Wednesday, April 28, 2010

HNT:NFK

A company interested in employing me after graduation recently flew me up to Virginia to come in for an interview.  I had never flown by myself before or much less have a company pay for it.  I headed to the Huntsville International Airport to catch my flight out of town.  I met some really cool people along the way.

This lady was traveling with her friend Flat Stanley.  Flat Stanley had been crushed by a blackboard that fell on him in class and made him flat, but just because he was flat didn’t mean he couldn’t see the world.  Stanley had his picture taken with a couple of congressmen and a few mayors of cities in Alabama.   Here’s Stanley’s story:


The flight was delayed a bit once we got in the air it was a nice day.  This is a picture of the mighty Tennessee River on the way out of Huntsville.  I sat next to a pilot on the way out and apparently the planes go around 120mph before lifting off the ground.

After missing my connection in Charlotte I was scheduled to arrive in Norfolk around 9PM.   My kind interviewer picked me up from the airport and took me too the swankiest hotel I’ve ever stayed at.  I got a wicked king size bed for little old me.


I was as little hungry when I go in so I decided to grab a bite to eat. It was late so only the thing open was drive thru and I had no car.  Some lovely ladies saw my frustration and offered to drive me through to get some food.  I hopped in the back seat to find a 2 and 1 year old kickin’ it in the back seat.  Tamika had been through the drive through and had some poor customer service and was glad to come back through to prove a point.  I was almost sure my food was going to have some bodily fluid in it, but I think the management shaped up after Tamika’s comments.  Those girls were crazy. 

I had my interview at the mill and got back to the airport just in time to get hassled in security for a while.  I was luckily selected for a random bag check.  They took out some piece of paper and swabbed the bag to check for drugs or something.  It was very nerve racking to have a stranger go through my stuff.  Everyone seems on edge in airport security. Every grandma is packed to the teeth with C-4 I guess, but they could be but it doesn’t seem likely.  I NEED A BAG CHECK…I REPEAT…I NEED A BAG CHECK.  No one is safe until everyone’s bag is checked twice.
 After mistakenly going to the wrong terminal I had to go back through the other terminal’s security…party. So I finally got on the plane and had time to write some postcards to my friends.  I had a nice chat with the lady next to me about how the flight attendants must go home and practice there in flight safety routine in the mirror.  They had a really great stage presence and I have never seen a better fake smile out of anyone.  I like the old flight attendants the best.  They are timeless symbols of freedom, and the perils of too much makeup.  I’m just so curious as to what they do outside of work!  I’m pretty sure they’re all dating international businessmen that they hump for a few days in some strange country before coming back to reality.  I would love to hear crazy in-flight stories from the ladies working in the 60’s and 70’s before the FAA got strict.  I bet they have some good ones.

 The Holy Father blessed my iphone and I received 10 extra hipster points to add to my already hefty fanny pack full of coolness.
The clouds were amazing.  We popped through the top and it was like we were on another planet.  The patches of land were like a lake amidst the topography of the clouds.   We discussed this among the two older women I sat between who happened to live less than 5 miles from each other.  I asked another lady if it looked like the stewardess rehearsed and she was sure she practiced.  She actually just came from an international cheerleading competition in Orlando.  So I’ll take her word for it.

I got home a little late, but I made it safe.  It’s amazing how many more people you meet when you are all alone traveling.  It’s like not having a safety net to catch you and just reaching out to connect with someone.  I confessed my hopes and dreams to random strangers I’d never met, and they shared the same with me.  I can’t wait to do it again.