I’m now in SFO 22 hours into my travel day. First things first... happy birthday dad! Dr. P. turns 69 today. Hopefully by the time I make it home in four more hours I’ll have enough energy to celebrate with the Thursday Night Crew. Below are a few more stories from the trip that I failed to document and I’d like to remember 20 years from now.
I’ve never been on a flight where a person going crazy led to a delay... until today. On my flight from IAD to SFO a passenger went straight up nuts. He was one of the last passengers on board and his first aggravation was that he couldn’t find a place for his bag. Eventually he got it put in a closet and went to sit down and realized his seat was wet. At this point he started yelling about how he was on his way home from Argentina and the power went out on his last flight and he couldn’t watch the TV and now his seat was wet. He started yelling at the flight attendants and freaking out about how he has flown United for 30 years and paid $8,000 for this flight. The customer service was unacceptable and heads were going to roll. They eventually talked the guy into going out to the jetway to discuss options. About five minutes later maintenance guys showed up and swapped out the cushions. We eventually departed IAD about 15 minutes late.
In the middle of the flight I got up to use the restroom. I ended up talking to one of the flight attendants. Inevitably the guy going crazy came up. I was thoroughly entertained to know that the passenger manifest said the guy had NO status with United (certainly minimizing his 30 year statement) and he did not pay full fare. Upon landing in SFO I got to experience something else new on an airplane.
Fortunately I didn’t have to actually use an oxygen mask, I just got to see what they looked like when falling out of the ceiling. Now I just need to come up with a way to go down an exit slide without being in an emergency.
Three other funny stories from Brazil are as follows:
I think many Americans have the image of Brazil being a sexualized place. The women and beaches are both supposed to be beautiful. Upon arrival in the TAM lounge in São Paulo I hopped on-line to send a few arrival emails. I was greeted by this Yahoo home page. Our stereotypes, at least in this instance, seem to be accurate.
Saturday night was the end of daylight savings time in Brazil. The hotel wanted to be very sure that all of its hotel guests knew this. They slid a note under the door and called and left messages on the phones for guests to call in and receive a message. When Scott called to ask about his message on the phone I heard this:
Scott: “Hi. I was told to call for an important message.”
OP: I can’t hear her.
Scott: “Oh, so is this something they are doing just in the hotel?”
OP: I can’t hear her.
Scott: “So the time will be different in the lobby?”
OP: I can’t hear her.
Scott: “So you mean the time in the whole city is going to change?”
OP: I can’t hear her.
Scott” “Oh wow. So this is like a country thing. Thanks.”
I had no idea Scott was this type of a smart ass. It caught me totally off guard and I was thoroughly entertained.
Another great Scott line from our trip was when we were coming back from one of our adventures. He wanted to take a nap and I was going to go and do some exploring or something. He said, “It’s really too bad how much your diabetes slows you down.” I think I effectively managed to wear out another travel buddy.
It’s now time to board my last flight home to Eugene. I’m thankful to have had another great travel adventure. I’m home for all of 16 hours before going to Portland for a hockey game tomorrow night. The next blog entries will be my trip to AZ with J2 to see Joe and Han-Mei and some spring training games this weekend.
Be back in five days!
Katy
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