The IT Nerd

I am tying this from India. But I wasn’t sure I was going to make it here. Let me explain what happened and how this almost went horrifically sideways.

I was booked on a flight via Air Canada to Newark New Jersey to catch a United Airlines fight to New Delhi. It was supposed to leave at 4:55 PM on Sunday. But it didn’t. It instead got pushed back to 5:45 PM. But then, we were informed that we would have to wait on the the far corner tarmac of Pearson Airport until 6:30 PM as that was the earliest takeoff and landing slot that they had for us. The reason for this is that they needed the gate for other aircraft. Nobody was thrilled about this at all and people on the plane were openly cursing Air Canada. In my case, it made my connection extremely tight. There was a chance that I would miss my flight to New Delhi, my checked bag would miss the flight, or both.

#EpicFail

But to Air Canada’s credit, we were airborne at 6:34 PM and we got to Newark about an hour and a bit later. But I had a new problem to deal with. I landed at terminal A in Newark. My connecting flight was in Terminal C. So I asked the Air Canada what was the fastest way to get to Terminal C. They told me to exit security and take a train that connected all of Newark’s terminals and re-enter security. So I did just that, getting a good amount of cardio in the process by sprinting from place to place. When I got to security at Terminal C, the TSA officer asked me why I was out of breath I told him what happened and he shook his head and said this:

“Air Canda does that to their flyers all the time. There’s a bus that goes from terminal to terminal that keeps you within security and is a bit faster. I really wish that they’d tell their passengers that.”

My opinion of Air Canada, which was already low at that point took a huge nosedive. I told myself at that point that I would avoid flying them going forward as this is completly unacceptable.

So, after clearing secuirty, my gate was very close by and I made the flight with 10 minutes to spare. But what about my bag? Fortunately I had a Tile Slim inside it and I used the Tile App to mark it as lost. That way I would get an alert when it was within proximity to my iPhone. 15 minutes after I did that (as they held the flight for 20 minutes for reasons they did not explain), I got an alert that my bag was close by. That was a relief. While I do carry a spare pair of contacts and solution in my laptop bag, I didn’t want to be seeing a client in clothes that I had been wearing for a full day.

The flight itself was uneventful. I have to admit that this was my first time on United Airlines and I was very impressed. The cabin crew was top notch in terms of being attentive and professional. While my experience is based on a sample size of one, I would fly them again without hesitation. The fact that the 13.5 hour flight was uneventful was welcome because everything up until that point was stressfull. I did get about 90 minutes of sleep, but nothing more as I don’t sleep well on flights.

After landing at Indira Gandhi airport, getting through customs was easy and quick. So was picking up my bag thanks to the Tile Slim which made it easier to find. And I was met at the airport by a driver from the hotel that I am staying at for the next couple of days which is the Le Meridian in Gurgaon’s Cyber City. This is an extremely upscale hotel that is above and beyond what I usually stay at in India. Which is usually very upscale. Check in was easy and professional, and I was impressed from moment one. I booked a small room and this is what I got:

Everything is from the top shelf. My work area is great as well:

I was able to set up my MacBook Pro as well as the USB charger for associalted devices. It’s a great place to work.

I found this writing next to the clock radio. I have no idea what it says. If someone could translate this for me, I’d really appreicate it.

But once again, I’ve found a hotel that has a 30-pin dock connector for in room entertainmet. Sigh.

Oh, the WiFi is 2Mbps a second if you want it for free. If you pay for it (at very reasonable prices I might add), you can get 4Mbps. I can live with 2Mbps for free.

Tomorrow, I start two very long days with my client. But you’ll still see an update from me as to what’s going on before I move on to Frankfurt Germany. Stay tuned!

This entry was posted on January 23, 2017 at 1:50 pm and is filed under Commentary with tags Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.