I'm back! with an airplane-catching story....
So I just spent about 3 days in my hometown, hanging out with family and friends and generally managing to enjoy myself pretty throughly. Showing my parents an episode of Numb3rs ("Prime Suspect") and hooking my two oldest brothers on New Doctor Who just by showing them "Rose" and "The End of the World" were some highlights. :-) (My brothers found Doctor Who engrossing and absolutely hilarious. I haven't seen either of them laugh that much in a while. I'm surprised they didn't outright steal my DVD set.)
So, I've never tried to catch an early evening flight out of LAX. Nor have I ever had to park at the airport (all my local friends were away at an artist's retreat). I knew the traffic would be bad on the 405, just not quite *how* bad. I knew it might take me a few minutes to find parking, but I didn't realize how maze-like the streets around the airport are. I knew the shuttle would eat up more time, but I didn't factor how many stops they might have to make.
The upshot of all this was that I checked in about 3 minutes too late to check my duffel bag. And since you can only carry-on two bags, I had to take my laptop out of its bag and stuff it into the top of my duffel. whitemartyr, remember that bag Gina gave me, that I've been using as a laptop bag? I couldn't fit it into either of my other bags, so I dumped it in a trash can as I ran for security.
Of course, I hadn't planned to carry my duffel on, so I had contact solution in there and they pulled it out and wouldn't let me take it (that's $10 down the drain--brand new bottle). That delayed me further.
Then I had to run, with my backpack on my back and my duffel over one shoulder (so much sympathy for Colby in "One Hour" now), through the terminal, up stairs, to find my gate. I was sweaty and shaking and exhausted when I got there, and they were boarding my flight already.
So I'm glad I made it on, but wow. I hope I never have to do that again. I'm also thinking I really need to get into better shape! :-)
And my entry for the Multi-Fandom Lyric Wheel was late, due to lack of Internet connection and my airplane trip. But I did get it in! And I don't think it sucks, so yay.
So, I've never tried to catch an early evening flight out of LAX. Nor have I ever had to park at the airport (all my local friends were away at an artist's retreat). I knew the traffic would be bad on the 405, just not quite *how* bad. I knew it might take me a few minutes to find parking, but I didn't realize how maze-like the streets around the airport are. I knew the shuttle would eat up more time, but I didn't factor how many stops they might have to make.
The upshot of all this was that I checked in about 3 minutes too late to check my duffel bag. And since you can only carry-on two bags, I had to take my laptop out of its bag and stuff it into the top of my duffel. whitemartyr, remember that bag Gina gave me, that I've been using as a laptop bag? I couldn't fit it into either of my other bags, so I dumped it in a trash can as I ran for security.
Of course, I hadn't planned to carry my duffel on, so I had contact solution in there and they pulled it out and wouldn't let me take it (that's $10 down the drain--brand new bottle). That delayed me further.
Then I had to run, with my backpack on my back and my duffel over one shoulder (so much sympathy for Colby in "One Hour" now), through the terminal, up stairs, to find my gate. I was sweaty and shaking and exhausted when I got there, and they were boarding my flight already.
So I'm glad I made it on, but wow. I hope I never have to do that again. I'm also thinking I really need to get into better shape! :-)
And my entry for the Multi-Fandom Lyric Wheel was late, due to lack of Internet connection and my airplane trip. But I did get it in! And I don't think it sucks, so yay.