Farewell to Chile

Wow, haven't used my phone to blog in a while. On the plane in La Serena, by 18:22 for a 18:40 flight. Didn't leave the house until 17:50. They're close to the airport, which is small and casual. Didn't have to take my laptop out or empty my water bottle. Probably will in Santiago, as well as getting my checked luggage so I can check in again; LAN and Air Canada don't seem to talk to each other.

The attentive to detail will note that this post is not in the "Escape from" series.

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Blame Canada

6-7 weeks later and the express walkway is still out of service. One of the ordinary walkways was broken, too.

Waiting for luggage. I took a nice break for bathroom and wi-fi. I grant that sorting 500 people's luggage going to different countries is a harder problem than a small local flight, but I'm still feeling there's inefficiency.

My host apparently can't find keys, so I've been offered an alternative. *Twitch*

It's so early, my friend on vacation in Hawaii might still be up! Or not, I thought it'd be 6 hours, not 5.

Travellers to the US get their own section here. Because Camada totally isn't a 51st state or anything.

Luggage has started appearing, only 45 minutes after the plane reached the gate.

OMFG

I pick up my bag where Air Canada put it, and take the US Customs form Air Canada gave me to the US Customs line Air Canada told me to go. Half an hour later, the US official tells me "oh, American Airlines? Go out to Terminal 3". When I tried, a guard intercepted me and said I had to go through Canadian customs. Someone there was surprised I had my bag already. Then I was told, not asked, to put my bag on a belt for T3. Not sure if this was mandatory or some bag convenience, cause I have to pick it up there to take through Customs. Of course, my bag isn't here yet. A woman has asked two drivers to look for it. I'm told I couldn't carry it, as checked it had to be scanned. Again.

Got it, got check tags, got to spend half an hour in US customs, before slinging it on a belt and going through security. 3 hour layover and I'm at the gate with 35 minutes to spare from departure. Boarding was supposed to be 15 minutes ago.

So, flying to or through the US is bad, flying to the US through Canada is bad... Flying from Chile wasn't bad, but that was two years of security theater and tourism-destroying ago. Huh, Toronto is -6 C. But Boston is 0, and rising to 10 in the next few days. Bloomington's going up to 14. Both with rain, mind you. I BRING YOU WARM WEATHER FROM THE SOUTH. I AM AS A RAIN GOD. I forgot to decorate my big duffle so it'd be more distinguishable. I should have asked the girls to do something to it, they'd probably have tied ribbons or applied stickers.

Eek

It's not the cold that gets me -- though it helps that the weather has jumped to 40 F just for me. It's the jump from 14 hour days to 14 hour nights. "It's dark, must be late, right? Oh, 5pm. Crap."

For all my (perfectly legitimate IMO) griping about changing planes in Toronto, I admit it's yet another flight sequence that went without noteworthy incident. The Boston plane was a few minutes late to show up, but so what. And if I hadn't had a 3 hour layover in Toronto I'd be screwed. But I did.

This week's apartment is cold and noisy with drip and the radiators of dubious utility. Location's great though, a few blocks from Harvard Square, and I got an "eeeee" feeling just walking to the apartment. Price is... clearly for the location, not the apartment itself.

Bought Catspaw for $2 from some pile of used books on the sidewalk, not being sure I was up to reading anything on my phone, then ate double-cooked pork at Yenching. I'd asked for Szeschuan Sliced Pork but got told it was pure pork skin, and did I really want that? I didn't know. BTW lunch is still on... the wontons in the wonton soup were nice, the broth itself was bland. I don't remember the egg roll, which probably says it all. ("If it's not Vietnamese it's crap.") I liked the pork.

Tonight's challenge: find groceries that aren't grossly overpriced CVS emergency rations. Tomorrow's: find hat and gloves that don't bear the Harvard logo.

I already have a New Year's Party invitation, plus a weekly game event. Go go Techer contacts! It's like the Bay Area, only with subways!