Welcome to Houston

Day 1 of our travels back to the US is now completed. We’ve checked in and settled into our room at the Marriott IAH … connected to George Bush Intercontinental Airport via a subway. Easy peasy.

TK33 from IST to IAH was uneventful. We had a five minute delay leaving the gate at IST, but were on the ground at IAH 15-20 minutes early. It’s nice to see that the service in the business class cabin is back to its pre-pandemic levels. Mui, as he often does, slept between the two meal services … I watched a couple of movies, did a bit of journaling and reading, and tried to nap to no avail. No matter, the flight went by fast.

Immigration was easy. IAH has biometric recognition at the Global Entry kiosks, so we were through in no time at all. Unlike in December, when our bags took forever to come onto the luggage carousel, this time we were lugging our bags out within minutes of arriving at baggage claim. A couple of escalators down and right onto a subway car. Perfect timing.

The plan is to stay up at least until 9:00p to minimize the effects of jet lag after losing 9 hours in the span of a 12-hour flight. Our flight home tomorrow is not until noon, so we should get a good night’s rest.Read more