I decided to try something new on my trip to WordCamp Asia as part of my effort to blog more: keeping a travel journal. Im also taking inspiration from a fellow Core Committer and friend Jeremy Felt and his weekly notes. I enjoy reading his regular posts, and would love to get into a similar routine. Let’s get to it!
Flight Tracking
I’ve been using Flighty to track my itinerary for a little over a year now. I spent the first 8 months buying a subscription one week at a time when I traveled, but I purchased the lifetime subscription once I realized it was an app I couldn’t go without.
Flighty consistently shows you estimates and delays before the airline, and also gives additional projections for boarding, departure, taxi, and arrival times using AI. It lets you see where your plane is currently, where it has been, when the pilots file their flight plan, and the average delay for your specific flight over the last 60 days. You can easily add flights using your confirmation number, or link your TripIt account to import automatically.
All of this on top of live flight tracking that you can easily share with anyone. This trip I shared my itinerary in the app with one of my other coworkers for the first time. It makes tracking where they are and when we both land much easier (we’re both on the same last leg to Manila).
My favorite part, though, is of course the stats. You get a cool passport for each year and all time. My history only goes back to 2019 when I first got TripIt Pro, but they recently added the ability to manually add old flights. I have a folder in my office with old boarding passes that I plan to go through and add eventually.
I’m swear I have no ownership stake or financial incentive to push Flighty. It’s just one of those apps that is just “that good”.
BOS: Parking 🚗
It’s school vacation week here. I did not consider the possibility ahead of time, but the economy garage that I usually park in was completely full. Unless you had a reservation, you were not even allowed in. I had no idea you could even reserve a spot ahead of time. Thankfully they had an overflow lot that they were directing folks to with the same shuttle service to the terminals. There are a few differences which may or may not cause issues for me later.
First, the overflow lot was pay ahead instead of pay on exit. Hopefully I don’t have to find out, but if you arrive later than your expected return day, it’s not clear if they charge you on the way out for the additional time or not, and not sure how much of a hassle that process is.
The other potential issue: the overflow lot is an uncovered, open parking lot. There was a snow storm predicted for Thursday with 6-12” expected. The forecast keeps downgrading the storm and it seems that it may not even happen at all now. But if there is snow, being plowed in with an expected return time just before midnight would be less than ideal. Hopefully they do a reasonable job of clearing around cars. I was directed into a spot with a light post in front of me, so I only have one way out. 🤞☀️
BOS: Terminal E 🛫
The new security area in Terminal E at Logan was open. The previous one was a makeshift area in a large hallway that dumped you into the terminal somewhere around Gate 2 or 3. They also never opened a separate PreCheck lane there and instead gave you a piece of paper indicating PreCheck. You went through security with everyone else, still had to take your electronics out, and sweatshirts off. Seemed to defeat most of the purpose.
The last time I departed BOS on an international flight was March 2024. There was a separate area specifically for PreCheck that was closer to where the new permanent one is at that time. But the new location works much better since it pushes you into the terminal right between gates 12 and 13, which is much more open and right near dining and convenience options.
I could be wrong because I flew out of Gate 11 last March and didn’t have to walk down further, but everything past gate 12 seems brand new. If not, they’ve put a good amount of effort into the G12-G16 part of the terminal. Lots of seating areas and plugs for charging were available.
BOS: Boarding
Boarding was delayed 3-4 times. I know the airline is being optimistic and trying to keep everyone close to the gate when they bump it out in 5-10 minute chunks, but I’d rather they be more realistic and just change the time once. We pushed off 32m late in the end. Thankfully the original flight plan filed was for a 46m early arrival, so as we taxi, we are currently projected to arrive only 12m late. 🤞
This plane is a 3-3-3 configuration (three seats in each section). I always try to take a middle section aisle seat so I can walk around freely whenever I like. If I fall asleep, the person in the middle can ask the person on the other side to move when they need to get up. This works best with 3-3-3, but also works with 3-4-3. The other people in my row are married, so this is likely the best case scenario. I’m sure they’d default to waking up each other rather than a stranger.
