10/29/11 Norfolk, VA to Philadelphia 1:38pm
So I get to the airport kind of early... I think it was around 11am. But it's not like I was 12 hours early for my flight... just 2.5. So I was nervous when I stroll up to the US Airways Counter, and was the only person. Although there are 3 workers behind the desk, they force me to check in on the computer. God forbid they look me up! I'm at my last point of checking in, and it flashes, "No seats available" and goes back to the home screen.
Um... what? I looked at the guy standing right in front of me, refusing to personally check me in, and I thought in my head (sorry bout it), "Um.. this just told me there were no seats?" He then goes on to say, "You going to Phili? We're gonna get ya out of here at 11:30 instead." Ok! Sounds great! As long as you can promise I get through security and all that in time to board!
Everything worked out great. I got to the gate RIGHT when they announced, "We will now start boarding to Phili! Zone 1.. please.. zone 1"
No one got up.
"Zone 2.... please... zone 2 can now board." Well, my pass says zone 2, but NO one else is moving... as he starts to say "zo--" I go up and say, "I'm pretty sure I'm zone 2!" He looked at my ticket and says, "You're not very smart, but you are zone 2."
Cute. Thanks guy. But I didnt let him get me down. I was the first one to board the plane! Check me out. Not only did all that go down.. I had no one next to me, in front of me, or behind me. So.. I set my bag next to me, reclined my seat, and took down my tray. Party!
Landed in Phili... nothing was going to bring this star traveler down! Brrr... it's cold as I walk through the tunnel to the gate.... I can see my breath! I am starving though, so I rush to the end of the gate to get some food. I hit the door and..
people. everywhere.
Philidelphia to Hamden, CT 3:00pm
The line to the US Airways guest service desk that goes at least 2 miles long. (FLASHBACK from my flight from O'Hare to Knoxville... It was US Airways then too. Not promising) I look at the flight board and see almost alll flights flashing "Canceled." Both flights to Hamden still look good. I have a good 2 hours before mine. Without thinking twice, I went up to F26's gate, and said, "Are their any flights to Hamdem leaving earlier???" Lady takes my pass, puts me on an earlier flight, asks for my bag color (I love saying, Two huge pink bags!). She did say she was not sure if my bags would make it, as the flight left in 10 minutes, but, the damage was done! I got myself another earlier flight. What a pro!
I sat in the waiting area in front of the gate, and kept hearing "Flight to Cincinnati... canceled (oooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh), Flight to Birmingham........ canceled (oohhhhhhhhh), flight to Portland....... gate change.. no... canceled (ughhhhh)." I SWORE Oprah was at the airport, "You get a canceled flight, YOU get a canceled flight, YOU get a canceled flight, everybody gets a canceled flight!!"
Somehow, I lucked out.... Gate F 26 was the ONLY gate that Oprah didn't make an appearance at. Phew.
Again, with star seating. No one seated within a 2 feet radius around me. The flight WAS bumpy, however. I started counting the seconds we were still. I did not get higher than 4.... But.. I can't complain, I was flying!
I arrived in CT with one more worry. Did my bags make it?! I go down to baggage claim to await the BUZZZ and people running up to wait. And wait... what was this?? There were a TON of bags sitting unattended, and they were under a sign that said, "Do not leave bags unattended." After I laughed and took a picture of that ironic scene, I realized MY bags were there! How on earth did they beat me to the airport? They must give star flyer's bags a magic potion. Not complaining!
There was a TON of snow, and a TON of broken trees. It was crazy to see autumn colored trees with snow on them! But, it is what it is. I made it!
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Driver's Seat
October 19th 12:00pm from Norfolk VA to Lexington VA Flight #: non-existent
Well well well, a post from a different view. Yep. The driver's seat.
The travels I needed to make yesterday were 4 hours by car. Therefore, I got to get educated on the topic of "Car Rentals." Don't get me wrong....... I have had my fair share of being a driver of a rented car, that good 'ol Ford Flex aka John Wall. But the reserving, picking up, taking back, and all of the other fun that comes with it was all a new experience.
I reserved the car on October 13th, an entire 6 days before the need for rental. I got a confirmation number and everything! First things first during my reserving efforts--- I asked one of my bosses if checking the little box that says "add a Garmin for $14.58" was out of the question, and he was all for it! (I mean, he wanted me to get to the chapter, and since I would not know North if I found the North Star, that was a good option). So, as it seemed, everything was taken care of and my little 2 door vehicle was ready for me to be picked up!
I walk in to Budget in Norfolk exactly at noon (the time I reserved the vehicle for),and had seemed to walk into a deserted little building with one worker that totes gave me the stank face. I happily smiled and said, "I am here to pick up a car!" and in response I get, "Do you have the right address?" Perfect. This day is going to be FANTASTIC!! She finally found my name, and reservation and tells me, "You're lucky. We have ONE car left." I'm lucky??? What does pre-reservation do? Does this confirmation number mean nothing to you Budget?? Whatever. Not only am I lucky there is a car, it was a larger family car, so I was charged an extra $8. "Is that okay?" Well---- I wasn't going to walk to Lexington. So yes, it's fine. Even though, again, I have this fancy confirmation number that means NOTHING.
I get in my fancy red leather seated car (that's all I know about it), and start typing in the GPS. The address I have for the airport I'm taking this car to does NOT show up on the GPS. After 20 minutes of trying different options, I see the town shows up, and "Airport Road" shows up. Airport road looks good... I mean, I am looking for an airport. So, here goes nothing. Ready to take on the roads of Virginia like a real Virginian.
Have you ever parked in traffic. Like... literally be on an interstate that has 6 lanes, and no ones break lights are on because they are all in park? How about for an entire 48 minutes? If so, then join my club.
So yes, I was already an hour late, but there is absolutely nothing I could have done about it. The next hurtle I had to climb was driving in the mountains. Beautiful! Wait... did I say mountains? I mean mountains, in a rain storm, with fog so thick I couldnt even see the hood of my car. It was a fun little game guessing where and when cars would show up 2 ft away from mine! Was I on Dora the Explorer?? "Traffic, Fog, Airport!!"
I get out of the traffic, rain, and fog, and apparently finally 40 minutes away. Oh cool, look at those signs! They say Lexington, Stauton, W&L... wait. All THREE of those places are places I am supposed to be later that night. Why I am driving to an airport in some "Weyers Cave" place?? The town ends in Cave, I should have known right away.
Well, I got there, AND met the woman picking me up. PHEW. When I turned at the sign that said "Airport," I drove at least 5 miles next to cows and abandoned planes, meaning no gas stations ANYWHERE. I finally get to drop off my car and I said, "I'm sorry, I couldn't find a gas station. Is there a flat fee I could pay for not filling up the car?" The woman says, "For your sake...." (I thought this was good news!!) "... I'm going to tell you where to go because if we have to fill up the car it is $9 a gallon." Jesus. Yep.. went on a gas station journey, once I got there the pump KEPT BEEPING at me, and a nice country gentleman came up to me and said, "Your not from around these parts are you???" Great. This is how EVERY horror movie I have seen starts....... Luckily, he was harmless, and wished me better luck for the rest of my day. Oh.. and stopped the gas from yelling at me.
Get back to Budget, and had to go back out to the car like twice to get information that the lovely Norfolk lady did not inform me to look at 6 hours ago. Oh well........ Got that all turned in, got in the car with a wonderful Pi Phi Adviser, and got some Starbucks. Oh... and then I got a phone call.
"Hi maam. You left your iPod in the car."
......
....
.....
...
Yep. I sure did. Except I didn't even USE my iPod.. so it literally must have been like, "hahah Ashley, your day sucks, so let me jump out and sit in this car and make you angry!" I told the nice lady turning around was not really an option, as I was meeting with others to pick me up. She told me someone would call this week, and they would try to ship it. So far, I have left TWO messages on their machine. Woof.
Moral of the story is... I'm walking next time.
Well well well, a post from a different view. Yep. The driver's seat.
The travels I needed to make yesterday were 4 hours by car. Therefore, I got to get educated on the topic of "Car Rentals." Don't get me wrong....... I have had my fair share of being a driver of a rented car, that good 'ol Ford Flex aka John Wall. But the reserving, picking up, taking back, and all of the other fun that comes with it was all a new experience.
I reserved the car on October 13th, an entire 6 days before the need for rental. I got a confirmation number and everything! First things first during my reserving efforts--- I asked one of my bosses if checking the little box that says "add a Garmin for $14.58" was out of the question, and he was all for it! (I mean, he wanted me to get to the chapter, and since I would not know North if I found the North Star, that was a good option). So, as it seemed, everything was taken care of and my little 2 door vehicle was ready for me to be picked up!
