Tag: airtravel

On The Way Back

Finishing the post I started three days ago.

I didn’t upgrade my return flights because I didn’t need to sleep on the long flight back, and I figured I could purchase the lounge access separately. What surprised me at Yerevan’s Zvartnots airport was that they had a 24/7 duty-free store and a 24/7 business lounge.

I bought some (a lot of) chocolate, chocolate-covered dried fruit (and the only reason I didn’t buy dried fruit without chocolate was that I had three bags from my host), some flavored coffee, a bottle of pomegranate wine, and a set of three miniature Armenian brandy bottles. I really wanted to buy a bottle of Akhtamar, the best local brandy, to give it to Vlad, but there were no medium-size bottles, and my purchase was already heavy and bulky enough, and I still had to squizz everything in my carry on (not like they won’t allow an extra duty free bag, but I didn’t want to have an extra bag heavier than my luggage :).

The business lounge in Zvartnots was … strange, and they were surprised I was willing to pay for it rather than claim my credit card holder benefits, but having that the flight was forty minutes delayed, and that, due to many flights departing in the early hours of the morning, the international terminal looked like a Soviet Union era railway station, I believe I made a right decision.

I also paid for lounge access in Frankfurt, and everything there was as expected. I charged all my devices for the long daytime flight, and spent the time productively answering tons of unanswered emails and documenting my trip.

I’ve already mentioned that the arrival process had become exceptionally easy after the new passports were introduced, but this time was a record, especially because I didn’t have checked luggage. Thirty-five minutes after the aircraft stopped taxing, I was already on the Blue Line train (that includes the airport transfer to another terminal), and two hours and fifteen minutes later, I was already at home (yes, I took the L again, and it is becoming more and more acceptable, especially without the heavy luggage)

Lufthansa Adventures

I haven’t flown Lufthansa since 2020, and back then, I didn’t have a platinum status with Finnair, so I was not spoiled with lounge access and priority boarding. Several days earlier, I decided to upgrade my second inward flight to business class, because with six hours between flights, I couldn’t imagine surviving without the lounge. On the morning of Dec 24, I received an email from LH stating that the flight was full and asking passengers to check in their carry-on baggage free of charge. I didn’t want to check my cookies, so I decided the best way was to upgrade to economy premium. This gave me boarding group 3 instead of 6.

An hour before the departure, I was called to the podium along with many other passengers … and upgraded to business class🤷🏻‍♀️

The best thing about it was that I got almost six hours of sleeping horizontally, and was pretty much a normal person in the morning. The second best thing was that they served us a special LH spiced cocktail at departure.

And chocolates on Christmas morning, and one more small chocolate box right before arrival:

And our aircraft most definitely caught the eye of Santa Claus!

I worried a little bit about security in Frankfurt, because I knew that Germans are very particular with following the rules, and was not sure what would the say about sweet potato pie and a large tin of cookies in the carry-on, but to my surprise, German security had no issues with anything, and the only things that concerned the ORD security were two bags of protein powder.

I had a lot of time to spare in Frankfurt, which I spent in two lounges (the staff of the first one said they were closing at five, but it was quieter than the other one). I took their advice, and it actually worked well. Both lounges were indeed quiet and holiday-themed.

Something that really puzzled me in the business class blounge athroom – out of all places in the world, that’s where I would least expect it!

And something that pleasantly surprised me – a Christmas mini-dinner on the late-night flight to Yerevan. I can’t even remember the last time I had a goose! This one was very well made and had dumplings and cabbage on the side.

When we arrived in Yerevan, it was 4:15 AM local time, and I still had a 1.5-hour car ride to my final destination, but overall, the travel experience was the best possible for such a long trip!

The Conference Is Over

The conference is over, and I am still processing what I heard and what I learned. I am thinking about many conversations I had during the conference and about many that didn’t happen because there were too many people.

This morning, I posted on the conference chat that my deepest regret is countless conversations that didn’t happen, and dozens of people supported this comment. Some first-time attendees mentioned that they were so overwhelmed that they didn’t talk to anybody from their shortlist, because something was happening all the time. And to be honest, I feel the same way!

I owe several new professional blog posts, RSVPs, talk submissions, and I don’t know what else. My head is spinning :). Yesterday, we took a cab to the airport together with my co-worker, whose flight was a little bit earlier than ours (at least, that’s what we thought), and because of that, we missed the end of the closing remarks (and there were several things I wanted to hear; now I need to find out whether they were said!).

When we arrived at the airport, we found that since there were very few Finnair flights, the Finnair check-in was closed and would only be open 2 hours before the flight. I had luggage to check, so we couldn’t go to the lounge, and had to sit on the first level for almost two hours. Oh, well.

