Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Pandora's Box of Flying

Wow, I had an amazing time in Reno and you can bet your bottom dollar that a recap is coming. I met the Jennifer, Laurie, Mike, Gloria, Tina, Kim, Sheila and so many others! I need some time to try wrap my head around everything that happened there. But first, I wanted to tell you all how I did with my first, second, third, forth flight :) Hold on to your skivvies kids, it a long one!

For those who might be unaware or new to this blog, I have never flown prior to June 11th 2008. I have always been afraid to fly ever since a doctor told me that I could lose the rest of my hearing and obviously this a moot point now. What was stopping me? A little thing called spiraling out of control, crashing and burning was stopping me. I consider myself extra special precious cargo and my life and every single second of it are invaluable. The unfathomable idea of ascending 40,000 feet in the air coupled with the fact that I am still a mortal being, a bionic mortal being, but a mortal being nevertheless did not bode well for my central nervous system. I was so anxious that I had to have my wonderful friend, Alex who is a Southwest employee talk me through every single step of the entire purchase process. After two hours of whining, I finally clicked the purchase button but not before an ounce of sweat oozed from my body. In alcoholic terms, this might have not been a bad thing but there was nothing potable about sweat unless you are a vegetarian.

Every time that someone even talked to me about getting on that plane, my palms would start sweating and my breathing would become labored. It wasn’t pretty. There isn’t many things that can send me into a full-blown panic attack but flying was one of them. I managed to keep myself busy to avoid actually thinking about it. I had everything planned out. I had maps. I had boarding passes. I had the security protocols. I had carry-on and checked baggage requirements. I was fully prepared for anything or so I thought.

I went to work on Tuesday and I left a couple of hours early because I had to leave my house at 2:30 am to make my 5:30am plane out of Philadelphia Airport. All the common sense in the world told me to pack my luggage and get to sleep early but by the time I got myself packed, my stomach was is a series of knots. I had this feeling that I was forgetting something. I kept hounding Alex and Geo online with my whacked out and completely unsubstantiated concerns. I wholeheartedly appreciate you two listening to me and I know it wasn't easy dealing with a crazed lunatic about to fly. Anyway, before I knew it, it was 1:00 in the morning was here and I had to get ready. I have been up for nineteen and half hours already.

It was 2:30 in the morning and I gave my mom and my dog a hug like it was the last time I was ever going to hug them. Perhaps I was a bit melodramatic but I was having a hell of a time suppressing this horrible sinking feeling that something was going to go wrong. Regardless I trekked on with the ultimatum because if I can get a cochlear implant, I can get on a damn plane to go to this HLAA convention because this is something that I needed to do for my own personal enrichment. Since I wasn’t going to cancel, I did the next best thing, I cried the whole way to the airport.

I cried just about the whole way, an hour and a half to the airport, tears streaming down my cheek effortlessly and my nose producing plenty of olfactory lubrication. I realized what I forgot to pack ­─ Kleenex.

Once I pulled myself into the economy parking lot, I told myself I could do this, just get out of the damn car and do this. After all the chances of being in a car crash on the way to the airport is much greater than an airplane crashing. Did you all know that? I knew it and I did not give a rat’s ass.

I whimpered as I got out and grabbed my luggage. I turned around in circles viewing the 6,000 some odd parking spaces for the shuttle. I saw something in the distance that looked like a bus stop. I ominously walked towards it. Once in the airport, I had no time to dwell on the morbid images freely flowing though my noggin. I had to check in my luggage, get the boarding pass, go through security, Purelled the bottom of my feet and find the gate. Note to self: wear socks next time.

They started to call people by rows but I could not hear the lovely agent of Continental Airlines because she felt the need to hide behind a wall and while she spewed out the numbers. This did not bode well for the deaf one here. So I found myself frantically glancing people's tickets to see if their row matched my row. Lucky be a lady and as it just so happened, a woman next to me had the same row. I followed her when she got up, presented my first official boarding pass to the agent and motioned me towards a dank cavern. I walked cautiously down the hall clearly showing my inexperience with rolling luggage...

