Bumpy Travels

Greetings from Tennessee! I arrived last night travel-weary but safe. I checked into my hotel room, promptly removed my bra and ordered room service for dinner. I thoroughly enjoyed watching reruns of The Big Bang Theory without interruptions until I fell asleep. I've come to the conclusion that it doesn't take a lot to make me happy!

It took me over eight hours to fly to Tennessee, a distance that I could have covered in my car in about 7. I really need to take more time when booking a flight from now on. I had to drive two hours to an airport to catch a small plane to Dulles Airport which is only 20 minutes from my house. For some inexplicable reason it was nearly $500 cheaper for me to take the extra flight. I fail to understand airline economics.

I'm not a nervous flyer, but I did not enjoy the first leg of this trip. We sat on the tarmac waiting to move only to be informed by the Captain that "the airplane shut off and they are waiting for an external power source to get it started again." The fact that we were, in essence, waiting for the plane to be jumped did not instill a lot of confidence!

After the plane was restarted, we took off on what turned out to be one of the bumpiest flights I've ever experienced. I was surprised by the turbulence because it wasn't raining and didn't appear to be stormy. I felt like I was on a roller coaster and my nausea reminded me that I'm too old to be on dizzying rides. I did make a new friend on the flight. I introduced myself after I instinctively grabbed his thigh and buried my head in his armpit after a particularly violent bump.

Thankfully the second leg of the trip was non-eventful and I didn't end up in a strange man's lap. I arrived safely, retrieved my bag, and took the first available taxi to the hotel. By the time I got here my leg was swollen from all of the traveling, and I had lost motivation to do any exploration. Hopefully I'll be able to do some sight seeing today after my meetings.