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Tuesday July 9: Dallas
End of the Trip
I was expecting us to go through enhanced security as we were flying to the US, but the only thing was that after entering the jet way they asked us if we had any liquid and did a quick hand search of our carry-on.
On the flight from Santiago to Dallas we were in premium economy. I could definitely get used to that. We were in the front of economy, just behind first/business class. We got to board early, so there was plenty of overhead bin space. The seats were wider and had more legroom. We also got enhanced food. We even got cloth napkins and metal utensils. We had care packages with things like a blindfold and ear-plugs. As I said, I could get used to that.
We weren't expecting that good of meal. Had we known that, we would have gone cheaper/lighter back at the airport. I was pretty stuffed and couldn't eat all of my dinner. Amy was the same.
I think I got a couple of hours of sleep during the night. I ended up using their ear plugs, which cut down on the ambient sounds and conversations. It was definitely nice having more space to stretch out in.
Also, because we were near the front of the plane, we got out sooner than most, so the line at immigration was shorter than I'm used to.
It was strange with our baggage. We got our checked bags from the carousel, walked a short distance with them, and then gave it to someone who tossed them on a conveyor belt. I'm not sure why they could not have done that themselves.
After that, we had to go through the full US enhanced security. Sam and I both screwed up. When we got through the scanner, both our backpacks were held for further inspection.
In my case, I had forgotten that I put Sam's iPad in my backpack, so or course I hadn't removed it from my bag. They took it out and rescanned it. In Sam's case, he had a bottle of Gatorade that he had forgotten to remove.
We were an hour late leaving and getting in, but we had enough of a layover that it wasn't an issue. We got to our gate and had about 45 minutes before they started boarding.
This is a full to over-full flight, so they said that overhead bins will be at a premium. Sam and Amy checked their carry-on bags, but I have delicate and valuable stuff in mine, so I'm going to try to bring it on board.
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The trip was mostly uneventful. The entertainment was via in-flight WIFI, and it didn't work, so essentially we had no entertainment. I tried to doze a bit, rather unsuccessfully, so I spent most of the flight listening to my book on iPod.
At Logan, it took rather a while for our luggage to come out, but it arrived successfully. We found the location for shared vans, and coincidentally our van pulled up almost immediately.
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