Taxiing: KE 92
Watching the forward facing camera while taxiing was amusing. It was really windy, the pilot had a hard time following the line. The take off and initial ascent were also a bit rough as a result.
Observation: Translations While Traveling 🗣️
When I travel internationally, I always download any regional languages that may come in handy for offline use. I include a few additional ones for common major airports for situations where a flight is rerouted. It will always blow my mind that you can download entire languages (even very complex ones like Japanese and Chinese) for offline use at less than 100MB each!
I actually have no idea why I downloaded Latin. But I think I’ll digitally hoard it for a bit longer.
In Flight: KE 92
I was surprised to see WiFi available. This is my 5th long haul flight traveling to/from Asia and my first with WiFi. 15-16 hours is a long time to be disconnected from the world. While it can be refreshing in some ways and ultimately I’ll survive without it, it will be nice to have the ability to do a little work to pass some time.
This is my first flight with a meal since cutting dairy completely out of my diet. I requested “low-lactose meals” which was the closest option to dairy free. Im pretty sure the meal doubled as the vegetarian option: lentils, green beans, spinach, tomato, roasted potatoes, and pita bread. It was decent airplane food, but I was disappointed that there was no meat. I was eying the white rice with beef some others had.
The butter spread they gave was vegan, but they still included the single serving cheese wedge on the plate which didn’t seem very low-lactose of them. It was nice to be served first since I’m not always done when they come around for trash the first time.
Took some time and submitted my answers for this week’s Learned League matchups through the advanced access feature. Coincidentally, there was a question about Manila. I can’t share the question until the question’s day has passed, though.
If you play or would like to, let me know! I have some referrals available.
I also submitted my Apocalypse Sports Trivia, and filled out a few Immaculate Grids that I missed.
Not so fun fact (was my single incorrect guess for grid #687): Jimmy Rollins only got 94 RBIs during his MVP season despite having 38 doubles, 20 triples, and 30 home runs. He also was not an All Star that season.
The ability to put my AirPods in the case and have nearly a full charge within 10-15 minutes is the best. A short bathroom and stretch break and they’re charged for another few hours of listening.
I committed code to WordPress and Gutenberg from 32,000 feet above the Northwest Territories of Canada. I’m pretty sure that’s the first time I committed from a plane. The WiFi is pretty bad, though. I’ve given up on getting anything extensive done. Going to sign off and watch some of the movies and shows I brought on my iPad.
Severance is so good. If you’re not also listening to the official podcast with Ben Stiller and Adam Scott you’re missing out.
After Severance, I finally started watching The Penguin.
Trying to sleep on an airplane is the worst.
Second meal was also the vegetarian option.
Last I checked, I was the person traveling the furthest to get to WordCamp Asia. This was according to the WordCamp Asia page on thewp.world, which clocked me at 8,481 miles. Looks like Mark Westguard took that crown from me in the last few weeks coming in at 8,763 miles. He’s traveling from Georgia, so anyone else coming from the southern US will likely creep past me as well.
Layover: Incheon
After all was said and done, we arrived 6m late.
Incheon is a really nice airport, but I wish there were more food options throughout terminal 2 and fewer shopping areas. An uneventful layover overall.
In Flight: KE 623
Really glad this last leg is less than 4 hours of air time. Now that I’ve hit the 24 hours awake with only about an hour of sleep on the last flight, I’m firmly in the “I just want a bed to lay in” stage.
Trying my absolute best to not fall asleep this leg to try and trick my body into local time. We land at 21:45 local time (about 10AM back home). The plan is to go right to bed at the new normal time and hope for the best. This has worked well for me in the past. 🤞
I always find that the adjustment back to my home timezone is 100x more difficult.
The “low lactose” meal this flight was chicken, potatoes, and tomato. So must have just had a bad draw on the first flight.
Manila Airport
Good experience overall at the airport. The mandatory customs declarations electronically prior to arrival made that go really smooth.
Wakas (end)
Checked in at the hotel. Time to sleep. I’m hoping to get a small workout in when I wake up to try and regulate my body’s schedule. We’ll see if I follow through!
Featured image credit: CC0 licensed photo by WordPress Photo Directory.
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