Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

Okay, well at least planes...

Airports and planes afford great people watching opportunities if you can get away with it without getting caught. I sometimes forget when I am watching someone and they catch me...On my first leg today, I board the plane, make my way to my seat, only to have the stewardess (ahem….flight attendant) tell me that there was in an accident in my row and they weren't supposed to be seating anyone back there. I try to feign calmness as I ask her what kind of accident. She says a bodily one…already things are not looking good.

Fortunately, it was not in the exact seat I was going to be using but still, the idea of flying in close quarters to a mystery bodily function was still not appealing. At that exact moment, a gentleman asks to switch with me (I really just wanted to be on the aisle as I am one of those people that needs to get up all the time), and he was on the aisle as well. I asked him he was sure, and he said yes, his friends were right across the aisle from the seat in question. Worked for me….I moved up a few rows to his seat.

Ultimately, the flight was not very full, so people were moving all over the place and once we got settled we were on our way. I started to read some of the newly printed research material for the paper I still have not finished, as doing anything fun was not warranted with this still hanging over my head. I was a diligent good student and made my way through it all highlighting as I went while fighting off the "plane nods" (which is that automatic sleepiness that planes induce in me).

In these days of "no food service" or "pillows" (if you can really call them that), airplane travel has gotten more interesting. Everyone is brown bagging it and it is kind of refreshing although I think it is a shame that we are letting the airlines get away with cutting customer service aspects out of their budgets without so much as a whimper. I have been sitting in the Minneapolis airport now for about an hour, plugged into an available outlet so I don't wear down my batteries (have to save them for the DVD's I plan to watch on the next leg…haha). I have seen at least two people eating apples (and I have one in my bag as well because I'll be damned if I will pay for a snack box on the flight). Perhaps the airlines can say they are helping us to eat better but I am sure that won't work because I am sure just as many people are stuffing themselves on airport food before boarding as well.

We did get pretzels and drinks on the last leg and while they didn't have Diet Coke (the only diet drink I can even hardly handle), they did have Diet Pepsi…I just can't drink Diet Pepsi unless it has liquor in it and even then it is hard. Anyhow, when she said they didn't have Diet Coke, did I want Diet Pepsi, I told her, like I just told you, that I don't like Diet Pepsi (love regular Pepsi though). She then leans over and whispers "I think Diet Pepsi tastes like band-aids"…now that is a correlation I would never had thought of. What would even make a person think of that, and more importantly, how many band-aids had she eaten over the years??? Talk about brown bagging it.

One thing that I did notice on the plane (mind you this was not a new plane by any means) was that there was what looked like a hand rail the entire length along the bottom of the overhead baggage department. I thought that it was pretty smart although we all know we are supposed "to remain in our seats with our seatbelts fastened until the plane comes to a complete and full stop and the pilot has turned off the seatbelt sign". So the use for them is probably limited but I couldn't help but picture the future of plane travel. We'll all be standing holding onto the railing like we are on the subway and we'll be fighting tooth and nail to get a seat, unfortunately the stops will be far and few between (I guess no one will get up to use the bathroom)….you just watch…eventually they will remove knee room altogether, it will be feet room that is in demand.
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One Month Ago on In My Words...Procrastination Has Taken Over