Saturday, 25 March Tallahassee to Amsterdam (and we're off!)

Written 26 March 2023

The delay was timed perfectly to upset the timing of our planned lunch in Atlanta, so we just grabbed reuben sandwiches in Tallahassee and scarfed them down right before boarding.

We still had time in Atlanta to check out the Sky Club on concourse E (we flew out of good old gate E14, from which we have flown to Paris several times). Admission came as a perk of our Delta One class tickets. Last time, all the clubs were full to overflowing, and we couldn't get in, but this one was running only about 3/4 capacity. It had lots of comfortable chairs, most with charging ports nearby (and little signs promising more ports soon), as well as work booths with yet more charging ports, a full-size airline departure board, a full bar, soft-drink dispensers, a lunch buffet, a soft-serve ice cream machine, and a popcorn machine. The bar probably charged but everything else seemed to be free

The photo at the left shows the view out the club's windows to some of the E gates. At the right are little chicken salad sandwiches and toasts spread with something and sprinkled with diced bell peppers. Full choice of condiments.

Beyond the sandwiches was this enormous bowl of "seasonal" hummus and things to put it on, like peppers, cucumber slices, and a big bowl of mini-pitas. Beyond that, cheese, crackers, bread, cold cuts, biscuits, pickles, and pimento cheese spread.

On the other side was a salad bar with pasta salad, several kinds of greens, and the usual toppings, and off to one side, on a separate counter, were big round chafing dishes of mac and cheese, bbq ribs, and roasted broccoli and a vat of broccoli-cheddar soup.

At one end was this assortment of cookies and bars.

We had, of course, had our lunch, so we just addressed ourselves to the hot drink dispensers—decaf latte for David, hot chocolate for me.

Right up to the last minute, our flight to Amsterdam was on time. Here's David in his Delta One cubicle—what do you call a rounded cubicle? A capsule? Anyway, I'm standing just outside mine and shooting across it to show you his. We each had a seat that adjusted to become a flat bed, a set of noise-cancelling earphones to listen to movies and TV through, a little hand-sewn amenity pack, a fabric zipper case containing a comfy pillow and sumptuous quilt (both of which, we were assured, were made entirely of recycled soda bottles), and a pair of cellophane-wrapped scuff slippers. In addition to the usual overhead light, the little box the headphones are hanging from was a tiny pop-out reading spotlight.

The photo at the right shows how the points of our teardrop-shaped capsules came together. Our screens locked back into this position when not it use, but when you wanted to watch, they swung out to face us more squarely. You can also see the curved edge of my tray table peeking out of its slot—it swiveled out for use.

I took this photo of the seat across the aisle from me to show two strange little recesses near the floor. Neither I nor the stewardess could figure out what the one at the right is for. The two visible in this photo have little green lights on them; others had a blue light instead, or in addition, or had no lights at all. Baffling. We think the one at the left is a magazine rack. At the left edge of the photo, you can see the arm rest, which sank down into its base (as it has here) for easy access to the seat. The push of a button released it to rise into arm-rest position.

Here's the control panel we each got. the right-hand object is a remote control that could be popped out of its niche and pulled out on a cord so that you actually have to raise your arm to work the touch screen. In fairness, it also acted as a game controller.

Then at the left is the impressive set of adjustments you could make to the seat. Across the bottom are three presets—flat bed, lounge chair, and fully upright—but pretty much every part of the seat could also be adjusted individually to whatever angle suited you. The cluster of four arrows at the top right control the lumbar support, which can be moved up or down or made to bulge out more or to shrink back. Nifty.

So while we were checking all this stuff out, boarding continued on time, but at some point, as we were about to push back, the lady in the seat behind David became obstreperous in some fashion—I think she was mad that the only beverage choices during boarding were orange juice, sparkling white wine, and a mixture of the two (i.e., a mimosa). The stewardess explained, to no avail, that the rest of the alcoholic beverages couldn't be unlocked until we were airborne. The lady was already inebriated, and the stewardess ordered her off the plane. It took a good ten minutes of threats to call security, then a call to security, and a wait for them to arrive to get her to leave. Then we had to sit there for another 20 minutes while they excavated her luggage from the hold and removed it from the flight. So much for an on-time departure. Not a problem for us, but some people had tight connections in Amsterdam.

Once we did finally get off the ground, they served us a very nice dinner. It started with beverage service and little dishes of walnuts, dates, and cheese, each garnished with a rosemary sprig. The liquor was duly unlocked, so David started with a glass of red wine. I ordered a coke, but then realized that wasn't smart if I wanted to get to sleep later, so I only drank a little of it.

The first course was butternut squash soup, poured hot from large thermos jugs and garnished with lots of crispy pumpkin seeds. It came with a seed bun (choice of olive oil or butter; I chose butter) and a salad with an herb-yogurt dressing. The salad wasn't such a much, but I ate all the stuff off the top of it. The bun was warm and tasty.

For the main course, David chose the boneless red-wine-braised braised short ribs with roasted carrots, potato, and snap peas, which he said was all very good.

I, for once, chose the chicken. I usually avoid that on airlines (and in restaurants) because it's invariably chicken breast and overcooked and dried out. But this was specified to be a chicken leg, with wild muchroom sauce, red rice, asparagus, and "Doux South chow chow." I didn't much care for the chow chow, but the rest was very good, especially the asparagus.

The dessert choices were chocolate ganache tart, ice cream with choice of toppings, and a cheese and fruit plage. I chose the cheese, and was quite pleased. It was cubes of a nice cheddar, a big wedge of maybe gouda, and a wedge of something Camembert-like. It came with five large excellent grapes and a small wedge of delicious fruit paste, guava, I think. On the side artesan crackers. The cheese were all good, but just a little dry around the edges. In particular, the rind of the Camembert type was dried out and hard.

Over dinner, I watched Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, then turned everything off and managed to get a little sleep.