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As a lesson to all who travel, make sure you have more than 1 hour and 15 minutes to make a connection from an international flight to a domestic flight when flying into Newark Liberty Airport on Continental. Why? Because you land at Terminal B, then you have to clear immigration and customs, and then catch a bus with your checked in luggage to Terminal C. Once in Terminal C, you must clear security again, and then get to your plane at one of over 125 different gates. The trick is... When you get on the bus to connect to C, you have to get on with your bag. BUT, you are not allowed to put your bag on, there is luggage handlers to do that. BUT, you can't leave your bag until it's taken and placed on the bus. BUT if you get on the bus and leave your bag, it will show up at some point on one of the next buses, when ever there is room for it. AND when you get to Terminal C, you have to collect your bag and move it 4 feet to another baggage handler who's there with a cart and will take your bag to security and then onto your connecting flight.
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I've flown so much, I know a few ins and outs for getting onto a plane and getting overhead bin space.
If you are flying Northwest domestic or any plane in Europe, Eurobarging in a legal tactic. What is Eurobarging? It's when there are no row numbers called, no "zones" to board in, they just announce, "Okay everybody, the plane is ready, get on," And no line forms, but rather, everyone just barges for the gate and push their way onto the plane. It's a real mess, but it seems to work, because the plane still takes off on time. So, if you are flying Northwest domestic, watch for other people slowly making their way to the gate before boarding starts, and follow them in. That way, you're not first, and people aren't giving you the stink eye, but rather they stand up and join you because they realize, it's time to Eurobarge.
Most other airlines board by row or "zone" numbers. So when you have your choice of seat when booking the ticket or checking in online, first check seatguru.com, and confirm the seat you are about to choose is not yellow or red (see the website, you'll understand), then get your seat in a row that's close to a value of 5 or 10. Why? Because they usually call rows by the 5's or 10's. "We are now ready to board rows, 20 thru 25," etc. So if you are in say, row 19, you can usually squeeze onto the flight when they call 20. Just wait until the line thins out, and you can see the gate agent is about to make for the microphone to call, "15 thru 19". If your flight is boarding by zones, you can usually, sneak in one or two zones early, with the same tactic of waiting until the line has thinned.
In the past, I've tried the tactic of running up to the gate just after they called first class and trying to get in saying, "I just got here from my connector flight, I didn't miss boarding did I?" It used to work, but lately they've sent me to the back of the line.
All these tactics are really important if you need overhead bin space. With American Airlines now charging for the first bag you check, people will be buying bigger carry-on bags and trying to stuff a weeks worth of crap into them so they don't have to check a bag and pay the fee. Which means, overhead space, which is already at a premium will become even more valuable. Nice going American. I used to be a platinum member with you, but now I'm just not going to even ask to be put on your plane. If I'm flying for business, I'm getting on Continental first. They, at least, still serve food. Why didn't they just up the price of the ticket by 15 bucks if they needed the money?
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It was my turn for flying karma to punish me. With my short connector flight after Geneva, I had to run to my Newark to LAX flight. When I got to the gate, there was an agent standing on the jet way, taking everyone's carry-on and checking them in, because, there was no overhead bin space left. So I had to hastily pull out my computer because I didn't want that checked in, and grabbed my sudoku book and that's all I was able to carry onto the plane. I had to put my computer under the seat in front of me and fold up my traveling jacket and place that on top of my computer because there truly was, no overhead bin space. Everyone had brought on the maximum size roll-aboard carry-on. Karma was taking it out on me for my, not really illegal, but not really legal shortcuts to getting on a plane. Next time...
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Why can't most masseuses do a good job on legs?
In Europe, the tour buses are very low. The worst are double decker buses where the height on each deck is about 5'6". I was on a single deck bus this last run with Blue Man, but even then, the height was only about 5'10". I'm 6' tall so I have to lean my head over to walk up and down the aisle. Which, by the end of about 3 days, I've got a monstrous knot in my neck and between my shoulder blades.
So I had Nicole schedule me a massage when I was in L.A. for two days. The place is called Healing Hands Wellness Center, and I've been there once before. I wasn't impressed the first time I was there, but at 80 dollars for a 90 minute massage, it was hard to pass up. I thought, the second time, I'll get a better massage.
And I did, the lady, who also massaged me the first time, really worked me over good. I mentioned to her that I had pain in my neck and shoulders, but I failed to mention that I had sore legs (due mostly to the 2nd to last show in France the buses and catering were a good distance away from the venue), so she didn't do to much work on them. But here was the problem, the massage to me was formulaic. Right back, left back, neck, left leg, right leg, feet. I felt good, but I didn't feel any personal connection to the masseuse. She never asked me if the pressure was good, if there were areas she should concentrate on. She just walked me into the room, told me to get into my birthday suit while she left the room and then rubbed me down for 90 minutes. She chit chatted a little and that's when I told her I had just flown in from France and my shoulders hurt. She never asked about anything else. And when the massage was done, there was no, "Take your time getting up, I'll step outside now, remember to drink lots of fluids," She just stopped massaging me and said, "Ok, we're done," And left the room. Maybe I need to try a different masseuse there.
In any case, my legs are still a little sore, even today. I've seen a lot of masseuses, because on Blue Man, they get one in every city. And I've asked a number of them to work on my legs, and they all can't seem to get the knots out. Why is that? I guess I need a sports masseuse who works on athletes. They seem to have lots of leg trauma.
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But now I'm in Hawai'i. Here for two days before onto Seoul, South Korea. I figure it was better to break up the 14 hour flight into 2 segments, granted, travel time is longer, but I can stop and run around after 5 hours of flying. When traveling, the day is pretty much shot whether you have a direct flight or have to make connections.
Not to mention, the food in Hawai'i is sooooo ONO!
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3 comments:
Continental serves food? That is amazing these days.
What do you think of Virgin America?
where was your blogspot when i had my around the world trip?
ditto
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