Senegal
The return home from Dakar was pretty straightforward. The Ultimate Lounge by the gate was quite well done for an ordinary Priority Pass lounge, the ink they use for stamping the boarding passes is a terrible mess, and the security checks at the gate are very through.
Onboard, the flight was nearly empty-- apparently the local sales office was not yet setup, and those drive a lot of traffic. Several senior United people, including Senior Vice President for Global Network and Alliances, Patrick Quayle and Senior Vice President Airport Operations / Chief Customer Officer David Kinzelman. Premium Plus (premium economy) was basically empty, and economy had perhaps an even lighter load. Actually made for a lot of fun at take-off, as even with a belly full of cargo, the old 767-300ER rocketed off the runway at Blaise Diagne International Airport. Alex, Robert, and Katy were onboard as well, while the others (Darci, Scott, Jay, Bob, Warren, etc.) stayed longer-- lucky bums!
The inbound took about an hour long than the outbound, at 8hr 36min (vs. 7hr 35min) due to headwinds, but with such a light load it was a very comfortable flight. Breakfast on both the outbound and inbound was disappointing, despite the latter being in Polaris, although the "dinner" meal on both was pretty good. The beef for today's pre-arrival meal was a decent shortrib (was saved from being dry by about 2 minutes in the oven), and the rice had a nice bit of spice.
Had a reasonably short layover in the Polaris Lounge at IAD, then a smooth flight back to LAX. Was a fun and not too long, nor too tiring weekend-- not bad at all! And was good not only tick a new country off the list, but to catch up with my fellow frequent fliers as well.