I walk in to Budget in Norfolk exactly at noon (the time I reserved the vehicle for),and had seemed to walk into a deserted little building with one worker that totes gave me the stank face. I happily smiled and said, "I am here to pick up a car!" and in response I get, "Do you have the right address?" Perfect. This day is going to be FANTASTIC!! She finally found my name, and reservation and tells me, "You're lucky. We have ONE car left." I'm lucky??? What does pre-reservation do? Does this confirmation number mean nothing to you Budget?? Whatever. Not only am I lucky there is a car, it was a larger family car, so I was charged an extra $8. "Is that okay?" Well---- I wasn't going to walk to Lexington. So yes, it's fine. Even though, again, I have this fancy confirmation number that means NOTHING.
I get in my fancy red leather seated car (that's all I know about it), and start typing in the GPS. The address I have for the airport I'm taking this car to does NOT show up on the GPS. After 20 minutes of trying different options, I see the town shows up, and "Airport Road" shows up. Airport road looks good... I mean, I am looking for an airport. So, here goes nothing. Ready to take on the roads of Virginia like a real Virginian.
Have you ever parked in traffic. Like... literally be on an interstate that has 6 lanes, and no ones break lights are on because they are all in park? How about for an entire 48 minutes? If so, then join my club.
So yes, I was already an hour late, but there is absolutely nothing I could have done about it. The next hurtle I had to climb was driving in the mountains. Beautiful! Wait... did I say mountains? I mean mountains, in a rain storm, with fog so thick I couldnt even see the hood of my car. It was a fun little game guessing where and when cars would show up 2 ft away from mine! Was I on Dora the Explorer?? "Traffic, Fog, Airport!!"
I get out of the traffic, rain, and fog, and apparently finally 40 minutes away. Oh cool, look at those signs! They say Lexington, Stauton, W&L... wait. All THREE of those places are places I am supposed to be later that night. Why I am driving to an airport in some "Weyers Cave" place?? The town ends in Cave, I should have known right away.
Well, I got there, AND met the woman picking me up. PHEW. When I turned at the sign that said "Airport," I drove at least 5 miles next to cows and abandoned planes, meaning no gas stations ANYWHERE. I finally get to drop off my car and I said, "I'm sorry, I couldn't find a gas station. Is there a flat fee I could pay for not filling up the car?" The woman says, "For your sake...." (I thought this was good news!!) "... I'm going to tell you where to go because if we have to fill up the car it is $9 a gallon." Jesus. Yep.. went on a gas station journey, once I got there the pump KEPT BEEPING at me, and a nice country gentleman came up to me and said, "Your not from around these parts are you???" Great. This is how EVERY horror movie I have seen starts....... Luckily, he was harmless, and wished me better luck for the rest of my day. Oh.. and stopped the gas from yelling at me.
Get back to Budget, and had to go back out to the car like twice to get information that the lovely Norfolk lady did not inform me to look at 6 hours ago. Oh well........ Got that all turned in, got in the car with a wonderful Pi Phi Adviser, and got some Starbucks. Oh... and then I got a phone call.
"Hi maam. You left your iPod in the car."
......
....
.....
...
Yep. I sure did. Except I didn't even USE my iPod.. so it literally must have been like, "hahah Ashley, your day sucks, so let me jump out and sit in this car and make you angry!" I told the nice lady turning around was not really an option, as I was meeting with others to pick me up. She told me someone would call this week, and they would try to ship it. So far, I have left TWO messages on their machine. Woof.
Moral of the story is... I'm walking next time.
Friday, October 14, 2011
Anything But Row 8, Seat.
October 7th 10am Flight from Atlanta to Bloomington
(HERE is what you ALL have been waiting for).
As I was arriving to my gate to get to Bloomington, I notice my boarding pass says, "Seat reserved at gate." So I went up to the nice Delta man, he went to his desk, and came back and said, "Seat 8D. It's one of the best! Window seat and everything." He was nice.. but once again I was convinced he must read my blog and gave me a window so I didn't say anything bad about him...
So then I board.... I'm sitting next to the window doing the flight boarding stank face (staring at EVERYONE that walks by, making sure they DONT take that open seat next to me.) Then this nice little older couple come up to me looking real confused. They go up to the guy behind me in the aisle seat in row nine and say, "Excuse me.. are you in row 9?" This man with his black t.shirt and handle bar mustache continues to leave his arms crossed and eyes forward.... doesnt say a WORD. So the man asks again, "Um.. sir. Are you in row 9?" Scary guy doesn't move or flinch, and just says, "NO." Yep.. I'm sitting here turned 180 degrees watching all of this go down, waiting for the old man to get swatted across the plane. Old man responds, "Well.. this IS row 9.." Scary guy moves to look at his ticket, and says, "Oh.. I'm row...." SCREAMING OUT LOUD IN MY HEAD NOT ROW 8, NOT ROW 8, NOTTTTT ROWWWWWW 8!!!!!!! "Row 8."
So I squirm AS close as I can to the window.. cursing the Delta man inside my brain. Ya.. best seat.. No WONDER it was open...
As soon as he sits down, a flight attendant walked by and he goes, "Hey. I never got my pretzels" Never got your pretzels??? I'm not sure if you've noticed sir.. but we are in row 8, BEHIND the curtain of first class. Not in front of it! You will get pretzels 30 minutes into the flight like everyone else! Nope.. flight attendant was scared, and ran and got him some pretzels. Then, when it was time for the normal class people to get theres, he asked for two more bags!! But don't worry.. never made eye contact.. just looked straight ahead.
Then....... he reached down.. and started taking off his black boots. NO!! I was freakin. In my head, I was picturing the TSA security at the airport all being beat out by him, and him walking through security with his shoes on. He was DEF hiding something in there. Then.......... he started walking towards the front of the plane. WITH NO SHOES! I was screaming in my head.. "SOMEBODY!! STOP HIM. DONT LET HIM GO TO THE FRONT OF THE PLANE!! DON'T LET HIM GO TO THE FRONT OF THE PLANE!"
But of course..... he needed the 1st class bathroom.
We landed... he ran out of the plane before anyone else... and I'm alive.
If you want to know what he looked like... ask my mom, people at her work, Felicia, and TK. Yep. you know I took pics of him so my friends and family knew who to look for if I didn't make it!
My next travels to STL was in a car with Felicia. I'd tell you about it, but this blog is Aisle Seat.. not Drivers Seat...
I am currently in the STL airport with a final destination to Virginia. I PROMISE to keep up blogging! :)
(HERE is what you ALL have been waiting for).
As I was arriving to my gate to get to Bloomington, I notice my boarding pass says, "Seat reserved at gate." So I went up to the nice Delta man, he went to his desk, and came back and said, "Seat 8D. It's one of the best! Window seat and everything." He was nice.. but once again I was convinced he must read my blog and gave me a window so I didn't say anything bad about him...
So then I board.... I'm sitting next to the window doing the flight boarding stank face (staring at EVERYONE that walks by, making sure they DONT take that open seat next to me.) Then this nice little older couple come up to me looking real confused. They go up to the guy behind me in the aisle seat in row nine and say, "Excuse me.. are you in row 9?" This man with his black t.shirt and handle bar mustache continues to leave his arms crossed and eyes forward.... doesnt say a WORD. So the man asks again, "Um.. sir. Are you in row 9?" Scary guy doesn't move or flinch, and just says, "NO." Yep.. I'm sitting here turned 180 degrees watching all of this go down, waiting for the old man to get swatted across the plane. Old man responds, "Well.. this IS row 9.." Scary guy moves to look at his ticket, and says, "Oh.. I'm row...." SCREAMING OUT LOUD IN MY HEAD NOT ROW 8, NOT ROW 8, NOTTTTT ROWWWWWW 8!!!!!!! "Row 8."
So I squirm AS close as I can to the window.. cursing the Delta man inside my brain. Ya.. best seat.. No WONDER it was open...
As soon as he sits down, a flight attendant walked by and he goes, "Hey. I never got my pretzels" Never got your pretzels??? I'm not sure if you've noticed sir.. but we are in row 8, BEHIND the curtain of first class. Not in front of it! You will get pretzels 30 minutes into the flight like everyone else! Nope.. flight attendant was scared, and ran and got him some pretzels. Then, when it was time for the normal class people to get theres, he asked for two more bags!! But don't worry.. never made eye contact.. just looked straight ahead.
Then....... he reached down.. and started taking off his black boots. NO!! I was freakin. In my head, I was picturing the TSA security at the airport all being beat out by him, and him walking through security with his shoes on. He was DEF hiding something in there. Then.......... he started walking towards the front of the plane. WITH NO SHOES! I was screaming in my head.. "SOMEBODY!! STOP HIM. DONT LET HIM GO TO THE FRONT OF THE PLANE!! DON'T LET HIM GO TO THE FRONT OF THE PLANE!"
