Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

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This morning came really early, though it seemed to take eternity to get here. Finally it was time to fly to North Carolina to be with Sarah, Kyle, the Choir and everyone else. (P.S. I’ll try to update the cast of characters for you tomorrow. For now, you’ll just have to follow along.)

The first flight, to Minneapolis, was good. We sat on the tarmac for over an hour before taking off, and I was dozing in and out and reading. I was sitting with a pretty elderly couple, who either weren’t completely lucid or just don’t fly often. The very nice woman, Molly, explained to me that if I would like something to drink, I need to put down my tray table so they know. (Then she showed me how to put it down.) Something smelled strongly of alcohol when I dozed awake, but I knew it was still around 8 a.m. Regardless, the smell was making me a bit sick, and since I was on the window and my seat mates don’t move to well, I knew that getting up wasn’t an option, especially in a hurry. The rest of the flight was uneventful, with just a few other random smells. Lots of people were worried about missing their connecting flights, and many of them did, but I figured I’d be fine, even though my connection was from the other side of the city, maybe even from St. Paul. It was a long, hurried walk, and I knew stopping for food was not an option, regardless of how hungry I was.

I grabbed some chow and hoped to sit down to eat it, but I got to the gate as they were boarding, so I got in line. This time, I was in the middle and my friend with the window seat also had a 6 month old baby. Yikes! He did okay, and I know it certainly could’ve been worse, but I was in the middle and sleeping wasn’t going to be an option.

Instead, I finished my book. A friend of mine gave me Mark Batterson’s Wild Goose Chase, and I read it today. He loves it so much that he bought a case so he can give them away, and now I understand why! It’s a great book. Although, the last 20 minutes or so of the flight when by really slowly, between the book being finished and the anticipation of seeing Sarah and Kyle. Yikes!

When we were low enough to see things in Raleigh, I saw a stark contrast. Lots of black and white of the beautiful city (Minneapolis was too, so maybe that’s what I’m thinking of). There is snow here. Three inches or so and they were getting ready to shut down the city! And I saw the dumb North Carolina trees. (For those of you who missed this, read any blogs from Jan-Feb of 08). Here’s the thing: I like snow. I don’t like these trees. I wasn’t sure how to feel. Although, we’ve had plenty of snow at home, so flying south for the winter sounded really nice. Oh well.

I all but ran off the plane. Sarah ran to me, in her orange trousers, with the Scottish flag draped around her neck like a cape (a birthday gift from Kyle). FINALLY! Lots of hugs and finding bags and things, then we headed to dinner. It was nice just to not be moving and be with good friends. Although, we didn’t have a lot to catch up on- we hadn’t spoken in about 13 hours only, but we could pick up from now. Dinner and some errands and then the long trek to the house.

We partially unloaded the car, then I went into the school room to get mauled by kids who had no idea I would be back so soon, certainly not today. Wowzers. There was lots of yelling and hugging and things. Really just a blur of faces.

Sarah and I are sharing a room with Dana and Ruth. This room has two sets of bunk beds, is slightly smaller than a dorm room, but we have our own bathroom. My suitcases exploded as soon as they hit the ground. Stuff all over! The bathroom is crazy- so much stuff, so much girl stuff. Wow. Hair things and face things and things I’ve never seen before. Good luck finding counterspace! The shower is the same way.

We made fried oreos and milkshakes and things. Dana was sewing while Sarah was cooking and ended up having the machine jam, so I went up and showed her how to thread it properly and things. Good times.

Bedtime! Sarah and I are sharing a bunk bed. I’m on the bottom because I’m less coordinated or something like that. This shall be fun! She threw her socks at me, but one landed in my glass of water. So I dipped them both in water and threw them back, and we had a bit of a wet-sock war before settling in for the night. Sorry, Ruth and Dana!

Here are things I pondered today as I wondered through airports. (Some of them are things I have pondered for quite some time.)
*Why are bathroom stalls in airports so small? People are traveling, and they have bags they’re not allowed to leave unattended, so there should be allotted room for them in the bathroom.
*Why do they make automatic flushers, automatic sinks, automatic soap dispensers and automatic paper towel dispensers, but I’ve never seen all of them in one bathroom? If you’re going to not touch things, why not not touch everything?
*I thought of Sera and Bedo as I rode the people-movers in Minneapolis. But why is the voice saying “Caution, you are approaching the end of the walkway” a UK woman? And I like that they’re marked for people standing on the right and people walking on the left, but they’re pretty narrow, and getting by the standers isn’t always easy.
*Airline food is pretty good on international flights. But now on some domestic airlines, they don’t even give you snacks! You have to buy them! My goodness, are they going to cut toilet paper next?
*You can’t take water with you through security, but you can take empty water bottles, which I did. Spokane has fantastic water, but the water at the airport is the worse water in the city! I always fill up there and then don’t want to drink it the rest of the time I’m traveling. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth of home (pun intended.)
*Working at an airport would be a horrible job. All day, you deal with people traveling. And people who are traveling are either stressed or tired or grumpy or angry, or some combination of them. Thank you, airport people.

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