Six Hours Later...

25 June 2012
5:00am - Houston Airport


I've clearly spent too much time sitting on my tush as my tailbone hurts.  Ow.

Eesh painful.

We've been worried about Courtney making the connection between her flight and our flight to Managua.  She's supposed to land barely an hour before we depart and it's a big airport.  So, since we have all this free time, I timed the walking distance from Courtney's gate to ours.  It's six minutes using the moving sidewalks (those things make me feel like I'm walking with superhuman capabilities) with no luggage, no people, and stumpy legs.  It definitely made me feel better about her chances of catching the flight.  I think she'll be okay.  Hopefully.

It was awkward walking past security twice.  They all stared at me as I passed them as if I was crazy for wandering around the airport at 3am.  Maybe they're right - it's absolutely deserted right now.  Creepy.

Hello?

 I attempted to sleep.  It was not exactly a success.  We pulled two rows of chairs together (have I mentioned how inconvenient it is when they put armrests on these chairs?  At least they weren't bolted to the floor.) and curled up.  However, the chairs slope down towards the seat back, which means my head and feet were below my hips.  I've been more comfortable.  Since I didn't have a pillow, I first tried to use my backpack, but my hand fell asleep while in this position - so asleep that it was painful.  That seemed irrational to me, since when one's limb is asleep, one shouldn't feel anything.  

Sara's cocoon strategy was far more successful than mine.

Side note:  there are no open bathrooms within reasonable walking distance of our gate.  Not cool.

At any rate, now I'm awake and, since our gate got changed, I'd like to move over to it.  The fact that it's next to a Starbucks is completely unrelated.  However, Sara hit snooze (on me) so now I'm writing until she wakes up (or I poke her...).

I've also already finished one of the two books I brought (Pride & Prejudice and Pride & Prejudice & Zombies - sensing a trend?)

La Dia de Departure

24 June 2012
4:54pm - Boston Logan Airport


"One might wonder how an unemployed ex-graduate student with no means whatsoever was able to afford a trip to Cuba.  The truth of the matter was that I couldn't afford it.  However, in an act of colossal misjudgement, American Express had agreed to give me a credit card."

-The Sex Lives of Cannibals, J. Maarten Troost

Official first picture of the trip

Possibly one of the funniest books I've ever read and, as you can see, fairly accurate in relation to me (maybe minus the "ex-grad student," "Cuba," and "American Express" bits).  It seemed an appropriate quote to start out on.

There seems to be a general belief that, since I am traveling, I have money.  Let me just state for the record that this is entirely false.  Were I a more fiscally responsible or more grounded person, this would probably not be happening.  However, I am equipped not only with a ferocious wanderlust and an apparent desire to put myself in potentially hazardous situations, but also a friend who shares these qualities with me. Therefore, with very little trepidation, we booked flights to Managua, the capital of Nicaragua, six months ago. It's about time we had another adventure!

11:44pm - George Bush Intercontinental Airport, Houston

The fact that this airport is named after George Bush nauseates me quite a bit.  But, I guess I'm on "his" turf now, so I'll try to contain myself.  It's only temporary.

I'm struck by the absurdity of the calm, cool recorded voice (you know, the one that says "any unattended bags will be removed and may be destroyed") announcing, "any inappropriate remarks or jokes concerning security may result in your arrest."  Clearly no one is allowed to have a sense of humor anymore.  Don't get me wrong, I do understand why they say this, but come on.

Quote of the flight:

Sara (as we're dancing and lipsynching to Nicki Minaj's "SuperBass" on my headphones): "It'd be kind of cool to do like an overhead view right now and see what everyone else is doing right now, like watching movies or sleeping or reading, and then there's us... doing this."

Upon successfully arriving at Houston, where we'd be spending roughly the next 12 hours, we:

• found food.  Ate stromboli.  Huge mistake as it's currently waging war with my stomach.
• called Mom.  She's still questioning my sanity.
• Took a succession of super attractive bathroom pictures.
• Located and camped out at gate... 10 hours early

Goons.