But of course..... he needed the 1st class bathroom.
We landed... he ran out of the plane before anyone else... and I'm alive.
If you want to know what he looked like... ask my mom, people at her work, Felicia, and TK. Yep. you know I took pics of him so my friends and family knew who to look for if I didn't make it!
My next travels to STL was in a car with Felicia. I'd tell you about it, but this blog is Aisle Seat.. not Drivers Seat...
I am currently in the STL airport with a final destination to Virginia. I PROMISE to keep up blogging! :)
Boring Seats
Yes yes, I know. Sucks to suck. After my last visit you read about, Connecticut, I have been to University of Michigan, Western Michigan, home, Oklahoma University, MU Homecoming, and Headquarters. But come on.. you cant really blame me. Blame the BORING people that have been chosen to sick next to me!
But RIGHT NOW, I am taking a vow to keep up on this. Ill be all up in this blog's grill. Okay? Perfect.
Now.. I don't want to waste time trying to think of my Michigan travels and things like that, because I would probably be lying about people in order to be funny. So.. Let's just start from my Oklahoma to Bloomington travels, as THIS is what inspired me to start up my blog again. Because the people I get sat next to...... are NOT real......
October 7th 630am. Flight from Oklahoma City to Atlanta
Now.. don't get too excited. This particular flight is not the one that inspired me. (spoiler alert, its the next one leaving from Atlanta). For this flight I had to wake up at 4am and was a walking zombie. Seriously.. I go to my window seat with a nice lady next to me, and I don't even remember taking off. I passed out before the flight instructions.
When we landed, I looked at her and said (of COURSE I have to make things awkward. Why couldn't I have just smiled and gotten off the plane? No.. Ashley has to try and make friends.) "Haha.. sorry I wasn't very much of an entertaining flight partner." Basically I was insinuating that her signing up for this flight, and most importantly a seat next to me makes us life long "flight partners." WHO am I! I bet she is blogging about me right now. She laughed and said she understood... blah blah blah.. I had to tell her I worked for a sorority, so like usual... she was over it.
Boring, but believe you, you're going to want to read the next one.
But RIGHT NOW, I am taking a vow to keep up on this. Ill be all up in this blog's grill. Okay? Perfect.
Now.. I don't want to waste time trying to think of my Michigan travels and things like that, because I would probably be lying about people in order to be funny. So.. Let's just start from my Oklahoma to Bloomington travels, as THIS is what inspired me to start up my blog again. Because the people I get sat next to...... are NOT real......
October 7th 630am. Flight from Oklahoma City to Atlanta
Now.. don't get too excited. This particular flight is not the one that inspired me. (spoiler alert, its the next one leaving from Atlanta). For this flight I had to wake up at 4am and was a walking zombie. Seriously.. I go to my window seat with a nice lady next to me, and I don't even remember taking off. I passed out before the flight instructions.
When we landed, I looked at her and said (of COURSE I have to make things awkward. Why couldn't I have just smiled and gotten off the plane? No.. Ashley has to try and make friends.) "Haha.. sorry I wasn't very much of an entertaining flight partner." Basically I was insinuating that her signing up for this flight, and most importantly a seat next to me makes us life long "flight partners." WHO am I! I bet she is blogging about me right now. She laughed and said she understood... blah blah blah.. I had to tell her I worked for a sorority, so like usual... she was over it.
Boring, but believe you, you're going to want to read the next one.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Poof Seat
Thursday, September 1st Flight from El Paso to Dallas 10:05am
I had to wake up around 5am this day, but I wasn't too upset about it. I was SOOO excited to get to Connecticut. If I could just make it through this travel day, I would get to meet up with some LDC friends, and be a part in starting another chapter! How awesome!
Little did I know... El Paso securrrrrity is a little intense.
I made it through baggage check and everything with .5 lbs to spare. Yep. One suitcase at 37 lbs, and the other.... 49.5lbs. I'm getting good at this! I'm walking around like I own the place. I didn't even have to wait in a security line. Got my shoes off, watch off (I learned the hard way that my watch makes the scanner go cray cray if it's on my body). I stood in the scanner... hands up!! (I always smile too, because I feel like it's taking a picture..... better safe than sorry!)
But all of a sudden some mean looking security says, "Ma'am, please step over here and put your feet on this mat." I was literally in a black cami and gaucho pants, since I had to take off my sweater. What could I possibly be hiding in such minimal clothing with NO pockets?! Luckily... it wasn't my clothes they were worried about.
"Sorry, I just want to check your hair.... I don't want to mess it up though!"
Yes... that's right. Homegirl patted down my poof.
Highlight of security so far. Hands down.
It was after that memorable security happening that I knew that day would be interesting.
I saw my ticket was 9B, not happening again. I AM sitting by the window since I got up at 5am. I got on the plane seeing that all row 9 was empty. Score!!! I mean, who is going to say something to me.
Until...... HE came...
"Oh.. did you want the window??"
He looked harmless.. I wanted to say.. "Do you know who I am??? Does it look like I want the window seat?"
Instead I said...
"Oh!! I'm sorry... I didn't even realize!!!" Before I could finish he said, "It's okay!" and sat down.
Phew.. that was close!
Little did i know, no one else that day would be feelin the love. Luckily, my neighbor was nice, let me sleep, and let me have the window! But the peeps in front of us were a little different.
Newlyweds. Who likes a good pair of newlyweds?? I haven't like newlyweds since Nick and Jessica split, and I was reassured not to like them when I sat behind these two. The wife was literally beating the crap out of this kid the entire ride. It was FAR from flirting. I even had to hear to the words, "Babe. Stop biting me!" Okay.. do what you want on your own time, but when your shaking my tray, I'm going to have a problem. I looked at my nice neighbor and said, "Well.. he's going to have a long life ahead of him." He looked at me, and laughed rullll hard. As soon as I made a friend, however, I scared him away. I just had to ruin this awesome neighbor chemistry by saying, "Yeah... if you don't make them stop, I'm going to do the same thing to you!" Let's just say he didn't laugh as hard at that one.... so..I went to sleep for the next hour over to Dallas.....
September 1st, Connecting flight Dallas to Hartford, CT 2:00pm
Well, after witnessing that newlywed crap, I should have known love was not in the air. I was walking down the gate entrance as they were giving each other more bruises. Then, as I was walking through the entire airport for my next gate, I overheard this man's conversation to his wife, lover, someone of that sort saying, "Yes! I'm on business! Would you like me to go to a strip club?!! Is that what you're expecting to hear?! Fine! I'm going to go to a strip club!" I wanted to just tap him on the shoulder... and say, "Excuse me..... I'm not sure if that's necessarily the best choice." But... I already scared one potential friend away, so it wasn't worth it.
But-- I made it to my plane, event got a little manchu wok before the flight. I was dreading the 4 hours however....... UNTIL I got to my window seat. I had a super cute neighbor, telling me all about taking her daughter to college for the first time. And then..... it was like magic.... TV screens came down! I figured they would be showing airline commercials..safety procedures... the standard. NO! They showed the new movie, "Something Borrowed." My neighbor and I were definitely into it. One of my favorite things is when people forget their are wearing headphones. She would turn to me and say thing like, "Wow. He's hott!!!" And like I said.... she forgot she was in headphones...... I definitely recommend the movie! A great way to sum up the theme of dis-functional relationships!
Landed on time, and got to see my LDC friends. :) Now... just sitting in the freezing weather of CT, looking out the apartment window (definitely change to a plane window), just waiting on the next plane seat.... one week from today to be exact!
I had to wake up around 5am this day, but I wasn't too upset about it. I was SOOO excited to get to Connecticut. If I could just make it through this travel day, I would get to meet up with some LDC friends, and be a part in starting another chapter! How awesome!
Little did I know... El Paso securrrrrity is a little intense.
I made it through baggage check and everything with .5 lbs to spare. Yep. One suitcase at 37 lbs, and the other.... 49.5lbs. I'm getting good at this! I'm walking around like I own the place. I didn't even have to wait in a security line. Got my shoes off, watch off (I learned the hard way that my watch makes the scanner go cray cray if it's on my body). I stood in the scanner... hands up!! (I always smile too, because I feel like it's taking a picture..... better safe than sorry!)
But all of a sudden some mean looking security says, "Ma'am, please step over here and put your feet on this mat." I was literally in a black cami and gaucho pants, since I had to take off my sweater. What could I possibly be hiding in such minimal clothing with NO pockets?! Luckily... it wasn't my clothes they were worried about.
"Sorry, I just want to check your hair.... I don't want to mess it up though!"
