Writes of Passage

^{A little jarring to see Elizabeth Holmes and Beethoven being side by side. They both were genius…} 
It’s my first time taking Delta to China. It offers direct flight from JFK to Shanghai (14:50). There are stopovers from JFK to PEK. My experience is both good and not too good.

~ 2024 encounter with a flight attendant

The goodies: It’s inexpensive, especially when using my mileage. The food is pretty good: their shrimp cocktail has the biggest shrimp in the sky. The service is very efficient. The wifi works for a little while then it disappears.

The bad: the entertainment screen is small and hard to use (the touch isn’t sensitive). They almost lost my two checked in luggage.

The lady who sat in my row from JFK to Seattle, asked me if I’m going home.

“Oh, no. I’m going to meet my DNA cousin.” I said.

Her eyes lights up and she grabs my hand tight, “I came to New York to meet my mother and siblings – I found them through DNA too.”

We hug and cry … and talk non stop.

As the door is closing, a young man came by our row, and sits down between us… and says politely, “please continue … Very interesting … I’m a documentary maker.”

…

On my way back home from Beijing, I ran into the same flight attendant who asks, “Where’s your companion?” She thought we were traveling together.

A small world, indeed.

Finding Nemo

小插曲 去西雅图的路上我旁边的女生坐下后客气的问俺是不是回家. 

俺

^{JFK Delta (terminal 4)}

China trip begins at JFK. It’s my first time using the service by the curbside. People working there are very casual and happy – they joke all the time and laughing. On top of that, they actually check you in, take your baggages and issue you your boarding pass or passes, in my case. But at the end, they also ask for a tip. I was a little dumbfounded but I thanked him and gave him $5. (The cart is $6 – airport charges cart … hmmm) Once in side, I saw the line to Delta check in counter is packed. Guess I was lucky to have chose the curbside service. I asked one Delta lady, “oh, they’re legit, our contractors …” And on the tipping side, she said they’re aware of it and will do something about it. “They’re being paid very little..” If tipping is expected, either raise their salary/wages or post it visibly so travelers wouldn’t be surprised?