My teeth feel smooth and my breath tingles with minty delight. And best of all, I’m wearing clean underwear and pyjamas and will soon retire to a comfy bed.
It’s the little things you miss when you find yourself buffeted by unpredictable forces. Such as when your plane is delayed and you must circle over another city until a runway clears. Then you find out that the local storm has shut down all flights for a while. First delays, then cancellations.
This is what happened in Phoenix airport last night. By 11pm I knew I wasn’t getting on any plane until the next day. After standing in the long line at American and getting my new boarding passes, I asked about hotel vouchers; there were none. It was time to perform that rite of passage often spoken of by travel types — sleeping in the airport.
I asked the agent where the best place to sleep would be. He said if it were him, he would go to Gate 15, so I did. It was a sectioned off area at the end of all of the gates. The lights were still bright, but at least it was quiet (except for the automated voice that asks people to watch their step at the end of the moving sidewalks.) When I arrived, a petite blond woman was cosily spread out on one of the benches. But she had to place her body just right so as not to be jabbed by the inflexible armrests.
Her boyfriend/partner changed body positions many times during the wee hours. I know this because I was doing the same and making my usual bathroom visits. He ended up underneath her bench on the carpet, against the wall and various other spots while she slept on blissfully. I tried imitating the woman, but I ended up close and personal with those armrests. I still managed to get about 4 interrupted hours of sleep. Not bad especially when I knew I could make up for it on my three flights home today.
It was totally worth the inconveniences to visit my daughter, mother, sisters, brothers and nieces/nephew. And it is always interesting to study people at airports and on planes. I’m the social butterfly who probably annoys a lot of people. I try to make at least some verbal contact with the person(s) sitting next to me.
I hit the jackpot when I met Fernando from Brazil on the flight from Vegas to Dallas. He was super friendly and we both shared our love of foreign languages. I had to share my Brazilian connections — my son’s mission to São Paulo and my host son’s year with us. Before parting ways, we exchanged contact info and he even invited me (and my spouse) to stay with him and his family near Sao Paulo if we ever visit.
It was the silver lining to a day and night of exhaustion.
