The woes of Christmas traveling

The film Love Actually starts off with Hugh Grant voicing over a touchy airport scene with people greeting each other and rejoicing. He then says that when he wants to look for love he goes to the airport. Well, when I want to look for hate, I go to the airport. Not once have I seen such touching embraces at the airport especially not during the crowded holidays. Instead I see kids that won't stop crying, tired parents, moody couples and grouchy and patronizing airline employees. Oh and people on the verge of a breakdown if they hear the intercom announce for the 5,000th time to not leave bags unattended.

For the second year in a row I headed to El Paso for Christmas with my future in-laws. This time though my mother is coming as well and it will be her first time meeting the family. But my 5:35 p.m. SouthWest flight to El Paso from LAX was delayed on Friday since everyone was traveling for vacation or going back home.

When I arrived at the airport I almost got taken out by a guy with skis who turned when his girlfriend also with skis called his name. I arrived at 3:30 and waited on the long line that went out the door since I had to check my bag because of the wrapped gifts that it contained. When I finally got to my gate I was greeted by the electronic board by my gate which announced that my flight was delayed an hour to 6:30:

Fine, I thought. So I wandered around the shops, bought Brides magazine (while I can and all), however the thing is bigger than a phone book so I was then stuck lugging it around. *Digression* While I'm on this topic, why do engagement ring ads comprise most of the pages in there, isn't that part done already? Brides either already have them or are not the ones buying them anyway. I would have benefited by seeing wedding bands instead. Oh well and besides showing just wedding gowns it would be good to see some tuxes for ideas for the groom too. *end of digression*

Just as it was nearing six o'clock a new delay message was posted. They didn't even have the guts to make an announcement about it, instead they just switched the time as if we wouldn't notice or still cause a stink. The 5:35 flight was now leaving at 7:20:

We boarded at exactly 7:20, but then we had to wait for everyone to find a seat (I luckily had A35 so was among the first few on) and store their luggage and taxi away from the gate. The pilot assured us that the two hour flight was only going to take an hour and a half though, so at least that was something. I got a window seat but the woman in the middle seat next to me had brought on a big take out plate of nachos and the fumes were making me sick. And I said to myself, "self, if she hits you with her elbow one more time, just go ahead and put her face in the sour cream and guacamole."

Happy trails all, ho ho ho

7 comments

  1. Nothing like the airline industry to foster happy memories, eh? A Merry Christmas to you, anyway!

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  2. I hope that the rest of your trip goes better than the beginning! I literally just finished watching Love Actually so reading your oh-so-cheerful view of it was really funny. (And I totally agree that the engagement ring ads do not belong in Brides magazine.) Merry and Happy!!

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  3. Flight delays always stink - but even worse when the pilot ups the speed and we end up landing early, only to wait for a gate to pull up to.

    Happy El Paso Holidays!

    ~Steve

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  4. Ugh how frustrating, but you seem to be good spirits still so that's what counts. Have a wonderful Christmas!

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  5. Hope the holiday itself is better! My flight got delayed out of Denver 2 hours, too. Except it was the red eye to Boston... neither of which is fun. :)

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  6. On that Brides mag: reason for all those engagement ring ads is that a big (maybe biggest?) chunk of the readership is bride-wannabes. So they target the most desperate ;)

    I always thought that a "Groom" magazine would be the size of a pamphlet, with ads for bachelor-party friendly strip clubs LOL.

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  7. I miss being engaged solely for the bridal magazines. They are so pretty and thick.

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