Tuesday- The Flight Home

Hard to believe the airport was this busy at 5:30am on a Tuesday, but it was. That yellow taxi broke down and was later pushed out of the way, it was plain crazy. My flight was scheduled to leave at 6:30am so I thought I had plenty of time...but I was wrong, so wrong. LOL
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I had pre-checked in online the night before so I expected smooth sailing. My two bags both weighed just under 50 pounds so I was good there. My dad came in with me to make sure I had no problems going through security and it turned out to be a good thing. While I was checking in my bags he went to stand in line for me to go through security.
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There had to be 500 people or more in that security line, it wound all around the airport and even outside almost. CRAZY I tell you. I forgot Comicon was last weekend and I think everyone was flying home this morning. It took me a few minutes to find my dad in the sea of people waiting to go through security but I did and then I had to get past the other people in line, I felt like I was cutting in but really I wasn't, I mean I was the one flying not my dad, right?
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I took off my shoes and placed all my carry on stuff on the conveyer belt and thought I was home free. WRONG. I heard the lady call... BAG CHECK, uh oh. It was 6:05am and my flight leaves at 6:30 and I am stuck getting the bag checked. I brought home food, Chorizo and some Machaca Burritos (you just can't get that stuff in NY) so that had to be inspected. I think they were just hungry and jealous of my treats, LOL.
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Then my purse beeped too... I heard the dreaded words... SHARP OBJECT. Oh man, you have to be kidding me. It was my Addie Turbo circular knitting needles. I brought them on the plane from NY to CA with not a question, so naturally I assumed it would be fine on the way back. NOPE. Another inspection, the guy was very slow looking through afraid he' be poked. I assured him it was just a knitting needle, told him where it was and that it was in a plastic zippered bag in my purse. No way he could get poked. He found them and then had to run it through the scanning maching again. You are kidding me, it's now 6:20. Thank God he didn't look in the metal sucrets tin that had my small scissors inside. I was sure I was going to jail if that happened.
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Finally I have all my stuff, trying to shove the food and laptop back into the carry on and get to the gate to board the plane. An then it happened... the nerves kicked in, the sadness of leaving the state I was born in, the stress of what awaited me at home and I suddenly HAD to go to the bathroom. I start towards the gate praying there is a bathroom along the way, I have 10 minutes right? WRONG. the plane takes off at 6:30 I have to be on the plane before then. I have less then 10 minutes to get to the end of the airport to board the plane. This is so not good. I decide to go to the gate first and see if I have time to go to the bathroom. Good thing I listened to that still small voice because as I arrived the lady was closing the door. I boarded by the skin of my teeth. (Do teeth have skins?)
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I am now quickly moving down the aisle to seat 13A with my bag and carry on. I can't get the carry on to fit in the overhead compartment. Now what? Obviously when I re-packed it at security I didn't do it right. Crazy. They had to take it and check it under the plane until we landed. There went my laptop, oh man.
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13A was a window seat, and the other two seats were already filled by a mother and daughter and a 7 month old baby. They had to get up so I could get in, and then they all proceeded to sleep for most of the 6 hour flight. I couldn't get out to go to the bathroom if I wanted to. I was doomed. See the pretty cloud views I got from my window though? That was flying over Missouri about 1/2 way through the flight.
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God was good and I read a little, slept a little and managed to forget about the bathroom issue. The flight was smooth and FAST. Why are flights home faster then flights out? I thought it took forever to get to CA but returning to NY was way faster. After I changed planes in Philly (and managed to get to the bathroom before boarding, lol) I actually arrived in NY 12 minutes ahead of schedule.
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So I am home, I am unpacked, and I am going to try to fall asleep even though I am still on West Coast time.
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Good night everyone, sweet dreams.
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AK