fellow traveler

Stuff that's happened on my trips. None of it is interesting:

- On a Delta flight out of Salt Lake City, during his Welcome Aboard announcements the pilot said "You may know that some of the most attractive flight attendants in the business work for Delta airlines. [Pause] Unfortunate that none of them are on this flight..."

- Hit a low-pressure pocket, or whatever it's called that makes the plane fall straight out from under you. A couple times it was so bad that the drinks of the people in front of me appeared in the air above their heads. Their cups were in their hands, but a big blob of coke and ice cubes floated for an instant in the space just below the overhead bins. Then it landed on them. Schadenfreud.

- I woke up to find a 50-yr-old woman straddling my lap as she tried to get out into the aisle. Rather than wake me up I guess she thought she could climb over, but her legs were too short and she kind of stumbled and the next I know there she is -- in some cultures we'd be married now...

- Full flight, space in the overheads is tightly contested. By creative maneuvering of other people's stuff, I cleared a spot for my carryon. I bent down, picked up my bag, and straightened up to see a guy stuffing his seatmate's stuff into my hard-won spot. She was gushing about how great he was to help her out, and he was going Aw shucks, Ma'am, no problem, and I just stood there like a putz with my bag in my hand...

- Standing in line to check in at the ticket counter. Behind me are two young women -- med school students, it turned out -- one of them looked like she could be a model -- extremely pretty, very fit, big smile. Guys are gawking, but I'm too cool (okay, old) for that, so I smiled at them and then ignored them. Just before we get to the front, the one of them touches my arm and says urgently "Sir, sir..." She's trying to hold up her friend -- the future model -- who is in the process of fainting. Long story short, I caught her and held her up for a minute or two, then laid her down on the floor on my coat. Someone called 911, and we ended up with:
- two firemen
- two paramedics from the ambulance
- two nat'l guardsmen
- one airport cop
- one respiratory therapist (passenger)
all hovering around. I stayed out of the way, and enjoyed watching all the rescue guys vie for her attention. They eventually took her away on a gurney, I got my coat back, and for some reason the airline personnel gave me a $50 travel certificate, I guess for catching her before she hit the floor or whatever. All very gratifying for a guardian-protector-provider personality like mine. (And she turned out to be fine. Combination of just finishing finals, no sleep, nothing to eat/drink that day, on her period, just popped a couple Midols, etc.)