Keep On Traveling
It’s like riding on a rollercoaster
Saturday, April 26th
After four very full flights over the last 9 days, I’m heading out this morning from JFK airport on Delta flight 532 to Denver in a plane that is about 1/4 full. I have half of row 21 (seats D, E, & F) all to myself. I don’t know if this has ever happened before! There was no problem storing my carry on bag in the overhead bin, no mad rush to get on the plane, no insanity waiting for people to get settled in their seat. Thank goodness, because I have a headache and really wasn’t looking forward to the stress of smashing my two bags under the seat in front of me, listening to screaming babies, or hearing people talk too loudly on that last phone call made before takeoff.
Traveling to Europe is great once you arrive at your destination. Getting there is a major chore. The flight from New York to Cyprus was via a connection in London Heathrow. That is a huge airport complete with security checkpoints within the transfer area. Signage is limited. When you get off your flight, it feels like you’re walking a mile down the jetway and through the airport to get to your connecting flight as you follow the purple signs with an arrow that simply say, “Transfer Flights”. Gate assignments aren’t given until about 30 minutes before the flight. You’re told a general area within the airport where your flight will leave from, and when you look at the flight info board all you see for gate is, “ will be displayed in __ minutes”.
Getting to the airport at 6am
JFK is a mess! Currently under construction, the airport is a nightmare of closed lanes and rerouted traffic patterns. But with all the traffic and road insanity, I get to the airport,, drop off my bags, and get through security relatively unscathed . Flights always seem to be delayed. Fortunately my flight this morning is just about on time. Well, at least I thought it was. We’re taxiing on the runway and in a row of at least six planes waiting to takeoff. So as usual the flight takeoff time will change - instead of the flight taking off at 8:05 am it will actually be more like 8:30 am, and the pilot will likely say, “we’ll make up the time in flight”. (How do they always seem to do that?).
(Update - I was wrong, there are at least 15 planes in front of us - Saturday morning traffic - so we’ll be delayed for who knows how long.)
( Update #2 - takeoff time is 8:51 am).
I don’t think I have ever taken a flight from JFK that left on time. But even with the delay, the plane arrived in Denver within 20 minutes of the actual estimated time. See, they can make up time. Amazing!
Sunday, April 27th
Finally, I’m on my way home. It’s great seeing friends and new places, but it’s also great to get back to your own bed.
I’m in the terminal at Denver International Airport several hours early, minding my own business. Along come these two people, a young girl and an older woman - perhaps her mother or aunt? She doesn’t look old enough to be grandma. There are many available seats, but where do they choose to sit? Right next to me. Whatever, that’s fine. Now I’m on the plane in my seat - row 38, window seat - again minding my own business. And along come this pair once again, and they are seated right next to me. And the older one is a bit chubby (she isn’t huge, but she ain’t no size small neither). And of course she is in the middle seat. Her arm is brushing up against me, so I try to move further into the window, sort of sitting sideways in the seat to give her more room. The younger one needs some orthodontic work since she has quite an overbite. She’s quite odd looking, like someone you’d see on the old Andy Griffith show when they’d have a character from Butcher Holler come into town. (fyi… a holler is another name for a small sheltered valley that usually has some sort of water running through it). At this point I realize I’m entertaining myself by making up stories about these people. In reality, they probably are both very nice people, but I’m not feeling very social so I make no effort to engage with either of them. The woman sitting next to me seems to be a bit nervous. I feel sorry for her and I hope she makes the 1 hour 20 minute flight without any problems.
The pilot just announced that there will be a delay to accommodate passengers coming from connecting flights. Where were these kind airline employees who are holding this flight when MY FLIGHT WAS DELAYED AND I WAS FORCED TO SPENT THE NIGHT SLEEPING IN THE PHOENIX AIRPORT?
It’s now 10pm and we’ve landed in Albuquerque. The shortest flight I’ve taken in the past 11 days is turning out to be the most miserable. WHY DOES IT HAVE TO HAPPEN THIS WAY? The flight isn’t miserable because of the two people next to me, it’s because of the turbulence. I get sick on rollercoasters and in boats, and sometimes have vertigo issues. Sudden and unnecessary movements can really upset my head and stomach.
Turbulance
We have been rockin’ and rollin’ since we left Denver. DIA is well known as one of the worst airports for turbulence in the world. Why? The mountains. Denver is at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. The city experiences something called mountain wave clouds. They are caused by a turbulent eddy (or circular movement) of air that goes over the mountains. This results in wind shear, which is a change in wind speed and direction with height. What this means is that the wind is moving is a wave-like motion, and the plane flying through it is riding those waves.
Albuquerque International Sunport is also known for turbulent conditions. The city is located alongside the Sandia Mountains and when flying to or from here you’ll likely experiences bumpy conditions, particularly during landing and takeoff. Add to the mountain effects on the atmosphere, both Albuquerque and Denver experience extremely windy conditions, especially during the spring. Average wind speed in Denver in April is 13.6 mph, in Albuquerque it’s 15.3 mph. All together, the mountains and the wind, along with other factors such as thunderstorms and other weather conditions make the flying route from Denver to Albuquerque the most turbulent flight paths.
One last thing about turbulence - other than making passengers feel queasy or unsettled, it’s not harmful. Airplanes are built to withstand the most severe turbulence. Pilots are trained to handle the plane when turbulence occurs. So like the flight attendant always says at the end of the safety briefing - relax, sit back, and enjoy the flight, which is exactly what I did last night. The lady next to me also made it through the flight without incident.
Traveling by plane for me is done for a while. On Wednesday I’ll get in my van and head out for my next adventure as a volunteer camp host at Palo Duro State Park in Texas.