So on Monday December 21, 2009 I boarded a delta plan in Salt Lake city on my way to Cincinnati.
Even though my plan didn't leave the airport till 9:45 I still wanted to get there nice and early. So I had my friend Ben drop me off around 6:30 in the morning. Looking back I could have probably slept in just a tad bit longer. I have realized that flying has now become a bit of a pain.
First off, I went through the self check in. I was all proud of myself because it went pretty quick and was easy (the line for the actual counter was really long). When I got up to check in my bags he told me that my ticket didn't show any checked bags...AHHHHHH...time to head back to the machine. With a little help they added the bag, so back to the counter I went again.
Now my suitcase wasn't that big, if I had wanted to I could have taken it as my carry on luggage, but noooooo. Instead I had to pay the price of $20 for my bag. Gone are the days when you can take luggage for free.
Next it was time to head through security. Gone are the days when all you had to do was walk through the metal detectors, nope not any more.
I should have known better than to wear boots that needed to be laced up, since now you have to take off your shoes, and I was wearing a light sweater jacket over my shirt and I had to remove that as well. I mean come on people what's next, full on strip search? And then not only that when I got home and opened my luggage I had a note on the inside from the TSA, talking about how my luggage had been inspected.
Do I look like a terrorist? I don't think so, just somebody wanting to get home for the holidays.
I finally got to the gate, but I still had a good two hours before take off. The Burger King I had just bought was no longer appealing to me, and I had lost my appetite. I sat there listening to my i-pod, reading my "What to expect when expecting" book and watching the travelers go by. I also watched as the seating area at our gate became standing room only, this kinda worried me as when checking it there was a little note that popped up that said, "Your flight has been overbooked, talk to a agent about switching flights". There was no way in the world after getting there at 6:30 in the morning was I going to change my flight! But as I looked around I started thinking, "maybe taking a later flight isn't such a bad idea" but I quickly got that notion out of my head. I also looked around at the many parents traveling with young babies and children and I realized that if Vincent and I ever flew again that would be us.
Around 9:15 they started boarding the plane, and that is when I had to make a mad dash to the bathroom, twice! Lucky for me I was in zone 4 and the bathroom was right there. I finally made it to my seat and got all buckled in and then waited for take off. It was a pretty smooth flight, my only complaint was the guy behind me was so tall that his knees were in the back of my chair and when I wanted to lay back and go to sleep, I couldn't =( . And not only that, I only made one trip to the bathroom on a 3 1/2 hour flight, which for me right now is kinda good for me.
We got into Atlanta right on time, and it gave me just a little over an hour to get to my next gate. Now last time I was at the Atlanta airport the trains had broken down and my mom and I almost missed our flight. So thanks to that I was a bit worried, what happens if I miss my flight...standby? I had no issue getting to my next gate, well I did have one. They moved the gate on me. Instead of looking at the screens to see what gates the plans were taking off, I was going by my boarding pass. So when I got to the gate my boarding pass said, it said flight**** Seattle Washington....SEATTLE!! That isn't where I wanted to go, so I checked the screen and noticed that I had even walked right past the new gate and didn't even notice. Well went back to the correct gate, waited about 30mins then boarded the plane and had a safe, smooth flight to Dayton. After it was all said and done I was very happy to be done with the airports, and be heading back to my parents house.
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