An Aviation Dream

For the past two years I have been on so many airplanes I might as well have been waving my arms around to show the other passengers how to fasten their seatbelts and safely locate the emergency exits incase of a crash landing. I have gone from Florida to California to Fiji to Australia to Thailand to Western Australia back to Florida then to England, Spain, Morocco, and to and from England and Florida a few more times. And every time I take a trip it is usually the same old drill; buy a ticket, go to the airport, check in, hand over my bags, get felt up at security to insure I am not smuggling in a bottle of water, board the plane, eat some food, watch a movie, and then leave the plane to go through more security. This is about as interesting as it gets. This is until Andy and I flew standby…

It’s all a waiting game when flying standby. Nothing is definite and everything is last minute. Even thinking about it makes me so nervous I am breaking out into a small sweat. So naturally the day before our August flight (and one of the most hectic and busy traveling seasons of the year) to Florida I was a frantic, worrying, on edge, mess. We had been told that all flights to Orlando were over booked and our chances of making it on a flight were not only slim to none, but if we wanted to try to get on an overbooked flight to New York we would have to make a mad dash to Heathrow. All I wanted was to see palm trees swaying while my skin soaked up the hot Florida sunshine and I sipped on a margarita! After hearing this I had little hope that my milky white skin was going to see that sun anytime soon.

We approached the check in counter with uneasy tense smiles and said, “Hi. We are the two on standby for the 11:00 Orlando flight. Are there any seats?”  As she opened her mouth to say, “ Yes actually. There are exactly two seats on the plane. You are both really lucky,” I swear I could hear Zippity Do Da playing in the background. Andy and I just about skipped through security and right up to the gate with the cheesiest biggest similes on our faces as if we had just won some huge grand prize. When we boarded the plane Andy was directed up those mysterious stairs, which I soon found out lead to business class, and I was pointed down the over crowded loud economy aisle filled with little kids who’s dreams of meeting Mickey mouse were about to come true.

After a couple hours of movie watching to drown out the high pitched squeaky voices of over eager kids, my curiosity got the best of me and I snuck up the stairs to see what flying the high life was all about. Oh man are we all missing out! It is spacious, serene, and so quiet you could just about hear the waves of the ocean below. I quickly found Andy’s seat and sat down in the aisle, which is about the width of three economy aisles, ignoring the snooty glares directed at my peasant self. I didn’t mind being the poor economy girl because as soon as my butt hit that floor a beautiful lady in red was handing me a glass of champagne asking what flavor Ben and Jerry’s ice cream I wanted! At that moment I had died and gone to aviation heaven! Sitting on the floor in business class was better than having an entire row to your self in economy. This was so fabulous I didn’t know how I was going to go back to Disney daycare downstairs! But as soon as that thought entered my head the man sitting next to Andy stood up and excused himself from the two-seat row. As I got off the floor to let him by, he told me to take his seat and be with my husband. My jaw dropped as I nervously laughed and said, “That is so nice of you but I can’t take your seat. Thank you so so much though.” He stared me straight in the eyes and said, “You are newlyweds and should be sitting together. Take my seat and tell me what seat you are in.” I couldn’t even believe what I was hearing! I looked from this man to Andy and back at him unsure of what to do or say. All I could do was put on my anxious smile and squeeze out a few nervous giggles. That’s when he said, “Tell me what seat you are in so I am not walking around the plane aimlessly looking for where to sit. I will be back up here at the end of the flight.”

After sitting down in my new oversized seat, as if the flight couldn’t get any better, the flight attendant brought us a bottle of champagne and chocolates on behalf of the staff as a wedding gift and their congratulations! I was in total bliss for the next 5 hours as we flew over the Atlantic and I sipped on champagne, ate fresh fruit, and disturbed the peaceful atmosphere by talking Andy’s ear off!