Back in the United States
As most of you know by now, I survived the plane trip home. But it was a good story, so now I shall tell it, for those who are interested.
After a couple of hours spent in the car with Crazy Lady™ and her husband (they were mind-numbing, seriously), we finally get to the airport about a half hour later than I'd have liked. My earliest check-in was 9:10 a.m.; I got inside around 9:35 a.m. Not a big deal. I had done the online check-in the night before, so I went to a kiosk so I could print my boarding pass. We finally found the British Airways kiosk, and a woman comes up to me and asks if I'm on flight number whatever to Heathrow. I sure am.
Not anymore, I'm not! It was canceled. Awesome. She directs me to customer service. Probst and I stood in the line for probably an other 20 minutes or so. At the counter, the woman tells me she'll have to send me to Frankfurt, Germany, first, then from there I'll hop a flight home and get in around 4:15 p.m. I said that was awesome! My original flight was supposed to get in at 7:30 p.m. and I was worried because the weather in Philadelphia was supposed to be thunderstormy and miserable. She sent me on my way to check my bags and print my boarding pass.
Probst and I found the line and were standing in it. My boarding pass said 11:10, and at that time it was 10:30 a.m. I'm like, Jesus, check-in is going to close, so I switched to the business class line to see if someone would cut me a break. Probst flagged a woman down from the line she was in (we separated out of desperation), who took us to a kiosk to print the boarding pass. Except it wouldn't print. So she directed me around the corner to someone else. Except this girl was a bitch. "You're not supposed to be in this line." "That lady told me to come here." "That doesn't matter." "I'm kind of in a hurry here, lady." So she looked at my ticket and such. "You've been booked on a full flight." "Awesome." She checked me in and rebooked my flight. Except it was 10:40 and that's when the new flight was boarding. I hugged Probst and took off like a slow, fat Speedy Gonzales carrying a backpack and a laptop case.
After running for eight minutes (I may have done at least a mile), I get to the terminal eight minutes late. I'm there, handing them my boarding pass, panting and sweating, eying up the line of people. At least 200. I thanked the woman and she said, "We'll be boarding soon. We were waiting for you." Awesome. Whatever, I got on the plane.
And cried the entire way up and the entire way down. If I'm honest, some of the time in-between was spent crying also. I hate flying. I really do. But the nice French man beside me offered me a mint, so at least that, I guess. Oh, and I didn't die, so that too.
The second plane was better, because it was bigger. But I didn't see much of Frankfurt at all before I had to board. When I got on the second plane, I found I was seated in the middle row, in the middle of four seats. Awesome. It turned out I was seated in the middle of a family group, who offered to trade me for an aisle. An aisle that was at one of the breaks in the plane with more foot room. Win! Except the guy beside me had raunchy body odor and two screaming children. Fail. Not long later, a flight attendant asked me to trade with a woman and child. I was apparently sitting in front of the other baby crib thing. Score! So I was moved to another aisle seat at the front of the plane, in front of a TV, and with even more leg room.
The flight only got better from there. They came around with drinks, and the guy to my right asked if there was beer. The attendant replied, "Sir, this is a German airline. And it's free." Win! And the beer was full bottles of Warsteiner. So I drank the better part of the way home. Marley and Me was the in-flight movie, which was a huge fail because my 20-year-old cat just died and the last thing I wanted to do was watch that movie.
When I got on the ground, Probst called to make sure I was alright. I found my baggage and parents with no problem, and we went home. We ate at Cracker Barrel on the way, and it was delicious. I got home, hugged my babies, checked out my new and super cool snowboarding set-up (I got the black underside!) and went to bed.
I still haven't unpacked, because I'm a lazy bum. However, I did have a couple cleaning Nazi sprees. Our bathroom is now much nicer (I managed to consolidate and get rid of the rolly plastic drawers) and I got all the soda and beer under our bar downstairs. My next mission is to build two cabinet doors with wood and punched tin, then clean out the closet under the stairs and build two more doors to cover the fuse box. All of this while working and maybe preparing myself to go back to school.
In other news, I reunited with everyone, and that was good. I met Megan and Tom at the South Avis Inn. Tom plays Warcraft now, and so does Deniese. Zbegner and I spent a classic night at the Flagstone. I coerced Jenna into Chinese one night, and Caitlin into lunch. Thursday was fifty-cent drafts, where I saw Amy Peasley and Evan. Friday was a great night of going out. Heather, Becky, and Amy Peasley all came out, plus Susie and Chris Barnard. Zbegner and Andy showed up for a while.
Easter was pretty chill. I just hung out with my family and had dinner. All in all, it's good to be home. I missed American soil, I really did.
