I'm officially in California. Rachel and I got in around 1:00 last night (West Coast times from here on out, although I will note that was 4:00 for me, and I had been up since 8:00 the day before. So I was tired).
I had two chances to practice my talking-to-people skills. At one point, a nice little old lady told me she thought I was from Portland because I was wearing leggings under my dress, and I had on a scarf. (I said thank you.) She seemed very nice; she kept talking even though it was clear I was trying to read my book. At one point, when I looked back down and tilted my Kindle screen more to my face, she said, "Reading a book?" You'll all be proud to know I did not answer "Nope, milking a cow" or something equally sarcastic. She told me that she had actually missed a flight Monday, and then the flight they put her on yesterday was canceled, and so they put her on my flight to San Fransisco so that she could hopefully get a flight from here to Portland--so pretty much, she'd been traveling for over 24 hours, and wouldn't be home for at least another 24, and they wouldn't even get her a hotel. We talked for a few minutes about traveling and delayed planes; I told her where I was going and why I was flying and what I'd do once I got here. I probably should have taken the opportunity to really talk to her more as practice, but I didn't. I felt weird. After just a few minutes, I called Mom to talk to her.
Then, on the plane, I got put next to a woman and her son. I had been watching the little boy--maybe 2 or 3? I'm bad at judging kid ages--move pretty much nonstop for two hours while we waited at our gate. He was up at the window, he was running between the chairs, he was just swinging his arms and legs and twirling around. He wasn't really loud, but you could tell this kid had energy. So, when I got seated with them, I was a little bummed.
HOWEVER. Turns out this kid is a traveling champ. He had out a "journal"; "I'm going to write down everything I see," he told me. Of course, it was mostly crayon scribbles with some letters and words scattered in, but that's a journal, man! He told me he had flown to Disney Land before, and that he didn't think our plane was going to go very fast--"It's not a Superplane. It won't go zoom." I don't know the criteria for a super plane, because I thought we were going pretty fast. It turns out, too, that the kid's mom grew up in Monroeville. We had a nice time talking during lift off, and a little before they started serving drinks. They were traveling down the state, into Mexico. We talked about taking time off from jobs, and things we would do when we got where we were going. It was a lot of banal stuff, but it was also really easy to talk to her--a lot less weird than talking to the old lady in the waiting room.
Here's some thoughts/funnies from the airport yesterday:
-I've been wondering when a trip actually starts. I've packed
for this a few times now, I've been planning it for a while, making
reservations and buying tickets for about two months. I left the house at 1:00
today; is that when I started? Will it start when I hit the actual plane, get
in the air? Or when I’m in San Francisco?
-When I got to the desk to check in, the woman asked me where
I was going, and I was caught completely off guard. I completely forgot where I was going.
All I could think was “Seattle”. The woman laughed at me and was like, “…really?”
-There were some trucks and SUVs that were seemingly chasing a
plane on a throughway out the window. I’m pretty sure it’s just a trick of the
angles, but it was fun for a second to think that the FBI was chasing down a
plane (it was small enough to not be international. Unless it was going to
Canada, I guess. The point is, it would be the FBI in my story, not the CIA.
Local, not international, spies). Running form money fraud, probably. Stolen
insurance, or bank robbery. One of the trucks had a blinking yellow light on top, which made it even more fun.
Today, I'm getting some homework done, and then Rachel and I are going to go to get me some food for the trip. Tomorrow: San Fransisco! I haven't decided which part, yet....
Cheers!
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