When I booked the tickets to Ireland for the three of us (Robyne, Elaine and myself), the airlines said to arrive 2 1/2 hours early. Considering the lines I had to wait in just one month prior, I took them at their word. We got to the airport and much to my surprise, walk directly up to the check-in counter. I shrugged at the now skeptical Robyne and Elaine. "Wait until you see the line at security." We arrived at security and had to wait about two seconds for the one person in front of us. We made it through in a blink of an eye. "There better be a line at the gate," Robyne said. I didn't have the heart to tell her that we already had our boarding passes and were all out of line opportunities. So, at 2:30 we were already sitting at the gate for a 5:00 flight.
How do you waste two hours at an airport? Obviously cards! (you thought I was going to say alcohol, didn't you!). My dear friend Roger and his visiting mother recently taught me a game called "Basara." It wasn't recent enough for me to remember all the rules. Out came the cell phones and three calls later we had the rules down pat.
We got back to our gate in plenty of time to board. This one couple had a cute 2-year-old with them named Jack. Luckily for us, they sat in the row directly in front of us. Jack kept peaking around the seat at us. Kids can be so cute. They started the safety announcements, then immediately interrupted it to inform us a warning light was on and they needed to call maintenance. Maintenance decided we better grab a different plane. We un-boarded, went to a different gate, waited some more, watched Jack become fussy, and boarded a fresh plane. Jack, still a row in front of us, didn't appear to like flying. The crying wouldn't have been so bad, but the shrieks were interrupting my sleep. He also liked to trick us by becoming quiet for just long enough to give the illusion that it was over before starting again. My nap was not to be deterred. I put on the headphones, cranked some classical music and tried to nod off. I ended up watching the movie.
The movie ended and not only was Jack asleep, but so were Robyne and Elaine. I curled up to nap in my nice comfy window seat, but I had to go to the bathroom. I didn't want to wake the girls, so I tried to ignore it. My bladder would have none of it. I nudged Elaine to indicate that I was about to climb over her (I didn't want to scare her). My climbing on the armrest over Elaine was graceful enough, so I decided against waking Robyne. Unfortunately, Robyne woke with a start just as I was stepping over her. Oh well, the best intentions and all that. As I gracefully leapt to the floor, the flight attendant gave me a "nicely done" making it all worthwhile.