Perspective: Airline Travel

Damon's a little worried right now. Germany's been hit with a bit of snow; nothing like the northeast United States but enough to shut down domestic flights. Meanwhile, on the other side of the Atlantic, anything north of North Carolina requires snowshoes to get there.

I'm flying to Florida tomorrow.

"I don't know how we are going to get you there unless you arrive four hours early." he says.

"That's okay; don't have kids with me."

"And it'll be really bad if you get delayed." he continues.

"That's okay; I can grab a bite to eat, buy a book. Goodness, I can WRITE a book. Don't have kids with me."

"If the flight gets cancelled we'll have to turn around and pick you up again."

"Are you kidding me? I am getting to Florida one way or another. I can spend the night in the airport. Need I remind you, I don't have the kids with me."

"Yeah, I guess you can always take a reroute to wherever" he concedes.

YEAH! I CAN DO WHATEVER I WANT!

The ultimate objective is to get to Grandma's, MY Grandma's. But, in the meantime, HOW I get there doesn't bother me.

The last time I flew to Florida I was accompanied by an 8 year old, a 6 year old and TWO sick eighteen month olds. Okay, Damon was there too, and we were both covered in vomit by the time we landed. Courtesy of Aidan and Matthew who both had a severe case of stomach flu. When they weren't vomitting it was coming out the other end. Even the stewardess looked green. I made it through customs without a shirt on - zippered jacket only - because I was worried the stench of vomit would cause them to question our fitness to enter the U.S. Then, Andrew vomited in the car on the way to the hotel. By the time we made it to Grandma's we needed antivomiting medication to keep everyone else from getting sick just at the sight of us.

Go ahead, pile on the delays. Make me take off my shoes. Do a strip search.

There is honestly no amount of torture they can put me through that will compare with that of travelling with a large family.

And, at the end, I get to see Grandma!