Well, I just got back from a little trip to Indiana a few hours ago for an NSF meeting on Structural Control, my research area. It was a worthwhile trip, but the journey there was a pain.

There are a lot of things about commercial air travel that I don't understand. Why do they have assigned seats? Wouldn't it be easier if everyone could just walk on the plane and sit wherever and no one would have to worry about asking for a window or aisle seat. They'd just go on the plane and sit wherever. I don't see why this is such a problem. It would make everyone's life easier, especially the people who work for the airline.

And why are you not allowed to use electronic devices during takoff and landing? I mean I can imagine how a cell phone might interfere with cockpit communications or something, but how can the use of a pocket calculator have an influence on the safety of the aircraft?

Anyway, I had to change planes in San Francisco. The flight up to SF was on one of those small planes that holds about 30 or so passengers. It was delayed, according to one person because of "traffic", and according to another it was delayed due to "weather". Well, the weather was fine in SF when we got there and "traffic"? The same number of planes take off and land every day, so traffic doesn't make much sense as an explanation of a delay. But I guess it is. But what causes this traffic? Well, I guess it was foggy early in the morning in SF and everything got delayed because of that. Nothing anyone can do about that. Anyway, it was cool flying up the California coast with a window seat. I indentified the city of Lompoc, Vandenberg Air Force Base, Morro Rock, and well, it was a nice flight....

Except for the fact that it was delayed and then we got stuck in a holding pattern for a while. We were supposed to get into SF at 10:20 and catch an 11:20 am flight to Chicago. Well, I think the plane landed at about 11:10 am, give or take 5 minutes or so. Now, we probably would have missed the 11:20 flight anyway, but it didn't help that we had to take a shuttle bus from the United Express terminal to the main terminal. See, the small airplanes have their own little terminal. It was about 1/4 miles from the main terminal. I would not have minded walking, but of course they won't let you walk across the taxi way. You have to take these busses that supposedly come every 3 minutes. Well, it takes about 3 minutes to load them, and about 3 minutes or so get to the other terminal. They have to stop for passing airplanes so it can take a while to drive this 1/4 mile. Anyway, they only have 2 busses running, so if you add it up, it doesn't come every 3 minutes. I think we ended up waiting 10 or 15 minutes. Of course the 11:20 flight was not delayed and so we missed it. There was a 12:15 flight, but of coruse, that was delayed. We got on that. I think it left about an hour late, around 1 pm or so.

I had ordered a "special" meal. A fruit plate. Of course, that didn't make it onto the 12:15 flight. I don't have a solution for how to do this, but if would be nice if you ordered a special meal and if you miss the connection through no fault of your own, it would be nice if they could still get you the special meal. Oh well. Personally, I don't think airlines ought to serve food on domestic flights. I mean it's a pain. They got those stupid carts they roll through the aisle. If you are trying to watch the in-flight movie they block your view and if you need to use the restroom, they make it very difficult to walk down the aisle. OJ and peanuts is plenty for me. Southwest is my knid of airline. Unfortunately they don't fly out of SB.

Anyway, on the flight out of SF, I requested a left side window, thinking that I'd be able to see a good view of Berkeley, but we flew over the northern edge of Berkeley, so I would have been much better off with a right side window. I'll have to remember this next time I fly out of SF, which likely won't be any time soon.

Anyway, we finally got into Chicago like 2 hours after we should have. We had to get a rental car. We had to go to the counter and wait in line there and then we had to take a bus to the car, but first we had to find the bus, which was an adventure in itself. Then we got a little lost driving from Chicago to South Bend. A few minor wrong turns. We probably only lost 15 minutes. At one point we ended up in Michigan, my third time in Michigan. By the time we got in and checked in and ate dinner it was nearly midnight. I had thought we'd be in and done with dinner around 8 or 9. I guess it wasn't really anyone's fault. I mean all of the United airlines employees did their job well, it's just that the system of airline travel can be frustrating at times.

We were staying at this Ramada Inn in South Bend. A good place to stay if you are on vacation and want to have fun, but not such a good place if you are there on business or just want a quiet place. The pool is open till midnight and there are people in it being loud, at least there were when I was there. I wanted to sleep, but there was loud music and activity till late. On Saturday there was a weddding party right there in the hotel, practically right outside my room, near the swimming pool. Fortunately that was in the early, and not late, evening.

On the trip back, the flights I was on were not delayed and it all went smoothly. I even slept a little on the Chicago to LA flight. I had a 2+ hour layover at LAX, before catching a short flight to Santa Barbara. The flight was scheduled to arrive at LAX at 1:12 pm, and the flight out of LAX to SB was to leave at 3:25 pm. We got into LA closer to 1:00 pm. I checked the TV moniter and it said there was a 12:35 flight to SB that was delayed till 1:15 pm and I asked if they could get me on that. They said it was overbooked, but that they'd see what they could do. It was a United Express flight and so I had to take a shuttle bus to that terminal. This time the driver was fast. I mean he was almost driving recklessly. I made it on that 12:35 flight, which didn't end up departing till about 1:25. I think there were 2 other empty seats on it.