Yes... that's right. Homegirl patted down my poof.
Highlight of security so far. Hands down.
It was after that memorable security happening that I knew that day would be interesting.
I saw my ticket was 9B, not happening again. I AM sitting by the window since I got up at 5am. I got on the plane seeing that all row 9 was empty. Score!!! I mean, who is going to say something to me.
Until...... HE came...
"Oh.. did you want the window??"
He looked harmless.. I wanted to say.. "Do you know who I am??? Does it look like I want the window seat?"
Instead I said...
"Oh!! I'm sorry... I didn't even realize!!!" Before I could finish he said, "It's okay!" and sat down.
Phew.. that was close!
Little did i know, no one else that day would be feelin the love. Luckily, my neighbor was nice, let me sleep, and let me have the window! But the peeps in front of us were a little different.
Newlyweds. Who likes a good pair of newlyweds?? I haven't like newlyweds since Nick and Jessica split, and I was reassured not to like them when I sat behind these two. The wife was literally beating the crap out of this kid the entire ride. It was FAR from flirting. I even had to hear to the words, "Babe. Stop biting me!" Okay.. do what you want on your own time, but when your shaking my tray, I'm going to have a problem. I looked at my nice neighbor and said, "Well.. he's going to have a long life ahead of him." He looked at me, and laughed rullll hard. As soon as I made a friend, however, I scared him away. I just had to ruin this awesome neighbor chemistry by saying, "Yeah... if you don't make them stop, I'm going to do the same thing to you!" Let's just say he didn't laugh as hard at that one.... so..I went to sleep for the next hour over to Dallas.....
September 1st, Connecting flight Dallas to Hartford, CT 2:00pm
Well, after witnessing that newlywed crap, I should have known love was not in the air. I was walking down the gate entrance as they were giving each other more bruises. Then, as I was walking through the entire airport for my next gate, I overheard this man's conversation to his wife, lover, someone of that sort saying, "Yes! I'm on business! Would you like me to go to a strip club?!! Is that what you're expecting to hear?! Fine! I'm going to go to a strip club!" I wanted to just tap him on the shoulder... and say, "Excuse me..... I'm not sure if that's necessarily the best choice." But... I already scared one potential friend away, so it wasn't worth it.
But-- I made it to my plane, event got a little manchu wok before the flight. I was dreading the 4 hours however....... UNTIL I got to my window seat. I had a super cute neighbor, telling me all about taking her daughter to college for the first time. And then..... it was like magic.... TV screens came down! I figured they would be showing airline commercials..safety procedures... the standard. NO! They showed the new movie, "Something Borrowed." My neighbor and I were definitely into it. One of my favorite things is when people forget their are wearing headphones. She would turn to me and say thing like, "Wow. He's hott!!!" And like I said.... she forgot she was in headphones...... I definitely recommend the movie! A great way to sum up the theme of dis-functional relationships!
Landed on time, and got to see my LDC friends. :) Now... just sitting in the freezing weather of CT, looking out the apartment window (definitely change to a plane window), just waiting on the next plane seat.... one week from today to be exact!
Catch-Up (not to be confused with Ketchup) Seat
Yes, yes yes. My bad.
According to this blog, I am still in Wyoming-- When in fact, I have been to 3 different states, 3 different time zones, and 3 different climates since my last post. Oops!! Time has been FLYING with work being so crazy! Not too many interesting characters-- but let me try to catch up a little bit.
August 20th, Wyoming to Ohio
Just like flying to Wyoming, I got to take my own personal little plane on the way to a bigger airport, to connect for a bigger airport. Yep-- real descriptive.
I don't remember too much. Just the two Jersey girls on my baby flight. Big sun glasses, velvet jump suites two sizes too small, iPhones, and talking slow. I was annoyed, seeing as it was before 1pm. But it wasn't anything I couldn't handle. I flew on time, caught my connecting flight, and made it to Detroit right on time. Things seem rather boring when they work out correctly!
This time, however, I had more travel in a car for an hour and a half after my day of flying. That was pretty interesting, and definitely a new experience trying to stay "on" after such a long day. But the women that greeted me and were a part of the chapter were super great, and listened to things like Tarzan during the car ride-- Definite success.
August 26th, Ohio to New Mexico
Another 2 hour car ride before even starting my air travel for the day. It was a morning after the first recruitment night, so lets just say a lot of sleep didn't go into that wonderful day. Again, I don't remember much from that day, because things must have been going "right," and plus I was a walking sleepless zombie. The only two things I recall from that travel day are from a text and a tweet. I had man friend call me at 7am to make sure I was awake to leave that morning, and lets just say I had a text that said, "Let's just say I'm glad I got to see the "morning" you early on in our relationship." (that shows how well THAT conversation must have went.......) And then I tweeted that morning from my real person account that said, "Please keep the music turned up. I don't need to talk." Oops... I must have been pleasant! Again, travel must have went fine, because I ended up in New Mexico without a bad taste in my mouth to American Airlines!!!
New Mexico was beautiful! But hott...... Since that travel day was only about 6 5 days ago.. maybe I can write a REAL aisle seat blog. :)
Friday, August 19, 2011
The BEST Aisler
8/16/11 Connecting Flight From Denver to Cheyene, WY 1130 am
(There is a story leading up to this one in the previous blog. I just didn't want to write TOO much in one post, because then Sir Michael Gurney would comment that I'm writing a manuscript.)
My connecting flight was supposed to start boarding at 1055, and it is now 1115. I wasn't too worried, as it usually takes forever to board flights. I go up to a frontier counter and ask, "Can you let me know what gate Cheyene is currently at? And could you call down and let them know I am on my way?" She tells me the gate, and then says she does not "have access" to those phones. Um.... your lying to me. She just wanted to see me hustle. But whatever-- I'll show her I can make it on my own!!!
For the first time in my life, I walked down an escalator. Yep, walked down the moving stairs. Hopefully that's the last time I do that too. I find a large board to make sure I am going to the right gate, as I did not trust no access to phone girl, and I saw that the flight to Cheyenne was with Greater Lakes America, not Frontier. Well.. THIS is interesting. As I hear "Gate 68A is now all boarding to services to Cheyenne" I only get mad because I did not have time to creep and guess who the aisle winner was today!! Oh well... I walk up frantically to the gate, and she says, "Cheyenne?" How did she know????? I was creeped out in responding, "yess...... but I also have a question" I explain how my plane JUST landed, and I wanted to make sure my baggage got on this flight out. Again, I walked up to another liar who just says "No." Luckily, the guy who actually works with the baggage comes right up to me and says, "All the baggage that is checked for this flight is what you see out there-- was your flight Frontier?" I said, "yes, from Knoxville. I just have two large pink bags." This guy, being the man of the day, says into his little microphone, "yeah, we are looking for two pink bags to Cheyenne."
After being so happy that finally someone stopped lying to me, I thought about what he said, "All the baggage that is checked for this flight is what you see out there" I see a box. How come only a box? How come she knew I was on this flight?? How come we are boarding, and I am only behind two people? How come we are walking outside........
YES!! This flight is one of those tiny little, I can see and talk to the pilot flights, where you never go above the clouds, and with propellers and everything. I love those!!!!!! But I DEFINITELY was not expecting it at all! So who was my neighbor? You can read it in the title! The best one I ever had.... only 6 seats on the plane, so who sat next to me? ME!!!!
I boarded the flight in time, I get to sit next to me, the pilot is directly giving us safety procedures, and I didn't think this flight could get better. Just then I hear a BANG BANG BANG. Yep-- someone is literally knocking on our plane. The pilot looks out, and all I hear is, "HEY! WE GOT THAT GIRLS PINK BAGS!!!!"
:). How nice of him. I tried tapping on my window and mouthing "THANK YOU!!!" But I'm not sure if he ever saw me. 25 minutes later, I landed in Cheyenne Wyoming, with all my luggage, and good to go.
Yes, I am in Wyoming.
(There is a story leading up to this one in the previous blog. I just didn't want to write TOO much in one post, because then Sir Michael Gurney would comment that I'm writing a manuscript.)
My connecting flight was supposed to start boarding at 1055, and it is now 1115. I wasn't too worried, as it usually takes forever to board flights. I go up to a frontier counter and ask, "Can you let me know what gate Cheyene is currently at? And could you call down and let them know I am on my way?" She tells me the gate, and then says she does not "have access" to those phones. Um.... your lying to me. She just wanted to see me hustle. But whatever-- I'll show her I can make it on my own!!!
