North Carolina - Day 1 (flight)

It certainly was interesting getting out of LaGuardia. I get to the terminal around the normal time - noon for a 1:40 flight - plenty of time to get through security and get to my gate. When I get to the gate there is a massive amount of people waiting - the (what I thought was the) previous flight was boarding. I took a walk around the terminal, made a pit stop and got myself a bottle of water for the flight.

I mosey on back to the gate and there are still tons of people. I sit in one of the adjacent gates to stay out of the way. I can see on the board that the Norfolk, VA flight was leaving at 1:20 and was starting to board. I figured that we’d be boarding afterward. Well, after Norfolk boarded, chaos ensued. Cincinnati was boarding next, with a thong of people hanging around. Turns out that flight was delayed, and they had to downsize the plane they were using, which means they had to start bumping. That’s never fun. After that flight left, they started to board Richmond, VA. I discovered around this time that my flight was still waiting for it’s crew. I’d find out later that we were also waiting for a plane. I’ve found that having a crew helps, but having a plane is a necessity.

Watching everyone hover near the gate, I sat down in a seat next to it, amazed that more people didn’t decide to sit as well. An older lady sat next to me waiting for a flight to Portland, Maine. We started chatting about the flight delays, and then traded stories of other flights gone awry. She has a son that was in the Peace Corps in Morocco, and she told me of troubles they had trying to visit him. She also told me a story of a flight where they were asking for volunteers to bump. A man said he’d do it for a ticket anywhere in the world…and eventually he got that. I’ll have to remember that nugget.

The Portland flight loaded and left…as well as Halifax, Orlando and Atlanta at other surrounding gates. Our plane eventually showed up and we boarded. I switched seats to accommodate a couple that had two opposite window seats…I did my good deed for the day. The flight was uneventful, and I got my can of Cran-apple. Boy that takes me back.