A boring and uneventful drive over to the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport was salvaged by a fantastic flight on one of Northwest Airlines newer A330 aircraft, where everybody has their own personal entertainment center. Since this was a free flight, I was in coach, but there seemed to be slightly more room than usual on this plane, so I didn't mind much.
Thanks to dozens of movie choices and games, the flight to Amsterdam flew by (heh heh) in no time.
I got to see Batman Begins (great, seen it before), Fantastic Four (not nearly as bad as I had thought), War of the Worlds (interesting flick with a crap ending), March of the Penguins (cute, but I fast-forwarded through much of it), Bewitched (truly awful, and I fast-forwarded through practically all of it), plus play a few games of trivia and Bejeweled. I was still playing as the landing gear came down, and still can't figure out where the 9 hours went. THAT'S the way to fly international.
I was very nervous when I surfed by Apple's web site, curious to know what their "big announcement" was going to be and how much it was going to cost me. Turns out it won't cost me a thing. The new media features in the iMac G5 are nice, but I've already got both a Mac and a TV. The new video iPod isn't impressive enough to warrant purchase, and the new video offerings at the increasingly mis-named iTunes Music Store are shows I don't care about and are only being offered at a crappy 320x240 resolution. Sure that's fine for an iPod, but there are plenty of other media portables out there with bigger screens, bigger storage, and better resolution for me to pay $1.99 a pop for crummy low-res copies of Lost and Desperate Housewives. What in the heck is Apple thinking?!?
Oh well. I don't really have the money to buy a cool new toy from Apple just now. With that in mind, I suppose I should be glad that they didn't release a cool new toy I couldn't live without.
On a sadder note, a small bird seems to be trapped here inside Schiphol International Airport. He flies up to the skylight, realizes he can't get out, and then flies down to the railing and starts chirping... I am guessing in the hopes that some other bird will answer and he can go home (or at least get outside)...
The poor little guy just flies from rail to rail calling out for help... it really is heartbreaking (I seem to be having March of the Penguins flashbacks here). Hopefully he gets it all figured out. I doubt a diet of leftover french fries and being trapped in an airport is a very good life for one who is meant to fly free.
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Sounds like a great flight! Of course, I fly WestJet here in Canada, which is one of those “no frills” econo-carriers. The only entertainment on those flights consists of the attendants telling bad jokes and asking trivia questions every so often.
Nice to hear the flight went well. I’d love to be on a flight with one of those consoles, they look cool.
I hate to see animals trapped like that. I wonder if the airport would trap and release him?
It’s amazing how poignantly you can word what is otherwise a seemingly miniscule event such as a bird being trapped in an airport.
And isn’t it wickedly ironic that a bird “meant to fly free” is trapped in an airport of all places?
I am so looking forward to Amsterdam updates. Always wondered what that place was like. Don’t get so trashed that you don’t remember how to type. 😉
how precious that bird is! i cried during March of the Penguins…
You could actually fast-forward the movies? I don’t remember having that feature on the personal entertainment thingy during my trans-continental flights (Malaysia Air and Cathay Pacific — not Air Canada, which wasn’t very entertaining). Not that I’d care enough to fast-forward since they only played movies that I either had seen or wouldn’t bother to see. Bejewelled, on the other hand, was a good time-killer.
Interesting that Northwest has these new high-tech planes (that sound awesome), and yet their mechanics are on strike and they filed for bankruptcy protection.
If i traveled as much as you do, i’d take my “vacation” in my apartment.
Maybe when they make Veronica Mars available on iTunes (iVids?) it would be worth it to get the iPod video, then you could force people to watch eps anywhere, anytime!
Awww, that is so sweet of you to be concerned about the bird. I hope he gets out as well (I am a fellow vegetarian, so I have a soft spot for animals).
That poor little angel. 🙁
Interesing that NW has entertainment on international flights, but absolutely nothing, not even crummy low-fi music on domestic flights.
I hate their domestic service so much I would never have even considered them for interational. (Unless, of course, they were dramatically cheaper…)
I have started flying United to see what’s what… but I have so many miles built up in Northwest that I’m sure to be using them for some flights.
Domestic with Northwest’s no-music policy doesn’t bother me at all… I have an iPod. Though, with my last trip with United, I did discover some great new music on the flight, so I suppose that there are benefits.
The newer model planes have all kinds of cool gadgets and services… they’re all built like that to compete with each other. I think it’s smart that airlines keep up, so that they aren’t blown away by the competition.