From PBI to the ATL!

So I started my travels off today, 29 Nov 2010, by waking up to pitter patter of rain drops on the outside of my windowsill and upon taking a deep breath I am re-vitalized with that fresh clean smell of morning dew on wet grass. As I roll over, onto my back, I can hear multiple sets of four pads landing on a wooden floor chasing another set of four but with what I can only assume is claws out before jumping onto a counter or table to get away, it is 4 dogs each weighting at most five pounds against a cat that weights fourteen. As I am rolling over I sneak a peek at my alarm clock to find out that I am six minutes earlier than the alarm, sweet I can go back to sleep for a few moments, I think to myself too bad all the dogs are female and the cat is male, he will never win. As I lay on my back looking up into the white-ish stuck-o ceiling I am thinking of what I have to do before I leave for the airport to my destination of Spain, for a year, in just over 90 minutes. I have to finish cleaning my room and then take care of the few things that I have strewn out throughout the house, eat breakfast, shower, brush my teeth (which I will eventually forget only to remember about 15 miles from the airport), play with the dogs (anticipating that they will want to be played with and not sleepy as that is their usual routine) and then pack all my stuff out to the garage where it will most likely be stored.

So I get up and just right into the shower and get dressed. I open my bedroom window more so I can get a big whiff of the rain on grass smell, clean and bag the trash in my room, and move my boxes out into the dining room. I heat up my oatmeal, which I truly dislike but since it is good for my heart, cholesterol, blood sugar with the peanut butter and immune system with the honey I eat it, then go back to collecting my stuff that is strewn around the house. Dad calls and lets me know that he can pick me up instead of me at the house instead of driving to his work and going from there so now I have a few extra minutes, which is good since I just am barely getting done with my breakfast. So I am outside collecting the garbage cans from the end of the driveway as dad pulls up, about three minutes later would have been perfect timing but “say la vie” or however it is said.

Now I am in West Palm airport waiting in line for security and I see that they have the infamous body scanners. So I patiently wait for when it is my turn to give my passport, since I never give my drivers license to the I.D checkers, and boarding pass to the “gate keeper” before getting into a security line. I take my shoes off and I am good to go (I am smart enough to put everything that I would have to take out of my pockets into my carry on already so I only have to take off my belt, shoes and get out my baggy of liquids) and the screeners asks me to just into the regular old metal detector line. Well I kindly told him that I really eagerly wanted to go thru the body scanner.to prove that it less hassle. So after about a second and a half in the scanner and about 15 seconds awaiting the results I am good to go. Done! “Easy peezy lemon squeezey!” So after getting me shoes back on along with my belt I make my way to the gate just to find out that I will be awaiting the arrival of my airplane from Atlanta just to have it fly be back to Atlanta. I would later find out that there was a power outage in Atlanta that delayed getting my plane to West Palm and thus causing my plane to take off 58 minutes later than it should have but again “say la vie”. So I pull up to the Sam Adams restaurant for a pint of Sam Adams Winter Lager and they “don’t stock it”. I say to myself “self that is crrrraazzyyyy!” but I give in and order a pint of Bud Light and yes it is only 10:45 in the morning.

So as I am getting onto the plane bound for Atlanta it is a different configuration that I am normally used to. It is a Boeing 757-300 and when you enter the business class turns left and the economy turns right. I shouldn’t say that I am not completely unfamiliar with it since that is how the 747s and A-330s are set up but this is a domestic flight not an international flight which is where I encountered those. So I make my was to my seat and since the flight is full and I am in the last group that boards there is no space for my carry on. So I have to go all the way back to row 32 when I am in row 20. Hot a huge hassle but still. So I prepare to do my usual, pass out before the safety briefing is done, but this time I am sitting on the window of a 3x3 which makes me extremely uncomfortable. So as we take off I am just getting to sleep which is really nice since I don’t feel the pressure change or anything and I snooze until the landing gear hits the ground again, with the only exception being woken up to see if I wanted a refreshment…. Sorry but nope.

So Atlanta is really nice. I have been in and out of Atlanta a lot lately since that is the airport that I connect thru when I fly to Boston. I will be going to the E terminal this time which I have not been to since it is the International Terminal and the last terminal in a row of five… Well I must go so there is more to come.

Stay Frosty
-C