I feel like telling you that First Class airline seating is a crock today. Maybe it is the wonder of flying, but today it is a crock. I took Diane’s advice and shelled out the extra bucks for the first seats in the first class section for a flight across the Unites States. Diane guess what, there were two ladies in back of me that were so totally irritating and when they included the lady across the way in their conversations, the sounds became unbearable. Their voices collectively and individually were piercing. I actually thought one was a man; a 300-pound man was my take until I turned around and saw an unattractive woman to match the voice. What a surprise. The two women directly behind me did not take a break from talking for the full 5-hour flight and the one directly behind me kept banging and kicking into my chair. Dear God, I had a headache and felt battered and beaten with words. I love words, all kinds of words, almost every word you can think of, but I hated their words, all of them. The way they said them, the way they kept up the banter, and I just wanted to yell. I kept thinking they would at least take a break during the drink service but no they did not even take the time to breath, they just kept talking. I didn’t turn around, but I am certain they talked with their mouths loaded.
Shame on me for my total lack of compassion for my fellow travelers, after all, we are all in the same boat, I mean plane. Finally, after about a full hour of the lady directly behind me banging, kicking, slamming my chair, opening and closing the tray table and heaven knows what else, I turned around and said, “Please.” “Oh, I am sorry,” she said, but she never stopped talking on and on and on. They were so obnoxious I felt like I was going to throw up, but got the bright idea just in time to ask for the earphones given by the airline so that you can enjoy their selections of music. Whew!!
I had the earphones in place and that didn’t even stop the lady behind me. She stuck her hand through the little space between the seats, tapped me on the shoulder to ask what we were seeing as we passed over snow covered mountains and the unique topography of the Rockies. By this time I was so very annoyed at having no peace whatsoever the whole trip so far, I said I didn’t know, but I really did. It was a beautiful sight to see the Rockies with her tops covered with snowcaps. There was some dusting on the sides, but solid on the tops. It is an awesome sight to see these mountains stretch on for quite awhile. I imagined the pioneers in covered wagons trying to pass, or for that matter anyone who would be passing through these mountains any other way than flying. I remember our classroom had a Trucker Buddy named Joe who drove from Oneida New York in a Wall-Mart truck to visit us. I worried about him the whole time. He came in June so perhaps there was not as much snow. He made it to see us and made it home safely two years in a row. I have great admiration for Joe and my hats of to all the truckers across the world
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