Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Anxiety

I love when work travel gets interesting - I mean, except when it inconveniences me.  It is after all, all about me.

So yesterday was a new one....and yes, Benatar came right into my head.

After boarding, closing the door, retracting the jetway and pulling away from the gate, this guy comes to the front of the plane and asks to be let out.  I know this, because I was sitting in row 3 in an aisle seat.

I actually felt bad for the guy, because while I think he was trying to keep it together, he was having an anxiety attack.  I'm assuming about flying, but I don't know this for sure. The flight attendant was great and didn't try to get him back to his seat.  She realized better to get him off the plane now than have him 35,000 feet in the air and freaking out.

While we waited to go back to the gate, for the jetway to come back and door to open, I watched this guy try to regain any kind of composure.  And then I watched him trying to catch his breath and not vomit.   And he did not do the latter - no thanks to the airline.

I saw the flight attendant desperately search for a barf air sickness bag.  By row 6-7 she gave up.  I don't know if this is where the airline is trying to cut back, but today was not the day.  Of course, as he was getting off the plane, I heard her ask "did you have any luggage?"   UGH.  Another 30 minutes of someone trying to find that and get it off the plane. 

I was late.  No shock.

Flying back through Denver should be fun on Thursday. They were expecting 4-8" of snow last night, their first snow of the season.  I haven't checked the paper to see if they got it or expecting anymore.

But you know, California in late October doesn't really suck.  It was beautiful yesterday and hopefully tomorrow. 
Monterey is a beautiful place. I stayed at a 'spa' since the Marriott was full.  I did none of the spa-like activities. First off, it was work.  Second, I'm not a spa-like kind of guy.

But the hotel/spa was right on Cannery Row, so that was cool.

It really is all work.  Dinner with the boss, worked all day...and work all day the next two days.  Then right back on a plane.

Sheila E was right.  It is a Glamorous Life. Unless you're afraid of flying.



Song by: Pat Benatar

5 comments:

Cubby said...

You have all the fun! My flights are uneventful (knock wood).

I like the pic of the sky bridge, although it seems odd to build one over what looks like a low-traffic street.

Birdie said...

You mean I have to bring my own bag now?!

Yeah, I'm one of those who tries desperately not to get sick in the turbulence or landing. I LOVE flying. My stomach does not. It's rare for me to actually lose it, but I look for that bag every time I sit down.

When I have the rare privilege of business-related travel, I add a day to the front of the trip for tourist activities and rest. But I don't get to do it often.

Ur-spo said...

I have a lot of patients terrified of airplane travel; there is often requests for Rx to knock themselves out for the duration

David said...

Great Post. Why no inflight pictures?

Greg said...

At least the guy had sense to say something before getting airborne. I doubt the airline would have provided a parachute.