Thursday, November 23, 2006

Thanksgiving Travel

It being Thanksgiving and all, I have come home to Northern California for several days. Normally I drive, but since I will only be gone for 3 nights I decided instead to fly here. (Yes, I was just here last week for my sub-I.)

My flight was scheduled for 9pm, and I figured I should be at the airport at 8pm. But after hearing about a big-rig flipping over on the 405 freeway and clogging up traffic for miles, and also every news station reporting unusually long lines at airports, I chose to leave for the airport even earlier ... as in, I left for the airport at 6pm (and it normally takes about 30 minutes to reach the airport).

Not only did I not hit traffic, but I flew through the security line. It also helped that I wasn't checking in luggage and that I printed my boarding pass at home. So I ended up at my gate at 6:45pm. For a 9pm flight. Talk about unnecessary precautions.

To top things off, I was also an idiot. I sat in line at Gate 7 (since Southwest seats on a first-come-first-served basis) until 9pm, reading, staring, twiddling my thumbs, when I realized how strange it was that we hadn't boarded yet. I then heard an announcement overhead saying, "Passenger Axis, please come to the counter". Not sure if that was really my name I heard (even though I have a distinctive last name) I waited, and sure enough they announced it again. I went to the counter and the woman said that I should board the plane at Gate 7 now, as my flight was about to take off. I looked up and noticed that I was actually at Gate 6. I had been sitting for 2 hours in front of Gate 6!

I rushed onto the plane and noticed the plane was full of passengers ... with luggage packed away, seated, and listening to the flight attendant explain where the exit rows were. So apparently I single-handedly held up the entire flight for a few minutes. How many people can do that (non-violently, at least)?

Anyway, I'm home for Thanksgiving now. Will be flying back to Southern California in a few days. Enjoy your turkeys everybody!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hey, just found your blog, looking forward to catching up.

Once my mother, when we were small, ended up so late at the airport that when we got to the gate, the stewardess told us to RUN down the walkway. We ended up knocking on the door of the airplane to get let in.