First Flight in 14 years
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Flew on United to a family reunion in Oklahoma City over the weekend. My younger brother has glioblastoma and is slowly deteriorating as the brain tumor has started growing again. He has refused further treatment. The average lifespan after diagnosis is 18 months. He's had his for 6 years so he's been very lucky. But his luck is running out. My family hasn't been together since my dad died in 2013 so we figured we'd better get together now before it's too late. The logistics and cost for me, Frank, my kids, future son-in-law, and grandson all trying to go was just too much so we agreed that I'd make the trip by myself this time.
I haven't been on a plane since Frank and I went on our last smooth jazz cruise in 2008. I felt like someone flying for the first time, so much has changed since the last time I did it. In 2008 there was no airline apps, additional charge for checking a 24" x 10" suitcase, printing your own boarding pass, checking in online, paying for extra leg room, in flight wi-fi, a smorgasbord of movies and tv shows to watch in the air, etc. It's so different now and it was ALL new to me.
There are no direct flights from St Louis to Oklahoma City. I had to go through Houston coming and going. On the trip home, the plane left OKC and landed in Houston where I had a layover of about 1 1/2 hours. The gate where I landed and the gate where I needed to get to in order to continue on to St Louis couldn't have been further apart, I can't walk more than a block without wanting to keel over. This was a LOT further than that. The plane landed in terminal A around gate 4 and I had to get to terminal B gate 88. I wasn't sure I was going to make it, and I didn't see a cart or scooter for assistance anywhere. I just hobbled on best I could and stopped every few yards to rest my bones. So I'm creeping and limping along and what do I see? A WHATABURGER!!! I wanted to stop and get a cheeseburger from there so bad. There's no In-and-Out or WhataBurger in St Louis and I've heard they're both good so I just wanted to try one. Well, the line was really long to order and I still had a LONG way to go to get to my gate. So I just kept shuffling along. Then I passed a Smash Burger. Seemed like everywhere a burger was calling my name. Never had one of those either but it sure sounded good. I didn't want to chance missing the plane so I kept going.
I had some peanut butter sandwich crackers I had stashed in my purse and spent the flight dreaming about the burger I could have had. .
Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 06/20/2022 06:00AM by MamaRAMa.
I haven't been on a plane since Frank and I went on our last smooth jazz cruise in 2008. I felt like someone flying for the first time, so much has changed since the last time I did it. In 2008 there was no airline apps, additional charge for checking a 24" x 10" suitcase, printing your own boarding pass, checking in online, paying for extra leg room, in flight wi-fi, a smorgasbord of movies and tv shows to watch in the air, etc. It's so different now and it was ALL new to me.
There are no direct flights from St Louis to Oklahoma City. I had to go through Houston coming and going. On the trip home, the plane left OKC and landed in Houston where I had a layover of about 1 1/2 hours. The gate where I landed and the gate where I needed to get to in order to continue on to St Louis couldn't have been further apart, I can't walk more than a block without wanting to keel over. This was a LOT further than that. The plane landed in terminal A around gate 4 and I had to get to terminal B gate 88. I wasn't sure I was going to make it, and I didn't see a cart or scooter for assistance anywhere. I just hobbled on best I could and stopped every few yards to rest my bones. So I'm creeping and limping along and what do I see? A WHATABURGER!!! I wanted to stop and get a cheeseburger from there so bad. There's no In-and-Out or WhataBurger in St Louis and I've heard they're both good so I just wanted to try one. Well, the line was really long to order and I still had a LONG way to go to get to my gate. So I just kept shuffling along. Then I passed a Smash Burger. Seemed like everywhere a burger was calling my name. Never had one of those either but it sure sounded good. I didn't want to chance missing the plane so I kept going.
I had some peanut butter sandwich crackers I had stashed in my purse and spent the flight dreaming about the burger I could have had. .
Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 06/20/2022 06:00AM by MamaRAMa.
