New York City - Part 1

As some of you know, last weekend I took an epic trip to New York City to meet up with @jagr9563 and @zeewriter. Now, this was the first time I have flown on a plane since summer of 2001 right before 9/11. To say that I was a little nervous about the trip would be a understatement. Anyway, I have to start in the beginning because it never seems to amaze me how interesting things happen to me.

I drove myself to the airport and parked in the long term parking lot. It was just easier for my family to do it this way and it worked out great. I had always heard since 9/11 that I would have to arrive at the airport 2 hours early. So, like the good little traveler I am I arrived an hour and 45 minutes early. Weelllll, much to my surprise when I arrived at 3:45 am, there was nobody there. I mean no workers and two other travelers waiting. I'm thinking WTF.

See the ghost town over there. LOL Finally, after waiting for a while the airport employees arrived for work and I was sent over to security where I had to wait for 45 minutes until the security people arrived. So far, I'm handling it pretty well until we have to board the plane. Now, this plane was so small that we had to go outside on the tarmac to board. I use the term plane loosely, because in reality it was a bus with wings. It even had propellers.

We boarded this tin can of a plane and were literally packed in there like sardines. I'm tweeting my little panic attack until we are told to shut down our phones. I start talking to this lady beside me and all seems well as we start taxiing down the runway. Now, I'm watching out my window at the wheels and just as we are about to take off the plane suddenly jolts and slows down to a stop in the middle of the runway. We all just look around at each other with wide eyes and a little freaked out at this point. I'm so wishing I had had a drink or two, even though it's 5:30 am. After a few minutes the captain comes on the loud speaker and makes the following announcement:

"Ladies and gentlemen, sorry for the inconvenience. We have had some technical difficulties, well not too terrible of difficulties. See, while the co-pilot was taking off his seat slid back and he could not reach the peddles. We will now circle around and resume take off shortly."

As I sat there in disbelief, all I could do was laugh. Of course, all my confidence in these pilots was lost but ya know at least they didn't screw up in the air. We eventually did take off after sitting 30 minutes while they filled out their non-take off paperwork. I have to give it to them though. They made up most of the time and those of us with connecting flights managed to make them on time.

So, this is the beginning of my adventure. Not sure how many posts there will be or how long it will take me to get them posted. I've been struggling with some insomnia and work issues so my time is limited. Thanks for reading and I hope to post Part 2 soon. :)