Awake 4:20 am Overnight Pittsburgh, Pa
We take the earliest shuttle that the Wyndham hotel offers @ 5:00 am for
our 5:50 am flt to Atlanta. Little thought is given to the 2 hr early
check-in that an International flight requires until we check in @ the
Delta ticket counter....then we say oops! The hotel shuttle ride was only
7 min but not nearly enough time left to do the International check-in
paper work to make this flight so the quick thinking Delta agent
recommends we simply take the 1st leg as a domestic trip & do the Int'l
check-in paperwork in ATL where we will have plenty of time. OK with us.
By the time we approached our gate, we could hear them paging: " Kirsch,
party of 2, check in immediately " and we did.
PIT to ATL=1.3 hrs. As we decended & approached ATL, a lot of rain,
turbulence & wind bounced the aircraft around which was obviously from
hurricane Frances, but those guys up front did a smooth job & the landing
was quite uneventful.
We have 10 hrs to kill inside this ATL complex. We get our checked baggage
from the carousel, pay 10.00 to store them & we walk around the unsecured
section of the terminal for exercise, do x-word puzzles, read the
newspaper, eat lunch @ Houlihans etc. 5 hrs later we pick up our bags
again & walk the underground route to our Int'l departure gate...about a
35 min walk not counting the time for security check.
Our Delta Flt*66 was not full & our priority status on standby using my
FDX benefits are the lowest( S-4 ). Kathy figures that no way are we
going to be upgraded to business elite if seating should become available.
I figure that we might have a chance because of Frances...many people may
have cancelled their 1st class trip due to the storm. Sure enough, we go
Business elite. This made the Atlantic crossing a lot more enjoyable for
sure. A young girl by name of Sara was assigned a seat next to Kathy but
traded her seat with me after she realized we were married. She will be
hiking & traveling on Eurorail in Europe for 2 months with (just a friend)
Dave.
7:30 pm local EDT: Appetizer of Mixed nuts with a smolked breast of
Chicken & small salad with balsamic pecans. Then the real salad: Mesclun
salad mix & romaine lettuce with tomato, cucumber, radish & blue cheese
dressing + bread. Next came the entree: I had the grouper fish with pasta
& stir-fried veggies. Kathy had the Grilled Veal Chop & asparagus spears.
Next we had a cheese & fruit plate with wine. And after all of that: An
all natural Vanila Ice Cream Sunday with whipped cream & chopped nuts.
We have no complaints about this meal...it was terrific & filling.
We each have our own small screen TV monitor attached to our seat with
choices of movies, video games, word games, music, etc. Kathy chooses a
movie to start with, then switches to a hangman word game, then video golf
& then back to the movie & finally just music. I do the hangman word game,
a memory game then just music.
About an hr after our dinner, 3.5 hrs into the flight & at 35,000 ft, the
cabin lights are turned off....so we both go with the flow, get our
blankets, power our foot rest into positîon, power the back of our seat
down & get some good zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz,s.
Lights out: Approx 10:00 pm EDT
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