Tuesday Travel and in Queens

(Grammarly dropped my past tense — I did not notice…sorry if it bounces back and forth).

I rose around 6:30, as the sunrise woke me, and was awakened by many vivid dreams, making Tuesday morning’s rise hard. I had started packing the night before, and soon I was assembling my return to Oregon while doing all the usual morning stuff. I was extra careful to put everything on top of the luggage and not forget anything (except a few cookies). I first tried to be neat, but then I just stuffed it all in and sat on the bag until it closed. I have a ridiculously expensive bag that folds up into a suit carrier, too, and it always surprises me what those zippers can withstand. It can handle about two weeks of clothing plus a few days of extra T-shirts.

My carry-on, a red Nike gym bag, is heavy again with the 15″ Apple adding the most weight. Although I like the screen on my 2023 model MacBook Air (an M2 with 24 GB of memory and 2 TB of fast solid-state storage), and the colors are wonderful, a smaller footprint would be a better fit, which is what I mainly saw at HOPE_16. You can open the 13″ in an airplane; it weighs about the same as a book, and a maxed-out one from Apple is about $2,100 (and a used 14″ slightly older model at OWC with less storage for about half).

I head to breakfast down in the lobby. I sit with a friend I made, Savy (I think that is the spelling), at HOPE_16. She has to rush as her and her husband’s flight is in the late morning. We talked for a while. I managed to finish the blog, though I rushed that last bit of writing as I was time-boxed, and thanked the staff.

With everything put away and in one of two bags (except the last two Milano Cookies), I checked again and headed out. While not overly emotional, I always look back at the hotel room, my home while I was there, and wish it well and thanks. The front desk woman takes my bags to hold until my return and room key. I head out and order an Uber to the Queens Zoo, which I know is close to the US Open (tennis, for those who don’t speak sports), and there may be some challenges. Tickets to the small zoo, recommended by Rev. Ann, are timed-entry, and I picked the opening time the night before.

The Uber dropped me at the museum, and I had to walk back to the park, where I then headed to the Queens Zoo, which is located inside. It is a lovely park. I reached the zoo, with the back pain from yesterday returning, but fades, and watched them open the gates a moment later.

It is a small and happy zoo. The animals looked well, and the glass was so clean that when the mountain lion passed within a few feet of me, I jumped back as it looked at me! A giant aviary with a slow spiral up and back down path, which walked you through the trees, was a surprise. Sea lions are at the center of the park, and they were barking and seemed to enjoy posing for photographs. The fluffy cows (bison) were set far back to prevent anyone from petting them (terrible idea).

The zoo is arranged in a circular layout with paths that allow visitors to see the animals. Most of the space is for the animals. Only the outer path is paved, which makes it feel more natural. For lunch at their Zoo Truck, I had a pair of hot dogs with fries and a Diet Coke. I regretted that they had only honey mustard and no onions for the dogs. Still, it was nice to sit in the shade, have a dog, read my new novel on my Kindle app, and listen to the crowd and the sea lions.

The place was full of little summer campers. The summer camps are finishing up as schools begin to start up, and visiting the Queens Zoo today seemed to be on the last things to do list. The mostly flat walking, the limited use of paving, and open spaces seemed ready-made for little people in mass. I saw many tiny campers walking while holding a rope, and all had matching T-shirts; even the adults who were helping were in matching shirts.

(It is huge!)

The 1964 World Fair was held in Queens, and this area is now a park made from those grounds (The same can be found in Spokane). I saw the giant Earth statue and other familiar (Men in Black) structures. The fountains were empty and many structures were being repaired, but it looked like the place was cared for, if not loved.

It was still a bit early, but it was hot, and I started trying to find my way out and to an Uber. I instead found the US Open and, though a hedge blocked my view, I could hear the play, “love.” I asked for help and was directed back to the same park where the Queens Zoo is located. I walked out of the park and down to a parking lot.

My Uber driver could not find me. Traffic was a mess. I slowly used the app to locate him. He was parked waiting for me on the street. He apologized, and I still gave him a large tip and a good rating. The traffic was messy from the US Open, but he got me back to my hotel without issue (but there were a few abrupt stops, horns, and one dodge).

