One of my best friends, Gabby, who's also a co-worker and I went to a workshop in Albuquerque, NM last week. We were both pretty excited because this was the first time either one of us ever visited this fine city.The day started out so well. We made it from New Haven, CT to LaGuardia Airport in NY in record time. We had time to kill at the airport. We sat and ate lunch. We talked and laughed a lot. We were first in line to get our seating arrangements on the plane.
The day was perfect. We though nothing could go wrong...until this blond chick comes out from the ticket booth and can't find our reservations. Now I admit I was a little scared for a second until she quickly found them. Now that wasn't a sign that things were going to go bad. She made a slight error was all. I was convinced of that.
As we walked away Gabby then realized that the same blond woman forgot to give us our licenses back. I quickly ran back to the booth and retrieved our licenses. I could tell that Gabby had her watchful eye on this blond "voodoo woman" who might be part of a bigger scheme to sabotage this perfect day.
We approached the security screening area and I removed all metal objects from my person. I make it a personal challenge to myself to beat this metal detector and pass through smoothly every time I fly. This time was no different. We both passed through with no problem. Our perfect day was back on track.
We both checked our flight. It was on time. We were to leave NY for a quick transfer in Denver, CO and then onto Albuquerque, NM. We settled into a couple of chairs near our planes boarding area. We were way early and happy. As time clicked closer and closer to our departing time we noticed something at the boarding booth. Behind the booth were three people. One tall balding man, a short brunette woman....and that blond voodoo lady from the check in booth. Then suddenly the three announce that a storm has delayed our flight.
"This can't be. The day is going to perfect." I thought to myself.
"I told you this chick was trouble." Gabby said to me in a stern voice.
We had plenty of time. We had a good hour and a half of safety net time before we were supposed to leave NY. We were going to be just fine I convinced myself.
FIVE HOURS LATER we boarded our plane for Denver. Now with any luck we could still catch a connecting plane to Albuquerque when we get there.
It was nearly 12:30 AM when we landed in Denver. The last plane to Albuquerque left at 9 PM. The airport was a ghost town. The next flight to Albuquerque was at 7 AM the next morning. We knew that the time we found a motel that it would be time to leave. Our only option... to sleep in the airport.
We were assured by an employee that we could stay there and not be kicked out by airport security. Not being "homeless" was always a plus as far as I saw it. I try to look on the bright side of things. I tried to think of this as an adventure (I tried REAL HARD!) So after spending the night in a deserted airport I realized I walked away a little more knowledgeable about sleeping at an airport, and below I listed my top 10 things.
By the way, we did finally arrive in Albuquerque and it was an awesome place to visit. I'll post some pictures later.
Things I've learned from sleeping in an airport:
1. The seats are hard as hell.
2. The floor is harder.
3. The buzzing sound of a floor waxer makes an excellent alarm clock.
4. Fill your back pack full of soft clothing and they'll make better pillows.
5. The McDonald's in the Denver airport stays open 24/7.
6. Denver gets cold at night and the airport doesn't offer you blankets.
7. Sleeping with one eye open isn't as hard as it might sound.
8. I realized that there is something worse then camping out in a tent.
9. It is possible to shower in a airport bathroom sink.
10. Dorothy was right... There's no place like home.
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