- The Delta Airlines terminal at Kennedy Airport is enormous. It’s actually two or three terminal buildings linked together. It’s a good thing I brought my backpack; we must have hiked half a mile from the curbside check in to the gate where we caught our plane.
- The food places that appealed most to me aren’t in the highest traffic areas of the Delta terminal. That said, in my opinion, no place that sells pre-made sandwiches in cellophane or plastic wrap can be considered “gourmet.”
- It’s bad enough that some restaurants and restaurant chains limit themselves to Coke or Pepsi, but not both. If they sell Pepsi at the Delta terminal in Kennedy airport, I couldn’t find any. They don’t have it on the planes either and the Coke they do have comes in cans you don’t have to take back for deposit.
- They’ve remodeled Delta Gate 22 since the last time I was there. Lots of the seats are now at desks that have iPads and power outlets available for passenger use. That’s fine, except there aren’t nearly enough seats for passengers waiting to board planes and there isn’t room around most of the seats so you can hold on to your luggage.
- Delta boarded our flight from the front to the back. Since airlines (not just Delta) started charging for checked baggage, people have been bringing as much stuff as possible into the cabin and stuffing as much as possible into the overhead bins. Our seats were in row 30. My backpack went into the overhead in Row 42. So, I suggest they board flights from back to front. That way, when they run out of space over your seat, the extra stuff has to go toward the front of the plane. If you make it to the back to get your stuff, you won’t make it back to your seat until people in front of you exit the plane.
- The lead cabin attendant said he was being assisted by three other “absolutely fabulous cabin attendants.” So, he was implying that he’s “absolutely fabulous” too, right? If you don’t blow your own horn, you won’t be violating any municipal noise ordinances, I always say.
- I could be wrong, but it seems to me you don’t have to walk nearly as far at SFO as you do at JFK. However the car rental center at SFO may possibly be in Nevada. It’s really, really far from the terminal. At least the train ride over there is free.
- I guess Alamo and National are the same company now. I rented a car from Alamo and got one from National. Once again, I got an “or similar.” I don’t recall ever getting the car the rental car company advertises. This time, I reserved a Cadillac DTS or similar because I wanted a sedan with a cavernous trunk. My wife and I are on vacation and we’re picking up our son who’s been overseas for three months.
- The “or similar” turned out to be a Lincoln Town Car. It’s okay; it has the three-Hoffa trunk that I need, but Ford’s phasing that model out and it’s technologically behind the times in even simple ways. Ford has a sophisticated entertainment system in Fords, but this Lincoln didn’t have it and the owner’s manual doesn’t say it’s even an option. It doesn’t play MP3 CD’s or have an auxiliary input for an iPhone or a Droid. I’ve got thousands of songs on my phone, but I can’t play them in my rental Lincoln.
- I have more trouble than I should finding my way around the San Francisco peninsula. We’re staying at a very nice place on the bay, near the airport, but it wasn’t easy for me to find it.
- I call our airport car service guy my almost cousin because his uncle dated my mother in high school. Taking a car service to the airport is a luxury, but not really that expensive if you are going to be away for a week or more. It costs me about twice as much as driving to the airport and putting my car in long-term parking and the extra convenience is well worth it.
- More, as the trip continues.