I found my seat and I stuffed my 10 pairs of shoes in the overhead. I looked out the window and gasped at the sheer size of the wing. I started to get antsy because I wanted to get this show in the sky. They played a video that revealed all the important stuff like where the oxygen mask and life preservers were housed. How nice of them to caption it on a monitor the size of a CD case. I could hardly see the captioning!

We started moving and so did my blood pressure. I began to perform my self-taught by television Lamaze breathing techniques at this point. The jet roared its engines and sped down the runway and all of the sudden, there was no road noise. This was not so bad. My golly, we were flying! Land ahoy!

Five minutes later, I heard chimes and then the pilot made an announcement over the speakerphone. Mind you, I did not catch the entire announcement but I have all of you know that us deaf people are pretty damn good at piecing together the context of a sentence if words are missing. I am going to poll you people and let us see what you get when you hear just these words.

sorry - plane - mechanical problems - Philly - 15 minutes

I'll even give you a couple minutes to mull it over... If you guessed that there was a mechanical problem with the plane and we must had to back to Philly and ETA is 15 minutes, my god my good people, you are absolutely correct! I can’t make this stuff up.

But wait, it gets better! I am counting every single second to avoid hyperventilating; I noticed the pilot was just circling over the Philadelphia Airport for over a half hour, well beyond the 15 minutes estimate. I hear another announcement over the speakerphone. Quiz time again!

cannot - land - plane - divert - accommodate - Newark - 10 minutes

Alrighty then, the pilot could not land the plane in Philadelphia and we were being diverted to Newark Airport because they could accommodate us with an estimated time of arrival of 10 minutes.

If I was pregnant, I think I would have gone into labor right then and there. I was freaking out. I hide it well but I was on the verge of tears but I had none left after the hour and half long crying episode on the way to the airport. This was the beginning of a nightmare. I had a strange thought in my head: maybe I misunderstood the pilot. I’ve been known to misunderstand people especially over speakerphones. I decided to ask the cowboy with the alligator cowboy hat and a beer belly the size of Memaloose Island, Idaho to clarify the pilot announcement. Unfortunately, I heard this announcement right.

“Ma’am is this your first flight?” He asked.

“Yep.” I said through a deep breath.

He starts to laugh revealing his tobacco-stained teeth. I don’t think he wasn’t in a hurry to tend to the cattle back home in Texas.

Once we got to Newark, I got my ass off that plane quicker then you can say Chewbacca! They decided to retire the aircraft that I personally thought was the great idea! We had to wait around for another plane that was hopefully mechanically problem free to be loaded up with our luggage. While there were taking their sweet time to load the luggage back on the new plane, I ended up missing my connecting flight in Houston (which is by the way where I started to blog) to Reno. While I was waiting I text my friend who just found out she is preggers with "If I die in a plane crash will you name your baby after me?" She texted me back with, "No lol."

The plane was ready and I was in no particular hurry to get back on the plane. I was one of the last one to board and once I sat down, I buckled my seatbelt and we take off ─ again! I kept peering out my window that was fit for a dollhouse trying to recall the rate of acceleration of a falling object just in case something went wrong, I wanted to have ample time to say my prayers. My eyes must have refueled themselves because every time I looked out my window I would start to cry. I think if a good healthy dose of Xanax were offered to me, I would have snatched it up by the bottle. Actually, any bottle would have been good.

Houston around 12:30 in one piece. I had to go to the ticket counter to get my new flight plans. I was expecting an easy non-stop direct flight right to Reno but no such luck! I had to go to ─ LOS ANGELES AIRPORT! That scared the hell of me. I hear horror stories in Los Angeles. I kept questioning the customer service rep if she was really sure that was the only airport I could go to. After repeating mself for the fifth time, “Really? Los Angeles?” I could see I was getting under her skin. She handed me the boarding pass and I could see that I had fifteen minutes to board the plane. I hauled ass because I was in Terminal A and had to power walk to catch a train to Terminal E to board the plane. Note to self: do not wear heels while flying. This is was such a lovely start to my vacation, don't you all agree?

