I’m approximately 1 KM in the air as I begin writing this.
My day started off nicely.
I took care of some last minute travel chores like pulling out some USD and getting a haircut. Somewhere around 11:50 AM the Rico Uber service pulled up by my place and we were off to the airport. Got through airport security right quick only to wait over an hour in the customs line.
Thankfully I met a nice lady who was interested in my pickle world and gave her my card. Always bring some copies of your card. You never know who you’ll meet.
I bought overpriced Tim Hortons coffee and an absurdly expensive water bottle (I know, I know it’s airport prices) then I got to waiting.
Somewhere around 2:35 PM they started boarding the first plane and my adventure began.
Apparently there was limited space for carry on bags
I am travelling light, with just the carry on and personal bag.
Turns out they book these planes knowing they may not have enough space for carry on luggage. They offered to check people’s luggage in for free, and like most people, I had 0 interest in waiting for my checked bag when I got to San Juan. Instead I started waiting in line early to ensure my bag would make its way onto the plane with me.
Mission accomplished.
The first flight was pretty quick. Montreal to Newark is about an hour in the air. It felt like I had my laptop open for like 20 minutes before I had to put it away again.
I got to sit next to a nice lady and overall the flight went smoothly.
Guy Fieri sort of took me to Flavortown
Once I got to Newark it became pretty clear there was nowhere for me to ingest nicotine, though I knew this would be the case.
Terminal A was lovely enough. It had a bunch of stores I couldn’t care less about and it had some restaurants, which I did care about as I hadn’t eaten yet. After a quick jaunt around the terminal, while talking to Bonnie, she pointed out Flavortown was an option.
I got myself a super cheezy burger that seemed to lack a lot of the promised cheese. There was cheese on it, but it advertised lots of melted cheese and I only got some melted cheese that I had to hunt for in the burger. Still it tasted pretty good, I was impressed by how hot the burger was inside the bun, while the bun regulated the temperature so I could eat it safely.
The way a brioche bun captures burger grease is lovely.
They have three kinds of fries at once, which was super not exciting, despite the advertising.
Overall, the burger was fine, but I’d never pay that price outside of an airport, it certainly wasn’t that good.
Watching the ebbs & flow of life while trying to work
I had wild fantasies of being very productive and getting work done on my trip
down.
Due to my first flight being mostly takeoff and landing, I only spent a small chunk working on stuff. While at Newark I was able to tap into the day job and touch base with some clients, but arguably I found myself distracted. People watching and wandering around felt more fun than focused work.
I assume the novelty of flying and airports will wear off at some point but I’m impressed by people who can just lock in and get shit done no matter what (they will always be more successful than I). Though I do imagine the rest of my flight will be productive. I’ve got a couple of things I want to get done like sorting video footage once I finish writing this.
In my head moments like this are always potentially grind time.
In reality the change of pace catches me off guard and I typically don’t get as much work done.
This is a clear area of improvement for me but… I’m here for adventure, not the status quo of my life.
Flight two had a late takeoff because someone needed their bag
The pilot let us know we’d be leaving a little late over a luggage concern.
Turns out I’ll still be in San Juan way before the homies.
It’s wild how one person, needing something out of their checked bag, can delay the entire flight process by 20 minutes. It looked like we were on pace to actually land 10-15 minutes early, which delighted my nicotine craving self. Now despite the delay, we’ll be arriving on time.
The logic there is lost on me, but I’m not mad at it.
We inevitably took off smoothly and finally I was allowed to take out my laptop. I’m in an exit row seat so they were pretty strict with no wires or devices in the row until takeoff was finished. I’m glad we live in a world where I can pull out my computer and get to writing on the plane.
Side note, being on an exit row let me board early making sure my carry-on was one of the 60 permitted rolly bags on this plane (some folk also had forced bag check in.
At this point you may be wondering how I published this in the sky.
Elon Musk made it nice and easy for us to get cheap WIFI while flying
Turns out, due to Starlink and its wonderful satellite internet capability, I am able to get 1000 miles worth of internet on the cheap.
There is in flight entertainment for free, but paying for the internet lets me do some of that work I dreamed about doing. The airport terminal is all hustle, bustle and distraction, yet the plane is kind of boring. On this flight my seatmates are ignoring me and I still have another 2 hours before I land.
Okay I’ll be honest, I wanted to publish this article from the plane. If I waited to land I wouldn't get it out today, and while it’s probably corny to most, the geek in me thinks it’s super cool I can go online in the air.
The world has come a real long way.
The highlight of my day is definitely internetting in the sky.
Today was a solid 12 hours of travel, tomorrow it gets littyyy
It was a little hard to come up with the content for today’s article.
Here on the precipice of excitement, today felt long. I worked my way through line after line as I made progress on my journey. It was a definite exercize in patience.
Soon I’ll be linking up with Littyyy Bro Flacko & Poison Pen, getting the whip and heading to the Airbnb. Or possibly getting in the whip alone, going to the Airbnb and circling back to get them. We got a penthouse with a private rooftop and I cannot wait to see it.
Meanwhile, I’m left reminded that all good things in life have a cost.
For travel, it’s the actual tedium that is sitting in a tube in the sky with strangers and rules… in my case craving nicotine.
Live Long and Prosper Everyone
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