Musings at Altitude

Sometimes you just gotta smile when you’re traveling.  Today, I had to get from Austin to New Orleans, and here’s how the time went:

— Arrive at the airport at 4:15 for a 6:38 flight

— Board the plane at 6:15

— Depart at 6:45

— Fly from Austin to Houston – 45 minute flight

— Arrive in Houston at 7:30

— Board the flight to New Orleans at 9:10

— Depart Houston at 9:45

— Arrive in New Orleans at 10:30

So, my simple minded math tells me it took 375 minutes to do 90 minutes worth of flying.

Good grief.

To top it off, on both flights, the cabin crew had just enough time to rush through the drink carts and then pick up the empties before the planes began their descent.  On the first flight, I didn’t even bother getting out the iPod…just didn’t have time.  On the second flight, I got out the iPod and watched the very end of two movies before they told me to turn it off for landing.

Typically, 37,000 feet is where I do my best thinking.  But after today, I need to modify that.  From now on it’s, “37,000 feet is where I do my best thinking if we’re at 37,000 feet for longer than 10 minutes”. 

These 45 minute flights don’t do anything for me!