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Posted on Aug 20, 2011

the waiting game

Here’s a breakdown of the past 30+ hours:

Friday 2 am – go to bed after packing/removing crap from overstuffed suitcase/repacking/dog-proofing the house/ gathering chocolate, peanut butter, flax corn chips, lara bars exceptionally nutritious sustenance for the plane

Friday 4 am – stumble out of bed, get dressed, write overly detailed note to the pet-sitter, discover that the strap broke for one of my carry-ons, convince my reluctant husband to carry its contents in his bag, load the car, get in car, run back inside to make sure the back door is shut, get back in car, drive to airport.

5:25 am – wait in line at the airport while the ONE GUY behind the counter tells everyone that we have to hurry and check in or else we won’t get on the flight, watch as he ‘demonstrates’ how easy it is to use the kiosk as he swipes a boarding pass under the scanner and the kiosk stares back at him blankly, finally get our bags checked at the very last minute (seriously), go through security, get on our tiny puddlejumper of a plane and fly to Philly.

7:00 am – get into Philly, wander around looking for something for breakfast that’s not rolled in sugar, triple fried or one step above cardboard, settle on ‘home fries’, toast and coffee, scrape burnt layer off of toast, eat the equivalent of french fries for breakfast, take one sip of the brown water in the coffee cup and declare it toxic (I promise I’m not a snob – it was truly disgusting), hunt down some real coffee…

ahh… that’s better.

8:30 am – find out our flight scheduled for 10:15 is delayed until 11:30, realize we will miss our connecting flight to Sacramento, head down to the good ol customer service desk to sort it all out, resolve to ‘catch more flies with honey.

8:45 am – come to the conclusion that some flies do not like honey – honey surprises and scares them and prompts them to be even less inclined to even THINK of lifting a finger – literally, this fly sat there with her fly arms folded, leaning back in her fly chair and staring at everyone and everything with a look of general fly contempt. She remained in this exact position for our entire encounter.

9 am – vainly try to to use the ‘free wifi’ at the airport by opening a webpage

9:15 am – the webpage opens – there is much applause

9:16 am – the webpage freezes, we purchase 2 more larger coffees.

11:15 am – watch apprehensively the rising rebellion at gate A11 as the US UnFairWays representative announces the flight is delayed…again, Andrew introduces me to Every Word: Crossings on Kindle.

12:00 – board plane

12:15 – receive email from US UnFairways letting me know that the flight was delayed until 11:30 – yep, they’re really on top of things

12:40ish – plane departs, I launch into full-fledged addiction to EveryWord: Crossings

2:00ish – my Kindle dies, my recently acquired addiction takes a crushing blow and go into withdrawal, I try to sleep (ha!), read a few magazines, snicker at the products in Skymall while secretly wanting the giant inflatable pillow that sits in your lap and you rest your head on, break into my chocolate bar.

~5 pm EST/ 2 pm PT- land in Phoenix, confirm that the connecting flight has indeed departed already, settle in for another few hours of layover, wander through the ginormous Phoenix Sky Harbor in search of linner (lunch/dinner), find and scarf down vegetarian tacos right as plane starts boarding.

4:40 PT- board plane, realize Andrew and I are not sitting next to each other – no, I get the pleasure of sharing my row with a ginormous man and only slightly less ginormous woman.

5:00 pm PT  – As I work on my laptop, Mr. Ginormous encroaches even more into my space to get a better look at my screen, I close my laptop and then polish off the chocolate. The plane freefalls for 3 seconds that feels more like an eternity. We live.

6:40ish – arrive in Sacramento, Andrew fights his way through the crowd to retrieve our luggage, wait on the curb to be picked up, witness a real live honey badger almost take the door off another car…to the point that the other car has to pull up in order to shut their door.

7:30 – get picked up, drive to Woodland, unload, say hellos and give hugs, visit for awhile, get my choice of 3 different pairs of cowboy boots from Andrew’s Nana to choose from, excitedly reach to try them on, realize my poor feet are too swollen from plane-riding to shove them into the confines of a boot, head off to bed.

9:00 pm – realize I am missing some, uh, necessary items and so is my sister (well, full disclosure: she’s my sister-in-law but for all intents and purposes, she’s my sister) so we head off to Nugget, the local grocery store.

10 pm – finally go to bed.

Quite. a. day.

But now I’m in sunny CA and so far today we’ve hit up yard sales, the farmers market and the western shop. On the agenda for the rest of the day: chill out then hit up the fair. Catch ya on the flip side! (do people still say that?)

 

 

 

 

 

2 Comments

  1. Whew! I’m tired. At least, I felt your tiredness with you. So sorry about the horrid flight. We’ve experienced the same type of delay in Philly also; I think they are hoping for more revenue by holding you longer in the airport, thereby getting you to spend your money in their airport, for FOOD! (you certainly won’t get any on the plane!) Don’t be taken in. Hold out for the food vouchers!
    And I love the Kindle Everyword: Crossings feature. Got totally hooked on it. There is also “Everyword” (no crossings)- it’s addictive also.
    Anyway, hopefully you will have a wonderful time (until you have to fly home…..). As always, love you!

  2. Hey Heather! Hope you are doing well! You sound like it. Love and miss you.

    Amber

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