Air Travel Ain't Easy

As I boarded the plane to Atlanta to eventually fly into Indiana for the weekend, I breathed a sigh of relief that (1) the plane was actually at the gate and (2) I was actually boarding it. This is usually a good sign that your air travel is on the right track. But I was too happy too fast. Within mere minutes - about 25 of them - of sitting down, I detected a problem: the plane was not moving. In another 5 minutes, the pilot enlightened the passengers that the left engine would not start. I find it hard to believe that this could be such an obstacle to our flight but apparently it was. So we had to deplane (is that officially a word yet?) and because Indiana is not an easy place to get to on 4th of July weekend and my connecting flight was leaving without me, I had to rebook for 6 am the next morning.

The next day I made it to Atlanta OK but on the flight to Indiana I again found myself sitting on an unmoving plane. Incurable optimist I thought it might be something as simple as a broken toilet that would be no big deal. Apparently there is no such thing as telling adults to "just hold it" for an hour and 20 minutes, so we spent approximately 1 hour and 5 minutes sitting on the plane waiting for the toilet to be fixed so we could take off. AND in their brilliance, the flight attendants, sensing that their patrons may be uncomfortable sitting for such long periods of time with the fate of our toilet still in limbo, were thoughtful enough to pass out copious amounts of WATER to the passengers.

Eventually I did make it to my destination, and luckily the trip home was uneventful.