I cannot make this stuff up. I board the plane and I had the unfortunate experience of sitting next to two individuals that reeked of rice vinegar. When I finally got to Los Angeles, I smelled like a stir fry. At first glance, everything that I ever read about LA suddenly became true. It was nothing but smog and it smelled! I thought to myself how much better New Jersey smells and I never thought I would say that. This huge grey cloud just lingered over the city. It took me no time at all to realized just how big Los Angeles Airport is. I was trying to find the gate to my connecting flight to Reno and I couldn’t find it. I had a Continental boarding pass. I just came out of a Continental gate. Common logic proceeds to tells me that Continental that would be flying me to Reno. Apparently, logic does not work here because I stopped to ask for direction for the hidden gate and I was informed that my connecting flight was Alaska Airlines which appears NOWHERE on my boarding pass.

I discovered quickly how Los Angeles airport does not accommodate deaf people well. Between the jets roaring, the baggage couriers bustling, women’s heels clicking, escalators rotating, cash registering ringing and people chatting, I had a hell of a time trying to understand what terminal Alaska Airlines was and it was not a good time for me to have a dead cell phone. I had to find a shuttle bus marked "A" which took me roughly 45 minutes to track down in that mess of an airport. Once I board the shuttle bus, the bus driver spoke with a distinct Nigerian accent. We had a wee bit trouble understanding one another but he got me to Alaska Airlines in Terminal 3!

I had to go through the whole security scan again with taking my shoes off. I am a little anal about where I put my feet. I ran to the nearest bathroom and doused my feet and its ten pigs with Purell. While I was in there, I decided to wash my face and pretty myself up for Reno. I found my gate and sat right in front of it. I was not moving a muscle as long as I had Gate #33 in my line of sight. I turned around there was a Samsung charging station situated right next to me. Things were looking up! I plugged my cell phone and whined to my mom whose only response was, "Only you Abbie, only you." I was two hours away from my destination and I didn’t think it could get any worse, .

I was clearly wrong. We got on board and I didn’t even take a look at the plane as I was walking up the steps. I took a seat to the window and took a look to my right and I saw PROPELLERS! Big ol' black honking PROPELLERS! I was on a friggen PROPELLER PLANE.

My nerves were officially shot at this point. To make matters worse, the pilot was an honorary a tour guide. All I heard him say that this was a beautiful scenic route and I flipped my CI off. I was not the least bit interested in him selling me snow peaked mountains and rugged terrain that we could just spiral down into and no one would know how to find us. How I managed NOT to have a panic attack, one will never know. After him flying over the Pacific Ocean and veering back over mountain, I think my heart stopped working. About ten minutes later, I looked out my window and saw images that resembled Google Satellite. That was just a testament of how high in the air I was! I was not handling this situation well at all.

Finally, I arrived in Reno at 7:30pm pacific time. I head off to baggage claim and I was fully expecting my luggage to be lost. That would have been the icing on the entire trip but my luggage arrived safe. I don't think I would have cared if it was lost. I hopped on the hotel shuttle and officially started my vacation and it only took 17 hours!

Later on that evening, I met a guy from Australia and as it turns out, he got to Reno quicker then I did.

My flight plan...

44 comments:

Alex said...

Abbie, Abbie, Abbie...

*Takes a bow* No one, I mean NO ONE can turn a simple little plane trip that I have done over 200 times, and turn it into a trip of a lifetime.

It is beyond me that you got every stinking problem that can happen while flying thrown at you, you must have flown every aircraft in that airline's fleet, been to every damn city and hub for Continental Airlines, (I think your missing cleveland airport).

Diverts, Mechanical problems, that just, doesn't happen that often, Absolutely Rare! I am SORRY you had to go through all that while at the same time not sorry cause you sure as hell entertained my ass.

I hadn't laughed so much in years at a flying story like this.

Being an airline employee I am used to the troubles and such that we go through every day, what is normal for us, may be absolutely frightning for someone like you. And I will admit, what happened, HAS happened before, won't be the last, won't be the first, it's normal, but unfortunatly for you, it all happened at once!!!

