I left the Pierre "two-destination-airport" at the lovely hour 6:50am on Thursday (1/6) morning. Now it should be noted that I showed up for what was essentially an international flight 35 minutes before the plane was going to take off. Understandably, they were not used to travelers flying internationally out of this airport. So, they had some difficulty checking me in. But, after a few false starts they got me checked in and then -- and this is the best part, they APOLOGIZED for the wait. To which I responded, “you guys are so slow, what the crap!” Not really – If I showed up at Philadelphia International an hour before an international flight they would probably gather their friends around for a good laugh – “hey look at this jerk, he thinks he's checking in to an international an hour before. Honey, you aren’t even going to get an inappropriate search by TSA in the next 60 minutes. Go home and try again tomorrow.” By the way, another benefit of the Pierre airport -- no molestation what-so-ever. I love the Midwest.
The Second Flight: Minneapolis - Paris
I had gotten a bit of a cold in Pierre that was still lingering at the time of my trip, but I decided that it wasn’t worth canceling. I had even gone to the doctor where they did blood tests and took x-rays and whatnot. They gave me some drugs and I seemed to be getting a little better. Here is the kicker though. Literally, as the airline is announcing boarding for my 9 hour flight to Paris, I get a call from my Doctors office, “our radiologist has had a chance to look at your x-ray and he said that we need to follow-up with a CT scan – he saw something we need to take a closer look at.” NEAT! He saw something in my lungs that needs further evaluation! I am excited to be a part of this plan! So, here is where we cue my insanely over active and anxious brain. So, I am thinking to myself, I know the MSP airport has a Rocky Moutain Chocolate Factory and one of those harps that plays by itself, maybe they have a 20 minute CT scan machine. It would be kind of like a claustrophobic shoe shine booth with radiation. Unfortunately, the closest they had were those massage chairs in the main concourse. Great for a back rub, but useless when you need a three dimensional image of your lungs. Anyway, the Doctor ended up telling me that I should go ahead and get on the plane and that we could check it out when I get back to the US. I will keep you posted on whether or not I have some sort of incurable lung disease.
The Third Flight: Paris - Bangalore
When I got on my last flight from Bangalore to Paris, there is a woman standing at my seat row. Now, most of the time, I don’t care where I sit. As long as it’s not a middle seat, I’m cool with it, but this time I was sick and drinking a lot of water to stay hydrated – I was going to keep my aisle seat and its easy access to the loo. She was pretty insistent, but I ended up just saying no. She was not very nice about it, so I am going to tell a funny story about her in retribution. Remember this scene:
Oh yeah, ladies and gentleman, I had to help her figure out her seat belt. And sadly, it wasn’t an easy task. Til next time, remember -- To fasten, take the little end and stick it in the big end or Tommy here will come and hit you over the head with a tack hammer.
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