Remember when flying was fun?

Okay, maybe it was only fun when you were a teenager and sold enough newspaper subscriptions to win a trip to Abilene, where we toured a bunch of cool places (including the radio station where I would later work) and GO ON AN AIRPLANE TRIP! You know, the really interesting thing about that that trip was I don't think we went anywhere. Maybe to San Angelo or Midland, but we didn't get off the plane anywhere until we were back in Abilene. I do recall that it was a propeller-driven DC-3 and the tail sat on the ground and you almost needed a rope to pull your way up the aisle to your seat.

Now flying is a necessary evil to cover long distances. Otherwise, why would you spend hours searching the Internet for a nearly non-exorbitant fare that you can't renegotiate except at another exorbitant fee, get to the airport hours early so you can stand in long lines and be checked, cross-checked, scanned, sniffed, hands wiped to check for residual explosives (new this trip), put all your metal items including your permanent fillings in a basket so you won't set off alarms and get shunted aside to be patted down - all the while wandering around barefoot because some nut job tried to set his sneakers on fire!

Observation #1 - Why - if you know you are going to have to take your shoes off in the x-ray line - would one wear tight knee-high boots? And boots must be very in right now; I saw many women wearing them.

And standing in line is not the end of it. Most airlines now charge yet another fee for checking your bags so everyone tries to carry on all their earthly belongings so the attendants are on your case to put your carry-ons under the seat because there is insufficient room in the overhead bins. That means you don't have any room for your feet, but that's minor compared to the lack of leg-room and butt-room and the fact that you can't put the tray down if your stomach is plus sized (okay, not every one has this problem). And forget it if the gorilla in front of you puts his seat back!

Observation # 2 - The Nebraska baseball team was on our flight, and while not the basketball team there were some tall boys on the team. One sat next to Mom in the window seat and could not fit his legs in the available space; he had to put one knee in the slot next to the bulkhead and the other in the slot in the middle.  The guy behind her kept his feet in the aisle and the attendant kept having to say, "Excuse me. Watch your feet. Cart coming through."

Observation # 3 - The Fresno State women's basketball team was on our return flight and there were some tall girls on the team who kept their feet in the aisle as well.

Meals? Snacks? Fageddaboutit. You could purchase a sandwich for 10 bucks. Blanket? Soon 8 bucks. Soft drinks are still free, but only until they think they can get away with charging for them. Enough already. You can match my stories.

But after all the grousing, the trip was so worth it!

I'll blog about that next.