Missing the Paigow (et al.) [sniff]

[notcasesensitive]

Originally posted by Replaced_Texan
I have this theory that flying home early Monday morning is less of an intrusion on the weekend than flying late Sunday night. The theory works well on paper, but I usually have to explain the basic principles again to balt while we're racing to the airport at some ungodly hour of the morning on Monday and he's asking me why on earth we do this to ourselves, having had little or no sleep because [redacted for sensitive readers like Thurgreed].

Anyhow, on Tuesday's 6:15 am flight, which was even earlier than the usual unholy early flight that I take, I was nestled into my towards-the-back Southwest Airlines window seat, secure with the knowledge that my carry-on stuff fit in all the relative compartments, my bag had actually made it on the plane, and I could sleep all the way home. That was before the woman in front of me sat down. And way before the man in the aisle seat in her row sat down.

Because when he sat down, they started talking. And talking. And talking. And then the plane took off, and boy were they fascinating to one another. And he was waaaaaaay on the aisle seat, and she was waaaaaay on the window seat, and the engine was roaring, so of course they had to talk loudly to one another to ensure that neither missed one fascinating word that the other had to say. And hers was an annoying, annoying accented voice that grated on every single nerve that I possessed. And a half-hour into the flight, when I couldn't take it anymore, and I pulled out my iPod to drown out her voice, and maybe, possibly, go to sleep, even though the iPod was still at its highest volume, I could still hear her irritating, irritating voice, coyly flirting with the consultant next to her.

When we landed, she looked around at all the people glaring at her, and then waved at some poor guy six or seven rows back. "Oooh, look there's my colleague! Hi Kevin! I didn't see you get on the plane." Kevin pretended not to know her, so she persisted on waving and yelling.

Of course, consultant guy had to help her with her baggage, and they delayed the getting-off-the-plane process by another thirty seconds, further irritating me and everyone else behind them.

Unfortunartely, thanks to her endless chatter, I wasn't at my most alert so I missed my opportunity to accidently swing my briefcase into her face as I brought it out from the overhead compartment.

So ABBA, when you show him the pictures of your kids, move to the goddamned seat next to him.

you should consider a purchase of some of the in-ear noise reducing headphones that are quite popular in my household. I know they've been discussed on the technology boards. All frequent travellers should have a pair. You wouldn't have heard her over your iPod.

And, yes, people like that are truly annoying.