Greetings from lovely La Guardia airport where I am waiting to catch a flight to Dallas, and then from there Wichita, KS. This one of those "kill two birds with one stone trips". I'm visiting with my sister and her husband who live out there, and I'm playing in the Kansas Open giving me state #25 of my 50 states quest.
Unlike last my last trip, the airport scene has changed. On my trip to the National Open the airport looked like a ghost town. I flew through security because there was no one on line in front of me. Today was a different story. The line for simply showing your boarding pass and ID was going around the corner. Fortunately that line moves fairly quickly, though the Japanese family in front of me had their Chicago to Tokyo boarding cards out instead of New York to Chicago. I got to admit I've done that before; having wrong leg of the trip boarding card out.
I know once I get through that line I'll be able to go through the priority line because of my frequent flier status. I think the guy looking at my boarding pass was asleep, because he tried to send me to the other line. I show him the card again, and he sends me to the right line. That line wasn't exactly a bargain. The woman right in front of me had on the most ridiculous shoes for traveling. They were a pair of very stylish strappy high heels. Taking them off was a major production. There were two different buckles on the straps that had be undone to get out of the shoe. How the hell do people schlep around airports wearing shoes with a 4 inch heel? Myself, I wear a pair of really comfy Merril slip ons. They have good supprt, but no laces. Out and in. No sweat!
There was family of 5 that looked like they never had gone through security before. Don't ask me how they ended out on the priority line. The kids loaded up their bins with stuffed animals. One of their bags had a DVD player that should have been taken out of the bag. Then it took mom about 5 passes through the scanner before she didn't set it off. She kept standing in the middle of it. The guy kept saying stand behind the linr, then come back through. They sent her for a hand screening.
While I'm watching all of this I'm rolling my eyes and thinking to myself "Have they ever been on an airplane before?" Then the x-ray screener holds up my bag. "What's in the bottom of that bag?" Oops. For the first time ever my Chronos chess clock threw off the screener, so I had to pull it out of the bag. I guess that will teach me to moan and groan about rookie travelers.
Just about time for boarding. At least I can get on the plane right after 1st class and the ultra elite travelers. The ultra elite are the ones that fly 100,000+ miles a year. Unless someone starts paying me to travel all over he place, I will never make Executive Platinum status. I have enough trouble getting in my 25,000 to stay Gold. The double points in May and June helped. This trip will put me over.
Maybe in Dallas I'll post a game from Saturday. I behaved myself, and did not go to New York on Sunday for the Marshall "Cracktion". Maybe there's hope for me yet.
5 comments:
I wonder why you have a home, it looks like you are never there. Always on the move, always taking a plane.
Have fun in Kansas, off and on the board!
"How the hell do people schlep around airports wearing shoes with a 4 inch heel?"
This is what I wondered about some flight attendants who don the high heels.
On my last flight, I was upgraded to first class, where it was clear to see one of the FA's switching out shoes occasionally.
And of course I didn't happen to catch this because I was staring at the flight attendant's legs. Nope. Not at all.
Tiger: LOL I will be settling down come the fall.
LEP: You should have seen the flight attendants on Korea Air. They wear these beautiful silk uniforms, and have their hair up in these buns with these stiff ribbons in them. It amazed me how they looked impeccable the entire 14 hour flight. They make lots of trips to lavatories to freshen up.
Hi Polly, I got your comment about playing in Alaska; come to Juneau by ship, plane or dog sled and we will have a tournament just for you!
Or you can go to Anchorage where they have a big tournament or two every year, but that wouldn't be nearly as much fun...
Wahr: I will keep that in mind. I don't know when I will come to Alaska, but it's one of those places I want to visit for all the beautiful places. Getting to play in a chess tournament is an added bonus.
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