Thanks so much for sharing this absolutely hysterical blog, and traveling tips. I am still wipping the tears away from my eyes. Whoooo *chuckles*

If I was flying with you, I would have just been laughing, and probably consoling you, and pulling your arm in every direction.

yes, my dear I did forgot to warn you, and advise, heels while flying, a deep, big, NO NO ;)

Thanks Again!

Alex

Valerie said...

You gave me the omen!! not the good karma.

Let me see since you have been gone - the dance studio closed down, drama daily at home, I fell asleep in church, and the A1 attacked my foot. Next time I'm going with you!!!!

So your broken foot friend,
Val

Anonymous said...

OMG, your very first flight experience in your life and you have had worse flights more than any flights I ever had in my life. I flew so many times but never had to put up with all that like you did. I know I wasn't supposed to laugh but I sure am laughing!! Poor Abbie!! I feel ya!! I'm just glad everything straighten out though and you made it safety, whew! I hope you still don't mind flying again despite of all crazy craps?! He he...

I know Alex is so GOING to kill me if I say this but.. since you got to fly for the first time and you finally overcame your fear so now that means Alex must overcome his about going on a cruise. Let's help him out?! :-)

Wow.. I always thought huge airport like LA have good accommodate for deaf but guess not, eh?

Great, I can't sleep tonight cuz I'm gonna laugh all through the night! Look forward to hear all about Reno and the convention! :-D

Hugs!
-SG

elizabeth said...

Unbelievable! All that bad luck on your very first flight! What a story.

On the plus side, I'm just glad to know someone else has a love of Purell and fear of airport-foot-disease equal to my own. I always get teased for my pre-flight purification rituals! I'll fly with you anytime!

Laurie said...

I've been waiting for you to post this story! I felt so bad for you when you finally arrived to Reno! Geez, you did not deserve this for your first flight!

Did you know that airlines like to pre-board deaf and hard of hearing persons first? That way the stewardesses know where they are. I found that out in Salt Lake City. . . I just go up to the counter at the gate and tell them that I cannot understand the announcements and they are more than happy to let me board early.

Sorry I couldn't see you in the Houston airport on the way home. . . we were in two different airports!

Am having a blast with Jackson. . . and still processing everything from the convention. . . will write about that soon. By the way, I got my article done for the newspaper. Will let you know if it gets published!

I miss you! Hugs, Laurie

Jennifer said...

I laughed until I cried, honey...I started giggling at the beginning and "olfactory lubrication" put me just right over the edge, where I howled until the very end. The reason that this happened to you is because you're the best one to tell the story!!!
I miss you tremendously, girl!

Anonymous said...

Flyin' pigs! Seventeen ungodly hours to get to Reno. That's a record for a first trip, girl! 8(

I've flown everywhere via airliners, prop planes, and my old man's single engine plane. And indeed I've seen just about everything, near misses, turbulence that redefines air sickness in a new way, 1-hour holding patterns, luggage that went AWOL, labrythine airports including LAX (actually, Las Vegas airport gets my thumbs down-- it's one gigantic casino), engines going out and down to just one, umpteen bawling babies and all cabin toilets plugged up from diapers on an international flight, and watching a small plane crash (the pilot survived with nary a scratch).

But all that hasn't stopped me from flying-- it's got its pluses. Beats driving hundreds of miles, great views if you book a window seat, and sometimes you get to sit next to a passenger who turns out to be a fantastic conversationalist or a great business contact. Most of all, flying can be a great adventure.

Hope you don't let this first bad trip ground you from flying again. Sorry to read that your first flying experience turned out to be the flight from hell. Yup, next time wear socks and Nikes. :)

Ann_C

Anonymous said...

Abbie - if it took you 17 hours to get from Philly Dilly to Reno - how long is it going to take me to get from New Zealand to Philly Dilly?

I"m worried now :)

19 days to go :)

Cheers
Robyn

Morgan said...

