Thursday, June 16, 2022
Up at 2:51 a.m. Showered and repacked the suitcase, trying to make sure it was under 50 pounds this time. At the last minute, I felt like I should take my hiking boots out. Left the motel at 3:20 a.m. on very little sleep. Returned the rental car. Checked in at the airport. Suitcase weighed 49.6 pounds! The revelation about the hiking boots made the difference. Made it through security with no blunders. Arrived at our gate hungry and tired. With less than half an hour before boarding, for reasons that were never explained, we had to change gates. Walked to the new gate and boarded the plane. Then the flight was delayed for some mysterious mechanical reason. Then there was some maintenance paperwork issue that caused another delay. The pilot announced that we were leaving, but the plane continued to sit at the gate for another 30 minutes. Then the pilot said that there was a problem removing the jet bridge so another delay. We were supposed to have a layover of almost two hours in Dallas, but with all the delays, we were concerned that we wouldn't make the connection.
I dozed off and slept through the snack/drink service, so no pretzels and water for me. In a moment of weirdness, the guy in front of me leaned back and out into the aisle at the same time I was leaning forward to get my water bottle and our faces touched. We both yanked back and returned to our business. We were careful not to make eye contact the rest of the flight or even in the airport afterwards. Flying is a strange experience because you sit so close to complete strangers for hours at a time.
We did make the connection in Dallas (thankfully, the arrival and departure gates weren't too far apart), but Mike's gate-checked bag did not. It arrived the next day. It was a great trip, and we learned some things, some of which I'll write about later.
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