Gate 34

So this is where it begins...

Here at gate 34, at the very tip of the Port Columbus International Airport. Here I am, hoping dearly to get this done before the wireless kicks me off, as it seems to every twenty minutes...grr...

Anyway, I'm looking out at bare tarmac, the jetway snaking into empty air out the window in front of me. The couple across from me speaks such rapid Italian it's making my head spin (I do know it's Italian, though...) A few gates down, there's a kid crying. The security announcements in that universal calm female tone with the 'standard' accent play at regular intervals, and I can hardly believe all the adrenaline that's hammering through my system. It's an electric kind of buzz I can feel all the way to my fingertips.

My plane's arrived: blue and red striped, good old American Airlines flight 4113. From up here it looks...short? Hmm...I was hoping for something more profound than that, but that's all I can say looking at it.

The terror level is orange!

It taxies serenely across the runway, this innocent vehicle that's about to carry me to the rest of my life.

Report unattended baggage to the security desk!

Another group arrives, baffled by the fact that their tickets say 33A, but this is Gate 33. Where is A? I ask them "Chicago?" They say yes, we all heave sighs of relief. We're all in it together now. Across from me, the Italian is flying thick and fast. I barely catch the word "due," and feel special. I understood a word! Oh joy!

This is a no smoking terminal! Designated areas are provided...

I connect now in Chicago. American Airlines was so kind as to call me and say "we cancelled your flight." It was later in the voicemail that they then explained that yes, they did put me on a new flight. So O'Hare, here I come. I'll probably edit this post from there, but for now I'm not pushing my luck. I might get kicked off the internet any time now, and this is the third time I've tried to update.

They're moving us to Gate 34 now, something about a late departure to La Guardia needing our gate. My flight, on the other hand, is running early. This all seems very fluid, there's this bizarre dance of gate to gate going on, people loaded down with carryon baggage trekking to wherever the intercom tells them to. I'm moving to Gate 34. I'm taking off in 35 minutes.

I've never been more excited.

Love you all,
Wish me luck!

-G