For the first time in my life, I walked down an escalator. Yep, walked down the moving stairs. Hopefully that's the last time I do that too. I find a large board to make sure I am going to the right gate, as I did not trust no access to phone girl, and I saw that the flight to Cheyenne was with Greater Lakes America, not Frontier. Well.. THIS is interesting. As I hear "Gate 68A is now all boarding to services to Cheyenne" I only get mad because I did not have time to creep and guess who the aisle winner was today!! Oh well... I walk up frantically to the gate, and she says, "Cheyenne?" How did she know????? I was creeped out in responding, "yess...... but I also have a question" I explain how my plane JUST landed, and I wanted to make sure my baggage got on this flight out. Again, I walked up to another liar who just says "No." Luckily, the guy who actually works with the baggage comes right up to me and says, "All the baggage that is checked for this flight is what you see out there-- was your flight Frontier?" I said, "yes, from Knoxville. I just have two large pink bags." This guy, being the man of the day, says into his little microphone, "yeah, we are looking for two pink bags to Cheyenne."
After being so happy that finally someone stopped lying to me, I thought about what he said, "All the baggage that is checked for this flight is what you see out there" I see a box. How come only a box? How come she knew I was on this flight?? How come we are boarding, and I am only behind two people? How come we are walking outside........
YES!! This flight is one of those tiny little, I can see and talk to the pilot flights, where you never go above the clouds, and with propellers and everything. I love those!!!!!! But I DEFINITELY was not expecting it at all! So who was my neighbor? You can read it in the title! The best one I ever had.... only 6 seats on the plane, so who sat next to me? ME!!!!
I boarded the flight in time, I get to sit next to me, the pilot is directly giving us safety procedures, and I didn't think this flight could get better. Just then I hear a BANG BANG BANG. Yep-- someone is literally knocking on our plane. The pilot looks out, and all I hear is, "HEY! WE GOT THAT GIRLS PINK BAGS!!!!"
:). How nice of him. I tried tapping on my window and mouthing "THANK YOU!!!" But I'm not sure if he ever saw me. 25 minutes later, I landed in Cheyenne Wyoming, with all my luggage, and good to go.
Yes, I am in Wyoming.
Aisler and Windower
8/16/11 Flight from Knoxville to Denve 9:36am
To my surprise, Knoxville airport is pretty tiny! No matter how small and convenient, Ashley has to run into a few stories as soon as she hits the airport (hence the NEED for a blog). I stroll up to the ticket counter, two suitcases, heels, and smile all with me. There was NO wait at this baggage check-in, what a way to start!!! I use all my strength to throw my large suitcase up on the scale. (for those of you who do not have a good memory, on my last flight, my tiny carry-on weighed 10 more lbs than my huge, up to my waist suitcase). 53lbs. Unfortunately, I was not able to butter up this flight assistant as I was in STL a few weeks back. So of course I just said, "Sorry-- let me take care of that," and set the big boy down, opened that sucker up, and transferred jeans and pants from that to my little guy. Lets try this again. 48lbs! My other was 36, so we were good to go.
I then get to gate 2A, and wait in suspense. Frontier started boarding, but they did it in a way I have never heard before. "No carry ons to be stowed board now." Well-- I think thats me. I mean, I have two bags, but I keep them both under the seat. Sure-- lets try this out. I'm standing in line with my boarding pass out, THREE people away from boarding. "Maam, would you like to step out for an extra security scan please?" Seriously? My response-- as I knew he was not really asking my opinion, "Why of course I would!" Do these people not know I'm on a mission to see who I am sitting next to?!!! Hurry it up.
I get that over with, get on the plane, and I'm noticing something is wrong with my ticket. It SAYS I'm in 15 B, but that is impossible. This plane is huge, and each side has three seats. You guessed it, 15 B is a middle seat. This cant be right. Debbie did me wrong! I find row 15 with no one else in it yet, though as soon as I sit down an older women says, "Hi-- I'm right next to you by the window." I politely got up to let her slide in, but I remember maybe a few grunts and thoughts of "well...aren't YOU lucky getting that precious window seat." Luckily I didn't say anything out loud, as my neighbor seaters came to save the day just 3 hours later.
I arrived in Denver with my aisler and windower neighbors. (yes, there are red squiggly lines under the words aisler and windower, but for the purpose of this blog, those are real words). The pilot lets us know we will be hanging out on the runway until our gate opens. Surprise surprise. I wanted to apologize to the 1000 people on the flight, because the only reason we had to do any waiting was because I was on the plane. But during this wait time I really got to know my two neighbors! We were just chatting it up, me and these two nice older women. They were loving hearing about my job-- UNTIL I mentioned I had a connecting flight that was boarding RIGHT NOW as we sit on this run way. It was just then when I found out Aisler and Windower were nice but feisty. And feisty to my benefit. As soon as we pull up to the gate, they are saying, "excuse me.. excuse me!! This girl has a connecting flight NOW. Let her go!!!!" It was not like something you would imagine in a movie where these ladies essentially part the red sea, but it did get rows 11-15 to let me go! How nice.
So... I run-- well, we all know that's not true-- I walked briskly to my connecting gate, only to find out my next aisle seater would be the BEST I ever had!
To my surprise, Knoxville airport is pretty tiny! No matter how small and convenient, Ashley has to run into a few stories as soon as she hits the airport (hence the NEED for a blog). I stroll up to the ticket counter, two suitcases, heels, and smile all with me. There was NO wait at this baggage check-in, what a way to start!!! I use all my strength to throw my large suitcase up on the scale. (for those of you who do not have a good memory, on my last flight, my tiny carry-on weighed 10 more lbs than my huge, up to my waist suitcase). 53lbs. Unfortunately, I was not able to butter up this flight assistant as I was in STL a few weeks back. So of course I just said, "Sorry-- let me take care of that," and set the big boy down, opened that sucker up, and transferred jeans and pants from that to my little guy. Lets try this again. 48lbs! My other was 36, so we were good to go.
I then get to gate 2A, and wait in suspense. Frontier started boarding, but they did it in a way I have never heard before. "No carry ons to be stowed board now." Well-- I think thats me. I mean, I have two bags, but I keep them both under the seat. Sure-- lets try this out. I'm standing in line with my boarding pass out, THREE people away from boarding. "Maam, would you like to step out for an extra security scan please?" Seriously? My response-- as I knew he was not really asking my opinion, "Why of course I would!" Do these people not know I'm on a mission to see who I am sitting next to?!!! Hurry it up.
I get that over with, get on the plane, and I'm noticing something is wrong with my ticket. It SAYS I'm in 15 B, but that is impossible. This plane is huge, and each side has three seats. You guessed it, 15 B is a middle seat. This cant be right. Debbie did me wrong! I find row 15 with no one else in it yet, though as soon as I sit down an older women says, "Hi-- I'm right next to you by the window." I politely got up to let her slide in, but I remember maybe a few grunts and thoughts of "well...aren't YOU lucky getting that precious window seat." Luckily I didn't say anything out loud, as my neighbor seaters came to save the day just 3 hours later.
I arrived in Denver with my aisler and windower neighbors. (yes, there are red squiggly lines under the words aisler and windower, but for the purpose of this blog, those are real words). The pilot lets us know we will be hanging out on the runway until our gate opens. Surprise surprise. I wanted to apologize to the 1000 people on the flight, because the only reason we had to do any waiting was because I was on the plane. But during this wait time I really got to know my two neighbors! We were just chatting it up, me and these two nice older women. They were loving hearing about my job-- UNTIL I mentioned I had a connecting flight that was boarding RIGHT NOW as we sit on this run way. It was just then when I found out Aisler and Windower were nice but feisty. And feisty to my benefit. As soon as we pull up to the gate, they are saying, "excuse me.. excuse me!! This girl has a connecting flight NOW. Let her go!!!!" It was not like something you would imagine in a movie where these ladies essentially part the red sea, but it did get rows 11-15 to let me go! How nice.
So... I run-- well, we all know that's not true-- I walked briskly to my connecting gate, only to find out my next aisle seater would be the BEST I ever had!
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Phantom flights
8/7/11 Flight from Peoria to Chicago O'Hare- 11:36 am
Finally!! It's August 7th! I officially get to start my job, and travel to my first chapter. Not only do I get to start, I get to start in Knoxville Tennessee! What could go wrong? No aisle seater is going to bring me down today no matter what!!! (Jinx).
But seriously. I was so excited, and what could upset me after having a certain gentleman take me to IHOP before my travel day? Everything's perfect. I arrive to Peoria airport, and not a single person is at the United Airlines desk. I patiently wait.... wait... wait some more. During my wait, I decided I needed some reading material, so why not read the flight board behind the ticket desk? Oh how nice.. there are flights to Chicago leaving at 930, and 130. There are flights from Chicago comi--- wait. There are flights leaving at 930 and 130.. WHAT about my flight at 11:36?!! I started trippin. I'm SURE I'm united airlines, I looked 4 times this morning. Apparently I am flying next to a ghost today, because my flight is the phantom flight.
