More changes some years than others

This happens to be one of those years with more. After meeting with Deanna, Pat, and our driver Mony at the airport, we headed into town. “The Hotel moved” was the first tidbit of the evening. What that actually ended up meaning was that the owner of the land and building wanted to do something other than run a guesthouse, so the family that ran it picked up everything and moved it into a new location. It must have already been built beforehand since it’s easily 2-3 times larger than the old place. The rooms are more than double the size, the bathroom has a real tub and shower fixtures, there’s a pool outside, and I’m using the free wireless internet available in the room. It’s not extremely fast, but it’s good enough to get the job done!

Today brought some other surprises. Both PCs were working fine at Khnar Tmei. That might be the first time in 6 years they’ve make it without repairs. They also had a nice flat screen TV setup with the World Cup schedule posted on the wall next to it. Apparently they didn’t use it much except for the event.

The Kessararam School has been heavily using their PC since I installed it last year. They need a new battery backup, but that’s the only repair. I’ll be buying them a second unit tomorrow since they don’t have any spare time between making forms and managing records! A fantastic result.

Last, there’s been a popular addition to the tourist fare. Apparently you can pay $3 per hour (including a free beer) to have fish “give you a massage.” My driver Prem says he tried it once and that “it kind of tickles.” I think I’ll pass.

Starting your day

When I woke up just shy of 2am this morning, I knew I was going to be in for a long day. It's not a daily occurrence for me, but I'm sure if I was required to be up at that time I might get used to it.

I mention this because I don't think the staff at United Airlines are morning people. They were helpful and attentive, but they were overwhelmed. I think I know why: They start about 45 minutes later than all the other airlines, yet they have 6am flights just like everyone else. This means they have to scramble the moment they turn on the machines (which looked like they were time locked to 4:45, no exceptions) to get everyone checked in. Since it's a Wednesday (cheap travel day) there were a lot of casual fliers and just as many going international.

I start to wonder if these poor folks are paid hourly wages. Is this a scheme by United to shave a few bucks off their payroll by starting their people later in the morning? If so, it's not exactly resulting in a great experience for anyone.

After I boarded my Asiana flight (where all of the staff are amazingly friendly and nice, a top notch airline), I realized that something was missing from the plane: First Class. They had Business and Travel class, that's it. I guess I always pictured 13 hour flights having that option for the super-frequent flier.

I'm in Korea now, looking at my last flight of the journey. Perhaps I'll sleep a bit this time if I'm lucky.

And so it begins again

Just arrived in San Francisco. The van that picked up me bright and early at 3 am got me there a good hour before the people at the United ticket counter had even rolled in. Next time I'm going to lie on the form and say my flight is Domestic.

It's been a while since I've flown United. They have a ton of strange options and features to pay extra for. I was particularly amazed at how their staff starts later than any of the other airlines. I'm guessing it costs them less per hour, but as a result they have people hustling to get all of us with a 6am flight checked in. Not a great result.