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A View from the Rear

I flew back to Baltimore yesterday. There was a giant snowstorm sweeping through the east. Would it make for a bumpy ride? I decided to just preemptively take Dramamine. On my trip from Lincoln to Minneapolis, I was flat-out unconscious. I even missed the drink service.

I had three hours in the Minneapolis airport. I had second breakfast, then read a little and dozed a little. I didn’t have a seat assignment for the flight to Baltimore and had to get it at the gate. The gate agents were very flustered. I asked if it would be possible to get me a seat towards the front. They said they would call me up when it was time to get my ticket. Fifteen minutes later, I was receiving my ticket. For row 35. Dang.
That thing blocking the view is a flight attendant's seat.  She sat there and faced a passenger.

It was the second-to-last row. I was in the window seat. At least it had a window, I guess. I pulled up the shade:
Wha?

It was the engine. My view was completely blocked by the engine. What’s more, I could hear every slight change in the sound of the engines as we flew. Thankfully, I had taken another Dramamine. I slept until the last thirty minutes of the flight. It was a rough landing. Thankfully, the woman next to me wasn’t hiding her fear as good as I was, and her fiancee was making fun of her. They were both effectively distracted from my gasps of terror and my reflexive grip on the armrests.

4 Comments

  1. Carol

    [I’m tellin’ ya’, some day we all have to fly somewhere and sit together – there’s movie potential in the reactions of card-carrying members of the white knuckle club.]

    Sitting right over the engine is truly nerve-wracking. Relatively normal sounds – at least, I assume they are normal for airplane engines? – scare the beans out of me and keep my attention on them rather than the quality literature provided by the airline (“check now for the location of your nearest exit…only $249.99 for this lovely blanket from Upper Slobovia…and on channel 789 listen for…”), any hand needlework I may have brought with me, or the nap I need to have the energy to wait for my luggage on the other end. Glad you at least got home in one piece – now you likely won’t have to sleep again for days.

  2. Lauren

    I just can’t imagine how loud it must be right by the engines. Thank the Lord for Dramamine, huh?

    That flight attendant’s seat is just crazy. The passenger she faces surely must get a discount for that seat. The ‘I-feel-like-I’m-in-trouble-the-whole-flight’ kind of discount.

    Glad you made it home safely!

  3. Thurman

    glad you’re home … at least for a bit! Second breakfast? Pippin and Merry would be proud! What about Elevensies?

  4. Peggy

    Yay for being able to sleep on flights!
    Even when I take Dramanine (2), I can’t sleep. How many do you take?

    (I’ll be flying on Jan. 10th. Yikes! I’m already white knuckling)

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