Today is travel day. The day I leave the mellow pace of the country and return to the big city. Spending time in New York with my Mom was a pleasant way to spend my vacation time and I know she really enjoyed having her "baby boy" there with her. We had a great time this morning with lots of laughs and I left notes all around the house for my niece who will be arriving tomorrow. Mom was up at the crack of dawn making sure I was packed and ready to go, checking every room in the house to make sure I didn't leave anything. That's my Mom. Always on top of it. It was a great time and I'm sure she'll enjoy the break from having me around!
At the massive Albany International Airport, getting through the TSA checkpoint is like ordering a Grande Drip at Starbuck's. Compare that to LA or Burbank! I had my "A17" boarding pass and casually made my way towards the gate. I figured out why I was the 17th person in the "A" group. They reserve the first 15 for their Business Class passengers, so if there aren't any Business Class (on SWA?) then I was 2nd! How's that for being quick to the punch in the online check-in world! Oh yeah.
Well, it wasn't all that grand. I had my heart set on the window seat, left side. Lots of leg room and reclining seats. But Southwest did their preboarding about 2 minutes before they called the "A" group and this is where the fun began. In Albany, the jetways go to both the front and back of the plane. The gate guy instructed the first 15 of us in the "A" group to use the front jetway. BAD idea! The fifteen of us had to wait a good 3-5 minutes for all the preboarder's and by the time we actually got in the plane, the next groups who were instructed to use the rear jetway took all of the good seats. Talk about getting ticked off. The only window seat was one which didn't recline which made it very uncomfortable for me...but I managed to sleep a good part of the flight.
We had a passenger (one of the preboarder's of course) who had a "medical emergency" and the flight crew asked for some medical personnel to help out. It seems this guy was having some blood pressure problems but with a little juice, some oxygen and being moved to the bulkhead to lay down, the flight didn't have to be diverted. He met the paramedics on our early arrival (good job SWA) in Vegas and since we were over a half-hour early, we got to get off the plane and grab some coffee and some food. But not before I put my bag in the window seat, left side. lots of leg room and reclining seats that I yearned for.
The flight from Vegas to Burbank was paced full and pretty quick and it was nice to see home! My wife picked me up and in addition to her happiness to have me home, our animals were excited to see me. What a homecoming! So now I'm home in the hills of Los Angeles. It's good to be here and I'm looking forward to getting back to my normal routine. And let me tell you this...it's great to have high-speed internet access. Dialup was great in the 80's, but today...no freakin way!There it is...the end of The New York Experience. Discover Insanity will be back on a normal schedule starting tomorrow morning and I've got a plethora of topical crap to blog for a while. Be sure and check it out...it's going to be a good time!
