Flight Plans

We had a fine experience flying with Delta airline for our vacation!

I awoke to the sound of expletives - either our 4:30 alarm didn't go off, or we slept through it until 4:50. But since we'd packed up well, and I'd showered the night before, we still got to the airport with a good half hour to spare before our 6:05 flight.

One point of comparison... when we arrived at the airport we noticed a fire truck with lights flashing, and inside an alarm was buzzing with corpse-raising power. And the line for Air Tran was 30 people deep, with announcers explaining delays and solutions. The Delta line was one person long.

The flight attendants were all a mixture of soothing professionalism and comic relief. For example, in explaining that our flight out of town had 1 of 2 lavatories broken and was also out of coffee, our attendant remarked that although it should be "against the Geneva Convention" to fly like that, we would do so. Another attendant on the way home, after explaining the procedures for fastening the seat belt joked "if you have any questions, please raise your hand and I'll escort you off the plane."

Our flights arrived at their destinations early. There were plenty of snacks and drinks provided.

We learned some lessons for you aspiring travelers who like us haven't been aboard a plane in two years:

1. Wear shoes that are easy to slip off - all passengers must do so to avoid sneaking deadly stuff aboard in them.

2. My nail clippers were not taken from me, as in old days. Evidently a study must have concluded that they are no more dangerous than pens (which were always okay).

3. The coins in my wallet didn't set off any alarms, like I thought they would.

4. There's a limit on size of liquids. Dena and my various toiletries were all jettisoned... soaps, toothpaste, contact solution, conditioner, shampoo, sunscreen you name it. We had to replace about $50 of stuff at the store when we arrived.