 seconds and then start again. That tells me that it wasn’t under any sort of terrible duress, it was just evil…

Needless to say, I didn’t get any sleep on the flight, none to speak of at least. Between the screaming infant, the cramped seating (I think I have bruises on my knees for God’s sake) and my general inability to sleep on planes, I was exhausted when I hit Dubai. I had to say goodbye to Kelly because I was falling asleep in my chair, I went to the “quiet lounge” and slept for about 4 and 1/2 hours, I couldn’t believe it. I knew I’d sleep through her boarding time, so I just said “See Ya” before I passed out. Good thing I did, I was out cold…

I’m pretty excited about the milage I’ve accumulated, not only have I gotten more miles to spend, but after this trip is through, I will be bumped up to the next level of their frequent flyer program. That gives me a bonus on the miles I earn and I get to check in and board with the business class folks too. I’m most excited about the prospect of using the business class lounge in Dubai though. Hopefully this means no more sleeping on the floor! The first class lounge has a shower, that would be nice but I’ll be happy with an overstuffed chair:-)