Flyin A Buckin Broncho
Feb. 7th, 2005 11:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mrdreamjeansI raced to the Austin airport this morning , skipping breakfast, dodging traffic in the rain. It wasn’t as I planned, but then I don’t often get my flight time wrong, but I did today. My flight was at 11am instead of noon. Next Monday, the flight’s at noon:)
Once I got to the airport, having cleaned the cobwebs out of my dad’s truck engine, I made it through security in record time. It only took four trays to hold my coat, computer, boots and two carry-ons for scanning and I was down to the gate in seven minutes. Not bad....75 minutes from bed to gate:)
The flight from Austin to Dallas was uneventful, but the adventure began once we left Dallas for Hartford. I changed my seat for this portion of the trip and wound up sitting next to Nick who is in the wardrobe department of “Evita”. Quite a coincidence!
Nick and I were lazily catching up on each other’s doings during the four-week layoff, when our American Airlines flight began rockin and rollin, buckin and dippin. The ride continued like this for most of the three-hour flight as our route traced that of a front moving along the East Coast. The pilot kept us calm, but told us to expect continual turbulence; all traffic no matter the altitude, was having a bumpy ole time.
At one point, I looked over to Nick and his lips were silently moving. I asked him with some concern, “Are you saying a rosary?”. He replied no. He then told me that when he gets scared, he recites Ethel Merman song lyrics. He said, “If we’re goin down, I’m goin down singin Ethel!” LOL!
There were other aspects to the trip on AA that were unusual:
1) It’s the first time I’ve seen a couple travel with triplets, three boys about 18 months old. They were a model of organization:)
2) There is evidently no upper age limit on men in the exit row. I watched, and not once were the two elderly men sitting in the exit row questioned as to their ability to get that 50 lb door out of the way in an emergency. One of them had a noticeable physical disability and the other was shaking with Parkinson’s. I thought a lot about how I was going to get them and the door out of the way if there was an emergency:) I also wondered if women in their 70s would have received the same treatment.
3) Lastly, American Airlines generously started selling lunches on the flight for $3.00. It consisted of a slice of salami, a cheese stick, a bag of fruit and nuts and an oreo cookie. They had a cart of the lunch boxes and only four were purchased. People are paying hundreds of dollars to fly and now they’re supposed to purchase food on the flight. Progress?
Nick and I picked up our rental car and drove to New Haven. The cast is in a hotel literally on the campus of Yale University about a block from Yale Repertory Theatre. The hotel’s serviceable, but inconveniently set up. It offers us free wireless, but my old laptop doesn't have the capability. I’m faced with a desk in one corner of the room...a desk with no phone plug or electrical outlets. The phone is on the right side of my king-sized bed, the only accessible outlet is on the right side of the bed. I’m propped up in bed with wires criss-crossing me, not convenient, but hey, I’m not in New Haven to sit in the room.
“Evita” resumes tomorrow. For tonight, I’m happy to be chillin in my bed far away from the bumpy skies. May the next rodeo I see not include clouds; let my next adventure be with my feet firmly on the ground.
Once I got to the airport, having cleaned the cobwebs out of my dad’s truck engine, I made it through security in record time. It only took four trays to hold my coat, computer, boots and two carry-ons for scanning and I was down to the gate in seven minutes. Not bad....75 minutes from bed to gate:)
The flight from Austin to Dallas was uneventful, but the adventure began once we left Dallas for Hartford. I changed my seat for this portion of the trip and wound up sitting next to Nick who is in the wardrobe department of “Evita”. Quite a coincidence!
Nick and I were lazily catching up on each other’s doings during the four-week layoff, when our American Airlines flight began rockin and rollin, buckin and dippin. The ride continued like this for most of the three-hour flight as our route traced that of a front moving along the East Coast. The pilot kept us calm, but told us to expect continual turbulence; all traffic no matter the altitude, was having a bumpy ole time.
At one point, I looked over to Nick and his lips were silently moving. I asked him with some concern, “Are you saying a rosary?”. He replied no. He then told me that when he gets scared, he recites Ethel Merman song lyrics. He said, “If we’re goin down, I’m goin down singin Ethel!” LOL!
There were other aspects to the trip on AA that were unusual:
1) It’s the first time I’ve seen a couple travel with triplets, three boys about 18 months old. They were a model of organization:)
2) There is evidently no upper age limit on men in the exit row. I watched, and not once were the two elderly men sitting in the exit row questioned as to their ability to get that 50 lb door out of the way in an emergency. One of them had a noticeable physical disability and the other was shaking with Parkinson’s. I thought a lot about how I was going to get them and the door out of the way if there was an emergency:) I also wondered if women in their 70s would have received the same treatment.
3) Lastly, American Airlines generously started selling lunches on the flight for $3.00. It consisted of a slice of salami, a cheese stick, a bag of fruit and nuts and an oreo cookie. They had a cart of the lunch boxes and only four were purchased. People are paying hundreds of dollars to fly and now they’re supposed to purchase food on the flight. Progress?
Nick and I picked up our rental car and drove to New Haven. The cast is in a hotel literally on the campus of Yale University about a block from Yale Repertory Theatre. The hotel’s serviceable, but inconveniently set up. It offers us free wireless, but my old laptop doesn't have the capability. I’m faced with a desk in one corner of the room...a desk with no phone plug or electrical outlets. The phone is on the right side of my king-sized bed, the only accessible outlet is on the right side of the bed. I’m propped up in bed with wires criss-crossing me, not convenient, but hey, I’m not in New Haven to sit in the room.
“Evita” resumes tomorrow. For tonight, I’m happy to be chillin in my bed far away from the bumpy skies. May the next rodeo I see not include clouds; let my next adventure be with my feet firmly on the ground.
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no subject
Date: 2005-02-08 04:59 am (UTC)Wow, 75 minutes from house to gate. Go you! :-)
Have fun in Hartford and I'll look forward to the next installment.
no subject
Date: 2005-02-08 06:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-02-08 07:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-02-08 11:49 am (UTC)It's just the future.
Date: 2005-02-08 12:29 pm (UTC)I feel the same way you do about this, but there's no point in fretting about it. Like any other business, the airlines will do anything to improve the profit margin, however incrementally. I remember taking my first commercial flight in 1991 (to Anchorage), and as much as people routinely complain about airline food, I relished every last morsel, because I was on an adventure, DAMMIT!
Then the flight attendants started passing out headphones with which to watch the in-flight movie, and you could rent a pair for just $5.00! And I thought to myself, "Here I am, paying hundreds of bucks to fly to Alaska, and they want stick me with a fee just to watch some light comedy that's already been edited for content???" Fuck em.
As far as meals go, your best option is to bring your own. Now, SOME people are horribly rude when it comes to taking their own snacks, making a lot of greasy, smelly mess. YOU, on the other hand, can not only impress your fellow travellers by being neat and discrete (maybe an apple, a granola bar, and the latest trendy bottled water), but you will also be surprised how many friends you can make by baking a batch of your own homemade cookies before the trip, then having enough on hand to give to any nearby passengers who might like them. On the other hand, maybe they'll assume you are a terrorist. Such is the sad world in which we live.
I think Hannibal Lecter had the right idea when he packed HIS own in-flight lunch, and was even courteous enough to share it with the little boy in the seat nearby. A little sauteed cerebellum can go a long way between friends!