Sunday, 14 September 2008: Home from Basel

After a quick breakfast at the hotel, I went to the airport early in anticipation of any possible problems. None were apparent, so I had a couple of pre-flight Affligem Bières Blonde to kill the time. I had a small can of Heineken with my airplane food and slept as much as I could.

We arrived in Detroit on time and began the slog through immigration and "security". Why is it that at American airports, we have to pick up our checked bags from the luggage conveyor and then immediately hand it to a screener who puts it on a luggage conveyor? It's an absurd and pointless delay; they don't do it in Europe.

Anyway, lunch at DTW consisted of fish and chips and a couple of Guinness. The flight to Omaha was on time, but oversold. They asked for a volunteer to give up a seat in exchange for a $300 travel voucher, and I figured what the hell, a couple more hours waiting won't matter. But they didn't need my seat after all, and the bumpy ride took off and landed on time.

I got home at 6:30pm, 18½ hours after waking up. Back to the brewery tomorrow.