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what you’ll do for a few hundred bucks!
two weeks ago, Graham and i went to utah to check out Sundance. needless to say, Sundance is the best kept secret for those who love to ski. the mountains are empty and the snow is generally excellent. of course, this year, the ski season of the century (did someone say something about global warming?) i’m sitting on the sidelines. but for good reason as my bump continues to grow! 🙂
a huge storm was blowing in on sunday, the day we were leaving. it starts to snow as we head to the airport. once we get to the gate, we notice that it’s snowing a bit harder now and the gate attendants announce that the flight is too heavy and they’re taking volunteers to give up their seats for $200 vouchers. you know how this goes. you turn to your neighbor and without trying to sound like a snob say “not for $200, but i’d do it for $600.”
no one stands up for $200.
the urgency in the announcements becomes palpable. $400. a few people stand up and head to the podium.
graham and i board the flight and he heads to his seat near the back of the bus. our seats are split up b/c i somehow forgot to buy his ticket. that’s a first, but a story for a different blog entry.
after everyone is seated and i’m well into my sudoku the captain says “we’ll be on our way as soon as we do final weight calculations. it’s raining heavily in orange county and the runway there is very short…so we may still be overweight. i’ll let you know in a few minutes.”
after a few frustrating moments of only inserting one additional number into my sudoku, the captain gets back on saying “we’re still overweight, and we need 10 more people to de-plane. we’ll give you an $800 voucher, put you up in a hotel….” and before he could finish the sentence, i grabbed my backpack, tossed the sudoku on my neighbor’s lap, and sprinted for the front of the plane, only turning around to wave to graham and mouth “see you tomorrow!” as people are cheering my departure, i realize that i’m probably the lightest person on the plane and that i’m worth about $8 a pound. almost worth as much as a decent Boar’s head deli honey ham. hilarious.
the next day, as i’m getting on the plane to head home, it’s a full blizzard outside. whiteout. and it’s one of those small planes that requires you to walk outside the terminal to board the plane. meanwhile, the only clothes i have are those from the day before, with the addition of a Delta airlines t-shirt they gave me along with a toothbrush/toothpaste. no ski jacket, no hat, no gloves. nothing. good planning.
as you can see in the photo above (pretty good for an iphone), this is a full on blizzard with hail pelting us at 50 miles per hour. it’s a joke and i literally can’t stop laughing. then you have the lady who’s stuck at the top of the ramp b/c she doesn’t know where to put her carry on dog…meanwhile we’re all becoming human popsicles waiting for her pooch to get comfortable.
there’s no way that we’ll be taking off in this weather, but they’re insistent on boarding and getting an on-time departure! after sitting on the runway for about 45 minutes, they de-iced the plane and we were off. but i sure earned my $800! 🙂
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