As Far As You Know

It's Long Weekend break at school--we are off until Monday night--and I'm in the Charlotte airport right now, on my way to Miami for a bit of warm weather and a visit with my parents (tomorrow is my dad's birthday). I expect the 80-degree temperatures will be a welcome respite from the New England winter.

The Charlotte airport, like Bradley Airport back home or the JetBlue terminal at JFK, offers free wireless access. Most airports have a deal with a provider like T-Mobile that charges a flat rate for an hour's or a day's worth of time online. I wish all airports followed the Charlotte model.

After a few weeks of technological bliss, my experience with the iPhone took an unfortunate turn yesterday. The bottom half-inch of screen has become unresponsive, which prevents me from accessing the on-screen keyboard while text messaging or hitting the space bar or accessing numbers and punctuation in those application in which I can get a keyboard. This is pretty limiting for many functions of the device. I've checked out this phenomenon online and it turns out this is a problem other users have experienced, even if rarely so. So I will be stopping at the Genius Bar in the Apple Store at West Farms Mall on my way home from the airport and I expect my phone will be replaced.

Had a breeze of a flight from Hartford to Charlotte this morning, with an aisle seat and an empty seat next to me. The plane arrived 30 minutes early, so I can really take advantage of the free wireless network in the terminal. I only got two hours of sleep last night, so I imagine I'll be asleep most of the way to San Francisco.

Made it into Charlotte after just four hours or so in the air, and thankfully I slept through most of that. I have a two-hour flight up to Hartford. Even if I catch some shuteye on that segment, I'll still be pretty bushed, so I'm confident a nap will be on the agenda once I get back to Wallingford.

The flight from San Diego to Charlotte was uneventful--other than the guy in the window seat of my row making me get up four times (!) to let him out--but when we landed in Charlotte, the jetway at our assigned gate didn't work so it took about an extra 45 minutes to deplane. Some people were in danger of missing connecting flights but fortunately it looks like I will just make my flight to Hartford!

Seems like I have spent a good chunk of today standing in line. The USAirways check-in line in Montego Bay was preposterously long, followed by a lengthy wait at the security checkpoint. So no time for lunch before catching my flight back to the States.

Then our plane had to sit on the tarmac here in Charlotte until an arrival gate was available. And upon deplaning I ended up on the mother of all lines for the immigration officers--a good hour's wait. Then had to collect my checked bag, clear customs, go through security again, and then hustle to the gate for my (thankfully delayed) connection to Hartford. So no time for dinner either. And the days of in-flight domestic meals are long gone, so it looks like a late meal when I arrive back in Connecticut.

Got to Charlotte and once again have a tight time frame before I have to board another plane for the final leg of my journey. I'll be back in Connecticut in just a couple hours!