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belated 50th Anniversary Cruise vacation In all, there were twenty "American Airlines Refugees" staying at the Dalmahoy. Although we refugees arrived in separate taxis, there was a bus waiting 6:00 AM Monday morning to take all twenty of us to the airport. Check-in went smoothly, the immigration check at Edinburgh was done while we were waiting at ticketing with just a friendly casual conversation covering all key points and getting a sticker on our passports. Heading out to the departure gate was another iris scan (glasses off again). The Edinburgh to New York flight was a Boeing 757. The seats, while feeling comfortable at first, were a little hard for that long a trip. Arriving at JFK we got to use the new automated kiosks for immigration rather than the old "fill out the form while you're on the plane" method. So yes there is now a line to wait for a kiosk to get a printed form to take and stand in line for the customs officer who stamps your passport. Not at all like the friendly personal conversation at the Edinburgh airport. The checked baggage goes onto a connecting airlines conveyer - we waved goodbye just in case. Then we followed the signs and were outside the security area - there may have been a passage from customs to departing flights staying within security, but we didn't see it. Oh well, just another checking of our boarding pass and our passport and our carry-on, and oops even though I had everything out of my pockets I set off the magnetic scanner alarm and had to go through the x-ray machine - no clue as to what happened, but of course they found nothing. My cell phone now works so I can call Diane and explain what happened yesterday - and yes she is available to pick us up tonight. Then wait for six hours, and having been assigned the highest boarding group number, we were last to board the plane - it looked as if all of the overhead bins were full, but the gentleman in the seat next to me moved a backpack and there was just enough room to push my carry-on into the overhead. In six more hours (in a seat that wouldn't recline) we were in Las Vegas, Diane had picked us up and taken us home, and to a first glance everything at the house is OK. Turn on the water (the inside was turned off while we were away, the outside irrigation remained working), fire up the water heater (put to "pilot" while the water was off, water will be warm in the morning). Crash! |