Pbenjay's Blog

I love to travel.  Actually let me clarify that;  I don’t love to pack, get to the airport, go through security, look for the nearest restroom or sit in the middle or the window.  What I love is to be where I’m going.  And even that could be further distilled to mean I like to travel to places I can experience and places I’ve never been.

If you have been reading the blog for the last couple of days, you know I have a new grandchild, Thomas Fletcher and he along with the other two grandchildren were shanghaied  to Florida last January.  And if you have been reading the blog for a year, then you may remember my daily posts from the 10 days I was in Florida helping Chiara set up a new household while dealing with two kids.  Then I went to Florida again in March to babysit and wow did I ever have misadventures there and I blogged about them – who can forget the 4 hours in the Urgent Care place and the 11 X-rays of my foot?

I got the call.  “Mom, can you come down here for a week? I want you to be here when the baby is born”.  I wanted to but I couldn’t because my son, Joel was staying with me and I hadn’t seen him in over a year.  I said I could fly down on Sunday (today) which was the due date.  BUT of course the baby came early and Chiara postponed her baby nurse by a week so there would be room for me at the house.  Luckily she didn’t come home till yesterday so I don’t feel awful about not being here.  The baby, by the way, is a tiny little doll – if you can refer to little boys as dolls.  I can see I’m going to have to significantly alter my vocabulary with a male in the mix.

I wanted to be there as early as possible so I booked a 7:29am flight out of LaGuardia and planned on arriving Sunday morning at 10:29am.  As often is the case, what looks good on paper isn’t always so much fun in reality.  We had a dinner invitation last night that had been planned way in advance.  We got home just before 11:00pm and I still had some last minute packing to do so it was after midnight when I went to bed.  I set the alarm for 5:15am and was sure I would never sleep knowing I had to get up in a few hours.  OH how I wished my flight was at 11am.  Well, I did fall asleep and woke up twice before the alarm went off.  Needless to say I was not a happy camper getting up in the dark.

I figured I would leave by 6am.  I washed my hair (always a stupid thing to do when you are on a tight schedule) and quickly got dressed without making too much noise since Peter was still in bed (lucky dog).  No make up for me, it was too early and it was packed anyway.

I went downstairs thinking I would have no problem getting a cab because really how many people could actually be going to work at that hour?  The answer: no one was around and therefore there were no cabs!  I asked the doorman to put the taxi light on and I stepped in the street straining to look both ways and across to the avenue hoping to see a yellow cab come into view.  Well, so much for leaving early and getting to the airport without having to rush.  Finally I saw a taxi approaching and heading in the wrong direction, but I hoped he would take pity on a woman and a suitcase in the street and make a U-turn.  Thank you Lord, he did.

We made it to the airport in record time, he drove really fast.  I hopped out and went into the Jet Blue Terminal to find a kiosk to check in.   I put in my credit card and my name came up along with a request for the flight number.  I typed it in – Sorry we are unable to locate your reservation.  Please try again or go to our Full Service desk.  I tried again, no such luck as the word that rhymes with that came out of my mouth.

No line at the counter so I checked my bag and got my boarding pass.  It was very easy and simple, however, it just annoys me to no end when equipment doesn’t function correctly.  There was a line for security but it seemed to be moving along and I was glad I had only my handbag and computer and no jacket.  Nothing is ever quite as easy as you think it’s going to be and one of these days I am going to KNOW that before it happens to me.  JUST as I was at the conveyer belt ready to put my stuff into bins, I looked down and there were no bins!  I looked around and around and no one seemed to see my dilemma.  I was about to put my bag and computer on the belt sans bin when all of a sudden there was a blue blur in front of me.  Not one, not two, not three, really I don’t know how many stewardesses, oh excuse me flight attendants jumped in front me each holding onto two bins and sent their belongings into the X-ray machine.  I was dumbfounded and a bit put off by the whole thing, but just then  a young man came along pushing a cart stacked with bins.  My stuff went through.

My flight on Jet Blue was due to depart from Gate B1, only when I got there it said Frontier!  I looked at the schedule on the electronic board and there it was;  Jet Blue flight 461 departs gate B1.  Oh well, I thought, I’ll just sit here and see if some Jet Blue  staff would show up at the counter.  I really wanted some coffee but the line leading to Dunkin Donuts was soooooo long. Thankfully Jet Blue employees showed up.  

The plane wasn’t crowded, there were quite a few empty seats, the plane was impeccably clean and the seats comfortable. I had an aisle seat. Seat backs up, trays up, turn off your electronic devices, put on your seat belts.  One of the attendants started to recite the safety measures one must take should there be a crash or loss of pressure in the air cabin…AND THEN she said, “potty time can wait a moment” . Apparently some woman just got up and went into the lavatory.  Then a couple of the attendants came down the aisle and went to the rear of the plane where the rest room was.  AND THEN a LOUD discussion took place.  The woman kept saying,”I wasn’t rude, how am I going to get home”?  This went on for about 10 minutes.  The head stewardess marched forward to speak to the pilot.  Shortly thereafter, a security officer went down the aisle.  Discussion with my seat mate and surrounding passengers revealed that woman had copped an attitude with one of stewardesses and had been asked to leave the plane.  We are now 30 minutes into the discussion.  Back come all of the flight attendants, then forward, then the security guard.  Eventually they are all up front talking to the captain who is standing outside the cabin.  AND THEN as we all sit strapped into our seats, we hear coughing and retching coming from the bathroom – the woman is in there.  They all rush down the aisle and inquire loudly if she needs help and is there anything wrong.?  The head attendant is maintaining the position that there is nothing she can do.  The woman is repeatedly claiming that she had been sleeping and she wasn’t rude.  The airline staff cannot touch or handle the civilian passenger.  AND THEN (and we are now 50 minutes into the standoff), two police officers arrive and head to the rear.  More discussion ensues and EVENTUALLY with real attitude the woman leaves the plane escorted by the two cops with the promise that ‘we can discuss this outside”.  

The plane that was supposed to depart at 7:29am was finally ready to take off at 8:25am.  We are all assuming we’re going to be an hour late.  I rarely and I mean rarely ever break any rules.  I had visions of my son-in-law sitting at the airport at 10:30 waiting for me and I would be an hour late.  I threw caution to the wind, figured they wouldn’t want to throw 2 people off the plane;  After all consider the social media opportunities for really bad publicity, so I turned on my phone and sent a cryptic 4 word text to my son-in-law – “very late check flight”.  

The upside to this adventure was 1) the movies were free and 2) we landed in West Palm Beach at 10:47am  – PLEASE tell me how the pilot made up the lost hour!  I mean really? Really?

JET BLUE

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