The trip to the NJCAA National Tournament began in Jacksonville Tuesday afternoon. The flight plan was from Jacksonville to Atlanta, then Atlanta to Las Vegas. A number of the team members had never flown before which caused quite a bit of airplane urban legends to come up as a topic in the days leading up to the trip.
As many of you know now, the airlines are packing people into every flight and every seat, and our two flights were no different. Each student was worried who would sit where, who sat next to them, and if they had a window, aisle, or middle seat.
The first leg went well and most were okay with the assigned seating. Also, it was only 50 minutes long. Of course, going to Atlanta to make a connection is always an adventure, and Tuesday was another one. We landed at Gate B-16 and had to make our way to A-21 in about twenty minutes. After quick trips to the bathroom, we all made it to A-21 and were able to board immediately.
This is where the seating got a little exciting. Two of the girls could not find their boarding passes, so we stood in line to show the tickets and identification. I boarded as the last person allowed on. I had arranged for a window seat at the last minute since I had been assigned a middle seat and was feeling pretty good about the chance to change from a middle seat.
As I was approaching my seat, the player who I was going to be seated next to, asked me to change with her friend since she had a window seat also. I agreed since the one girl had never flown and I was trading window for window.
I moved to the new seat only to realize that I had been duped and now had a middle seat again.It was also between two women that were both as wide or wider than I am. Now, I am not a small person and going three wide with me on an airplane is alot like going three wide at the Daytona 500, something has to give. I wound up holding my travel pillow in my lap and reading a book the entire flight to Las Vegas, four hours, give or take a minute or two.
We landed in Las Vegas, collected our bags, and made our way to the charter bus for the two hour trip to St. George, Utah. After a brief stop for dinner, we got on our way and made it to the hotel at about midnight mountain daylight time.
Our next blog entry will have input from a few of the girls who had never flown before, so come back soon!