Observations/anecdotes from today's travels:
1. Don't try the peach-flavored iced tea at Dunkin' Donuts. I wanted something cold and sweet after running through half the terminal to find my gate, and I was expecting it to taste Snapple-ish, but instead it had this awful corn syrup-y feel with a sticky aftertaste, if that makes sense.
2. One of the major problems with Americans' "diets" is the seemingly unavoidable conflict between good taste and good habits. The woman behind me at DD ordered a coffee "with cream, skim milk, and two sugars." The cashier repeated this order but didn't say cream, so as another worker went to make the drink, the customer called out, "Don't forget the cream!" In such a case, why bother with skim milk? Just get the real thing, but less often.
3. It was a pleasant surprise to find that Continental still served breakfast (takeoff was at 8:30 AM EST), although the ticket said the only service was a "snack." The food itself was...meh, but about what could be expected of airplane food. The "snack" was semi-disappointing (only small bags of pretzel sticks), especially compared to Delta's basketfuls of both sweet and savory options. We'll see how lunch/dinner is on the way back =P
4. People who know that they are going to have to use the bathroom on a flight (which should be easy to predict on a 5.5-hour long flight), should NOT choose the window seat!
5. Whenever possible, avoid traveling with small children, especially on long flights. I say primarily this not for the sake of the parents or the other passengers, but actually for the kids. Infants in particular are very sensitive to changes in air pressure, and they're not old enough to understand how to make their ears "pop" to relieve the pain. The little girl in front of me, maybe three or four years old, was chewing gum on the descent, but she still kept complaining that her ears hurt almost until we had actually touched the runway.
That's all for now - hopefully I'll be much better about updating this in a timely fashion, in practice for next year!
1. Don't try the peach-flavored iced tea at Dunkin' Donuts. I wanted something cold and sweet after running through half the terminal to find my gate, and I was expecting it to taste Snapple-ish, but instead it had this awful corn syrup-y feel with a sticky aftertaste, if that makes sense.
2. One of the major problems with Americans' "diets" is the seemingly unavoidable conflict between good taste and good habits. The woman behind me at DD ordered a coffee "with cream, skim milk, and two sugars." The cashier repeated this order but didn't say cream, so as another worker went to make the drink, the customer called out, "Don't forget the cream!" In such a case, why bother with skim milk? Just get the real thing, but less often.
3. It was a pleasant surprise to find that Continental still served breakfast (takeoff was at 8:30 AM EST), although the ticket said the only service was a "snack." The food itself was...meh, but about what could be expected of airplane food. The "snack" was semi-disappointing (only small bags of pretzel sticks), especially compared to Delta's basketfuls of both sweet and savory options. We'll see how lunch/dinner is on the way back =P
4. People who know that they are going to have to use the bathroom on a flight (which should be easy to predict on a 5.5-hour long flight), should NOT choose the window seat!
5. Whenever possible, avoid traveling with small children, especially on long flights. I say primarily this not for the sake of the parents or the other passengers, but actually for the kids. Infants in particular are very sensitive to changes in air pressure, and they're not old enough to understand how to make their ears "pop" to relieve the pain. The little girl in front of me, maybe three or four years old, was chewing gum on the descent, but she still kept complaining that her ears hurt almost until we had actually touched the runway.
That's all for now - hopefully I'll be much better about updating this in a timely fashion, in practice for next year!