Hi Abbie,

Robyn just sent me the link to your blog. I loved this story. I admire your courage doing all those flights! I have absolutely no fear of flying. I really love it. I could go to the airport and just get in a plane and go around in loops all day taking off and landing. But I know what you are saying because I have an innane fear of something really stupid .... movies! Have you ever come across a person in your life with a phobia of this? I bet not! There isn't even an official name for this phobia. So I have to say you inspire me. I would not manage to make it through 5 minutes of a film never mind several like you did with your flights! I wish I were as brave as you. Good job! I hope you're not afraid to fly now. :-)

VBnBama said...

Abbie, I've never flown either, I could have a panic attack thinking of it too! I have to say, there may come a day soon when I need to fly. I realize that and I plan to re-read your post here before hand, and realize that all the bad stuff happened to you, so it couldn't possibly happen to me! just kiddin'. But if you can do it, I guess I could too...? We'll see.

C. said...

ROFL! Oh Abbie....good GOD woman! ONLY you....this was SO dramatic!!! I am SO surprised you did as well as you did, me, I would have been clawing someone to pieces. You poor thing! But, let us analyze this - - you got the worst of your traveling behind you, from now on, it will always be smooth sailing. Says me! ** hugs **

David said...

Oh my God Abbie! I could not believe this story. You, and only you , could have their first flight story like this one!
I hope the convention made you back to your happy self again!
Sorry, but like Jennifer, I laughed until I cried!

David

Anonymous said...

Welcome back! Rice vinegar? ha I know what you're talking about but I think I've had it even worse...a guy that sat next to me was sleeping, had his face facing directly to me...breathing his horrible smell of geyser right into my face. Thank goodness I lived.

I've flown like 20 times but never experienced going over any oceans. I think I'll be ok with that.

How was a bag of peanuts? I love'em everytime the stewardess hands them out. And pretzels too.

Karen said...

I agree with your Mom...could this possibly happen to anyone else on their first flight? I think NOT!

sara said...

My flight on Continental from Richmond (but also TO Houston) the day before yours was delayed before we even arrived. They moved us to an earlier flight, and it was also delayed. We took of an hour late for that flight but an hour earlier than our originally scheduled flight. My co-worker had the window seat and said something about flying in circles. Then the pilot came on and said something about a mechanical problem, a light on the dash board, they were waiting to see if it would go off. So we had been circling for an hour and then finally had to land at Richmond.

We took off again in the Same plane a few minutes after our original flight (an hour and a half late for them by then too).

Luckily there are many flights from Houston down to San Antonio so we made it eventually...

I wonder if it was the same plane you had! I'm not sure I like Continental very much, but I guess it happens sometimes no matter who you fly with.

Kim said...

Oh Goodness-- What a funny first flying story!! hahaha! I hate flying, but not because of fear. I look forward to seeing you in Philly!!

Anonymous said...

*pats abbie on the back* your first flight experience well done so next time dont wear those bloody heels shoes ya silly duffa :P

You be right on the 2nd time round and you will get the knack for it.

*slap* geo its not funny *chuckling* ok i admit it was quite funny but look on the bright side anway :P

Cheers

Abbie said...

Alex, I just love our conversations prior to posting this...

Alex: and u may call me a season traveler but i have never been diverted or have had the problems you have

Abbie: LOL!!!!

Alex: and this is coming from someone who worked for southwest airliens for 5 months and flown for 10 years...

Abbie: i tell you one thing alex

Alex: yes?

Abbie: this kind of stuff happens to me

Alex: hahahaha

Alex: im laughing so hard here

Alex: god i wish i had gone with you LMAO

Abbie: omg...

Alex: i wish you did too

Abbie said...

Val,

You poor thing! I can't believe a A1 bottle broke your foot!

On the bright side, you don't have to do much picking up with moving to your new house :)

and you heard the bottle! :)

Abbie said...

SeekGeo,

What are friends for?! You can laugh all you want. I laughed my rear end off at the eyebrow mishap :) Its all gravy baby :)

Abbie said...

Elizabeth,

Ugh.. I refuse to walk on the grass barefoot. I won't even take my sandals off to walk in the sand. I have a quaint fear of warts on the bottom of my feet.

