my love-hate relationship with flying.

After an excruciating 11 hour journey, I have finally arrived in Philadelphia.

I think I've written about this before, but I tend to have the worse luck in the world involving flights and airports. I've had luggage lost, I've slept a night in Raleigh, I've been on a plane where over 20 people have puked, the list goes on. Today wasn't so bad but what should have taken about 5 hours took 11 hours. Needless to say it was not fun, and layovers are what I HATE about flying.

There was some silver lining though. While I was waiting in Kansas for my delayed flight I randomly ran into an old friend from middle school and high school that I hadn't seen in years. It was bizarre, first our eyes met and there was a twinge of familiarity but I couldn't place it. Then I doubled back to confirm it was my friend before approaching her. It was a risky move because I was only 50% sure it was her, and also she has a twin sister, decreasing my odds of being right at 25%. But sure enough it was her and we had a great talk for an hour before our flights.

Then, in Milwaukee, I ended up being delayed another 3 hours or so. I joined several others sprawled on the floor near the outlets and began watching some episodes of "Friday Night Lights" to pass the time. Several episodes and a terrible reheated airport pizza later it was time to board. Everyone gathered their stuff and began boarding the plane, but I noticed that a neighbor who had been waiting next to me had fallen asleep. There was a chance that he was waiting for another flight, but I figured I should wake him just in case. He bolted up and we were the last to board the plane. He thanked me several times, apparently if he missed this flight he would be missing several Law School exams. I told him to pass on the favor (pay it forward style).

This is why I LOVE flying; I love running into old friends and also feeling a deep sense of camaraderie with others who are similarly suffering from delays. Moral of the story? There is always some silver-lining.