Time for a quick update as we prep for tomorrows shoot of the legendary Birkenbeiner 56 mile course from Rena to Lillehammer.
The update is mostly a rant on Continental Airlines and their Boston operation. Massive lives at the counter with two (2) self check-in terminals. The line just to get bags checked and a boarding pass was two hours. By that time the TSA line had dwindled from thousands to hundreds and I was able to switch planes and make my connection to Oslo with nano-seconds to spare. I even opted on the run to skip grabbing a sandwich because of time, a decision I was later to regret.
My seat was in the last row of their aging 737 fleet. We are talking cramped here. Knees to chest cramped. So tight that one cannot do any computer work because there is no human way to tilt the screen so you can see. Laughable. Two hours of the seven hour flight later, the surly flight attendant plopped down a cardboard box on my tray. It was my dinner. Sometimes a special vegetarian order is a good call, this time, not. OMG. They made no bones about this being absolutely the cheapest fare available, worse the wine was horrid in a plastic bottle and $6. Yo, Continental, seat 40D has spoken!
Sometimes when I get on this rant, I quickly lose sight of the fact that they are providing transportation to another country and that I should be happy to have such a service. After all, I could book steerage on a steamer and get here in four weeks, with dysentery and wanting to die. So yes, thanks for the lift, and please remember, that a nice gesture outside of the trip would go a long way to getting my business again. I am thinking about paying the price to transfer to SAS for the ride home. A good meal, some leg room to work or sleep, and a nice complementary bottle of shiraz (like the good old days) is worth a $300 change fee?
YES, it is. Seat 40D has spoken again.
A couple of shots from Lillehammer, Day 1. The train stops less than 500 meters from the terminal and 1.42 hours later I was met by Ole Knudsen, our Norway rep and captain for SAS in Lillehammer. He asked me about the flight and just rolled his eyes when I told the tale.
I guess seat 40D gets talked about.
A small rainbow on the misty train ride North. Site of the 1994 Winter Olympics. Ole's place is about a click away.
More tomorrow as we try to get in some video work of the course between rains.
3 comments:
This is why the Norske settled in MN and Ballard. But, you are on the right track nonetheless so long as Marie is in your footage. Less Ole more Marie and Lena.
Hei, tusen tauk.
Vær så god.
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