Frogger

Have you ever played Frogger? Close your eyes and think back. Hold the joystick in your hands and quickly force it left, right, back and forth. Now imagine sitting on a bus with wings while the pilots play frogger with the plane. Nauseating? Frightening? Yes, all of the above. This was the take off from Toronto that we experienced. So, as of yet I am not a fan of US Airways.

Before any of this excitement was the routine processing through customs and security. We had no issues with either, but mom and dad were not so fortunate. Customs was a breeze, but when we went through security, they were subject to a more thorough search than wanted. This was the first time that any of us had to go through the body scanners. Just as we finished processing I looked up to see Mom in the scanning machine, and dad standing off to the side, holding all the items from his pockets in a tray. They looked a little worried. Dad's laptop was scanned for traces of elements used in the building of bombs, but thankfully none were found. And I was concerned about getting socks on my feet!

With everyone cleared, we found our way to the holding area. I've become a little jaded about airline travel and no longer refer to this area as the 'waiting lounge'. It's a holding area used to process the cattle. Our plane was not delayed and everyone was processed and seated in a timely fashion. All righty then, the weather is clear, let's get off the ground. Ahhh, but is was not to be so easy. After a short taxi to the runway, we were in the air. Well sort of. Within seconds, I thought for sure that one of the wings was going to gouge a large trench into the landscape while we flipped end over end into a fiery ball. I was not informed that it was 'take you child to work' day at US Airways. I'm sure there was an eight year old flying. Although an eight year old could have done a better job, considering he's probably logged more hours on an Xbox.

After arriving in Philadelphia, we were subject to another horrifically long wait for our connecting flight. This time, we were all too tired to go to the main terminal, so we foraged for lunch at terminal F. This allowed me time to catch up on my previous days' blogs, while Mike showed his parents how the new Net Book works and Diane played on the PSP. By the time we were loaded on the plane, we just wanted to get to DC and go to bed. Unfortunately Philadelphia was really backed up for take offs, so we were forced to wait, buckled up and at the ready. At first I busied myself with the view in front of me. I learned that there are 4 main ways that men 'comb over' their hair. There's the side over, front to back, back to front and then the Trump swirl. I pointed these options out to Mike for future reference. I finally got sick of following the rules, and put one earphone in and listened to my iPod for a while. I just made sure to keep my head turned away from the control freak flight attendant. Just before it was our turn for the runway, the really pretty stupid girl behind me decided she couldn't wait to pee. The second she closed the bathroom door, the pilot was forced to tell the control tower that someone was in the can. So we were pushed back in the queue. I've never seen a flight attendant get as politely angry as this one. I even yanked out my secret earphone as she stormed down the very narrow isle to give pretty girl a stern talking to about getting out of her seat and causing us further delay. I chose to keep my earphones put away until we reached cruising altitude.

The rest of the fight was pleasant and quick. Now that I've been to DC Airport before, I feel like a pro and we quickly picked up the rental van and made it to our hotel. I was not looking forward to 3 more nights in a double bed. I'm beginning to think that the floor looks really good. But to my surprise I was greeted with a King sized bed in the room. I yelled so loud that Mike thought there was a spider on the floor! Diane was more than a little disappointed to learn that, she could not have the big bed to herself, or at all for that matter. The only thing that dampened the mood, was the realization that TSA went through our luggage. As much as I feel violated, I take a sick comfort in knowing that the top half of my luggage was all dirty laundry (separated by the laundry bag itself). Dirty socks worn while touring in the heat all day...take that TSA!