Oh the joys of traveling

I flew to Austin last night to come and visit my darling sis and her fam. My mom, Nichole, Bryson, and Bronson flew here from AZ as well. That's right folks, It's a party in the USA. The airport always makes me laugh. I am a total people watcher/observer of ridiculousness, and let's be honest, the airport is PRIME for such activity.

If I could give you a taste of what I experienced...

I get to the Salt Lake International Airport in perfect time to check in, grab a Diet Dr. Pepper, and hop on board my flight to Phoenix. Due to the strugglefest that is flying these days, I

carried on, and was extremely proud of my packing skills, might I add.

I learned this trip that I'm a smiler. I didn't realize it until I was smiling at people; the front desk lady, the security guard, the "go ahead and walk through the metal detector" guy, the gate checker, you get it. I was laughing at how my smiles have turned so apprehensive. Was that too much smile? Do they think I'm hiding something? You saw my bag was clean right? Have a good day...but not in a, "like it's your last day," way. Sad that the world has come to that, right?

My seat happens to be at the very back of the plane. I get to the back trying to figure out where I can fit my bag in the overhead bins. I hate that game. Try and shove your bag in without stopping and holding up the line, and don't make it look like a struggle or the flight attendant will make you check your bag. Bad idea.

I sit down next too a rough looking gentleman and a young girl who screamed "Zoobie." I also learned that I am not much of a plane talker. I don't have a problem with talking to strangers, and I genuinely actually like to get to know new people, however...I had been up yesterday since 5ish in the morning, and I was tired. I wanted to sleep, not shoot the breeze. Well, the guy next to me had to have been the chattiest guy i've seen in a long time. We (the surrounding plane passengers) quickly learned that the zoobie had just been proposed to on the way to the airport, precious. Single rough looking guy, didn't seem to mind. The two strangers chatted it up the entire flight. I tried to sleep, and when sleep wasn't coming I pretended to still be asleep to not have to be subject to stranger interrogation. These were among the questions that the zoobie encountered...

"So do you go tanning? Your skin can't be that color naturally. I mean, I'm darker...but..."

"Are you ticklish? What would happen if I tickled you right now?" (really? interesting)

"Have you been to Hawaii? You really need to go. It's where I live. (wink)"

"Can I have one of those Now and Laters? I haven't had one since high school."

"So do you like those boots you have on? Is that what is in style in UT?"

"Have you ever heard of a Halibut? I deal with fish. I make a lot of money. I have everything I could ever want." (Who hasn't heard of "a halibut" like it's some rare fish? And thanks for throwing in your financial status, about 5 times to be exact)

"Where is your connecting flight? Too bad you can't reroute that to Hawaii. That is where I live" (double wink.)

"Don't worry you can grab on to me if this turbulence scares you." (The first 30 mins of the ride was straight up turbulence.)

And on and on and on. It was bizarre. Do you see why I kept, "sleeping." Well, the pilot announces our decent in to Phoenix, and I start to hear the zoobie freaking out. Lots of heavy breathing/moaning, tears, "I'm really nauseous," breathing into the barf bag...you get the point. Well, Mr. Chats-a-lot starts to fan her off with the inflight safety guide, and then yep...she pukes. Awesome. I was leaning as far into the isle, "sleeping" as possible. It was gross.

I get off the plane and am walking to my next gate, and I see the zoobie walking on the moving walkway, and Chatty trying to keep up on the isle next to her. Wow. Humorous.

So, I board my next plane, which I'm pretty sure was handcrafted by Matell and purchased in the Barbie section at Toys R' Us. It was MINI! (don't let the all caps throw you off. we're talking small...) I felt like I should be wearing plastic heels and talking to Ken about our Barbie Corvette. Luckily, unlike the Barbie jumbo jet, my plane did actually fly. I made it safe in Austin, to be greeted by my fam and matching PJ's for all the girls from my mom for mothers day. Could she be any cuter?

So glad to be here. My hair is not glad...but I am. :)