A Lovely Flight

I had an absolutely wonderful flight this morning. Yes, you read that right, a lovely flight. I know, I’m generally railing about the airlines, but this morning American won some serious points in my book. Two main reasons were Robert on the left and Eddy on the right. There were both wonderful – and not just to me, but to everyone on the flight.

Eddy has been to Marion, Kansas to a graduation, so we chatted about that. Robert and I had a conversation – and daydreamed a bit – about a Hillary-Barack ticket.

I got up at 4 this morning, after going to bed at midnight. This was after a 2 a.m. jaunt back downstairs to turn off the computer because we were having a tremendous storm. Needless to say, I was tired. I napped a bit off and on during the flights but was exhausted by the time I got to the hotel. I had some calls to make and then I took a nap. I hated to waste the afternoon in DC but I needed the sleep. I’ve been going with too little sleep for too long.

This morning I was struck by how Robert was chatting with everyone – a business man about immigration, a school kid about his interest in history, and various other topics. I’m amazed at anyone who can so easily converse with people. It is a true talent, and one we’re losing. I’ll probably talk about that in an upcoming podcast for Art of Gracious Living. I wish he lived close by – he’d be fun to see – but unfortunately, Dallas is a little far for dinner.

Tonight as I was leaving the hotel for dinner, Susan from North Dakota was just coming in the door. So, we ended up going out to dinner together. That was a fun, unexpected treat.

I’ve had very minimal interaction with people since arriving in DC, and I’ve been asked out twice. I don’t remember DC being this friendly on previous trips. It seems more than “hello” ends up in an invitation. If I were the sort to hook up with someone for a fling while on a trip, I’d certainly have said “yes” to one of these gentleman – he was charming and really good looking, but it’s just not my style. I know, it seems like I’d be the sort to do that – given my adventurous nature – but I’m not.

Well, I need to get to bed. Tomorrow I get to deal with the Hyatt. There’s a mixup with the room. And, of course, we the customer get to deal with the hassle. Never can quite figure out how that works – that it’s always up to the customer to deal with the confusion. Seems like when it’s their mistake, they should deal with it, but it rarely seems to work that way.

Well, I should stop, or I’ll go off on a tangent about the travel industry in general and I don’t want to ruin the memory of such a delightful early morning flight. This is two trips in a row when I’ve had good flight experiences on at least one leg of the trip. A few dozen more such things and it could change my mind about the experience of flying. Of course, the problem is that one journey like Puerto Rico was last summer – bags ripped open, things lost, flights cancelled multiple times, etc. etc. etc. – requires a few dozen good experiences to make up for that one trip.

I heard four different people mention today that it was the first time they had ever been on a plane. I guess I’ve become jaded about air travel and that’s not in keeping with my personality where pretty much every day is full of potential for wonderful surprises. So, I decided I should try to appreciate the sight as we flew into DC. I tried to step outside that mindset of “oh, another flight” and see it with new eyes. You know what – being in the middle of poofy white clouds is something spectacular and I should pay more attention to it. You shouldn’t ever take it for granted. I’m so good about that in so many aspects of my life, but this one was one I realized I’d not been fully appreciating. So, in that vein… poofy white clouds…