First post of 2014 – and we have some catching up to do!

Trip type: Personal-ish

Airline: Delta

Route: MSP-PHX / PHX-MSP

In January I was off to Arizona for a Junior League conference in Scottsdale. After the godawful winter up in the tundra, I was looking forward to thawing for a long weekend with some of the most brilliant and hilarious women I know. First though, I had to get there.

Shenanigans at the airport were minimal. I’m still traveling with the pump and always get a little anxious about whether TSA is going to want to completely dismantle it at security, but there seems to be some healthy leeway granted in the Pre Check lane.

On the plane, I met my seatmate early on. He seemed fairly nondescript when I first sat down—middle-aged, mild mannered, quiet—but looks can be deceiving. It wasn’t until the drink cart started making his rounds that things got interesting.

As soon as it popped into our line of sight, 18B reached for his wallet. On-plane drinking is certainly something I too enjoy, but on a morning flight in business casual, I have to wonder if there’s a great story. My money was on a gin and tonic or Bloody Mary so imagine my surprise when he ordered three Chardonnays. Yes, three. Just right off the bat. On the one hand, I admired that he just went for it (and wouldn’t be calling the flight attendant back every 20 minutes for a refill), but on the other hand—really?

18B proceeded to throw back bottle after bottle after bottle in fairly short order before lolling his head toward me, muttering “You’re a dream”, and promptly passing out. It was a magical time.

I must have requested big drinkers when I booked my ticket because the same thing happened on the way home. This time it was a younger gentleman but he too whipped out his credit card the minute the wheels of the drink cart were in motion. He ordered two Bloody Marys (maybe this is binge-drinking etiquette on planes? Order them all at once?)  with beer backs and settled in. Unfortunately, he did not find me as dreamy.

All in all, not such a bad start to another glorious year up in the air. I’m not sure how much I’ll be flying this year (less than my craziest years but more than last year), but you can be sure I’ll be blogging about it!