The flight was on time, but it was a late flight to begin with, so we were home just before midnight. Tomorrow, Europe switches to the winter time, so that extra hour will be handy. And the US switches the next week, so I will get this extra hour twice!

And Actually, I Am Traveling Since Saturday!

I departed from ORD on Saturday afternoon, and it was one of my most uneventful journeys, even though it was on American Airlines, and not in the early morning.

To my surprise, both departures and arrivals were on time. The service in Business Class was as it should be, unlike the last time, and the food in the Heathrow lounge was excellent.

The only thing that went unplanned was that my attempt to buy a new fall jacket in Helsinki was unsuccessful. I love the one I bought several years ago, but I wore it up to the holes in the pockets and on the seams, so I wanted something “almost like that one.” It turned out, however, that fashion changed, and fitted waterproof jackets no longer exist— only the puffy ones.

I pulled out my super-comact-foldable one, which I kept in a drawer “just in case” – it worked perfectly today, but I still want to take something home.

One of Helsinki’s shopping centers with flying flower baskets 🙂

On Monday, I went to my co-working space (my UK co-worker was traveling earlier, and I wanted to make sure we had some coverage). I noticed the kids corner there, and I do not think it was there before!

I was able to work the whole day. Boris came there with my luggage at 5:30, and we headed to the airport. The flight to Riga was less than an hour, and by 9:45, we were in our hotel room.

The window view in the morning:

And then the actual work started!

Going Back

This time, my trip to Finland was “without extras”: I was traveling without checked luggage, and I didn’t have time for any shopping!

I wanted to get something for my girls from the Moomin Museum, and even this little bit barely fit into my carry-on. The conference closed on Friday at 1 PM, and we were home by 4-30. I immediately started re-packing: I will be back in three weeks, and I realized I could leave some of the things I won’t need at home, but will need when we go to Riga. Now that I am thinking about it, I realize I could leave a lot of warmer clothes there – it’s still summer in Chicago!

I had a business class ticket from Helsinki to London, and an Economy Premium ticket from London to Chicago. However, this one was upgraded to business class at the last moment, allowing me to enjoy a couple of hours of good sleep and very productive working time on both flights and in the lounges. I was really surprised with how much I was able to accomplish on the way back – usually it’s not the case.

I reworked my ADBIS tutorial to fit into a meetup presentation, which I will give at Northwestern next week, and I have started working on my Riga presentation. Additionally, I caught up on most of my non-personal emails and finally published a professional blog post, which I had planned to write for almost a month but never got to.

(There was no way for me to eat everywhere the food was offered on that trip, so I picked the best from each place :))

Helsinki Finnair Lounge
Helsinki- London lunch
A cinacmon bun on that flight: I would never refuse that one 🙂
The Emerald Longe in Heathrow – the above flight was delayed, but there was no security wait, so I had a chance to stop at that one. I do not recall seeing this horse floor lamp before, but I might have forgotten
Ater British Airways upgraded me to the business class, they found my low -calories meal request

(And they forgot to give me coffee before arrival, but that was not a big deal – they were busy serving the First Class :))

Air Travel

I already reported that for the last two times, I entered the US without showing my passport, just by y picture taken. This time was the first time that I left the US without showing my passport, just with the picture taken. 🙃

Also, first time not only leaving the shoes on, but also not taking the liquids out. Almost Europe 😂.

Minor distruption. Boarding at ORD started earlier than scheduled, and it was not announced neither in the app nor at the monitors in the AA lounge, so when I reached the gate, they were already boarding group nine! And granted, they said there is no more room on the aircraft for the carry on, and they are checking in my lugguage all the way to Helsinki. And that was precisely what I wanted to avoid: I didn’t want my luggage to make a connection at the JFK. For some reason, I’ve heard the unproportionally large number of the lost luggage stories from the JFK! A funny story: the AA issued me an upgrade to the first class when I was already seated. However, this seat was by the window, so I said I will stay at my sale seat – it was close enough the the exit. But you know what – if they would upgrade me 20 minutes earlier, I won’t have to check-in my carry on!

Fortunately, I had an AirTag in the luggage, so I knew it arrived to JFK, but there was no way to tell whether it was transfered, especially because our aircraft was sitting in a departure queue for over an hour, and my connection became short. Only when I looked at my phone upon landing in Vantaa and saw the luggage AirTag there, I could breath easy :). I didn’t have time to go to the Emerald lounge at JFK, so that’s for the next time. The other good part was that for the long flight, I was in the first row of Economy Premium, so I could use the half-reclined seats to the fullest, and actually got some sleep.

