Average Jane is Back

...and really, really tired of traveling.

As much as I like visiting different places, it's getting to the point where it's so much trouble to fly somewhere that it almost isn't worth it.  The travel watchword for this weekend:  delays.  On Friday, my sister, my cousin and I were late getting into our connecting city on the first leg, then sat on the plane forever before it took off, and ended up getting into Orlando, Florida more than an hour later than we were supposed to.

Yesterday, on the way back, we sat on the first plane for almost an hour before takeoff for some kind of repair, thus making it to the connection city with about five minutes left before our next flight took off.  We RAN through the airport and, fortunately, they were waiting for us.  I really thought we might miss our connecting flight the way my husband and I did last December, but we lucked out.

Adding to our distress was the fact that Northwest Airlines (or as they now call themselves, NWA - anybody else wish they'd been a fly on the wall during the meeting where they decided that?) is in the midst of bankruptcy reorganization and one of their cost cutbacks is to charge for all snacks.  That's right, we were on airplanes for pretty much the entire day with nothing to eat.  The Florida Turnpike tolls had taken the last of our cash on the way to the airport, so we had to listen to music to drown out the sounds of our growling stomachs.

The experience wasn't all bad.  I watched almost all of a 1993 1982 Judas Priest concert DVD on my laptop on the first leg of the flight, and my sister and I watched most of "Office Space" on the second leg.  The rest of the time I listened to my iPod in preparation for my lyric writing later this week.

I'm still processing the weekend in my own mind and I may or may not write more about it later.  The one thing I came away with, though, is an even deeper awareness of how horrible Alzheimer's disease is.  The next time I have some extra money to donate to charity, I'll probably send it to the Alzheimer's Association or a similar group.

Back to happier topics tomorrow, I promise!

Comments

[kevboy]

Jane, glad you're back. Sorry you had to go in the first place....

How much do you want to bet that no one on the board of NWA has even *heard* of NWA?

[The Misanthrope]

I am in the running for a new position that requires 50% travel; I'm a bit worried about that aspect of the position.

[Jane]

Kev - I hope you're right! Otherwise, somebody should be really embarrassed at his or her lack of persuasive skills.

Misanthrope - That's a really big consideration when it comes to a new job. Good luck!