HAL's ms Noordam - November 11, 2011

Pre-Cruise:

Our day-before flying day was not without incident. First, an equipment change, then the new plane had a door-closing issue, which was thankfully resolved quickly. When our first flight finally landed, our second flight was already in the air. From past experience I knew NOT to stand in that endless line of frustrated passengers and simply scanned my boarding pass in a nearby kiosk to get my newly assigned flight. We now had 90 minutes or so, and stopped by TGI Fridays to split an excellent cheeseburger. We were told to be at the gate by 6:00 and were already on the right concourse. At 5:45 we arrived at the gate to find we had a gate change. For those of you familiar with Hartsfield (Atlanta) airport, it's no easy task to get from B29 to E1. My guess is it's about 6 miles and involves two very steep escalators, a train ride and lots of duckin' & dodgin' (and NO people movers). Finally at our gate, we find our plane to have just arrived from Europe and needed various undescribed inspections which take longer than normal... sure, then why be at the gate over an hour too early? Read more