Layover in Brussels

After years of flying business class I took the chance and flew United’s Premium Plus. I was anxious about it but no complaints. Seating was reminiscent of United’s Business Class seats of old but much improved. No there are no lay flat seats but decent recline and plenty of legroom. It’s a 2-3-2 configuration and I had a bulkhead aisle seat with the middle seat unoccupied. Lucky for me this fare saved some big dollars. Food decent with typical United service. They try hard but nowhere near the level provided on British, Lufthansa or Singapore Airlines.
A line to get through Passport Control but it moved at a decent pace. I used to complain (to myself) about these queues but after years of standing and shuffling I now accept them as an expected part of travel.
The longest lines I have stood in are arriving in Hong Kong late night during the SARS epidemic and entering Chile during Covid.
When deplaning in Hong Kong all airport personnel were fully gowned and masked ushering hundreds and hundreds of passengers to temperature control checkpoints. It was an eerie scene, the darkness of night, smell of jet fuel, humid stale air, fluorescent airport lights, medical personnel scurrying in blue gowns probing electronic thermometers in their gloved hands. And us weary, helpless humans following their orders. Although with a population of a billion Chinese bureaucracy was efficient at moving the herd.
Last year arriving at another airport this time in Santiago chile there was more intensive body check. There we succumbed to interviews, documentation checks, nasal pharyngeal swabs during the Covid outbreak. That wasn’t as alarming as Hong Kong but it took 1 hour and 45 minutes to get through the various medical stations before reaching immigration.
Now one hour to board my flight to Malaga sitting here writing and listening to the various languages being spoken by waiting travelers.
I’m finally in Europe as far away as I could get from MAGA Republicans and those Jewish Space Lasers.
I wonder what crazy conspiracy theories will I encounter in Spain? Will this part of the world be also filled with lunacy?Read more