I'm back in Eugene, reasonably safe and sound. I actually arrived on Monday, almost exactly 24 hours after I got up in Manchester. Specifically, I woke up in Manchester airport. The good news is that sounds worse than it was. There's a really kickass hotel in the airport. If you never stayed in an SAS Radisson (yes, the same SAS as the airline, but not the British Special Air Service), they rock. Qual-i-ty. And it was pretty cheap for the night as well. Provided I remember, I'll upload pictures of our room in another post. That's how cool the hotel room was. Oh, and heated bathroom floors. Damn I love those Scandinavians!
Adam and I got up at 4:30am so I could make my 7:05am flight. Yergh. Plus, I forgot that in most airports these days it's damn near impossible to check in at the counter. So I didn't bother to have my confirmation number or anything. Plus, there were only four machines to check in with, and one was being used by the Austrian National Basque team and an agent (or something. I don't know if they were Austrian, or the National Team, or Basque players, but that's what I sorta deduced from their jackets. I'm not sure, though--seriously. I couldn't work out what language they were speaking, but it wasn't German, French, or Italian, and didn't really sound like Spanish to me. But a further Google search makes me think they were the Basque National Football team.). Eventually I got up to a machine, and it wouldn't accept my flight numbers, destination cities, or anything else. So I stomped off to the baggage check line, and apologized, but pointedly said that the machines are not substitutes for people. They had no problems checking me in, and even got me checked in on my Denver-Eugene flight (I was on Lufthansa for Manchester-Frankfurt-Denver).
The flight to Frankfurt was uneventful. Frankfurt airport however, lacks toilets, or at least a reasonable number of them. They also have these smoking "closets" which are a good idea, except that there is still plenty of smoke in the air around them. And of course that's where they put all the seats (that aren't by gates). But mostly, Frankfurt airport is boring. And lacks toilets. There are worse complaints, though. The good bit though, was that I was in an aisle seat (middle section), the seat next to me was empty, and it was a Lufthansa flight. This is good. The German airline used to suck apparently, but not now. Two good meals--and good sized--seatback entertainment, and free booze. Plus, two free checked bags (I only took one, but still). In the future, I'll be making more of an effort to fly on them. However, I won't fly on their partner United. I hate United--especially after they denied a guy his first class seat upgrade at the gate because he wasn't "dressed well enough." If you want more on that story, do a Google search with "United first class denial."
However, my luck ended in Denver. My God, that airport is full of hicks. I got to Immigration, and was greeted by some morons in cowboy hats and leather jackets. Turns out they're employees. Mostly, they were obnoxious. Then the woman who was doing the loudspeaker announcements proved she was also an idiot, but first stumbling over an announcement, saying "oops" over the thing, and then screwing up a guy's name five times, including messing up the spelling of it twice. And she was holding his wallet at the time (hence the announcement). Then, after I cleared Customs and rechecked my bag, I walked out and paused for a moment, looking around in general, and to see if there were any signs--including one for the restrooms. A staff member sees me, and says "looking for your flight?" It took all my willpower to not say "no, I'm waiting for a bus." I mean, seriously. There's only one way to get where I was, which involves coming in on an international flight and continuing on domestic. There's no other way to get there...but no, I'm not looking for a flight.
Beyond the inbred factor in Denver (yeah, that airport is prettyish, but does totally suck), I got the very back row window on the small plane between Denver and Eugene. That's not too bad--I can sleep there, even though the seats don't recline, if I have both seats. I didn't. Still livable. Except for the incredibly obese woman who was seated on the aisle. She was constantly touching me; her thigh came under the armrest to touch me, and she hogged the armrest. Granted, she was so fat that she couldn't pull her arms off the armrest, but still. And was is it with fat people and smelling?! Most people believe that when in public, you don't fart around others. Apparently she didn't subscribe to this theory.
After all that, I got a bloody nose on the flight. That's happened before, due to the freakishly dry air, slight dehydration, and the multiple altitude/pressure changes. The problem with it this time is that my nose is still bleeding. Not continuously, but it started up heavy again today, and the past two mornings I've spit out blood (just a small amount). So not fun, but hopefully it'll go away soon. At least I know what it's from, and it's not some scary type of nosebleed that will kill me.
Oh, and my one bridge is falling out. It broke while I was eating a tomato, rocket, and mozzarella sandwich on ciabatta in Frankfurt airport. Now it's no longer attached behind my front tooth, and will soon be detached from the other tooth. It's not noticeable, except to me (I don't think). So I have a dentist appointment for Monday. Goody. Thankfully, I don't think I need to go anywhere before then, so if it comes out I probably won't much worry about it.
