Our first steward’s name was Angel, the second stewardess’ name was Cricket. What is it with these people? Do you have to have a weird name to work on an airplane? We even had a Ronell.

The one steward was downright begrudging and condescending, like we should be glad he was helping us lowly people. There was only one stewardess on all of the 5 planes that I liked. She was a grandmotherly type and so friendly. She made me actually want to listen to the seatbelt instructions.

Just the same, I think I will cross that off of my list of interesting jobs. I don’t think I could do it with my nose in a book the whole time, and that’s basically how I survived the flights. Yes, I read for 3 hours straight; that’s not a problem.

I do like when the plane is on the ground and going fast; so fun! It’s also neat to feel the plane slow in the air when the pilot “puts on the brakes” to get ready to land.

On the way home we only had 2 flights with a 3 hour layover – in Minneapolis again.

We finally were all boarded and even the pilot was ready to go when we had to switch planes. They told us that a windshield wiper was not working and since it was raining we couldn’t fly.

Those pilots actually made up some of the time in the air. They were quite nice. I’m sure it was more bother for them to switch planes than for us.

We and our luggage arrived home again once more.

We flew Northwest Airlines. No, not that plane.

This one. That’s the first and smallest we flew in.

So there we are practically running through the Airport in Detroit. We had to get from the B Concourse through the tunnel to the complete opposite end of the C Concourse.

We made those moving sidewalks work for us! It was just when I would land on the concrete at the end of the moving sidewalk that my calves would start screaming bloody murder for the stress I was putting on them. I’d just sat for about 2 hours and now I’m sprinting.

My husband says, “Can you keep up this pace?” I puffed back, “Not much longer.” He said, “We have six minutes to catch our flight.” I looked up at the 20 gates yet to go and sped up.

The lady at our gate was waiting for us, knew our names, and shut the door behind us. We didn’t make the plane late, but we didn’t have a second to spare. Shew!

That was the only plane that I used the restroom on the plane and I agree with everything I’ve heard – they are weird!

On the second plane, I snatched the window seat from my husband when he got up and was able to look out for a little while. I could see the beautiful blue sky, the horizon, and rows of clouds above the fields. Towards PA the fields looked like quilts, but in one area we saw round fields. The first Arizona mountains we saw were abrupt and jagged where they were pushed up out of the earth. Right after the mountains were fields so straight and rectangular it looked as if someone had used graph paper.

After the second flight we had a two hour plus layover in Minneapolis. The third flight was late in going. Get it together people! I really could have used that extra time at the previous airport. However, I was warned and didn’t expect everything to go smoothly.

I do like to walk around, look, and listen to the people in airports. [Did you ever notice how most of the people in airports have the same expression?] We got some food, some Tylenol for me, rested, and shopped a little. I had to walk through the bookstores, but wouldn’t buy any of those books. [Not for those prices when I can use Paperback Swap.]

During the third flight we passed 2 other planes in mid-air. That’s something that I didn’t think I’d see. My husband said, “Look, there’s a plane.” Sure enough, it was going the other way. Do you think they waved back to me?

We were a tad worried that our luggage didn’t make the quick change in Detroit. Praise the Lord it came out on the carousel with everyone else’s that was on our flight.

For the third and final part I’ll tell you about the trip home.

It was finally the day of my first plane trip. Exciting and nerve racking at the same time.

We got there in good time for the first of our three flights. You could almost cut the tension that was emanating off everyone in line for the security check. We had read up ahead of time and did everything they recommended so we went right through. Praise the Lord.

We sat and watched out the window as the pilot and co-pilot readied the first airplane. For the co-pilot’s first check he did not walk completely around the airplane. I watched and made sure that he finished that check. Like I could have done anything about it anyway.

We started out on the earth with a dreary day and rose into the clouds above the sun. It was neat to see, but my head didn’t like it. It insisted on telling my body that the sideways view is not normal. Of course looking across my window hogging husband was not helpful.

That first flight was supposed to take 1 hour and 2 minutes, but it ended up taking about 2 hours and 1 minute. Maybe they mixed up their numbers.

You know what made it seem even longer? The two ladies across the aisle from us talked the entire time. The entire time! It’s not like they were friends; they introduced themselves to each other (JoAnn and Veronica) when they sat down. Yoy! I seriously prayed that all the flights would not be like that one. It’s not like you can stop hearing them. They’re only a foot or two away. So people please be considerate of other passengers and shut up! I really pitied the poor guy in front of them.

This extra long flight left us with a 20 minute layover instead of an hour layover.

Did we make our next flight?

To be continued…