Most Exciting 45 Min Flight Ever

I wrote this on the plane on Friday evening, but I haven't been around a computer or wireless connection in the last 4 days, just me and my iPhone, so here it is now. Be ready for a posting- playing catch up spree.

Well, I am well on my way to San Diego where I have high hopes for a fun (and maybe even successful?) weekend. The first flight this morning was pretty interesting, though. I sat next to a very friendly grad student, who of course I didn't get his name but I am confident he will check this out, so "Big shout out, new friend!"

Now when I say "nice" flight, don't assume it was a calm flight. That was by no means the case. This was the smallest plane I've been on, and remember, I regularly fly out of Jacksonville, which I'm pretty sure is the nation's smallest airport with only "express planes." This too, was an express plane, but as my in flight accomplice (we'll get to that in a minute) pointed out, it was certainly very "cozy." Actually, the propellers were on the outside of the plane. Not inside, like a jet engine. Right... outside. Right near our row of the plane in fact. Hey there propeller, meet my face. They provided this sweet ambiance which set the mood for the whole trip - a nice steady hum (think swarms of very large bees on either side of your head) and a good steady vibration coming up through our shoes was definitely a great relaxation tool. This flight made us feel that we were under constant G Pressure, not unlike the spinny rides (centrifugal force rides, for those of us who have awesome vocab - flight accomplice, but not this girl) where you try to pick your leg up and it's so hard. I was afraid I'd been unknowingly signed up for astronaut training but it certainly provided discussion topic and something to laugh about. And then came the headphones.

You see, my row-sharer had bought a pair of headphones he wanted to open and did so by instead of following the how-to-open procedure, he ripped apart the case. Typical dude, right ladies? Well then, this girl decided I wanted MY headphones open. I, however, did not have the case that had some sort of open procedure, it was clearly a "cut me to get me open" kind. There was no way that this was stopping me though, those headphones were coming out. Let's just say I violently destroyed the plastic case bare-handed and came out with only one small wound where the plastic snuck up and bit my finger. The whole time my accomplice was cheering me on and it was evident we were basically the only people having a blast on the flight. He was pretty stoked when I got the final rip of the plastic and tore out my headphones and I must say I had an overwhelming feeling of accomplishment and general badassness.

The feeling of how badass I am, however, completely disappeared when I LOUDLY yelled WOAH during our rough landing. I mean LOUD. Neither me nor my new travel friend had been paying attention to how close we were to landing, as we were busy celebrating the opening of the headphones, and when we hit, we hit hard. And anyone who knows me, knows that sometimes I really can't control what comes out of my mouth or the volume with which it escapes. Ha. Definitely a memorable little flight and now to finish flight number two!

Thank you, fellow traveler, for making the flight a fun one and at least letting me think I'm hilarious for a few seconds. Just goes to show you, friends, like I said in a few posts back, always take time to meet new people! You never know when someone will be rooting on you and your headphones!

(San Diego, stay tuned... love)