Eindhoven Netherlands: Arriving in Houston Intercontinental, Houston TX (IAH)

2MAY08 Houston Intercontinental, Houston TX (IAH)

It was not an issue clearing security, but the TSA closed one of their two security gates just as I arrived. This actually caused a delay as now everyone was in the line I was in.

Once we cleared security, I went towards Terminal E and my other colleagues went the other way towards his gate. We wanted to hang out in the Presidents Club for a bit, but that was not going to happen today.

I headed for the ticket office as I needed to get a few tickets for the journey once I arrived in Amsterdam. Thirty minutes later, I had tickets for Amsterdam, Netherlands (AMS) to Bristol, England (BRS) and Amsterdam, Netherlands (AMS) to Paris, France (CDG) to Bristol, England (BRS). I met a few of my colleagues in the ticket office as well. One of which was trying to get to Omaha, NE (OMA) without initial success. It did look like he would make the last flight of the day though.

While there, my colleague who was also going to Amsterdam showed up. As I was still waiting to get my tickets, he left with another of my colleagues for the Presidents Club. I followed moments later picking up two magazines and the Financial Times.

I made my way to the gate as it was running late. It was now 6:40p. on my way there, I saw two of my colleagues heading to Cleveland, OH (CLE). I said a quick hello and then headed for my gate. Once there, I said hello to the agent apologizing for arriving late. She said it was O.K. as we were slightly delayed. Another agent recognized me and said hello. I got my boarding pass and was lucky to get a window seat in BusinessFirst. I noticed that the barriers were still drawn and asked what was going on. She said they had not started boarding. I looked around and saw all the passengers still waiting, oops…

I then went back to Cleveland gate to continue chatting with my friends there. They stared boarding so I left. I then saw my friend who was on my flight again and we sat down and waited for the flight to board. We wanted to get seats together, but that was not going to be possible today.

A friend had lent me his phone, but the battery was not working as it was not holding the charge. I looked around for a plug and found one among two guys who were charging their phones and a computer; I plugged in.

It was time to board soon at 7:08p.