Friday, June 06, 2008

Warsaw, Poland June 2008: Arriving in Houston Intercontinental, Houston TX (IAH) from downtown

Houston Intercontinental, Houston, TX (IAH)

We pulled into Service Park, found a spot after being directed to the incorrect lane. Then we took the bus and made our way to the terminals, stopping at Terminal E first. I cleared security without any issues after seeing a group of passengers behind some ropes. I still have no idea why they were there.

I needed to get a ticket for my flights to Warsaw, so I headed to the ticketing office where I got round trip tickets for Amsterdam to Warsaw, Poland (WAW) and also a one way ticket to Chicago, O’Hare, IL (ORD). This took me about fifteen minutes to accomplish.

A colleague called me while I was there and said he went by my gate and did not see me. I asked him where he was and he said gate C16; crap, I though the flight was in Terminal E. It is quite a distance to get to C16 from where I am.

After getting the ticket, I made a bee line for Terminal C, stopping at the north Presidents Club as I did so.

Once done there, I went to gate to collect my boarding pass. When I got there, I ended up scoring an upgrade as there were some late arriving passengers. I collected the boarding pass and boarded.

Warsaw, Poland June 2008: Leaving downtown Houston, TX

Leaving downtown Houston

My colleague and I headed for the parking garage at about 5:00p. traffic was light so we made it to the airport in no time using the HOV lane.

Warsaw, Poland (WAW) perhaps

So, Alexis is in Warsaw, Poland (WAW) on another trip and I think I'll go visit him. Its been about 2.5 years or so since I'd been to Warsaw, so I am long overdue for a visit.

I could also go down to Orlando, FL (MCO) and visit with some friends who are going to Disney this weekend...

Getting to Warsaw can be achieved by going via London, except that I would be hard pressed to get to Gatwick (LGW) for a British Airways (BA) 11:55a flight after arriving in Heathrow (LHR) at 9:35a, if ontime. Paris, France (CDG) works, but the flight from Houston to Paris is a bit full in comfort class :-). So that leaves Amsterdam, Netherlands (AMS) which looks really good and I arrive about 5:00p. Coming back, I can do Lot Polish's (LO) ERJ-170, which I've wanted to fly for a while. If that fails, I can take one of KLM's Boeing 737s; hopefully a wingleted one. I may even take LOT to Chicago O'Hare, IL (ORD) or to New York JFK, NY (JFK). Only issue with the JFK flight is that is mis-connects with the Houston (IAH) flight.

Of course, some other random foreign country is also in the cards. I have still not logged Montevideo, Uruguay (MVD), so that is a possibility. This would mean flying into Buenos Aires, Argentina (EZE), taking a boat to Montevideo and then flying back to EZE or nonstop to Dallas/Ft. Worth , TX (DFW) on American Airlines (AA) or to Miami, FL (MIA) also on American. United Airlines (UA) used to fly there, but I believe they've stopped.

The possibilities are endless...

I'll make a solid decision later today.