New day

Sunday - October 19, 2014

Mr. Ferreira, ever so punctual, arrived at the doorstep at 5 AM to pick me up for Logan.  There were already four other passengers in the van, but hopefully they don't mind me sharing the trip with them. They are on the way to Las Vegas, six days of sun, fun, and gambling, so they should be in good mood.

Today is Mr Ferreira's birthday.  I congratulated him on his birthday, and in the ensuing conversation, found that he has a nephew Ted who is a merchant marine seaman, who has been to China, and in fact married a Chinese woman.  Ted bought a house in Rhone Island, set up and immigrated his wife to the States.  They are help her settle down in the States.  I told Mr Ferreira where he can find good Chinese grocery stores - namely my favorite Quincy shopping place, the Kam Man Supermarket.  He was excited to get that piece of information.

I have not traveled for a couple of years, and a lot has changed.  United Airlines, which used to be in Terminal C of Logan airport,, is not in Terminal B, next to American Airlines.  Also new is the check-in procedures.  I can use a terminal to check in, print out my boarding pass, and even a luggage tag, which I am to stick it onto my suitcase.  When all this is done, I simply take the suitcase to the counter and handed it over to a counter person.  As with telephones, we are now doing the airline workers' work.  Pretty soon, we will be lugging the suitcases to a drop off bin and drop them off ourselves.  This is progress.

On the boarding pass, I have a sign that says TSA-Pre.  This means I have been pre-approved by the TSA, and I do not need to do all the checkpoint activities - take off shoes, belts, laptop, etc.  I walk over to the checkpoint, put my suitcase on the conveyor belt, and walk through the metal detector.  This is so much more convenient than before.  A great start.

I have some tickets to use the United Club lounge, and since I have a couple of hours before boarding, I used the lounge, have myself a couple of cappuccinos and a bagel and cream cheese for breakfast.

The only thing that went wrong, sort of, is, I can't find my luggage claim tag.  I must have lost it while pulling out my passport from my shirt pocket, and the tag was also in the shirt pocket.  It must have been pulled out and dropped on the ground and I didn't notice it.  ah well.  Since I am in the club lounge, I walked over to the receptionist and asked her to print out of record of the tag.  At least I will have something to show the Singapore luggage crew when I retrieve my luggage.

Well, waiting for 9 AM (another hour) before I board the flight to Washington, D.C., to catch a connection flight to Tokyo.  I hope everything goes well for the next few legs.