Space Invader
Flying is not the fun that it used to be. Planes are full, everyone and their brother tries to stuff too many carry ons in to too few bins and there are too many yahoos who apparently either don't know traveling etiquette or don't care.
I was lucky to have a direct flight from Phoenix to Miami on my way to Key West. I always book early so I can get the window seat. Mostly because I like to lean on it and sleep but also because I never get up and I don't want to have to get up to let other people go by me.
So, there I was, all tucked in to my seat with all my gear stowed when what appeared to be a whole multi-generational family filled in the two seats next to me, the two rows in front of me and another row on the other side of the aisle next to me. It looked like Grandma and her sister, parents and a bunch of teens and young adults. All Spanish speaking and I'm not sure any of them spoke English. I know the older ones near me didn't.
Dad and Mom sat in my row with Mom in the middle. I can only assume she's never been on a plane since Dad had to fasten her seatbelt and show her the button to adjust her seat back. He also felt compelled to order all of her beverages (while ignoring her requests). Why he felt compelled since he didn't speak English either is beyond me.
That was all just people watching to me and didn't really bother me. What did bother me was that Mom kept digging her elbow into my side. I know I'm big, but I was well contained within my seat and was even leaning further away so I could catch 40 winks.
Those winks were hard in coming because I would just nod off when, jab! Right into the side. It was worse when she had a drink in her hand because apparently she could only consume it with her arm completely akimbo.
Normally, I would have said, very nicely, "Excuse me, could you try to keep your elbow in, please? You're poking me in the side." Unfortunately, my long ago high school and college Spanish classes have been purged from my memory so I had no idea how to say anything remotely close.
So, I just lived with it. To reinforce my theory that they weren't frequent (if at all) flyers, our plane landed and, during the "Please keep you seat belts fastened until we get to the gate" speech, Dad reached over and unfastened Mom's belt then his own. And, we were barely stopped at the gate when half of the family jumped in to the aisles, grabbed their stuff and started pushing their ways forward.
I wasn't sorry to see them leave.
I was lucky to have a direct flight from Phoenix to Miami on my way to Key West. I always book early so I can get the window seat. Mostly because I like to lean on it and sleep but also because I never get up and I don't want to have to get up to let other people go by me.
So, there I was, all tucked in to my seat with all my gear stowed when what appeared to be a whole multi-generational family filled in the two seats next to me, the two rows in front of me and another row on the other side of the aisle next to me. It looked like Grandma and her sister, parents and a bunch of teens and young adults. All Spanish speaking and I'm not sure any of them spoke English. I know the older ones near me didn't.
Dad and Mom sat in my row with Mom in the middle. I can only assume she's never been on a plane since Dad had to fasten her seatbelt and show her the button to adjust her seat back. He also felt compelled to order all of her beverages (while ignoring her requests). Why he felt compelled since he didn't speak English either is beyond me.
That was all just people watching to me and didn't really bother me. What did bother me was that Mom kept digging her elbow into my side. I know I'm big, but I was well contained within my seat and was even leaning further away so I could catch 40 winks.
Those winks were hard in coming because I would just nod off when, jab! Right into the side. It was worse when she had a drink in her hand because apparently she could only consume it with her arm completely akimbo.
Normally, I would have said, very nicely, "Excuse me, could you try to keep your elbow in, please? You're poking me in the side." Unfortunately, my long ago high school and college Spanish classes have been purged from my memory so I had no idea how to say anything remotely close.
So, I just lived with it. To reinforce my theory that they weren't frequent (if at all) flyers, our plane landed and, during the "Please keep you seat belts fastened until we get to the gate" speech, Dad reached over and unfastened Mom's belt then his own. And, we were barely stopped at the gate when half of the family jumped in to the aisles, grabbed their stuff and started pushing their ways forward.
I wasn't sorry to see them leave.
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