Journal 13- Flights from Alicante home

I hate traveling, but I love plane-rides.
12/22/2010

Alicante to Madrid, Madrid to Frankfurt, Frankfurt to Dulles, Dulles to Denver. Started at 6am Spain time end at 1:00am American time. That's 23hours of traveling. The damn kids in my study group are mostly going from Alicante to Madrid to Atlanta. I got fucked.

When I got to Alicante airport the woman behind the counter suggested that I change my flights around cause there was no way I'd make it through customs and onto my Denver flight in 1 hour and 45 minutes. Since there was no other option and I really wanted to be home for Christmas, I told her I'd take my chances.

All smooth until departing Frankfurt. First thing that happened was a gypsy woman who looked high on crack knocked down a bag from the over-head while trying to stow hers. The bag belonged to the guy beside me, and held the guy's laptop. That thing had to have been broken- that bag fell so hard- you should have heard it, it scared the shit out of me...

Second thing that happened was we were delayed about 45 minutes because someone was ill, so we waited for paramedics to escort them off the plane. What is that about? why don't the stewardess escort them off then come back and we'll be on our way? The kid next to me and I asked the flight attendant she explained that the person had been unconscious and someone nearby had alerted the staff. Wow huh? Where in the world is that line drawn? the line between sleeping neighbor on a plane and unconscious person requiring staff assistance and paramedics. Shit... better stay awake.

Third thing was I was made to feel pretty uncomfortable. The kid across the isle and I started to talk, beginning with the broken computer and it's owner's refusal to check to see if it was ok (we figured he was scared shitless of what he'd find) and then about the paramedics. We were both worried we'd miss our connecting flights. This kid was in the military and looked to be about 30. I found out he was the same age as me and told him so. He remarked that it was probably because he'd seen so much. He said he wanted to get drunk and pass out. He said that the ambien would help with that- they are strong enough to black out all the crazy shit he's seen. What the hell do you say to that? "what have you seen?" "I'm sorry to hear that" I just waited for him to start talking again and I think that was the right move, he started talking about whiskey and stuff. Good guy.

I watched some shitty movies and dozed for a while. As we were coming in to land, the gypsy and the dipshit beside her put their bags against a mid-cabin wall. A flight attendant came by and freaked out when she saw the bags there. She asked if it was a shorter blond attendant who'd put them there. That fucking gypsy/dipshit pair didn't say shit so that other guy got blamed. I wanted to tattle. I didn't but I wanted to. The guy next to me made one more remark about all the shit he'd seen before we departed.