journey of 1,000 miles
Ok, so it wasn't 1,000 miles (more like 768) but it should have been. Since I've been so backed up with work lately (I'll interject here that this is kind of punny as I'm working on a constipation study), I felt thankful yesterday that I was smart enough to have booked myself a 5:30pm flight. I still had time to get some work done yesterday and attend a conference call. Made it easily to the big airport. All my tiny liquids and gels fit in their resealable, quart-size plastic bag. We were leaving from a B84 gate, which sucks. That's the gate that crams way too many people in way too small a place and then makes you take a teeny, tiny bus trip to the plane. They called for us to board the bus right on time. Things were looking good.
As soon as I hauled my bags up the bus steps and got settled, some kind airport employee peaks her head into the bus and tells us we'll have to go back inside. Apparently there was some mechanical problem with our plane. That's always encouraging. I sure hope those inspectors really care about their jobs. So, yes, you'd rather have them say that there is a problem than to ignore it. You would, of course, rather there be no problem to begin at all. They weren't sure how long it would take to address the issue.
Then they come on and say we should only be delayed about 30 minutes. Not too bad.
Then they come on again and say they were misinformed. We would probably leave around 7:00pm. At this point, I went to grab some food with two ladies who were strangers only minutes before. We all chatted a little to get to know one another.
They actually let us board the bus again around 7:10. Sure, I thought, we'd gotten this far before. We got on the plane but didn't leave the ground until around 7:50.
When I'm sitting on the plane before we take off I always say a quick prayer that it will be a safe, uneventful flight. I'm no fool; it could be safe and still super scary. And I'm not completely sure about my religious beliefs but I think a quick little prayer can't hurt.
The flight was uneventful and safe. We landed and the plane's steering broke. Again. We had to get towed to the gate. Very slowly.
By the time I left the rental car location, it was 10:40. I didn't get to the hotel until midnight. Ugh. The hotel is much better than the ghetto one I stayed in the last time I was here in Topeka. But the bed, oh, the bed...it's the tiniest little bed I've slept in since my toddler bed. Ok, maybe since the dorm. Still, it's small.
So that was the journey. Let's hope the trip home tomorrow goes a bit more quickly.
As soon as I hauled my bags up the bus steps and got settled, some kind airport employee peaks her head into the bus and tells us we'll have to go back inside. Apparently there was some mechanical problem with our plane. That's always encouraging. I sure hope those inspectors really care about their jobs. So, yes, you'd rather have them say that there is a problem than to ignore it. You would, of course, rather there be no problem to begin at all. They weren't sure how long it would take to address the issue.
Then they come on and say we should only be delayed about 30 minutes. Not too bad.
Then they come on again and say they were misinformed. We would probably leave around 7:00pm. At this point, I went to grab some food with two ladies who were strangers only minutes before. We all chatted a little to get to know one another.
They actually let us board the bus again around 7:10. Sure, I thought, we'd gotten this far before. We got on the plane but didn't leave the ground until around 7:50.
When I'm sitting on the plane before we take off I always say a quick prayer that it will be a safe, uneventful flight. I'm no fool; it could be safe and still super scary. And I'm not completely sure about my religious beliefs but I think a quick little prayer can't hurt.
The flight was uneventful and safe. We landed and the plane's steering broke. Again. We had to get towed to the gate. Very slowly.
By the time I left the rental car location, it was 10:40. I didn't get to the hotel until midnight. Ugh. The hotel is much better than the ghetto one I stayed in the last time I was here in Topeka. But the bed, oh, the bed...it's the tiniest little bed I've slept in since my toddler bed. Ok, maybe since the dorm. Still, it's small.
So that was the journey. Let's hope the trip home tomorrow goes a bit more quickly.
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