Amsterdam: February 2020
What was supposed to be a casual morning photography stroll back to the central train station ended up being an expensive rideshare back to the airport when the airport train got cancelled on 5 minute's notice. >_< Didn't get to see much of the airport or airplane either; security was efficient in taking bags apart to check them at least, and the plane was an old Airbus A319 so not much to see?
Lufthansda promised an arrival at a gate instead of a remote stand, but upon landing, the plane instead taxiied all the way across the airport, teasing the gate, before parking at a remote stand. So that lead to the second sprint of the morning, to beat the crowd off the bus, through immigration, and through secondary passport checks to make my connection. Just baaaaaarrrrreeeeellllyyyy made it.
FRA-EWR was a bit of a mixed bag. Shiny new airplane, but the 787 is narrower than the 777, and it's noticeable in the narrower seats. Still comfortable enough at least, with the usual marginally-better-than-indifferent food and somewhat uneven service. Most of the crew, including the purser, seemed experienced, but the feel lacked the polish of United's best crews. At least the veggie chili, served before arrival, was a welcome bit of warmth before landing in Newark?
By far the most impressive part of the return trip was the United Polaris Lounge at EWR. The SFO location is big and awesome, the EWR location is even bigger and more impressive. Windows are large enough to let you soak in the 777-300ER parked right in front of the lounge with room to spare, and that's just one room of many. Both the buffet and the bar are spacious, although the bar doesn't have any views due to its interior location. Well worth a visit if you can get in. Note that the Dining Room menu changes regularly; while tasty enough, it was actually not all that interesting or innovative this time around (at least for lunch).
One last flight for the day, EWR-LAX, on an old 757-200. Having just eaten in the lounge, passed on dinner, and instead worked on photos and watched the impromptu airplane races somewhere over northern Missouri. Not quite 8 hours for FRA-EWR was much more pleasant; tacking on a second middle distance flight (5+ hours) for the day feels a lot longer than a single 13 hour flight to me, regardless of how nice the layover in-between is.