Anyway, all those distruptions were minor, and I made it to Helsinki in time, and so did my luggage!

Flying Back

My last day in Helsinki was marked by a massive thunderstorm, so I wasn’t even able to take a picture of myself on the rock (my other traditional picture, which I was not able to take). In fact, it was probably the worst day of the whole vacation, weather-wise.

I was packing until the “one after last” minute, and we made it to the airport technically on time, but later than I planned. The airport was super-crowded (but we knew that would be the case). What I didn’t expect was a substantial line to the Priority desk (I was checking in one luggage). Fortunately, I am not just a Priority but Platinum, so I could go to another line with just two people in front of me.

The security check was fast and without issues. The passport control was new: there was a separate line for US, UK, Japan, and some other passports. They scanned the passports and took pictures, and after that, the border control officer still looked at me and my passport.

But the most interesting thing was arrival: same as in April, nobody asked for my passport! They just took a picture of me, and said it was good, and I am good to go. I think that they somehow match the picture taken before departure with arrival pictures, but that’s just a guess. Overall, all quiet, no lines, no crowds, no nothing.

Last Wednesday

Keeping going through the last week. I hosted two conference attendees, plus Anna for one of the nights. My first houseguest, B., was a conference speaker from Madagascar. She is an absolutely outstanding woman, and I want ot tell more about her in the near future. That was her first time coming to the US, and she had a 22-hour long journey with two connections. I told her I would meet her at ORD, because it is very difficult to navigate this airport even when you are an experienced traveler.

Her flight arrival time was 7:30 AM, and I took the L-train there, because everything runs relatively normally on a weekday morning, so it was a 4 AM wake-up, leaving the house at 5:30. The airport was as quiet as it could possibly be, and we saw each other right away. I took her to the office where we left her luggage, and then to the Architectural tour, because Wednesday was the only opportunity for her to see something!

One of the conference attendees took the same boat tour with us, and then we went to the Art Institute. I didn’t plan to be at work on that day, but one of the customers kept having issues, and I was the only person who could fix them. I asked Igor to take over my Chicago guide responsibilities, and rushed to the office to save the world. My second houseguest, L. was arriving at 4 PM, and we calculated that with the luggage and the passport control, she would be at my house by 6 PM, so I had plenty of time. But then I was stuck with saving the world, and her flight arrived earlier, and by some miracle, her luggage came out very fast as well.

With all that, she waited for us for twenty minutes! At least, the weather was warm on Wednesday, and she just sat on her luggage in the sun reading a book. Nobody wanted to go out for dinner, so I made a quick meal and went to bed.

The next day, the actual work had begun.

Flying Back

I flew back from LA to Chicago last Sunday, on the day of switching to daylight saving time. My original flight was about 11 AM, but then I switched to the first flight of the day so that I won’t spend the whole day on the flight (and I had a show at Theo that evening).

Although that meant I had to be up before 4 AM of DST, it was the right decision – I believe, that’s the only way for an American Airlines flight to be on time :). I was unsure whether the lounge will be open – in ORD, they open the AA lounge at 5-30AM, and even later, at 6 AM, in Helsinki. Maybe they stay open 24X7 at LAX, I don’t know, but at 5:05 AM they were open and breakfast was available – the first normal breakfast, with fruits, that week!

Then, same as on the inbound trip, there was no food on the plane, and by the time I was out of the aircraft, it was already six hours after this breakfast. I still wanted to get home ASAP, because I had chances to bike while the weather was nice, so I didn’t stop in any of the airport cafes, and preceded to the Uber pickup spot.

Judging by the driver’s name, there were high chances he was Muslim, so I said that I apologize of he is fasting, but would it be OK with him if I munch on a bisquit since they didn’t feed us during the flight. He said is was fine, and then he asked me whether I want a date, because it’s the best after you didn’t eat for a while. It was so unexpected tha I said “yes”, and he pulled out a napkin with several gigantic soft dates, and I took one. It tasted heavenly.He proceeded telling me how he was caught during the previous night “missing hour” with not being able to get in time to a cafe opened until 3 AM, because 3 AM happened right after 1 AM, and how he was well prepared on that day (“I also have oranges, if you’d like!”) He definitely made my day!

And Flying Again!

This time, to Pasadena for a conference. The American Airlines lounge at Terminal 3 now feels like home – I’ve been there so many times, that I have “my” spot.

The flight was showing on time, and I could not believe it! Still, the boarding was announced, and I hurried to the gate.

Guess what? We all got in, and then the captain announced: in case you didn’t notice, it started to snow, so now we need to go through de-icing, and it’s a long line ahead of us, so will will be here for at least 30 minutes.

It ended up being an hour. Well, I should say – only an hour!