Air Travel Fun: Part 2

Let’s resume our air travel story.

When we left it last, you were attempting to get some sleep in a hotel in Atlanta on your way to San Francisco (via the Oakland airport) with the Girl for a week after suffering a weather delay, an unexpected stopover in Greenville, a kid who constantly beat the ass out of the back of your seat, a chain of erroneous instructions from the airline people on how to deal with your missed flight, and a long wait for a shuttle to your hotel.

One thing we left out is that there were a number of Marines on your flight trying to make it home to somewhere other than Atlanta from the Middle East. Many (if not all) of the passengers riding in first class gave their comfy seats in front of the curtains to the servicemen. You know this not because you saw it happen, but because the flight attendants announced it to the passengers, to an appropriately sincere round of applause. It was a nice gesture, and you definitely appreciated it, but you could have done without the 472 times the flight attendants got on the loud speaker to thank the “first class passengers” for giving up their seats. You couldn’t help that think that maybe they were a bit over the top and, if not, that they were definitely thanking the wrong people for the wrong thing. You thought that, if they were going to make an effort to thank someone, the Marines might be a better choice than the people who agreed to sit behind the curtain for a whole 4 – 5 hours. Semper Fi.

You wake up in the morning not very rested but doing pretty well for only grabbing a few hours of sleep. A quick shower makes you feel a little better, but putting on yesterday’s clothes does not. When you get out of the shower you see that the Girl has turned on the TV, presumably just to have some noise, as she doesn’t really watch CNN very often. After taking in that it’s a news channel that’s on, you realize that something important might be going on. Something good and bad at the same time. It seems that the Brits have arrested a bunch of people who were putting together a plot to blow up US-bound planes with liquids and electronics. You wondered what MacGyver had been doing since his television days, and you’re surprised to think that he might be inspiring terrorists. The TV goes on to talk about how these developments have prompted the TSA to disallow liquids or gels in carry-on baggage. Furthermore, security lines at airports are expected to be majorly long that day. While getting dressed, you stop paying attention to the TV, as you have to finish getting dressed, and you can’t do two things at once.

“It’s a good thing they caught those guys,” you think, “assuming it was a real plot. The last thing we need is a fresh crop of blown up airplanes.” Then, after a healthy pause in brain activity due to morning, “Man oh man, it would suck to have to go to the airport today.” Pause. Then, “I hope that hotel shuttle is running on time. I’m not sure if my flight leaves right at 9:00 or what. That voucher they gave us didn’t really have much information on it.”

Pause.

“Holy shit! We have to go to the airport today! That is NOT good!”

[Continued in one more post. I stopped here so you would know that I’m trying to finish it.]