May 4 - Our Flight

Our flight was to leave out of Washington Dulles Airport just a little after 7pm on May 4, 2008 out of the B Terminal. Now I'm not new to flying, but it has been several years since I've flown on an international flight. Having flown regularly in the past, I knew of the advantages of an airlines private lounge. Since I haven't flown in such a long time, nor with any regularity, I could not take advantage of any lounge. However through some investigation, I did find out that as an American Express Platinum card holder, you could get into several lounges. Sounds good on the surface, but the downside is that this card costs $450 - ouch! So I decided to investigate this a little further and discovered that you can get an American Express Platinum Card through other financial institutions for about $99 instead. Now granted this version of the card does not hold unlimited access to these lounges, and does not carry all of the same benefits, but it does carry quite a bit of the same advantages. One of the advantages is access to airline lounges, albeit with grave limitations (only 3 free visits), but it's something.

After several months of mulling over the advantages vs. the costs I decided to apply for it and was promptly approved. Normally I would not pay for a credit card, but I figured if we were going to travel internationally, we would do it in relative style. I don't know if it was the only lounge available, or the only lounge that took this "priority Pass" as it was called, was Northwest Airlines. We entered the lounge and noticed no one was attending the desk, so we swiftly entered the room without the need to register.

We spent about an hour or so in the lounge drinking a couple of complimentary cocktails along with some cheese and crackers while looking out onto the tarmac watching the funny bus thingy they have at the Dulles Airport.

It was getting close to boarding time so we left the lounge and went to the gate, which was only a few gates away. After a short wait, we promptly boarded or plane, which was only half full. As luck would have it, on a plane that was half full, we got the annoying front seat couple. That's right, the kind that can't sit still, the kind that think they are in private room and can't keep their hands off each other. Now I'm no prude by any means, but when I can't eat my meal, can't type on my laptop because my tray is bouncing around like we're hitting some massive turbulence, well then it bothers me.

We did receive a hot meal, chicken or beef. I had the chicken and Naomi had the beef. Nothing to rave about. Funny thing, the lights went out, and the audio for the movie just started. Hmmm maybe this is the flight for the blind, hence why it was only half full. Oh finally someone said something because they started the movie again - this time WITH the video. The movie is "The Bucket List" (nice flick but a little sad).

OH check this out, the annoying couple in front of us has a complaint that my computer is making noise (how did they even noticPublish Poste). I didn't hear anything since I was listening to music (and then the movie), but it wasn't my computer making the noise, it was my cell phone. No I don't have it on really, it's in Airplane Mode - NO signal, but since it's a PDA as well, it's still useful for other things. The noise was just a calendar reminder.

When we landed we found out that the couple in front of us were newlyweds - didn't notice if they went to the toilet at the same time though, maybe I was a asleep. ;-)