disneydream06

For some reason today I remembered something I noticed when we were in London - none of the sinks had faucet aerators on them. Perhaps because I once worked with the folks who helped develop energy and water efficiency standards for the US I tend to pay attention to details they used to talk about, so took note that none of the faucets over there had them. In the States they're a water and energy conservation tool. Less water through with more pressure means you get the impression of more force, but use less water overall, and if you're talking about heated water, less energy usage because you're using less hot water. Nowhere near as exciting or visible as, say, driving on the opposite side of the road, but just something unusual that struck me from the trip.

When last I posted I was getting ready to head to Texas to visit my family back in early March.

Got to the airport (BWI - Thurgood Marshall Baltimore Washington International airport), got parked, got through TSA without a hitch. Then apparently sometime between sitting down and boarding it began to snow. So they had to de-ice the plane. Then it began snowing harder, which meant they needed to re-de-ice the plane using a different, stronger de-icing treatment. Sat on the plane while they did all that, then finally got in the air. Flight itself was fine, but as we were approaching it became clear there was no way in hell we were going to make our connection. United rebooked us to a later flight while we were still trying to get off the first one, because our original flight finalized boarding while we were still deplaning.

Then somehow we wandered through two terminals at the Houston airport that were ... rough. The first looked like the basement of an old municipal buildings: concrete, cinderblock walls, scuffed up earth tones, etc. Caught a shuttle from that one one to the other, which looked slightly better, but still in desperate need of a refresh. Caught some lunch from a no-name sports bar, and halfway through the meal we got told we were being moved to yet a third terminal. Thankfully it was an easy rail ride to that one, which was okay, but still nothing to write home about. In the air for one of the smoothest rides I've had on a small plane, and down to McAllen.

Visited, enjoyed seeing people. Took the three nieces to lunch one day with just them and us so we could talk to them without their parents or mine. Parents were okay. Did get my Dad set up with the hearing aid function on the air pods I'd gotten him for Xmas, which definitely helped his level of involvement, since he could finally hear people. On the other hand, he's also managed to alienate all three of his granddaughters by being a jerk to live with (my brother, his wife, and their three girls all live in a 5 bedroom house with my parents). *sigh* What a mess. But, overall, a nice visit over the long weekend.

The Sunday before we were scheduled to leave it got up to 102F/38.6C (!!!!!). A bit warm, especially since it was snowing when we left Maryland. We were supposed to fly out Monday, then the weather people got themselves all up in a lather over spring thunderstorms and tornado warnings, and air travel turned into a disaster. They got so worked up that schools back in Maryland were closing at 2 or 3 in the afternoon to get everyone home, which meant that workplaces had to do the same. Before we even got to the airport Monday morning we'd gotten an alert that our flight was delayed from 9:30 to 10:50. At the airport it was further delayed to noon, then quickly cancelled altogether. Apparently things were backing up in Houston, with nothing being able to go further east, so they started limiting what could come in. We rebooked as soon as we got the cancellation, but couldn't get out until Wednesday. Two extra days with the family.

With the rebooked flights we gave ourselves a lot of extra time in Houston to make sure we could make the connection. Early, early morning flight, which went off without a hitch, including the TSA process. We were a bit worried because it was the beginning of all the news reports about hours long delays at the major airports. McAllen is so small we sailed right through. When we arrived in Houston this time, though, we were convinced we'd been punked the last time - the C and D terminals have been renovated, very nicely, with good food choices, plenty of clean bathrooms, etc. Was a totally different experience than the first trip through. Was also glad we gave ourselves more time between flights - didn't feel as rushed/stressed about making the next batch, even if it meant more time in the terminal.