No reason to not have a little adventure en route! Didn’t drink all my small bottle of water which I had brought with me, forgot all about it until I was in line at security in Guadalajara and saw someone throw his out. At that point I was still beside the garbage can so I did the bottle toss as well. Security was a breeze, hardest part was waving a last farewell.
One can never be sure if the plane will have what you want from the on-board menu, so I bought a 6” sandwhich at subway ( good it wasn’t a 12”), had it cut in four pieces so it would be easier to manage and bought a bottle of water. Ate half at Starbucks where I went to get a coffee. Someone should import 18% crema to Mexico! Even adding sugar didn’t help. Put the rest of the sandwhich in my red bag for later.
Pilots were late, saId they were going to speed to make up for the fifteen minutes lost so they could land on schedule, maybe a few minutes early even. Very confident they wouldn’t get a ticket.
I seldom watch TV other than news, occasionally I don’t turn it off right away. On one of those rare occasions, I got caught up in a program that was about suspicious passengers. Most interesting but, rest assured, that will never be me. One other time I watched a detailed news documentary on sniffer dogs, they are very good at their job, I thought. Another experience I will never have.
John and I had a couple of conversations about asking for help when you need it. I took that very seriously and let the agent at the counter in Guadalajara know that I would need some help when I got to Houston if it was far to my next gate, So Agent Helpful went to his computer to process my request, came back and said all he could do was request a wheelchair, did I want that. I said “yes, that will be fine, thank you” and immediately felt like an idiot as I am not an invalid. Best decision I made in all the days of vacation. My carryon had been green tagged and left at the door where I was to pick it up going out the door. So easy. So I go out the door, no carryon yet, had to wait a few minutes but Mr. Pusher was there holding up his card with my name on it.
After confirming that it’s me, I awkwardly get into the seat, he looks after getting my just-arrived carryon onboard the wheelchair. What he didn’t say was “Fasten your seatbelt.” I didn’t realize at the time that I even had one in the wheels. What I did notice was a very much older lady who obviously needed more help than I did and didn’t have wheels waiting for her; so I told Mr. Pusher that if it wasn’t far she could have my wheelchair and I would walk. “It’s far” he said. I decided to believe he knew what he was talking about. Second wise decision.
Away we went, stopped en route to ensure Mrs. Needs a Wheelchair would get one.
Although my luggage was checked through to Calgary, we somehow ended up at the conveyer belt to pick up my suitcase to check it in again. Not wanting or needing to do that, we had a polite discussion while waiting for the luggage to come. While sitting there, this cute little beagle approaches, being friendly, I thought. Persistent little friend on a leash, who lo and behold, was attached to a man in uniform with a badge. What is in my bag, he wanted to know. My unfinished lunch, very good Subway sandwhich with ham, cheese, tomato, green pepper and mashed avocado as my dressing. Can’t bring in the ham. “That’s my lunch!” I protested. So he wrote a few letters on a card with a red marker, stuck it in my passport which he kept in his hand and said to follow him. There we went, me, Mr. Pusher and Cutie Beagle attached to First Man in Charge as fast as his short little legs could go to Second Man in Charge. “Goodbye, Yummy Sandwhich” followed by another water bottle, still unopened, as we were going through security again. Red letters didn’t mean I was getting red carpet treatment that day.
At this point I should have buckled up, Mr. Pusher almost lost me taking the turns so fast. He was making up for all that lost time with Cutie Beagle. Even with his super speed the whole run took ninety minutes, no doubt thirty minutes longer than necessary just to make the acquaintance of Cutie Beagle. On one sharp turn I was hanging on for dear life and unfortunately not able to take a picture of two girls waiting for one very important person. One girl was holding a large bouquet of pink balloons with “I love you” written on them, her friend was holding up a card with the words “She Said Yes”. I wondered if Mr. Pusher had no time for young love though he wasn’t very old himself. In a hurry to get through life, I thought, upon reaching our destination at a waiting station where there was an airport six seater means of conveyance. And there was Mrs. Needs a Wheelchair waiting to hop on board! Another very long ride at a sightseeing pace this time, drooling past all the places where I could get a new sandwhich and a coffee. Not meant to be, hopefully there would be a tasty snack on board.
Remember: whether your wheels are attached to a chair or tucked into a plane, flying is the safest way to travel. Just keep your seatbelt fastened in case of unexpected turbulence.
Safe travels!