I took German Wings down to Barcelona today

[DFW]

This post is coming to you live and in color from Barcelona (still one of my favorite cities on this planet).

They had to charter a plane from another regional airline. Airlines don't tend to have a spare A-320 lying around the hangar.

The pilot got on the PA and said the usual stuff, and then she told us the co-pilot would be doing the actual flying. He did just fine.

Life goes on.

[malthaussen]

1. Points for guts.

How are things in Catalunya?

-- Mal

[DFW]

2. In Catalunya

Tot va molt bé, gracies. Com va això als Estats-Units?

(I used to live here once upon a time, so my català is still somewhat intact)

[malthaussen]

10. Don't speak the language myself.

... bit that's not too hard to parse. The US is descending into Republican Hell, don't you know.

-- Mal

[DFW]

15. It's not overly complicated, actually

A lot of Medieval French and Langue d'Oc in there, and everybody knows them, right?

[niyad]

3. glad to know that the pilot did the actual flying! and glad to hear from you.

[DFW]

5. She seemed to know what she was doing, anyway.

The fact that I'm posting from Barcelona is pretty convincing evidence, I'd say!

[Tuesday Afternoon]

4. indeed, life goes on. Glad it was an uneventful trip for you, DFW. Peace. eom.

[DFW]

6. When it comes to travel, we LIKE uneventful

Of course, I probably spoke too soon. I got an SMS from Air Berlin an hour ago that my flight back this evening is delayed by 2 hours, no explanation offered.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

7. BORING, even. Of course, I am not the jet setter you are but, I have traveled enough to

realize that boring is actually a good thing.

2 hour delays are not uncommon, really .... could be due to anything. right?

[DFW]

8. Right!

Though 2 hour delays are somewhat unusual here for Western airlines. For that matter, even Czech Air, Tarom and Málev have been on time when I took them. I checked with Air Berlin in Düsseldorf, and it only left from there two hours late, so the delay in not some problem here in Barcelona. It could have been some crew delay in Vienna at 7 this morning, who knows?

[Tuesday Afternoon]

9. actually, I am thinking that in this incidence - no news is good news because if it were

something out of ordinary it would be a longer delay and wouldn't they have to say why ... ?

I have had 2 hour delay before ... and all it involved was gassing up and then getting back in line for take off.

[elleng]

11. GLAD you made it.

Send us pics from Barcelona, please!!!

[DFW]

17. Pics from Barcelona--you can't believe how odd that sounds to me

I lived there for a year, run down there maybe 8 to 10 times a year (this was my 5th time already since January). It's so familiar, I never even think to take pics any more. I never tire of the views, but I never think of it as something to snap pics of any more.

Weird, eh? Familiarity breeds anything BUT contempt. I still love the place. But it wouldn't occur to me to take pictures of Barcelona any more than it would occur to me to take pics of Dallas, Falls Church, or the heater in my basement.

[elleng]

18. Gotcha!

I DO have pics, visited once, years ago.

I DO take pics of DC, near where I live, but only at Cherry Blossom time!

[CTyankee]

12. my mother worked for Braniff Airlines back in the 60s and she said that

whenever there was a airline crash ticket sales for flights were only temporarily down. The popped back up a day or so later. Interesting.

[steve2470]

13. glad things were uneventful!

I remember taking a plane to Los Angeles a few weeks after 9-11. The damn thing was about 70% empty, it was amazing. It was actually the BEST time to fly, since everyone was closing-the-barn-door-after-the-horse-escaped. I hope your good fortunes continue to hold, and all the best to you and your family!

[Lydia Leftcoast]

20. I flew from Portland to Los Angeles after 9/11

I had a whole row to myself. It was wonderful. The flight attendants were bringing extra drinks and snacks, since it took almost no time to make the first round.

I was with a student group on a January Term Japan trip when the Gulf War broke out in 1991. We flew home while it was still going on, and once again, we each had a row to ourselves. I have never slept so well on a plane. We had dinner, and the next thing I knew, one of the students was shouting, "There's the Golden Gate Bridge!"

A terrorism scare is a GREAT time to fly. People forget that over 5,000 planes were NOT hijacked on 9/11.

[mnhtnbb]

14. Glad you arrived ok and hope you return in the same fashion!

What was the chatter on the plane? Anything interesting?

[DFW]

16. Conspicuously, not a word

I came back on Air Berlin. The only interesting even was seeing a family of neighbors get on the plane, too. They had some kind of family reunion in Barcelona, and were all on their way back this evening

[CaliforniaPeggy]

19. REALLY glad you're OK, my dear DFW! Not that I thought you wouldn't be...

After all, you owe me an autograph!



Boring and uneventful is wonderful!

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

21. Nice

Pilot humor:
- A good landing is anyone that you can walk away from.
- A great landing is when they can use the plane again.

[Blue_Tires]

22. Well I wanted to go to goddamned Barcelona...

My invitation lost in the mail or something?

[RiffRandell]

23. For most of the summer my husband traveled to Europe

from Atlanta to London to Amsterdam and Germany, then back again.

He flew on the German Wings A-320 at once or twice a month.

I still worry more about him driving the Atlanta highways to and from the airport.

[DFW]

24. I know. I-75 sometimes resembles a gladiator arena

Very intimidating!