Today was a travel day from Los Angeles to Annapolis Jct… and it was one of my worst travel days in a long time.
It started with airport security (what else). I normally take my iPod speakers out of my luggage for security, as they always ask what they are. Today, the guard saw me in line, on the bridge, where the cold wind was blowing, with my CPAP, laptop bag, and backpack… and told me I had too much luggage and needed to put the iPod speakers back in. Thus, of course, unbalanced me. I got them in only to reach the front of the line… where I had to take them out again. They also decided to look in my luggage… because of a metal belt buckle in the luggage.
When I got to the gate, there were announcements that the flight was over sold, could people check their baggage, etc. As I was already worrying about carrying on my CPAP, laptop bag, and backpack (although that’s legal — the CPAP does not count as an item), I opted to check the backpack (meaning another 45 minutes of waiting on the Dulles end). Good thing I did — by the time I got on (boarding group 5), there was no overhead space left. There was barely room for the CPAP.
Never fly a 737 cross country. It was like the old stake bed trucks at camp, where you never worried about them overturning because no one would fall out! I had about 2 inches between my knees and the back of the seat. Making it worse, the guy in front of me farted so much I thought I was smelling his ass. Yuk! (and yes, he leaned back his seat as well). Further, being a 737, the restroom line took the entire plane, and the aisles were so narrow no one could pass. Is it any surprise I arrived at Dulles with a migraine. Dinner helped some, as did “Wait Wait” on the drive to Annapolis Jct.
I truly miss the old days of flying. Where you never worried about checking luggage. Where you often had empty seats next to you, and actually room between you and the seat in front of you. Where there were actual semblances of meals, and the plane wasn’t so crowded that you could not get up to go to the bathroom. Flying these days is no fun.
One last observation: Waiting for my flight, I was looking at the stanchions with the new United logo. I wondered: When an airline changes logo, what happens to all the old logo stuff? Is it just trashed, filling landfills? How wasteful!
“Sorry bub, no pub.”