So either I am supposed to be in Bloomington right now, OR UA messed up. As I start frantically checking my email on my phone, I notice the guy behind me looking confused. Well here you go Ashley, first friend of the day. "Um--- is your flight not up there?" Thankfully him and the next people behind him were all on the phantom flight. I pressed the service button 6 more times waiting for a nice attendant in blue to help me and take the 100lbs of luggage off of my hands. He comes running up, and says, "I'll be right with you maam, let me take care of her first." Of course, I was already making a line full of friends, so why not look at this lady and smile and add her to my list. She informs me, "Ya, they are on a ground freeze in Chicago, not flights in or out." GREAT!! What a fantastic day to start my job. :)
After finally getting my baggage checked (my monster suitcase that goes up to my waist weighed less than the carry on size one I was checking. Don't under estimate the power of shoes and shampoo) I finally got put on a real live flight. They pushed me up to the 930am flight, since it was 1100am, and it still hadnt left. Around 1115 I got to board. FINALLY I get to see who my seat friend is.
I anxiously await, then finally a large African American male sits next to me. He looks friendly! After our ice breaker of hellos, he realizes he was in the wrong seat. (I dont think he even looked at his ticket. I think he saw me, knew I had this blog, and did not want to be written about). Then a high school aged son and mother walk up. I could see their tickets, and the son definitely had the seat next to me, but must have been to SHY because he made his mother switch him. Again, he must know about the blog. But at this point, little did I know that I would really need to enjoy the company of my aisle seat partner.
2 hours on the run way. 2. After those two hours, we started moving!! Yayyyyy. Oh wait, we are moving back to the gate. My plane full of friends and I exited the plane, to get back on in 20 minutes, and sit on the runway again for another hour. Finally--- take off. During this 4 hour sit, my aisle sitter and I discussed anger, and solutions, but that's it. We both enjoyed sleeping on the runway-- WIN!
So YAYYY!!! I finally arrive in Chicago O'Hare to my connecting flight!! I even only have 30 minutes to wait! What else could go wrong, I will be in Knoxville in no time! :)
8/7/11 Flight from Chicago O'Hare to Knoxville- 3:56pm
Imagine me, all dressed up with my pin on, excited to finally get my flight to Knoxville! I'm checking all of the UA boards for a gate change of my flight that I have about 10 minutes to catch. Oh weird... another phantom flight!!! It is not on the board! Oh well, plenty of desks to go ask a nice lady where my gate is, "Excuse me maam, can you tell me what gate I can find the 356 flight to Knoxville?" "Flight 356 to Knoxville has been canceled, please see the customer service desk for more options."
Uhh..... what? I don't have that kind of option. As I'm looking for the customer desk, I find all other customer desk, with not a soul around. But once I pull up to good 'ol UAs, the line is 3 miles long, including ALL of my friends from peoria flight, and others. What happens next?
Let me make this part short to move onto the real topic of this blog-- once I get ON the plane and sit next to someone! So to get to that point, I get put on stand by for a 530 flight, get a ticket for the 730 flight, and if ALL else fails, there is still a 940 flight.
530 flight- I am 8 out of 42 for stand by. They stopped offering seats at person 6.
730 flight- problem after problem, infact, it ends up leaving AFTER the 930 flight..... :)
So I get on the flight at 1130 pm next to---- who?? YOU GUESSED IT!! One of the blonde twins with her mommy that I had been watching all day sippin on her mocha, whining "mommy call daddy." So conversation- not happening. Sleeping?? YES! It is midnight and I had been in airports for 15 straight hours! As I start to get get some shut eye, I notice ONE over head light on on the whole place. WHY does someone need to read at midnight? And WHY does that someone need to be in seat 18B, RIGHT next to 18C, which is what my ticket states................... asdfkjalsdfjalsdjfalsjie! Congrats blondie!! You win the prize of aisle seater that is needing a punch.
Finally, I arrived in beautiful Knoxville with 3 shining faces and a bouquet of flowers to welcome me. :) I was SO thankful they were understanding of my schedule, and I would not be arriving until 10 hours after planned! They were even better sports when one of my suitcases was lost... and after I accused the UA worker of trying to steal my shoes, he finally found it!
I soon found out it was in a special room because my little purple suitcase was threatening, and had a paper in it that it had been checked. I thought they stole my shampoo, but in fact, they took everything out and re packed it for me, putting my shampoo on the bottom. How thoughtful and nice those UA folks!!! :/
ANY aisle seater on my next flights next Monday has GOT to be guarenteed a better story!! :)
Till next flight!
Finally!! It's August 7th! I officially get to start my job, and travel to my first chapter. Not only do I get to start, I get to start in Knoxville Tennessee! What could go wrong? No aisle seater is going to bring me down today no matter what!!! (Jinx).
But seriously. I was so excited, and what could upset me after having a certain gentleman take me to IHOP before my travel day? Everything's perfect. I arrive to Peoria airport, and not a single person is at the United Airlines desk. I patiently wait.... wait... wait some more. During my wait, I decided I needed some reading material, so why not read the flight board behind the ticket desk? Oh how nice.. there are flights to Chicago leaving at 930, and 130. There are flights from Chicago comi--- wait. There are flights leaving at 930 and 130.. WHAT about my flight at 11:36?!! I started trippin. I'm SURE I'm united airlines, I looked 4 times this morning. Apparently I am flying next to a ghost today, because my flight is the phantom flight.
So either I am supposed to be in Bloomington right now, OR UA messed up. As I start frantically checking my email on my phone, I notice the guy behind me looking confused. Well here you go Ashley, first friend of the day. "Um--- is your flight not up there?" Thankfully him and the next people behind him were all on the phantom flight. I pressed the service button 6 more times waiting for a nice attendant in blue to help me and take the 100lbs of luggage off of my hands. He comes running up, and says, "I'll be right with you maam, let me take care of her first." Of course, I was already making a line full of friends, so why not look at this lady and smile and add her to my list. She informs me, "Ya, they are on a ground freeze in Chicago, not flights in or out." GREAT!! What a fantastic day to start my job. :)
After finally getting my baggage checked (my monster suitcase that goes up to my waist weighed less than the carry on size one I was checking. Don't under estimate the power of shoes and shampoo) I finally got put on a real live flight. They pushed me up to the 930am flight, since it was 1100am, and it still hadnt left. Around 1115 I got to board. FINALLY I get to see who my seat friend is.
I anxiously await, then finally a large African American male sits next to me. He looks friendly! After our ice breaker of hellos, he realizes he was in the wrong seat. (I dont think he even looked at his ticket. I think he saw me, knew I had this blog, and did not want to be written about). Then a high school aged son and mother walk up. I could see their tickets, and the son definitely had the seat next to me, but must have been to SHY because he made his mother switch him. Again, he must know about the blog. But at this point, little did I know that I would really need to enjoy the company of my aisle seat partner.
2 hours on the run way. 2. After those two hours, we started moving!! Yayyyyy. Oh wait, we are moving back to the gate. My plane full of friends and I exited the plane, to get back on in 20 minutes, and sit on the runway again for another hour. Finally--- take off. During this 4 hour sit, my aisle sitter and I discussed anger, and solutions, but that's it. We both enjoyed sleeping on the runway-- WIN!
So YAYYY!!! I finally arrive in Chicago O'Hare to my connecting flight!! I even only have 30 minutes to wait! What else could go wrong, I will be in Knoxville in no time! :)
8/7/11 Flight from Chicago O'Hare to Knoxville- 3:56pm
Imagine me, all dressed up with my pin on, excited to finally get my flight to Knoxville! I'm checking all of the UA boards for a gate change of my flight that I have about 10 minutes to catch. Oh weird... another phantom flight!!! It is not on the board! Oh well, plenty of desks to go ask a nice lady where my gate is, "Excuse me maam, can you tell me what gate I can find the 356 flight to Knoxville?" "Flight 356 to Knoxville has been canceled, please see the customer service desk for more options."
Uhh..... what? I don't have that kind of option. As I'm looking for the customer desk, I find all other customer desk, with not a soul around. But once I pull up to good 'ol UAs, the line is 3 miles long, including ALL of my friends from peoria flight, and others. What happens next?
Let me make this part short to move onto the real topic of this blog-- once I get ON the plane and sit next to someone! So to get to that point, I get put on stand by for a 530 flight, get a ticket for the 730 flight, and if ALL else fails, there is still a 940 flight.
530 flight- I am 8 out of 42 for stand by. They stopped offering seats at person 6.
