coincidence, fate, travel, and free upgrades

[indigo_rose99]

My flight from Ireland to Atlanta went well when I discovered that I was in what looked remarkably like business class -- about the equivalent of First Class in the US.  My own personal TV screen, enough space to curl up and relieve the pressure on my tailbone...  Life was good.  Yay, upgrades! 

After a few hours, I got to chatting with the guy next to me.  I know, introverted as I am, it happens sometimes.  Turns out, he does EXACTLY THE SAME thing I do.  He was teaching a very similar class for the past week in Ireland.  We immediately dived into the gritty details of what we each do.  How much technical details to customers really want?  Work life balance?  (Terrific for us both, thank you.)  He talked a lot about the perks of the software he uses -- a major competitor to the one I use.  I finally got a feel for why someone would want to use it.  Sales and marketing for the business? *laugh*  It was great!  Outside of my immediate coworkers, I rarely get to talk about what I do in quite that way.  It was really refreshing to see a perspective from someone who does not share a customer with me.

Atlanta was just silly.  I had a 2 hour layover, in theory.  We arrive 30 minutes late. The baggage claim was...  "Flight from Ireland, your luggage is on carousel 1.  ...No, carousel 7. ...No, carousel 1."  *ARGH!*  It felt like one of those Airplane movies.  Massive crowds of progressively crankier people kept moving from carousel to carousel.  It took almost a full hour to get my luggage.  By the time I had it, and could turn it back in, I had 30 minutes to get back through security and run for the domestic terminal with my flight home.  I made it, but barely.  They were boarding when I arrived at my gate.

Another upgrade on my home flight (no food, though.  Stupid budget cuts.), and I think I arrived home almost on time.  Yay!  My sheets!  The cat loves me.  Really, REALLY loves me.   Loves me so much that he was completely uninterested in the empty food bowl that I filled for him.  "Food, yeah yeah, whatever.  PET ME!!!"

Comments

[mr-efficient.livejournal.com]

"The cat loves me."

That sounds unlikely. Are you sure someone didn't secretly replace your cat with a dog while you were away?

[indigo-rose99.livejournal.com]

He drools when he is happy, he loves to play fetch, he howls when he is lonely, and he adores kneading me through thin pants... Yep. That's my cat.

[skylarkthered.livejournal.com]

I hate, hate, hate flying through Atlanta. In the last three trips through, I've slept there twice ("slept" being a generous description as the floor was arguably softer than the actual beds) and barely made my flight once (thanks to delays that originated in Atlanta). I won't say it's the worst airport, since there are a few worse yet, but it's one I try to avoid whenever I can.

Yay for upgrades, home, and cats! :)