Quote of the day: I asked because I know you'll tell me the truth...
After a couple of hours spent in the car with Crazy Lady™ and her husband (they were mind-numbing, seriously), we finally get to the airport about a half hour later than I'd have liked. My earliest check-in was 9:10 a.m.; I got inside around 9:35 a.m. Not a big deal. I had done the online check-in the night before, so I went to a kiosk so I could print my boarding pass. We finally found the British Airways kiosk, and a woman comes up to me and asks if I'm on flight number whatever to Heathrow. I sure am.
Not anymore, I'm not! It was canceled. Awesome. She directs me to customer service. Probst and I stood in the line for probably an other 20 minutes or so. At the counter, the woman tells me she'll have to send me to Frankfurt, Germany, first, then from there I'll hop a flight home and get in around 4:15 p.m. I said that was awesome! My original flight was supposed to get in at 7:30 p.m. and I was worried because the weather in Philadelphia was supposed to be thunderstormy and miserable. She sent me on my way to check my bags and print my boarding pass.
Probst and I found the line and were standing in it. My boarding pass said 11:10, and at that time it was 10:30 a.m. I'm like, Jesus, check-in is going to close, so I switched to the business class line to see if someone would cut me a break. Probst flagged a woman down from the line she was in (we separated out of desperation), who took us to a kiosk to print the boarding pass. Except it wouldn't print. So she directed me around the corner to someone else. Except this girl was a bitch. "You're not supposed to be in this line." "That lady told me to come here." "That doesn't matter." "I'm kind of in a hurry here, lady." So she looked at my ticket and such. "You've been booked on a full flight." "Awesome." She checked me in and rebooked my flight. Except it was 10:40 and that's when the new flight was boarding. I hugged Probst and took off like a slow, fat Speedy Gonzales carrying a backpack and a laptop case.
After running for eight minutes (I may have done at least a mile), I get to the terminal eight minutes late. I'm there, handing them my boarding pass, panting and sweating, eying up the line of people. At least 200. I thanked the woman and she said, "We'll be boarding soon. We were waiting for you." Awesome. Whatever, I got on the plane.
And cried the entire way up and the entire way down. If I'm honest, some of the time in-between was spent crying also. I hate flying. I really do. But the nice French man beside me offered me a mint, so at least that, I guess. Oh, and I didn't die, so that too.
The second plane was better, because it was bigger. But I didn't see much of Frankfurt at all before I had to board. When I got on the second plane, I found I was seated in the middle row, in the middle of four seats. Awesome. It turned out I was seated in the middle of a family group, who offered to trade me for an aisle. An aisle that was at one of the breaks in the plane with more foot room. Win! Except the guy beside me had raunchy body odor and two screaming children. Fail. Not long later, a flight attendant asked me to trade with a woman and child. I was apparently sitting in front of the other baby crib thing. Score! So I was moved to another aisle seat at the front of the plane, in front of a TV, and with even more leg room.
The flight only got better from there. They came around with drinks, and the guy to my right asked if there was beer. The attendant replied, "Sir, this is a German airline. And it's free." Win! And the beer was full bottles of Warsteiner. So I drank the better part of the way home. Marley and Me was the in-flight movie, which was a huge fail because my 20-year-old cat just died and the last thing I wanted to do was watch that movie.
When I got on the ground, Probst called to make sure I was alright. I found my baggage and parents with no problem, and we went home. We ate at Cracker Barrel on the way, and it was delicious. I got home, hugged my babies, checked out my new and super cool snowboarding set-up (I got the black underside!) and went to bed.
I still haven't unpacked, because I'm a lazy bum. However, I did have a couple cleaning Nazi sprees. Our bathroom is now much nicer (I managed to consolidate and get rid of the rolly plastic drawers) and I got all the soda and beer under our bar downstairs. My next mission is to build two cabinet doors with wood and punched tin, then clean out the closet under the stairs and build two more doors to cover the fuse box. All of this while working and maybe preparing myself to go back to school.
In other news, I reunited with everyone, and that was good. I met Megan and Tom at the South Avis Inn. Tom plays Warcraft now, and so does Deniese. Zbegner and I spent a classic night at the Flagstone. I coerced Jenna into Chinese one night, and Caitlin into lunch. Thursday was fifty-cent drafts, where I saw Amy Peasley and Evan. Friday was a great night of going out. Heather, Becky, and Amy Peasley all came out, plus Susie and Chris Barnard. Zbegner and Andy showed up for a while.
Easter was pretty chill. I just hung out with my family and had dinner. All in all, it's good to be home. I missed American soil, I really did.
Quote of the day: I asked because I know you'll tell me the truth...