18:50 Boarding. Seat 32A in a Boeing 777. The distance to London Heathrow is 3445 miles (5544 km).| [<- New York City] | [Main Page] | [Remarks ->] |
This page describes the last part of my journey: getting from New York City, New York, USA, back to Kiel, Germany.
15:10 John F. Kennedy Airport, Terminal 8.
15:25 Check-in. I need not care about my luggage at London Heathrow.
16:13 Check of hand luggage. They say the x-raying is safe for my films, and I have to believe them. The check is fast; they do not seem to be concerned about drugs leaving the States. I go to Gate 22, have some cake and orange juice, and wait for boarding, planned for 17:50.
17:44 I change the seat to have a better view to see when Flight AA 100 to London Heathrow will be boarding. And I notice that the sign says ``Scheduled: 6:35 PM, Departs: 7:30 PM''. Hmm, changing planes at London in time is still possible, but I have to change terminals there, so I should not leave here much later. I use the time to update my travel report, since I am already more than two days behind.
18:50 Boarding. Seat 32A in a Boeing 777. The distance to London Heathrow is 3445 miles (5544 km).
19:50 A weird announcement: the captain scheduled for this flight is not yet in New York. His last two flights were canceled, and now he is on his way here as a regular passenger. He is expected to arrive at 20:38.
21:13 We are moving onto the airfield. Around me I only recognize Spanish voices; not a single English word.
21:40 Takeoff of the 3-hour delayed Flight AA 100 to London Heathrow.
Lisa Simpson: ``What a magical city. Can we come back next year, dad?''
The Simpsons Episode 4F22 ``The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson''
22:08 Having flown over Boston, the plane is continuing its way across the northeast of North America and the Atlantic. The captain himself is making an announcement and apologizes for the delay. The expected arrival time is 09:00 BST. I check the takeoff time for my connecting flight to Hamburg: 08:45 BST. Ha ha!
22:30 The movie ``Galaxy Quest'', featuring Tim Allen and Sigourney Weaver, is shown. I also know this one, but a new movie I would not be able to follow, since the plane is too loud. I definitely have to invest in some good headphones soon.
22:43 Dinner: chicken with rice, salad, roll, cheese, crackers, mint chocolate, orange juice, water. Good.
00:10 After the movie has finished, I try to sleep a bit.
08:45 We are circling above London. These circles make sure that I will miss my connecting flight to Hamburg.
09:07 Touchdown at London Heathrow Airport.
09:20 I get off the plane, and take the bus to Terminal 1.
09:39 At Terminal 1, my and luggage is x-rayed again, like 20 days ago. I proceed to the British Airways counter and ask for a new flight to Hamburg. The next one is BA 970 at 14:35, which is about 6 hours later than the flight I just missed. The BA attendant recognized my anger about this, and she suggests that I ask at the American Airlines counter for some kind of refund.
09:55 So I walk over to the AA counter, where I am stopped by security, like 20 days ago. I block off the heap of questions by saying, ``I don't want to fly to the states, I just want to complain.'' And thus I can proceed to the counter. There they search for an earlier connection to Hamburg, which of course does not exist. Finally, I get a £5 coupon for ``Pret A Manger'', a sandwich bar. Better than nothing. But first I buy an adaptor for the British AC plugs, so I can use my laptop computer as long as I like.
10:45 At ``Pret A Manger'' I get two sandwiches, a coke, tea, and some chips. American Airlines pays. I eat and then start typing my travel report.
11:23 A guy sits down next to me, unpacks his laptop computer and starts writing his travel report. That's weird!
13:34 The monitors now say that Flight BA 970 is delayed from 14:35
to 15:00. Whatever. I try hard to stay awake. Finally, the gate is
announced.
14:29 At Gate 19 there are no signs that this is the right one, but
there are many Germans around.
15:01 I am sitting in the plane, a Boeing 737-400, Seat 6D. The plane has just arrived from somewhere else, so the preparations take some time.
15:47 Takeoff Flight BA 970 to Hamburg Fuhlsbüttel Airport.
16:00 Dinner.
18:02 (CEST) Touchdown at Hamburg Fuhlsbüttel Airport. I have advanced my watch by one hour, and are back in my home time zone. The queue at the customs for EU citizens is significantly longer than for non-EU citizens. What a shame.
18:30 I get my luggage and wait for the bus to Kiel.
19:14 The ``Kielius'' airport bus leaves for Kiel. Someone in the bus starts to smoke, but he is quickly stopped by the driver. In California, I guess, he would have been kicked out of the bus immediately. And maybe without stopping the bus.
20:40 From the bus stop in Kiel I take a Minicar back home. I wonder how long I will suffer from jet lag.
On the next day, I handed in my films for development, and almost all of the 257 photographs were okay. The best pictures have been included in this report. I also added 17 sound samples.
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