730 flight- problem after problem, infact, it ends up leaving AFTER the 930 flight..... :)
So I get on the flight at 1130 pm next to---- who?? YOU GUESSED IT!! One of the blonde twins with her mommy that I had been watching all day sippin on her mocha, whining "mommy call daddy." So conversation- not happening. Sleeping?? YES! It is midnight and I had been in airports for 15 straight hours! As I start to get get some shut eye, I notice ONE over head light on on the whole place. WHY does someone need to read at midnight? And WHY does that someone need to be in seat 18B, RIGHT next to 18C, which is what my ticket states................... asdfkjalsdfjalsdjfalsjie! Congrats blondie!! You win the prize of aisle seater that is needing a punch.
Finally, I arrived in beautiful Knoxville with 3 shining faces and a bouquet of flowers to welcome me. :) I was SO thankful they were understanding of my schedule, and I would not be arriving until 10 hours after planned! They were even better sports when one of my suitcases was lost... and after I accused the UA worker of trying to steal my shoes, he finally found it!
I soon found out it was in a special room because my little purple suitcase was threatening, and had a paper in it that it had been checked. I thought they stole my shampoo, but in fact, they took everything out and re packed it for me, putting my shampoo on the bottom. How thoughtful and nice those UA folks!!! :/
ANY aisle seater on my next flights next Monday has GOT to be guarenteed a better story!! :)
Till next flight!
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Delayed Aisler
I jumped the gun last night in my closing statements at gate C7. I was within 5 minutes of boarding, or so I thought. As I turned off my computer and got all packed up to go, they announced, "Delta flight 4960 with services to Bloomington, IL will be at a 30 minute delay due to maintenance." Hold up.... 30 minutes? AND because of maintenance? Nothing good can come from this.
After crying children, purchasing some crackers and a diet coke, texting all of my friends to say goodbye, and that I was getting on a play that is getting maintenance, we were finally able to board.
As I stepped on the plane, we had an IMMEDIATE problem. I was seat 10 C. However, all of the seats must be marked wrong. They were marked the C was the aisle seat??? This could not be. There is NO way. In searching for a Delta flight attendant to tell her to remark all of the seats, I finally got to row 10, and notice my eager neighbor already sitting. However, she was in the aisle seat! I would normally complain and make a scene that this stupid girl could not read her ticket. But maybe she could FEEL it-- she knew she belonged in the aisle!
So perfect. She already made my life. We were discussing how the flight attendant, Bethany, hated her life, and how the kids needed to get to bed stat. She was from Monticello and knew a friend of mine from Pi Phi! (Kelly Harrington--- if you are reading this! :)). We understood each other too. It was nice meeting you and having that awkward initial conversation, but we can use electronics now, and its time for alone time with our music.
We did fly next to lightening for the entire trip so that was cool.
All in all, thank you girl who cant read her ticket, and sit in the aisle seat.. It's YOUR turn!
After crying children, purchasing some crackers and a diet coke, texting all of my friends to say goodbye, and that I was getting on a play that is getting maintenance, we were finally able to board.
As I stepped on the plane, we had an IMMEDIATE problem. I was seat 10 C. However, all of the seats must be marked wrong. They were marked the C was the aisle seat??? This could not be. There is NO way. In searching for a Delta flight attendant to tell her to remark all of the seats, I finally got to row 10, and notice my eager neighbor already sitting. However, she was in the aisle seat! I would normally complain and make a scene that this stupid girl could not read her ticket. But maybe she could FEEL it-- she knew she belonged in the aisle!
So perfect. She already made my life. We were discussing how the flight attendant, Bethany, hated her life, and how the kids needed to get to bed stat. She was from Monticello and knew a friend of mine from Pi Phi! (Kelly Harrington--- if you are reading this! :)). We understood each other too. It was nice meeting you and having that awkward initial conversation, but we can use electronics now, and its time for alone time with our music.
We did fly next to lightening for the entire trip so that was cool.
All in all, thank you girl who cant read her ticket, and sit in the aisle seat.. It's YOUR turn!
Saturday, July 23, 2011
The First Few Contestants
Since I am starting this about a month after I started traveling, I have some Aisle Seat winners to chat about.
June 24, 2011- Flight from Bloomington to Atlanta (630 am)
As I'm sitting in seat 14 C, next to the window of course, I remember stank eyeing every single person who walked by. Who was the lucky winner this bright and early morning? Finally, an older woman sat down.
How would that be interesting? Not a child-- not a creeper man-- just a nice older lady.
Within the first 6 minutes she finally decides to talk to me. As I notice her to lean over and open her mouth, I'm so excited to make a new friend!! Just then, she finally says-- "uughhmmmhmmm. WHY are there so many children on this flight?!" I remember being shocked, as I did not think this was how my first new travel friendship would start, but I kept my smile and said, "Um.. well it's later in June, so I'm sure most schools are out." I wanted to say "duh. this is a connecting flight for Orlando Fl." But I figured it was too early for BOTH of us to be sassy. After I answered her she waved the flight attendant over. Before the flight attendant could get there, this woman had her plastic out on her tray, and said, "Get me a bloddy Mary." Yep. 6:46am Bloddy Mary. As we were taking off, she refused to turn of her Kindle, as she kept hiding it when someone would walk by. I tried very hard to creep on what reading material could be SO important that she did not need to follow the rules.
I was in no way surprised to find that this lively and not bitter older women was reading a book intitled-- "Three Ways to Die."
June 24, 2011- Flight from Atlanta to Orlando (10:43am)
I would love to brag about how happy I was sitting in seat 14 C again, because I made it all the way through shuttles and different courses to make it to my connecting flight on time with no directional issues, but, that's not what this blog is about. I'm sitting in 14 C waiting to see what next ray of sunshine will be joining me on this lovely travel day.
Finally sits down a middle aged man with shaggy brown hair. He did not even fasten his seat belt before starting to chat with me! (Don't tell Airtran-- safety issue). He got my reason for flying to Orlando, and I got his whole family and life story before take off. What a nice man and total turn around from the woman just a couple hours earlier. He then got out his book, and it was entitled, "The Social Animal."
THAT was the second I decided I needed to blog about these things. The woman who hated life from 630 in the morning was reading about three ways to die, this man who gave me a headache from talking was reading the social animal, and myself, a new young professional woman, was reading, "If You Want to Cry-- Go Outside."
Changed my life!
June 28th, 2011 Flight from Orlando to Bloomington (3:30pm)
I do not remember this one being very interesting. I remember Jamie being on my flight, and us planning to do ANYTHING and EVERYTHING to get whoever was next to me to want to move. The flight attendant even promised working it out, so Jamie could be the Aisle Seat winner of the day-- but it never happened. Therefore, whoever was in aisle seat 12A that day, is dead to me.
July 9th, 2011 Flight from Bloomington to Minnesota (6:30am)
Yep. Another 630am flight. I was really nervous for the next contestant on aisle seat was going to be this day, because I started my day at 4am with my GPS not working, my lotion getting taken away at security, and my luggage not getting weighed. I knew it was one of "those" days... and could not wait to meet this character.
Do you ever have those complete strangers that you keep running into all day? Those people who are in front of you in a line, then you go get some coffee and they are right behind you, then you go to the bathroom and they are washing their hands next to you-- so you do the creep smile because you think your friends by that time, then you sit at the airport gate, and sure enough, they are within 3 seats of you. Of course that women was the next contestant on who gets Ashley's Aisle seat! She sat down and I made the comment, "Oh.. who would have imagine?!" I said it nice and friendly, but she obviously didn't see the warmth in my creeper smile at the sink earlier, and must have had no idea I ran into her all morning. I obviously did not make an impact. I then noticed she was reading a book called "Country Murders" or something like that, and I decided to keep my distance.
July 9th, 2011 Flight from Minnesota to STL (10:45am)
At this point, I had little faith in my hopes to create a blog. Yes, the first two people I met on my travels were interesting, but the next two ruined it all. As I was sitting in my window seat, I was not even watching who was coming in, because I new it would lead to disappointment. Just then this 23 year old woman sat down and said, "Man-- I am a directional retard!"
Ding ding ding........ soul mate!
We were able to connect RIGHT away with our issues of not knowing where anything is ever. She had a very interesting story with her husband being a DR. in a different country. She was SO sweet, and when I told her about my job, I was DREAMING that she would say, "oh my gosh! I'm a pi phi!" Needless to say the relationship didnt get to go that perfect. But it was great to finally have someone to make the flight go super fast, because we really connected, and were interested in what each other had to say! Making new friends on the road was back on!
