back in Europe

One Transatlantic trip is finished, though the one to Brazil and back remains.This is the Croatia-Russia-Bonn leg of the summer coming up.

The flight from Chicago to Frankfurt this morning was a mess, marred by minor but unnerving mechanical difficulties at the gate. (How do you like it when they say “The mechanics are almost finished fixing the engine, and then we’ll be ready for takeoff”?) The power also went off a couple of times at the gate. A number of passengers bailed from the flight, and I was going to do so myself until a United employee explained pretty convincingly that the problems were related to the power supply at the gate and not to the plane itself.

Judging from the smooth ride, he was correct that there was nothing wrong with the plane.