Flights and More Flights

Did I tell you the story about my trip to California for Thanksgiving?  Well, if I didn’t then come on in and stay a time.  Coffee?  Sure, I have that and a nice bottle of wine chilling.  Dip a strawberry into the freshly melted chocolate while you’re at it.  Enjoy some popcorn, pretzels, and sentimental Christmas music.  Soak up some comfy heat from the fireplace.  The logs are crackling so peacefully. 

I flew out to California on November 26^th, 2008, and spent four days having fun with my son, eating turkey, and touring.  The flight home took many hours.  I had to take three planes each way.  On my trip home, the plane from Chico to San Francisco was a little old thing that held thirty people, but the flight was only an hour.  Yikes!  It rattled and weaved, and there was some turbulence.  We left right on time at 6:30 p.m. Pacific Time.  Once in San Francisco, I had a 3 ½ hour wait.  Okay, no problem, I just took out my laptop and wrote a little.  After all, what else could I do?  I’m a writer, and I write!  Then the plane we were supposed to take had a mechanical problem.  That caused a 1 ½ hour delay in addition to the 3 ½ hours.  Now I’ve been at the airport for five hours.  Let me tell you, it’s not cheap to eat in San Francisco!  And they have the best chocolate to try to resist!  You know the longer you wait, the hungrier you’re going to get…  Whew, are you tired out yet?  Have some more coffee, or move closer to the fire for some extra warmth.  By now, it’s 12:30 am Pacific time. 

Finally, our plane arrived.  When I say we, I refer to all the passengers as a whole.  Since I am by myself, there is no we.  At this point we still didn’t know why we had to get a new plane.  But I’m thinking, “If something is wrong with that plane, I want a new one!”  All we knew was the plane was in-flight from San Jose.  It arrived, and we finally got to get on.  I was in the second section to load; my number was two.  Wait, that doesn’t mean I get to get on after first!  Oh, no, the first to get on is first class.  Then, they have some other silver class, then silver premium, or something similar!  After that there’s some other class.  So, since that plane is the biggest plane I’ve ever seen, let alone been on, the first half of the plane filled up with all the ‘special’ people.  I should have pinned on my AUTHOR badge!  Okay, after all the front people were seated, they called the first section.  The second was Economy Plus.  That was me!  I didn’t pay Economy Plus prices, but I got Economy Plus seats.  I was in row 32 seat A, and behind me there was a whole empty plane still waiting.  Huge, I mean huge!  Well, it took an hour to load this plane with passengers. By time everyone got their bags put in the overhead bins, and under the seats, it was a whole hour!  We’re into six hours just in San Francisco now.  The flight attendants came on and told us about the broken windshield in the other plane, and also that the plane we were on now, was a chartered plane that had just brought the San Francisco 49’ers back home after a game.  I know you want to ask what everyone else asks.  “Was the plane a mess?”  No, it was very clean and as normal as any other plane.  But, as I said before, HUGE!  Thank Goodness it was huge, because the trip was very turbulent, and rough; there was sleet hitting the side of the plane, and I could see it spraying off the wings.