(Or, therapy through writing)
Got into the hotel late and tired after >24 hours of traveling. We were so pleased to be back in the States and hear roaring freeway traffic through the windows that wouldn’t quite close, as well as the occasional plane takeoff…
Up early, small breakfast, to the airport to catch the next flight. No one informed us that our 8:45 am flight had been rescheduled to 9:30. And, what the hey, let’s just push it back beyond 10:00 am because the airline is running late…
At the check-in counter, the ticketing agent seems a little green and flustered. Later, unfortunately, I’ll learn that she definitely was green and flustered…
Sitting in the departure lounge, a bit of a chance to relax. Except, there’s an older man (i.e., older than me) stalking around, looking upset that he can’t sit at a nearby table and plug in his computer because a family (a woman and her three children) is very nicely and quietly sitting there, plugged in and waiting for their delayed flight to leave. So, he sorta gruffly asks to be allowed to plug in his computer and the family very politely unplugs one of their two devices and he plugs in his computer. After a few minutes, he bloviates about how they’re monopolizing the table (my translation: he’s more important than them). I see and hear the commotion and decide to intervene (don’t ask me why, except I foresaw this whole situation developing ten minutes ago). I ask the gruff man what the problem is, and he angrily screws up his face and says that this family is monopolizing the table and that they shouldn’t be allowed to do that, and he NEEDS to plug in his computer. I note that the family has been nicely and quietly sitting there for at least thirty minutes and, besides, there’s a wall outlet about 30 feet away (poor guy has to sit on the floor, just like a dozen other folks). He unplugs his computer, and slouches off to the wall outlet. The last that I see him, he’s engrossed in his computer. The woman profusely thanks me and thanks me again for intervening – it was worth it.
Several times over the intercom, we hear that our flight has been intentionally overbooked and are there some volunteers who would like to fly later?
Finally, our flight is announced. Like the other sheep heading into the flying stock car, we queue up. Our turn arrives, I present our tickets, and I’m informed that we only have two valid tickets and the other two pieces of paper aren’t tickets. Step aside and we’ll help you in a moment after everyone else is on board…
At the gate, the staff scramble to figure out what’s going on with our tickets, as well as the two other passengers whom they have previously inconvenienced because the airline was overbooked. One of the gate agents figures out that there are possibly five open seats on the little island hopper because she hasn’t received boarding passes for five seats. After about fifteen minutes of checking and re-checking where those five missing people might be, she decides that we should head to the airplane! Woo hoo! Nirvana is getting closer!
Poor, ignorant sheep. We’re at the mercy of the airline…
As we enter the aircraft, we’re informed that there aren’t four or five seats available on the aircraft, but only two. The gate agent forgot to account for “continuing passengers,” or so we’re told. (Don’t all of these staff communicate? Nah!) So, we’re standing there on the airbridge and the passengers on the aircraft aren’t too pleased with all of these delays. One passenger tells my wife that we’re holding up the flight – nice try, but we didn’t overbook the flight and we aren’t the ones who can’t keep track of our passengers. Asta’s upset with this, and I try to calm her. The kids have been troopers through all of this!
After about fifteen minutes of standing on the airbridge, watching the ground crew tapping their fingers and feet and headphones, someone decides that a couple of passengers who are already sitting on the aircraft need to vacate. They don’t look at all pleased as they walk past me, but they also don’t appear to be upset with me (yes, they too seem to realize that the sheep have been lead astray [apologies to G.F. Handel]). We get into the aircraft, sit down and the flight takes off about as fast as any flight that I’ve been on… Paradise is getting tantalizingly close…
On the other end of the island hopper, life seems a little slower already. It takes a fair amount of time to unload a little island hopper, I guess. At the car rental site, we hear that there are no Jeeps available because of a recall – we didn’t reserve a Jeep, but will there be consequences for us? Nope!
After loading our car and checking for dings and dents, I walk around to the right side of the car to get in and drive away. Uh oh! My mind is still in automatic driving mode from New Zealand where driving on the left side of the road is “normal.” As we inch our way out of the car rental lot, I s-l-o-w-l-y regain my American driving instincts. Fortunately for me, there’s only one lever on the steering wheel column and it’s on the left side. Every time I reach to flick the turn signal on the right side of the steering wheel, nothing happens! I only look like a fool to my family and not everyone on the road. Yes, a small, small victory!
We arrive at our resort after only a few directional miscues and find a very nice place. Best of all, there’s a bed – my bed for the next few days. I spend the first several minutes just luxuriating it, relaxing after a couple of days traveling and letting all of the stress of the day flow out of me. Ahhhh….
Relax a little more in the pool, palm trees surrounding us, a nice breeze. The kids are burning off their excess energy at my expense. Such is the life of a father.
Deciding that we should get some groceries, we’re off to the store. But, this is no ordinary shopping trip. THIS IS A SHOPPING TRIP FOR THE AGES!!! In the grocery store, we start our normal routines – no problem, right? Wending our way through the fruits and vegetables, we see our American favorite salad mix – great! Then, our favorite carrots! The deeper we delve into the store, the more of our missed American foods we find – Doritos, Tostitos, corn dogs, turkey, California wines, pepper jack cheese. We go absolutely nuts! However, I do look for the rice crackers that we used to buy in NZ and am left wanting. I do believe that I’ll get over this disappointment.
Back in our room, the kids devour their first corn dogs in a year. I savor my California chardonnay. Sorry, New Zealand! You may be well known for your sauvignon blancs, but your chardonnay’s have a strong sauvignon blanc cast. Finally, milk chocolate macadamia nuts go very well with chardonnay, at least in my world.
Lastly, a full night’s sleep, with another hour or two thrown in for good measure…
So, yin and yang. What goes around comes around. It all balances out. What a day!
46 S EnZed (?) signing off…
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