November 13, 2010

It was a strange feeling getting ready to leave. We have seen so much and done so much in the US, yet it feels like we have been here a very short time.

I have to tell you about our hotel beds. Never have I slept in a stranger type of bed, and that includes my old water bed from my student days.

These little babies have adjustable hardness using a remote control:

Sounds real fancy and cool, doesn´t it? As is often the case the idea is good but implementation leaves a lot to be desired. After the first night I had a full day of back pain because of these little devils,

OK. Under the night table between the two beds there was hidden an enormous vacuum cleaner permanently put in reverse. When you want to increase hardness it starts up with the noise of a jet engine. Very practical if your bed is too soft and you are the last one to go to bed. Pressing the softer button simply lets out air.

This whole marketing thing about wonderful adjustable hardness is just a way to sell an air mattress in a hotel bed casing! In addition the remote is nearly unusable because of the lag in the system. Press a button, hold it pressed, wait 5 seconds and pray.

What will they come up with next?

People living in Oslo are spoiled when it comes to ordering taxis. You call and they normally come within a few minutes. Not so here, and I should have known better. When we finally ordered one the reception said it would take 20 minutes. We had a 30 minute buffer, so we should still be fine. The taxi arrived after 35.

At the airport things took time, as they do at US airports. We were once again saved by the family line at security, but still had to run from the shuttle train to the gate. It seemed everyone else was already on board. Before leaving Norway for this voyage we had promised my nephew, Marius, that we were going to try to take pictures of all the planes we took. Well, a promise is a promise, so once we approached the gate I quickly analyzed the options and ran over to the gate next to ours to get a view of the plane and took a photo. The woman at the gate gave me a very strange stare once I made it over to her as the last one in the family. But being a polite American, trained to believe that the customer is always right, she quickly removed her facial expression after some effort. Here it is Marius, another 757-200. It´s a crappy photo, but I worked hard for it:

We spent 3 hours in the airport in Miami and ate our lunch there. When I ordered the round-the-world tickets I had of course ordered Hélène´s ticket with gluten-intolerant meals. For some reason the flight from Miami to Lima in Peru came up with “No special meal” just like all the short flights without a meal did. I tried to find more info with AA online but could not select a special meal on their web site. The matter then got lost in the wave of all other bookings I made.

I only realized last night that there probably would be a meal on the flight, given it lasts for over 5 hours, and that Hélène wouldn´t have anything to eat. Bad husband.

So, in Miami I went to the AA counter (that´s the airline, not the other thing) and explained the situation. First the guy wouldn´t believe that I had requested such a meal. Then I showed him the printout with all the other gluten-intolerant meals. He was scratching his head and felt very uncomfortable. He clearly wanted to get rid of me fast, but couldn´t. After a lot of typing on his computer he almost cried our triumphantly “A-HA!” He had found out that our ticket had been split in two, and claimed that that had confused their system. Sorry, nothing can be done. Between the lines: Your fault. I refused to back down. “Our problem is that she cannot have the standard meal.” He said he would call catering. Adding: “They always give me the same negative answer, but I can try”

After a phone call the whole guy sunk a couple of inches in embarrassment over his employer. He told me that American Airlines have had to cut costs to stay competitive on routes to South America. Therefore they have removed the option of having special meals on economy. There was no mixup because of a split booking. The request for the meal had simply been denied. He typed on his computer again. “Yes, I can see it here, no kosher, no vegetarian, no muslim, there are no meal options on that flight.”

What a strange decision. Why wasn´t there an option to pay for a special meal? I can only try to imagine the meeting where a group of people far removed from everyday traveling took that decision. Some one probably updated their excel spreadsheet and made costs go right under that 8% cut limit imposed by the CFO.

Oh well, as a good husband I let Hélène have all my chicken on the plane, and I got her pasta. She didn´t die from starvation.

Photo from a different angle, Marius. This is our 767-300 as seen from above when I was inside the airport shuttle:

Once again the kids were small angels. We put them all together and they behaved like they had good parents.

For some reason sitting almost 6 hours on a plane is not a problem. But try to have them sit still for 5 minutes at a restaurant after they have finished their food…

Once we arrived in Lima the inevitable happened. One of our bags went missing. It cost me about an hour standing in line, but the bag luckily came on the next flight from Miami, arriving close to 1am. Phew!

Everyone else is sleeping her at the airpot hotel in Lima, Peru. Time for me to tuck in also. We are heading for Inca country tomorrow.

Eirik

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P.S. I do not know what type of internet access we will have over the next couple of weeks, so don´t be surprised if days pass without an update.