*shiver*

Abbie said...

Laurie,

You were like a bright flower on a cloudy day when I saw you come out of the hotel. I was just praying for the rest of the night to go right :)

You know, Alex mentioned that the deaf and hoh can board first but I think with everything going on, I completely forgot. I'm a noob... :)

Abbie said...

Jennifer,

LOL!!! I haven't laughed so hard in such a long time. No matter what it was it was hysterical! From black socks to butter balls, to me wacking you in the nose to tracking elevators made by ninjas! I had a blast with you and I can't wait to do it all over again!

I misssss you!!

Shari said...

Poor Abbie.

Hope the flight home was much better...and faster. Or are we in for another treat...a post about the flight(s) home, too? ;)

All's well that ends well.

Debbie/Steve said...

So sorry to hear of your bad experience of your first plane excursion. Did you know that you can tell the agent at the terminal that you are deaf and can pre board? Steve and I do most of the time.

We have flown to LA quite few times and only once we have had a bad experience. The TSA employee who happens to be oral deaf told us to remove our CI. We complained to her boss.

Anonymous said...

I'm so glad you made it home safely, and without the horror you went through coming here to Reno. When you told me what happened, I kept picturing "Dante's Inferno", and every next thing that went wrong with your trip here was another lower circle in Hell! I've been on hundreds of flights in my lifetime, and have only had 2 really horrid experiences. As bad as they were, they don't come close to what you went through. I'd have been out of my skull if it'd taken 17 hours to make a flight that "normally" takes 5-6!! I won't be able to avoid thinking about what happened to you when I make my trip to NJ on July 1. Here's to hoping your next trip has no glitches!!

Loudest Mom said...

OMG- So sorry, but that is the funniest post I've read in awhile ! I have flown TOO many times, and I spent many years in L.A., but I totally get your angst. Sorry it was not 'smooth sailing', but I loved the post :)

-Melissa

Jennifer said...

Abbie, did you forget me calling you with my butt? or did you save that for another post? ;)

tammy said...

Abbie,
This is the first I've seen your blog and you had me rolling! Thanks for the laughs, but sorry you had a bad first experience. My mom doesn't fly either, she'd rather drive across the country to come see us ... I'll have to share your post!

Tammy

Sam said...

Be glad it wasn't a Sopwith Camel...LOL!!!

PolyglotMom said...

Thanks for checking out my blog. You can add it to your blog roll if you'd like. Take care!

Anonymous said...

Abbie! My goodness, girl. My hat is off to you!! I have no idea how you did all that without just collapsing into a hysterical mess (which is what I would've done...LOL). I haven't been on a plane since 1998 and now I have no desire to get on one ever again! :-)

I'm so glad you finally made it and had a great time in Reno! Thanks for sharing your story, awful as it was, because you tell a GREAT story and this was very entertaining! (Too bad it wasn't fiction though, huh?!)

Take care,
Wendi

Always gone Dad said...

Well Abby,

I don't think I want to try the flying thing now, Your story just sealed my fate on that one! :)

Hope Vegas was good to you

Anonymous said...

Unbelievable! This story reminds me of my horrid travel experiences coming home from France last summer! This was such a well written story! I could totally feel your pains, but at the same time, it was a good read for a laugh!

Anonymous said...

LOL, you gotta love flying stories!

Michael said...

Extraordinary. I've logged 130,000 miles in the past three years, and never once did I have an experience like that.

I guess my worst flying story is the time I lost my housekeys on a connection at O'Hare. I went to the lost and found, and they showed me a plexiglass box four feet high FULL OF KEYS. Mine weren't there, of course, but I had time to kill, so I asked what other things people lost. Everything, it turns out: eyeglasses, canes, false teeth, shoes, jewelry, underwear...everything turns up sooner or later in the lost and found.

How'd I get home? Friends picked me up, I had a spare housekey hidden away, I got a new car key from the dealer, I got a taxi back to the airport and rescued my car...it probably took me two days to get all my keys restored.