Today, July 23rd, 2011 Flight from STL so Detroit
Knowing that I wanted to start this blog on my lay over in Detroit, I was again stank facing everybody that was coming in to the plane, to sit next to 21A. People kept passing, and passing and passing. The plane was filling up! Obviously my neighbor is a slacker, and will either be a hot mess, or not interesting at all. Movement on the plane stopped...... All I could keep thinking was shut up... shut up.... shut up.. SHUT UP!! Will I get this entire row to myself?? I looked around, and EVERY other seat was taken. There was no way that this full plane only had one open seat, and it was next to me. I was trying so hard not to get my hopes up, and kept waiting for the aisle seater. They then paged someone over the intercom, that if they were on the plane to flash the service light... I thought in my head, "Don't look for him! Just take off already!!"
Gates closed.
Safety checks were done.
Phones turned off.
Take off.
No one to blog about this time, but I got to lay out and sleep the entire flight!! I guess I could note the drunk losers behind me, ordering Heinikens and admiring their new haircuts.
Now..... I sit here at gate C7, waiting to board my flight to Bloomington. I am looking around this crowded gate and judging everyone. I dont want you, I dont want you, you would be okay, you have kids so no...
Wish me luck, and I know the next aisle seat winner is killing you in suspense!!!
June 24, 2011- Flight from Bloomington to Atlanta (630 am)
As I'm sitting in seat 14 C, next to the window of course, I remember stank eyeing every single person who walked by. Who was the lucky winner this bright and early morning? Finally, an older woman sat down.
How would that be interesting? Not a child-- not a creeper man-- just a nice older lady.
Within the first 6 minutes she finally decides to talk to me. As I notice her to lean over and open her mouth, I'm so excited to make a new friend!! Just then, she finally says-- "uughhmmmhmmm. WHY are there so many children on this flight?!" I remember being shocked, as I did not think this was how my first new travel friendship would start, but I kept my smile and said, "Um.. well it's later in June, so I'm sure most schools are out." I wanted to say "duh. this is a connecting flight for Orlando Fl." But I figured it was too early for BOTH of us to be sassy. After I answered her she waved the flight attendant over. Before the flight attendant could get there, this woman had her plastic out on her tray, and said, "Get me a bloddy Mary." Yep. 6:46am Bloddy Mary. As we were taking off, she refused to turn of her Kindle, as she kept hiding it when someone would walk by. I tried very hard to creep on what reading material could be SO important that she did not need to follow the rules.
I was in no way surprised to find that this lively and not bitter older women was reading a book intitled-- "Three Ways to Die."
June 24, 2011- Flight from Atlanta to Orlando (10:43am)
I would love to brag about how happy I was sitting in seat 14 C again, because I made it all the way through shuttles and different courses to make it to my connecting flight on time with no directional issues, but, that's not what this blog is about. I'm sitting in 14 C waiting to see what next ray of sunshine will be joining me on this lovely travel day.
Finally sits down a middle aged man with shaggy brown hair. He did not even fasten his seat belt before starting to chat with me! (Don't tell Airtran-- safety issue). He got my reason for flying to Orlando, and I got his whole family and life story before take off. What a nice man and total turn around from the woman just a couple hours earlier. He then got out his book, and it was entitled, "The Social Animal."
THAT was the second I decided I needed to blog about these things. The woman who hated life from 630 in the morning was reading about three ways to die, this man who gave me a headache from talking was reading the social animal, and myself, a new young professional woman, was reading, "If You Want to Cry-- Go Outside."
Changed my life!
June 28th, 2011 Flight from Orlando to Bloomington (3:30pm)
I do not remember this one being very interesting. I remember Jamie being on my flight, and us planning to do ANYTHING and EVERYTHING to get whoever was next to me to want to move. The flight attendant even promised working it out, so Jamie could be the Aisle Seat winner of the day-- but it never happened. Therefore, whoever was in aisle seat 12A that day, is dead to me.
July 9th, 2011 Flight from Bloomington to Minnesota (6:30am)
Yep. Another 630am flight. I was really nervous for the next contestant on aisle seat was going to be this day, because I started my day at 4am with my GPS not working, my lotion getting taken away at security, and my luggage not getting weighed. I knew it was one of "those" days... and could not wait to meet this character.
Do you ever have those complete strangers that you keep running into all day? Those people who are in front of you in a line, then you go get some coffee and they are right behind you, then you go to the bathroom and they are washing their hands next to you-- so you do the creep smile because you think your friends by that time, then you sit at the airport gate, and sure enough, they are within 3 seats of you. Of course that women was the next contestant on who gets Ashley's Aisle seat! She sat down and I made the comment, "Oh.. who would have imagine?!" I said it nice and friendly, but she obviously didn't see the warmth in my creeper smile at the sink earlier, and must have had no idea I ran into her all morning. I obviously did not make an impact. I then noticed she was reading a book called "Country Murders" or something like that, and I decided to keep my distance.
July 9th, 2011 Flight from Minnesota to STL (10:45am)
At this point, I had little faith in my hopes to create a blog. Yes, the first two people I met on my travels were interesting, but the next two ruined it all. As I was sitting in my window seat, I was not even watching who was coming in, because I new it would lead to disappointment. Just then this 23 year old woman sat down and said, "Man-- I am a directional retard!"
Ding ding ding........ soul mate!
We were able to connect RIGHT away with our issues of not knowing where anything is ever. She had a very interesting story with her husband being a DR. in a different country. She was SO sweet, and when I told her about my job, I was DREAMING that she would say, "oh my gosh! I'm a pi phi!" Needless to say the relationship didnt get to go that perfect. But it was great to finally have someone to make the flight go super fast, because we really connected, and were interested in what each other had to say! Making new friends on the road was back on!
Today, July 23rd, 2011 Flight from STL so Detroit
Knowing that I wanted to start this blog on my lay over in Detroit, I was again stank facing everybody that was coming in to the plane, to sit next to 21A. People kept passing, and passing and passing. The plane was filling up! Obviously my neighbor is a slacker, and will either be a hot mess, or not interesting at all. Movement on the plane stopped...... All I could keep thinking was shut up... shut up.... shut up.. SHUT UP!! Will I get this entire row to myself?? I looked around, and EVERY other seat was taken. There was no way that this full plane only had one open seat, and it was next to me. I was trying so hard not to get my hopes up, and kept waiting for the aisle seater. They then paged someone over the intercom, that if they were on the plane to flash the service light... I thought in my head, "Don't look for him! Just take off already!!"
Gates closed.
Safety checks were done.
Phones turned off.
Take off.
No one to blog about this time, but I got to lay out and sleep the entire flight!! I guess I could note the drunk losers behind me, ordering Heinikens and admiring their new haircuts.
Now..... I sit here at gate C7, waiting to board my flight to Bloomington. I am looking around this crowded gate and judging everyone. I dont want you, I dont want you, you would be okay, you have kids so no...
Wish me luck, and I know the next aisle seat winner is killing you in suspense!!!
I Tweet, Not Blog.
Well, I was never in creative writing. I'm pretty funny in person and in real life, but actually writing the things that happen to me or thoughts that I have would be a stretch! Over and over again I have said, "this is not real life" or "of course this happens to me!" But-- I tell those stories, not write them. If I'm not confident in this process-- then why am I doing it??
I've noticed a lot of traveling consultants that I have met talk about starting blogs about their travels. They like to keep family and friends informed of where they are, what they are doing, and this is a way to remind them in the future of great or not so great things they were a part of. Well-- that is what my not one, but two Twitter accounts are for. So-- blogging is not for me.
As I started traveling, however, I noticed one common theme in stories that I was telling people as I arrived to destination. It was not about the awesome land mark I saw, or the terrible customer service I may have had. It was about the people who had the pleasure of sitting next to me on the airplane. What characters-- all with a different story and personality. As I got a few flights under my belt, I had stories and stories to tell friends about these interesting people, and unfortunately, I could not fit these stories in 140 characters. So there it was. The urge to start a blog.
Debbie from Jade knows I enjoy the Window seat. That way I can lay my head, and check out where we are going. So...... who gets the aisle seat?
I've noticed a lot of traveling consultants that I have met talk about starting blogs about their travels. They like to keep family and friends informed of where they are, what they are doing, and this is a way to remind them in the future of great or not so great things they were a part of. Well-- that is what my not one, but two Twitter accounts are for. So-- blogging is not for me.
As I started traveling, however, I noticed one common theme in stories that I was telling people as I arrived to destination. It was not about the awesome land mark I saw, or the terrible customer service I may have had. It was about the people who had the pleasure of sitting next to me on the airplane. What characters-- all with a different story and personality. As I got a few flights under my belt, I had stories and stories to tell friends about these interesting people, and unfortunately, I could not fit these stories in 140 characters. So there it was. The urge to start a blog.
Debbie from Jade knows I enjoy the Window seat. That way I can lay my head, and check out where we are going. So...... who gets the aisle seat?
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