Discovering the skies (A.K.A Why flying can be a real pain - Part 1)

I haven't been precisely a frequent flyer throughout my life. This tends to lead to a lack of memory of how crazy and exhausting flying is. It is almost like a suppressed memory. You have some notion of what is going to happen, but your brain insists on protecting you from the full-blown memory of it all.


However, I have flown enough during the past year to come to expect a few things that are almost certain to happen:


1. Your flight will most always be delayed. Those carefully planned connections WILL become a nightmare. 


It starts off good. You get to the first airport early, and calmly wait for your plane. You double check your boarding passes...yes, several hours between flights. That should be more than enough time to get something to eat, find the appropriate terminal, get through TSA, and  get to your gate before boarding time.

You're relaxed, in peace with the world, and then....

And, of course, because Murphy is never wrong, when you get to the next airport

Two hours later, when you finally get to the immigration guy, you're already exhausted and ready to confess whatever

Of course, the one time you'd love your flight to be delayed, it is right on time...








2. Playing tag with your gates


If once in a while you're lucky (?) enough to get to your next airport with enough time to get to  your next flight, airlines know waiting for flights can be quite tedious. Well, this simply will not do; and since airlines care so much about the happiness of their customers, they have designed a gigantic version of tag for you to entertain yourself.

At which point, you are once again left with just one option:

Author's unrelated note: This blog post started out small and suddenly took a life of its own. I think part of the fun of reading blogs is getting fun small notes that you can entertain yourself for a while, not getting a whole essay thrown in your face. Thus, I decided to split it into several parts, for everyone's entertainment (and my own sanity!)







(Part 2 - Is now up! Click here to read :) )