Monday, June 8, 2009

To Houston and Beyond!

I spent Saturday on the couch again, but this time NOTHING happened. No pre-boardings, no babysitting through flights, no trips. However, I did get assigned a two-day trip for Sunday.

The crew that I'm with will be on through tonight when we end the trip back in Denver - so that's always a good thing. One of the flight attendants is very senior - she's very sweet and she's very animated when she makes her announcements. The other flight attendant comes across as very blunt and/or negative...and yes, she's a bit more negative than I like, but she's also pretty funny to listen to. I'm learning to take what she says with a grain of salt.

The first part of the trip was a turn to Boise - including almost a two-hour sit in Boise before we headed back to Denver. Amazingly enough, that two-hour sit went by in a flash. The fun began as we returned from Boise - I had an unaccompanied minor (yes...amazingly enough only one!) on this trip, and I was all ready to hand her off to the gate agent when the door was opened. But the gate agent refused to take her, and she was rude about it, too!

That was the beginning of a horrid experience with that woman. By the time we finally closed the door (late, I might add) to go to Houston, she had screwed up multiple passengers' seats, messed up tagging the few bags that were oversized and just had a really poor attitude. I've worked with so many gate agents who are efficient, caring team players, that one like this woman really stands out. Fortunately, I was able to get everyone on board into a seat, the bags made it to Houston (I hope).

We were rewarded for all the confusion by checking into our classy hotel...and a few of us met for a quick glass of wine before going to bed. It was a nice way to unwind from the stresses of the day. The beds are awesome, the rooms quiet - just a nice place to relax and hang out.

I got to meet my friend, Fr. Desmond, for lunch - we caught up like it was old times. I think he had gone back and figured out that it had been five years since we had last seen each other. Probably true - it's nice that he's the type of friend that we can just pick up where we left off. Obviously, I would have liked to have stayed longer and gotten to see his wife, kids and maybe even his new GRANDSON (!), but that wasn't in the cards for this trip. Maybe next time.

That's one of the perks of this job that I love...quick visits with friends and family...now we're off to DEN in a couple hours, we'll do a Seattle turn, and return to DEN around midnight. The million dollar question is...do I stay in Denver for the night or do I drive home? I have duty on Tuesday and they've been using everyone a lot...it sure would be nice to be able to go home and not be called!

If only I could see what the future (or at least the next day) holds!

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