The Journal!!!
8:40am~
(Sarah) Reading "The Song Reader" at the Springs airport, we got the giggles at "it takes guts to go nuts" and it took us several minutes to recover. We resolved to try to use the phrase "I'd give my left foot for a nap" at some point during the trip. It is now 8:40 am and we are stretched out on the floor, people-watching. It'll still be another hour before they let us check our bags.
9:05am~
(Rachel) A lady walks out of the bookstore pushing a stroller with a very cute Chinese boy, about 3 years old, inside it. He is wearing tiny glasses and is very cute and nerdy. Sarah says, "He looks like a Rupert." I agree, especially since he is Chinese. Later, it turns out, Sarah was talking about his older, red-headed brother. Either way, they'd be perfect as Amanda's kids.
10:40am~
(S) We finally got our bags checked and ventured past the security checkpoint (after obtaining another smoothie). To our disappointment, however, there was no McDonald's inside. Oh, we also ran into Alla, who thought we were nuts for getting to the airport at 5:45 for a 2 pm flight. But hey, it takes guts to go nuts!
11:45am~
(S) There's a really cute older couple that just sat down in front of us and spent 15 minutes talking about the cool backpack she just bought. On second thought, I'm not sure they're a couple. Only she is wearing a ring and I think they are now discussing her children. Oh, well. They still make a cute pair.
11:50am~
(R) While people watching at gate 12, we observe a small child in a leash (a red rope around her waist, held by mom or dad alternately). She is completely unfazed.
1:25pm~
(S) Supposedly boarding at 1:45, Rachel and I were surprised to hear the lady at the desk inform the waiting mass of people that wewould actually be leaving 15 minutes early. Fine by us--just more time we can spend exploring the Denver airport! In other exciting news, we had a picnic in front of Gate 10 and just got seats arranged so we can sit together. Yay!
4:00pm~
(R) After our 8-hour layover in Colorado Springs, we have finally arrived in Denver! The flight was short and sweet (as in very, very, very short), and we had miles of leg room, which was nice, since twenty minute flights can really mess up your body if you're crammed into something other than the exit row. Takeoff and landing were a little rough, but the two-minute section in between went just fine.
4:09pm~
(R) Santa Claus sighting!
4:25pm~
(S) Rachel and I are staked out at the food court in Concourse B. We are currently keeping an eye on a group of teenaged boys with baggy shorts and backwards baseball caps. As of now, however, they are drinking Snapple and Aquafina and showing no signs of believing they are black. Also, unfortunately, the 20-something guy wearing headphones at the table next to us is being very considerate of those who cannot in fact hear the music inside his head.
4:37pm~
(R) I would like to pay a tribute to a truly honest advertiser. National would like you to know that it will get you to boring meetings quicker! Finally, a rental car company for normal people! Going to that dream resort in the Caribbean with that ticket you won in the instant win sweepstakes off the Fritos bag? Too bad, National isn't for you. But you see, the chances of you winning that sweepstakes is 1 in 2 million--and that's before you go online and register (which no one does, so the winning number will end up in a trash can somewhere, unused). Why do most places cater to that person when he probably doesn't even exist? But National knows that most people go to boring meetings, so they get you there faster! They know you'd rather be on a beach in the Bahamas (as does anyone) but the fact is, they 'll get you where you're really going. National--we get you to boring meetings faster.
6:00pm~
(R) On our way to San Francisco! Polite man surrenders seat so we can sit together. Flight attendant (short male) jumps to close overhead bins; fails. San Francisco, here we come!
6:01pm~
(S) I'd like to point out that we have now been en route to Seattle for more than 12 hours. And we have yet to leave Colorado. I am convince, however, that no one else could possibly manage to have as much fun as Rachel and I have had so far just sitting in airports. We still have 5 1/2 hours to go!
6:11pm~
(R) Sarah listens attentively to the safety demonstration, despite the fact that she could probably give it. She even follows along in the safety card.
(S) Hey shut up. Just becaus I do what they ask me (politely) and you insist on focusing your attention elsewhere (namely, making fun of me)...
7:17pm Pacific Time~
(R) There is a very real possibility that we may miss our San Francisco-SeaTac flight. What with late planes, technical problems, and it being overall, according to the pilot "just not our day," the outlook is a bit grim. Right now, our plane is due in at 7:51, oh excuse me, that would be 7:52, and the next flight is due to board at 7:30 and leave at 8:00. And yes, it is the last flight from San Francisco to SeaTac. And yes, we are sitting in the middle, at the very back of the plane. No, we don't have anything in the overhead bins, but other people do, and we may have to wait forever behind them while they struggle to pull their kid's exploding suitcase, that barely made the carryon cut, out of the bins that are too high for short male flight attendants toreach. So will we make it to SeaTac? You don't know, do you? Well, I can't tell you, because I don't know either!
7:59pm~
(S) Update. Rachel's head did not explode (although it threatened to), we are safely on the ground (despite the lightning storm), and we are going to be in Seattle tonight (thanks to God and no one else). More when we get a chance to breathe.
P.S. We are not in London, even though the flight attendant said we were welcome there.
9:05pm~
(R) Okay, so we are alive. Moreover, my head is intact and we are not being detained by security for use of suspicious boarding passes. After a frantic scramble of trying to find our gate, finding that our promised flight left at 9:40 instead of 8:40, and learning that the gate attendant's only advice for my exploding head was "fly tomorrow," we passed out of the security zone and tried to find the medical center, with help from a lonely, bored, nosy, and friendly security guard. The medical center was closed, but the security guard suggested gum and carbonation. So our next hurdle was getting back into security with fake (or expired) boarding passes. The little old lady who checked me in let me in, but the not-so-little, not-so-old man who checked Sarah didn't. So we got valid boarding passes (albeit at the wrong time, since our new flight was delayed two hours), and the guard had a long battle with his conscience before questioning them. But we made it thru safely, and went on a grand gum and carbonation hunt. It was hard since it was almost nine and everything was shutting down (as this is the reasonable hour for people to stop working and start going to bed), but I scored the carbonation and Sarah scored the gum. For the record, much as I dislike carbonation, it is working, and my head is feeling imminently explodable in the oh-no-this-is-going-to-hurt-but-feel-so-good-afterwards way. And now we are sitting and eating petrified peanut butter sandwiches while waiting for an elusive aircraft due seven minutes ago.
(S) P.S. There was a cute foreign couple we saw on our trek through the airport. She was leaning against him laughing at something someone on the cell phone (he was holding to her ear) was saying.
P.P.S. I'm sort of rambling and Nathan kept lauging at me on the phone and telling me I sounded tired. Ok. I'm done.
PLANE SIGTING!
(Ok. Really now.)
(R) [Sarah's journaling privileges have been revoked until she has refreshed her mind and body with sleep.]