Connecticut

This morning I got up before 4am and left the house at 5am to drive to SFO and catch my flight to JFK. They have self checkin terminals for Delta and I was able to check in in just a couple of minutes including baggage check with no wait in line. Meanwhile there was a LONG line for the regular checkin counters. I wonder what the hell those people are doing that they can’t figure out how to use the self checkin.

Since onboard meals cost $$ on the flight, I picked up a panini sandwich before boarding. The seat next to me on the flight was empty, thanks to my secret seat assignment strategy. The flight had in-flight dish service, but the reception was really bad, so I ended up listening to their mp3 customized playlist service instead.

I realize that JFK is pretty ancient by airport standards, but the signage there is REALLY bad. At the baggage claim area the sign to tell which flight was on which carousel was not on the side closest to the gates but at the opposite end. There were signs to ‘rental cars’ in the gate area but not in the baggage claim area. There was a cardboard standup by the exits saying that the rental cars are accessed by the AirTrain, but you had to actually be standing in front of it to read that.

Then in the AirTrain station there are no indications at all which trains go to which platforms, which direction they go in, or what the routes are. There is a route map on the train, but you have to actually get on it to read it and by that time the train is already leaving. I managed to get where I was going, but I needed to take two different trains and even then took the long way around because I didn’t realize that route went all the way around first. If there were SIGNS and MAPS and ARROWS in the stations then I would have gotten it right the first time. By comparison, the SFO trains are wonderfully designed.

The drive out to Connecticut went well and took a bit more than an hour. Most of the delay was on the parkway from JFK to the freeway which was 3 lanes of jam packed slow moving traffic. The rest of the drive was quick, just 678 north to 95 north and all the way out to exit 41.

Anyways, now I’m all checked into my hotel in Orange, CT. Training starts first thing tomorrow morning. There’s snow on the ground here and the high is just above freezing, but it doesn’t really feel that cold.