Recently, I was fortunate enough to accompany my family on a trip to Florida to visit relatives. Along with other reasons, this trip was spectacular because I got to fly for the very first time. The first dream that I can remember having was to one day fly a plane, but I had gone 18 years without even being a passenger on one. I love being up high, and was incredibly excited to ride in the sky. However, I was apprehensive about looking like a noob in front of the other, more experienced passengers. It turns out that I had no reason to worry, as the other travelers were much more concerned with getting to their destinations than they were with my transgressions along the journey.
In my opinion, the only major error that I committed that could be used to label me as a noob was to wait until I was standing in the security line to remember that I needed to dump out the water in my carry-on bottle. My parents had warned me repeatedly against this very mistake, but it had slipped my mind in the midst of the sights and sounds of the airport. Since it was still very early in the morning and the airport was mostly empty, I was able to book it to the restroom and back without losing too many places in line.
I didn't even mind when I found out that our flight was going to be delayed for 2 hours, because it gave me a chance to explore the airport. However, it turns out that in a small airport 2 hours is more than enough time to see and do everything interesting. I listened to my brothers talk about the planes sitting outside the windows, and found a water fountain to refill my bottle. We wondered what meetings the businessmen and women were missing as they huddled over their laptops, and called our relatives to let them know that we would be arriving later than expected.
There were no assigned seats on the airplane that we were flying on. By the time that our group boarded, there was only one option left if we all wanted to sit together. The whole back row was empty, and we snatched those seats. Being the only member of our party that hadn't previously flown, I asked for and was given the window seat. I assumed that we would take off shortly after all travelers had found their seats, but I was wrong. A small scratch that warranted an hour to fix and to notify the airline authorities had been discovered on the outside of the plane.
This hour passed incredibly slowly but was otherwise uneventful.
It turns out that riding an airplane is pretty much like riding a bus, except for the views and the bags of lightly-salted peanuts. The take-off and landing were much less bumpy than I had imagined, and we didn't get caught in any major turbulence. While I was sitting down, I blended right in with the other passengers. I looked down at the landscape and even took a nap like a pro. Airplanes might not be the most efficient form of transportation for your day-to-day life, but they sure set the bar sky-high for the other forms.
