I’m aboard a brand-new Airbus A321S and the touchscreen mounted in the headrest in front of me indicates that we’re steadily ascending past 20,000 feet on our way to our planned altitude. I’ve been having a little fun harassing the passenger in front of me about reclining his seat. Unlike the two flights diverted in the past week because of passengers fighting over legroom, the unfortunate soul in the seat before me is a friend and coworker used to some good-natured ribbing.
This plane is headed to LAX because I’m making a four-day business trip to Long Beach. On Saturday, my parents will pick me up and drive me to San Diego for a week with family. It’ll be my last week withy extended family until next summer, and my last with my parents and sister until I meet them in Poland before Christmas.
In the predawn hours this morning, I stepped out of the shower to be unpleasantly surprised that my flight departed an hour prior than I remembered. Lesson #1 from this trip: double, triple, and quadruple check your flight times. Fortunately, I was awake plenty early and easily caught my plane despite the atrocious Dallas traffic.
Thanks to the generous help of my cousin Maria, I was almost completely packed last night and only had to toss a couple loose items into my luggage.
Every piece of luggage is packed to capacity, with barely a cubic centimeter to spare. The black garment bag which holds my suits tipped the scales at 43 pounds, and the large backpack at 33. The roller bag and small backpack probably total another 15-20 pounds, which brings the total weight of my luggage to nearly 100 pounds. Still not sure how I’m going to get all this stuff from Heathrow Airport to my hotel.
