Near Misses Part II

Airlines have seriously cracked down on everything. When my mom and I flew to LA on Continental, they stuck tight to the two item carry on rule, no wiggle room allowed. In the past I was allowed to bring my carry on luggage, a backpack, and a purse, but this time they didn't allow it. But wait, let me explain the back story.

During this trip my cousins, sister, and I planned a snowboarding trip. Unfortunately this required lots of gear. My sister had left for California a week before me, and hadn't brought her hiking boots to wear in the snowy mountains. Since I had to bring my rain boots + her hiking boots + other snow gear, I opted to bring a larger carry on. After looking online at the carry on requirements, we decided that this suitcase was within the allowed size. When we got to the security entrance checkpoint however, the lady stopped us and told us to try to fit the luggage into the carry on measurement thing to see if it was too big. The suitcase was fat because I had piled on the rain boots and hiking boots, so it was too fat to fit into the measurement cage. So my mom and I opened up the suitcase to see what we could do. The only option was to take off our regular shoes and wear those troublesome boots. I donned the rain boots. She wore the hiking boots. The whole time we were standing there, laughing ridiculously. We must have looked like fools. We certainly felt like it because, well, it wasn't raining, and we weren't going hiking, but here we were in the middle of the airport, under the scrutiny of two nitpicking guards, wearing these thick out of context shoes. The two guards just stood there stoically while we laughed, which made it even more bizarre. After taking off the top layer of shoes, the suitcase fit the size requirements. But wait, there's more! We approached the guards expectantly, waiting to be let through, when the man stops us with his broken English. "Only two carry on. Two!" He points to my offending handbag accusingly. I sighed and opened my suitcase, again. I smashed the purse into my suitcase, stood up, fish rain boots and all, and walked towards the guards for the third time. Thank goodness we were ushered in. I half expected them to point to my butt and say, "Sorry, too big. Can't let you in." And I would have responded, "Sorry, can't help you there." Hahaha.

Everything on the plane must be paid for now. You're hungry? Want some TV? Too bad, you gotta pay. What ever happened to the good old days when meals came with the ticket and screens dropped down to play a movie? I guess those days are officially gone. Oh well, I'll live. I guess I was just one of the few people who actually kind of liked airplane food. If that makes me weird then so be it.