The Flight

So.  Icelandair had told me, in no uncertain terms (printed all over my tickets) to check in NO LATER THAN THREE HOURS BEFORE MY FLIGHT.  I showed up a good three hours, fifteen minutes before, and must have been the third person checking on the flight.  They had signs saying that you might get bumped if you checked in later than ONE hour before the flight -- nothing about three. 

Once I checked in, I had two hours to kill.  The gate agent told me there was nothing over here in E area -- and if I wanted to hang out, I should go to the brand new food court way the hell over in A.  There was a "shortcut" from E to A via the parking lot.  (I put it in quotes because cutting through the parking lot was still quite a shlep.)  Of course, I had to go through Security at A, all to get to ...

Some McDonald's fries. 

Seriously.  It was that or Church's Chicken.  Once I finished them, I went back over to E, passed Security again, and waited for the flight.

Our promised in-flight entertainment (free headsets!  and a free meal!) was an episode of "Everybody Loves Raymond" and a movie.  The in-flight magazine said the movie was "Foul Play," but then went on to give a description of "Parenthood."

They put the first video on.  There's an Informative Video About Clearing Customs In Iceland; an "Up Next: Everybody Loves Raymond" ad; another Informative Video About In-Seat Exercises; an episode of "Everybody Loves Raymond" and some "Up Next: Parenthood" ads.

But before they start "Parenthood," something goes wrong with the video.  They then put in A DIFFERENT VIDEO.  This video features the SAME Informative Video About Clearing Customs in Iceland; a DIFFERENT ad for "Everybody Loves Raymond" -- although the ad is another clip from the episode we JUST WATCHED; the same Informative Video About In-Seat Exercises; followed by -- yes -- the SAME episode of "Everybody Loves Raymond" that we just watched...  and what really gets me is that nobody said anything.  Two hundred people sat there and dutifully watched the same stupid episode of "Everybody Loves Raymond" without saying a word.  THEN the "Up Next: Parenthood" ad.  THEN....  Chevy Chase and Goldie Hawn in "Foul Play."  Two hundred people simultaneously thought, "What the ... ?" and then dutifully watched "Foul Play."  Or fell asleep.

We landed in Iceland at 6:05 Iceland time.  As I said before, I'm pretty sure I got about three or four hours of sleep.  And now I have another day ahead of me.