Things to do:
Ok, so now for my story. It’s a good one. I’m a little sad to be admitting the truth of my lack of awareness of my surroundings… but here goes:
This story even gets a title… as quoted by my mother: “At least my bags knew where to go”
It was a typical holiday weekend at the San Diego airport. Not too crazy; but there were definately a good number of people waiting to fly home to their family and friends; or possibly to get away from those very people, who knows. I overheard a mother/daughter conversation about the airport security, watched as a father read a children’s book to his young son, and was able to overhear about five different songs from various ipods turned up just loud enough to drown out everything I was, in fact, trying to hear (but as you will soon see.. I apparently was not trying hard enough). So there I was, people watching. The usual. I was sitting peacefully waiting for flight 80 (or 60, I can’t quite remember) but anyway, we’ll say it was 80. So I did a bit of reading, I chatted on the phone for a little while, ate a few grapes that I had stuffed into my backpack before I left the house… all of the usual activities you may find yourself doing as you wait for a flight to begin boarding. Soon enough, I heard over the loudspeaker: “Flight 80 to Sacramento will now begin boarding at Gate 6. We will first take pre-boarding passengers… bla bla”. You know the drill. So, I slowly made sure my bag was all closed up; all of my stuff accounted for. Since I was flying alone, and had an “A” boarding pass printed out from 24 hours before, I wasn’t too worried about getting to the front of the line. I leisurly walked over to a line that had made its way half-way around the center island where they sell food and drinks. The girl at the end of the line had on those ‘silencing’ headphones; the ones that cover your entire ears and block out any and all possible sound around you. So, I went to the nicely-dressed lady in front of her and politely asked, “Is this the A line?”. She said it was. Without a second thought in the world, I got in line behind the lady with the headphones, who, by the way, was very tall, so I began working on my posture; thinking of how much I need to do that more often… and possibly hang out with taller people. There was a family behind me, the mother and father explaining Southwest’s A/B/C boarding system to their daughter who didn’t seem to understand. I watched as the people with strollers and young children handed their tickets to the guy at the gate. There were only about five pre-boarding passengers. Then it was on to the “A” line. I believe I was talking on the phone with Bethany right as the line began to move; I quickly got off the phone, turned it off, and put it into my purse which was inside of my backpack. Getting closer and closer to the gate, I started thinking about how long it seemed since the last time I had gone home. It was for christmas, but seemed much longer. So anyway… there I was at the front of the line. I handed the guy my boarding pass and began to walk happily down the corridor. A few seconds later, as I was about 20 feet or so into the tunnel toward the airplane, the guy at the gate calls to me: “Miss…Miss…”. So I turn around and walk back. He askes me, “Where are you traveling today miss?”. I told him that I was headed to Sacramento and he proceeded to ask if I was on a connecting flight after this one… and his voice began to fade away as I thought in my head “what in the world is this guy talking about!? is there something wrong with my ticket!?”. I was too confused to really answer any of his questions, until he said “This is flight 2317. According to your boarding pass here, you are supposed to be on flight 80. Please go to the information desk and confirm which gate flight 80 is leaving from.”
I think at that point I was too much in disbelief of what I had just done to even realize that the guy was actually right. I had just tried to get on the wrong plane. As I walked to the desk, I looked above the line I had just walked away from and noticed the huge sign that said “Gate 7″. Just to confirm my stupidity, I foolishly asked the lady if flight 80 was leaving from Gate 6. Since she hadn’t seen me coming from Gate 7, I think she was a little confused as to why I was laughing under my breath. Laughing… at myself… for just unintentionally trying to go to Reno!
oh, man. just a few hours before I got to the airport, marissa was making fun of me on the phone for being the one that never knows what’s going on. and then I did THAT. oh…. man. that is all I have to say for myself.
muah.
Recent Comments