A Breakfast To Remember and Drunk Seatmates

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Geo: 55.6763, 12.5681

We all slept long and hard following our marathon day prior, and as our flight didn't leave until 12:20pm, we even slept in a little. We all were ready for some proper food after our meager attempt at dinner the night before. Luckily the hotel's breakfast buffet was outstanding. One of the best hotel buffet's I've ever had, and we took full advantage.

We took the hotel's shuttle to the airport, which was a short five-minute drive. Even though we were able to check-in in the Business Class line, it took longer than expected. There was a huge crowd of Chinese men, each with three or four giant suitcases, attempting to check-in ahead of us. We could not figure out what in the world they would be ferrying back to Beijing, but it must have been worth their while. We then headed for the VAT refund line, hoping to get back some money on a few purchases from the day before. There were two separate VAT lines, and both of them were overflowing with more Chinese people. We had time, so we split up and waited concurrently in both lines. I saw that the Chinese woman in front of me had a receipt for more than 30 Hermes scarves for which she was getting a VAT refund. I still shake my head to think how it can be worth their while. It seemed like every Chinese in line had a problem with their transactions, so the lines went very slowly. Conversely, when we finally reached the front of both, the refunds were issued in under a minute. Weird.

Security took some time, and we ended up getting to our gate a couple of minutes before boarding. Our bid to upgrade on the return flight was not accepted, but they did have availability at the airport, albeit at a higher price. K and Anna told me I should go ahead and upgrade, as the extra room really helps with my hip. I did, while they sat a few rows behind me. I ended up sitting next to a Swede on his way to DC for work, and he proceeded to get completely hammered. He drank eight bottles (individual size) of wine, and had two more in his bag he grabbed from the flight attendant during her last rounds. He got very talkative toward the end, and I had to work hard to ignore him and try to convince him I had no interest in discussing Bose headphones or Donald Trump (he favorite topics).

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