Flying
Up at 2 a.m. to make the 5 a.m. flight, first stop on the way to Flagstaff. Cocooned in my car in the dark on a dry and nearly empty freeway; my stream of consciousness did just that - streamed. It was quite lovely.
Later, sitting in an airport restaurant it occurs I could be enjoying a flaky, preservative-free croissant and freshly squeezed orange juice if only I were on a different continent. But no, it's an Egg McMuffin at Pdx followed by a two hour layover.
My personable Eugene seatmate directed most conversation to his traveling companion across the aisle. His buddy was a "you know" type, liberally sprinkling each and every sentence with that lazy language habit at least once. Often twice. It stabbed my ear with every occurrence try as I might to tune him out. Ya know?
Breathe deeply. Practice tolerance.
My Phoenix seatmate never spoke. Works for me. I discovered I'd pack earplugs that wonderfully blocked out the deeply penetrating voices of two women behind me who discoursed through the entire flight. The earplugs changed that into background noise. Nice.
My real peeve though is the designated announcement-maker flight attendant whose English as a Second language accent is nearly unintelligible to me. I ponder what would happen in a real emergency with some panic going. Total non-comprehension.
A grouchy traveler here.
Later, sitting in an airport restaurant it occurs I could be enjoying a flaky, preservative-free croissant and freshly squeezed orange juice if only I were on a different continent. But no, it's an Egg McMuffin at Pdx followed by a two hour layover.
My personable Eugene seatmate directed most conversation to his traveling companion across the aisle. His buddy was a "you know" type, liberally sprinkling each and every sentence with that lazy language habit at least once. Often twice. It stabbed my ear with every occurrence try as I might to tune him out. Ya know?
Breathe deeply. Practice tolerance.
My Phoenix seatmate never spoke. Works for me. I discovered I'd pack earplugs that wonderfully blocked out the deeply penetrating voices of two women behind me who discoursed through the entire flight. The earplugs changed that into background noise. Nice.
My real peeve though is the designated announcement-maker flight attendant whose English as a Second language accent is nearly unintelligible to me. I ponder what would happen in a real emergency with some panic going. Total non-comprehension.
A grouchy traveler here.
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