Airport Blogging (again)

I always blog in airports.  Next time someone asks me what my hobbies are, I’m going to say, “Mostly blogging in airports.”  It’s a good hobby, because it combines my love of travel and my love of writing.  It’s a 2-for-1 hobby.  If there’s something else I love besides blogging in airports, it’s getting a good deal.  Therefore this is the hobby for me.

I’m in the Baltimore airport this time.  I’m with my mom, and we’re headed to Vermont by way of Boston.  I have a doctor’s appointment in New Hampshire tomorrow, but tonight we’re headed to Vermont solely so that I can cross Vermont off of my “50 by 30” bucket list (I want to see all 50 states by the time I turn 30…it seemed like a silly goal a while ago, but when I realized I only have five left to go, I figured why not give it a shot?  After today, I’ll only have four more to go, and I’m only 26.  Maybe I can actually do this!).  I didn’t participate much in planning this trip, as I’ve been simultaneously winding down from my international trips and gearing up for the new school year.  My mom planned the whole thing…which is already turning out to be interesting.

First of all, we almost drove to Detroit when we were flying out of Grand Rapids.  That would have been bad.  Now that we’re chilling in Baltimore, I took the opportunity to ask my mom where we were going in Vermont.  After all, it’s a small state, but there are still a lot of options.  I figured maybe we’d go to the capitol or one of the scenic New England trail locations or something.  She told me that we were going to a little town called “Brattleborough.”  She chose it because it’s right across the border into Vermont from New Hampshire.  Okay Mom, no prob.  I bet there’s lot’s to do there.

There isn’t.  I looked up Brattleborough on my phone, and I am telling you – this town is WEIRD.  I went to the town’s website, and it is vastly boring.  I went to the special events page to see what’s going on this weekend.  Nothing is.  If you wait until September 13, you could be there for “Town Caring Day.”  WHAT?!  We’re missing Town Caring Day?!  Send me back to Michigan.  If I’m not in Brattleborough for Town Caring Day, I see no point in going.  My mom loved the idea of Caring Day.  I said it's dumb because now everyone in the town can be rude jerks to us, and we can't even complain.  They'll just say, "Sorry, you should have come on Town Caring Day.  Today we don't care."

Another special event this month is that some lady is showing an “exhibition” of some pictures she took on her trip to India.  Don’t get me wrong – I love travel pictures.  But is a lady showing pictures from her trip really importnat enough to put on the city events page?!  I feel like striding into the town square (because let’s be honest here, there’s probably a town square) and yelling, “Hear ye, hear ye!  Residents of Brattleborough!  I too have ventured beyond the city limits!  Gather round while I regale you with tales of adventure and suspense!”  Then they can add me to their city events page.

I decided to go to Trip Advisor to see what to do in Brattleborough because the town’s page wasn’t too helpful.  Unfortunately, Trip Advisor wasn’t too helpful either.  Looks like Brattleborough’s bustling tourist industry includes a bowling alley, a thrift shop, and an organ museum (organ the instrument, not the body parts...though the body parts one would have been infinitely more interesting).  My mom and I are in for a weird day.

As I was doing this research, I got a facebook message from my little sister.  She’s setting up her classroom in Albania, and she wanted to know if my mom and I were available to Skype.  Because we were sitting in an airport with nothing to do but dream of bowling in Brattleborough, we said yes.  My mom tried to get Skype on her tablet, and she…well…had issues.  I tried to help, but eventually I said, “okay, just give me that” and did it myself.  We finally got Cara called on Skype, and I handed the tablet back to my mom.  Our connection wasn’t great because of the slow WiFi, so it was difficult to see/hear Cara at first.  My mom talked right into the microphone (because this is what parents always seem to do on facetime/skype), and suddenly I heard Cara yelling, “MOM!  Back up!  MOM!  I CAN ONLY SEE YOUR TOOTH!  I can’t see Christine!”  I showed my mom how it was supposed to work, and she backed up.  Then Cara demonstrated to us what she had seen on her end (essentially just one tooth), and I was laughing so hard I was crying.  Parents and technology don’t mix.  

(For the record, I am laughing out loud as I am writing this because it was seriously that funny.  The people sitting next to me on the plane think I’m a wackadoo.  Oh by the way, writing this blog post has moved from the airport to the plane.  I hope you’re enjoying my journey).

We skyped with Cara for a few minutes, but the connection finally died for real.  Perhaps we’ll try again when we get to our hotel in Brattleborough (if, you know, that town has heard of WiFi, which I am not taking for granted).  Right as the connection died, we heard some clapping a couple of gates over from us.  It turns out a few World War II veterans had just gotten off of a plane, and some people were holding small flags and wheeling their wheelchairs through the airport.  All the people at that gate stood and clapped in respect for the men.  As they were wheeled closer to us, the people at the next gate stood too.  Then our gate did.  As the men were wheeled through the airport, the people at every gate stood up and clapped in respect for the men who had served our country.  It was so beautiful.  Then one of the old men started to cry, and I just about lost it.  Some Navy officers walked behind, accompanying the veterans to wherever they were going, and we clapped for them too.  America is cool sometimes.

Now I’m zipping through the air enjoying this view, and waiting for what adventures (or not) await in Vermont.

***UPDATE***  I couldn’t write this on the plane, but the lady who sat next to me on the flight was a TOTAL NUTTER.  She was an older lady with gray-blonde hair put up in a loose bun, she was wearing a denim shirt with mom jeans, and she had those huge bug eye glasses with very clearly striated trifocal lenses.  Okay, can you picture her?  Great.  When the plane started accelerating to take off, she started mumbling and counting quietly on her fingers.  When the plane finally left the ground, she stopped counting, looked at me, and said, “Good. It must be full of fuel.”  Ummm…okay.  Then, later, she said, “Look!” excitedly and pointed to the cloud picture I posted above.  I, being a mostly normal and sane person, thought she meant, “Look at those beautiful clouds!”  Indeed they were beautiful.  Instead, she said, “Look!  I think that’s Danny’s remains!”  Then she started frantically snapping pictures of Danny’s remains before they could dissipate again.  I almost asked…but I really didn’t want to know.  I smiled and tried to get really focused on my blog so she wouldn’t talk to me again.

Whew.  What a day.  And it’s not even over yet.