I retrieved my luggage and soon had to walk out into traffic to get the Q75 bus (like last time). I read some and then watch the area go by. I try to see what I remember from the trip inbound, a game I play on buses (“where am I?”). I got off the bus and then wheeled to the wrong building. A friendly Info Desk person directed me to the next building. I was happy to find that the escalator at the Jamaica AirTrain building was working, and soon I was sitting on the train. It was standing room only.

Arriving, I took the escalators into Terminal 4, Delta. There was a line for printing tags at Delta that was three or more deep. This DIY luggage setup becomes messy when there are not enough machines to handle the momentary surge in people checking in. The space was crowded, and my situational awareness training was on red alert with the crowding.

My turn on a machine came after a short wait. This was after a young woman tried three times, until the machine, using her name, directed her to an agent. I felt for her — her USA passport scan was not enough (yikes!). I had no issue printing my luggage tag and dropping it off.

Security was 45 45-minute wait in total chaos. My situational awareness exploded. There was nobody directing people except for an occasional shout to go one way or another. I saw one man lead a whole collection of folks across the terminal to another line start location! Folks were cutting in and out of line. Clear was being sold, and it was clear that the only people working the crowd were the Clear folks, and this mess was to their advantage.

A man, in dark sunglasses, told me that my Real ID was good enough for free usage today (I had a passport card in my carry-on in case my wallet gets stolen or lost), and all I had to do was walk out of the line, and I would be on my way. Twenty minutes into the line, I finally reached the start. WTF! TSA was saying from here, rather Disney-like, that this was the start of the line, and it would be 30-35 minutes from there. It was an accurate count. TSA is misleading people by stating JFK has a 30-35 minute wait, when it’s actually closer to an hour, by measuring the wait from halfway.

I saw someone drop their stuff and then abandon it, as if there was no hope, and all of us commented that someone should help them. None of the TSA, Clear, or other folks helped. We were all too intimidated to leave our lines. It was more like a Soviet-style experience getting bread than a security process.

I was fed up, and with all this time, I connected with TSA on my browser in my iPhone and filed “TSA Customer Service Response: SR: 07406575 – Webform submission from: Complaint.” Yes, I had plenty of time to fill this out. I would suggest others do it when stupid happens. I did receive a response that night that was so corporate it made me laugh.  I took their customer service survey today and did not rate them very highly.

Here is the response, enjoy. Reading this, I am so happy that coercing passengers is not part of their job. And I was right, there are no TSA agents to get you in the right lines. It is up to you, alone in a crowd, to find a way in the maze to the actual TSA folks. I am also sure that asking for a TSA supervisor while trying to get through security is something I want — NOT! Here:

According to this, Delta Airlines is contracting Clear, not TSA. The whole mess is on Delta and not TSA. While it is hard for me to understand why this is, it is the usual finger-pointing I was expecting. TSA did not make it unsafe; Delta did, and I am sure Delta would say that TSA is responsible for the lines and security. Ugh!

My laptop and carry-on were waiting for me once I began the actual two-minute or so process.  I was told by the TSA that I was invisible. It took five scans to determine that my junk, yes, that, might contain something dangerous (so many jokes). After a thorough public check (so many jokes), I was released.

As you can imagine, the bar bill was a bit high after that. I found a sort of Mexican-style joint on the way to my gate that had Heineken on tap, my favorite, and it is hard to find in this world of excellently made local beers. Chips and salsa and then tacos. The man sitting next to me was relaxed as his flight had been moved from the morning to the evening and had a few drinks while waiting.

I mangled a signal and ended up with another Oh-My-F**king-God expensive draft beer. I was pretty relaxed by that and would drop my phone on the plane and not get it back until after we landed in Portland. Oops.

I waited only twenty minutes or less before boarding and then relaxed (except for cutting my arm trying to retrieve my phone — don’t reach under the seat!). The blood was not much, and I ignored it (three small sets of punctures that had been on my neck would have suggested a vampire visit). I watched some movies, had some coffee, and enjoyed some cookies.

It was not a really memorable trip, and soon we landed (but two beers helped, I think), retrieved my effects and phone, found my bag at baggage claim, and headed out. The metal tag on the checked bag was bent up more. I soon was on MAX and traveled through Portland to Beaverton.

I found a quick Uber home, again a nice tip, and soon found my PJs and was quickly asleep.

Thanks for reading.