But nothing matches Abbie's story. Glad you got there in one piece, girl.

Mike Chorost

Abbie said...

Ann_C,

Bless your little heart! I couldn't even imagine all of that :)

Robyn,

Eek... Think positive Robyn! It can't be much longer then my trip! :)

Bron,

I have an innane of dryer lint as well. :) Although you are the first that I have come across with a cinema phobia. I think I have been cured of my flying phobia HOWEVER I am not so keen about flying over water but apparently they have floaters for the plane. You can say I did some safety reading while I was in the air. :)

Abbie said...

Val, there is no possible way that it could happen to you! I'm a target for this kind of stuff. I just knew deep in my heart something was going to go horribly wrong! LOL However, I made it :)

Claudia,

Believe me, there was times I wanted to claw my way out of that plane. You said it perfectly, I got the worst of it behind me and it is going to be smooth sailing. I am totally optimistic about this! Not cheerleader optimistic but optimistic enough! :)

David, I am so glad you enjoyed it :) We hope to see you making a similar flight to the convention next year :) There was quite a few fellow Canadians there! :)

Abbie said...

Lane,

Oh dear! Geyser? UGH! The way my stomach was I would have probably hurled. I didn't really eat much on board the plane. I was a bit upset. Which was probably a good thing because I could stand to lose a few pounds ya know what I'm saying :)

I didn't even get a bag peanuts! I got free headsets and I stared at them like what the heck am I suppose to do with them!

Abbie said...

Karen,
LOL! Only me! :)

Sara,
I don't think I am going to fly continental again. Did you get compensated with some dinky coupon? :)

Kim,

Don't be afraid to fly!! What happened to me cannot possibly happen to someone else :) I cannot wait for Philly! I had such a blast at HLAA and SayWhat is only going to be an extension of that. Jennifer is so green at the gills that she can't come :(

Abbie said...

Tassie baby,

Believe me, my lesson is learned. No heels for flying. I am such a noob when it came to flying. I'm practically a pro now :)

Shari,

Tee-hee, you never know what I will be posting :) The trip back home was more normal in comparison to others.

Debbie/Steve,

I was told that but I was such a crazy wreck. The trip back home I did tell the agent and I got to board first. I had absolutely no problems with going through security. I kept my CI on and powered on. I was more concerned in contracting plantar warts from walking through the metal detector...

Trekker,
Oh how I pray you have a much easier flight to NJ then I did to Reno! :)

Abbie said...

Tammy,

Thank for stopping by! I hope your mom gets a huge kick out of it! I know my mom did and she has never flown. Something tells me I don't think she is ever going to now. :)

Wendi,

I cracked up when you said "too bad its not fiction!" LOL! That is truly a testament that I don't have to go far for inspiration. :)

John,

Oh c'mon! You can do it :) If I just went through mechanical problems, diverts, rescheduling, hell holes of an airport and a propeller plane to top it off, I have the utmost confidence that you can to :)

Rachel,

It is so nice to find someone that could relate to me. I was beginning to think that I was the only one!

Abbie said...

Mike,

How I wish I could have had your experience with losing your keys but I already have lost my keys at the township dump in a mountain of leaves and I can't seem to top that story.

I'm surprised I got home in one piece. I was seriously considering driving cross country after all of that. I have to say i am cured of flying. The only thing that is left for me to experience is a single engine plane and I am not going to put myself in that predicament anytime soon :)

Mom said...

Your flying saga is certainly one of rarity. I have been on several flights, and although I do have some stories, nothing like yours.

I just learned that my sister-in-law, who recently returned from vacation, which she flew to and from, had her jewelry stolen from her suitcase while awaiting her connecting flight. Yes, her NICE Tiffany jewelry, her expensive charm bracelets, her favorite rings, all gone! Yes, stolen by airline employees somewhere between the check in desk and when it was loaded onto the plane. And they also stole her husband's prescription medication. And the airline says they are not responsible for it!
While I would probably fly again, I will definitely put my jewelry and anything else expensive/valuable in my carry-on.

Joyce
friends with Jennifer, Laurie, and Mike.