My final day of training let out very early. I called a cab to get me back to the hotel, where I picked up my bag and caught a ride in the courtesy van to the airport. I arrived just after 2pm, though my flight wasn't scheduled to depart until 9:40 pm.
When I arrived at the ticket counter, the agent offered me the option of catching the 4:40 flight on "stand by". I don't think I've ever flown "stand by" before. I really wanted to go home, so I said "yes". Who wouldn't want to skip five extra hours at the airport.
The 'opportunity' may turn out to have been a mistake. My bags will definitely be going on the earlier flight. I may never see them again. Also, who knows where I could end of sitting if I even can get on the plane. I hate air travel with a passion. I don't want any parts of a window seat. I am definitely not cut out for the responsibility of sitting in the 'emergency' row (no one on the plane wants the person who is most freaked out by air travel to be the one in charge of the emergency egress). I have a tendancy towards motion sickness, so I hate sitting near the rear of the plane or over the wings where there can be more vibration.
Just in case I would be flying sooner rather than later, I prepared myself pharmacologically. I took Dramamine for my motion sickness. I took a Valium to calm me down a bit. Then, about two hours later, I took a very mild muscle relaxant because my back was spasming and the Valium wasn't really working.
Perhaps I should be on the TSA's "no fly" list for all my traveling idiosyncracies.
All week, my IBS has been at issue, so the added stress of dealing with all the drama of air travel has got me on the verge of another attack. I took some of my meds to try to stave one off. The last thing I need is an attack while I'm on a plane, or trying to board a plane, or even trying to get the heck off a plane.
Dulles Airport is kind of a train wreck, pardon the mixing of transportation metaphors. The main terminal is for ticketing and security screening only. The lines were outrageous, and the agents were not overly friendly. I can't blame them. The number of people they have to deal with every day is incredible. And, most people, like me, are pretty stupid about air travel.
There was a sign at the beginning of the ticketing line that said that if your luggage weighed more than 50 pounds, you could be charged $50. My luggage weighed more than 50 pounds before I picked up the two hefty binders from my training this week. I pulled the binders out of my main bag and repacked them in a zippered tote, in hopes that the stricture was for each bag. I was stressing about that when I got to the counter. Then, the agent asked me for a credit card to complete my ticketing. I didn't want to swipe my debit card, and I didn't think it would work anyway since MIT had purchased my ticket. Then, the agent said I just needed the confirmation number from my itinerary. However, I had lost track of my itinerary during my multiple repackings today. See, I'm such a travel idiot, it never occured to me that I would still need the stupid thing in order to fly home.
Earlier in the week I finished reading the Ann Tyler book I had brought with me (excellent read, by the way). On Thursday night I bought and read a romance novel (yes, I am embarrassed by this selection of reading material). So I didn't have a book to read while waiting. If I didn't have to listen for my name to be called for the whole 'stand by' thing, I could slip my MP3 player on and listen to one of the multiple recordings that I have going on there. I did pick up the current issue of The New Yorker.
I cannot get over the number of people who are addicted to their cell phones. There was a guy behind me in the eticketing line who made at least three different calls to family members back home while we made our way up to the counter. There was another guy who felt an urgent need to leave a voice mail for a business colleague while we were on the two minute shuttle ride between the main and A terminals. Over the course of two hours in the waiting area for the flight, I got to listen to five different people make at least a dozen distinct calls to friends, family, or business associates. I stopped counting the number of people I saw coming to or coming back from planes who were yapping on their phones.
ARGH! I hate cell phones.
Even I made a quick call to my husband's office and left him a voice mail saying that I might be coming in early because of my standby flight. But, at least my call was directly related to my travel needs. I wasn't trying to get some last minute business in, or trying to occupy myself while in the airport, or making sure that I hadn't missed some critical opportunity in my life while I'd been unable to use my cell phone on the plane.
All the planes were arriving or departing very late due to high winds on the east coast. The "4:40" flight turned into a "5:50" flight, which was a lot better than delay that most people had to put up with or the "9:30" flight I was supposed to be on. I'd never flown 'stand by' before. I was very anxious to get home. As they made the final boarding announcement for the plane they called out some passenger names, which I couldn't fully make out. I thought maybe one of them had been mine, so I went up to the gate. Though they hadn't called my name, they did give me a boarding pass and told me to hurry to the plane. After a bit of confusion about where to sit, I settled myself into a seat. Then, I took advantage of the fact that cell phones could be used while the plane door was still open. I quickly called my husband I told him that I was on a plane and that I would see him in ninety minutes or less.
Oddly enough, as much as I despise air travel, I was extremely grateful to get on that plane and to be taking off for home.
10/20/2006
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