The day did improve a bit when the gate agent was able to switch me to a window seat. Only one painful problem with that.
I was sharing the row with a big fat man and his big fat wife. No, they weren't the problem; the man was next to be but unlike many even much smaller men I've sat next to on airplanes, he was able to keep his elbows to himself and out of my seat. The problem was that it was a *long* flight, with the attendants bringing beverages by several times. I did get up to use the toilet once when the wife was already up, but after that I just decided to tough it out, because it seemed to be quite an effort for them to extract themselves from the tiny airline seats. (Purely my own fault; I'm sure if I had asked to get up they'd have been entirely polite about it as they were for the rest of the flight.). Unfortunately it took longer than I'd anticipated to get out of the holding pattern, into Newark, to the gate, and out of the plane from our row at the rear. In case anyone wants to know, the restrooms at Newark Airport are way too far from the gate I landed at. They should do something about that; I was beginning to mull over plots to leave a puddle behind a kiosk somewhere, because owowOWowow. After that, the driving seemed less of a challenge, anyway, and I found the hotel without incident. Oh, and free wirelss internet at the hotel, yay!
Posted by dichroic at March 28, 2006 08:25 PM
As a very old man, I second the motion that rest rooms should be much closer to the gates.
It is not too bad here in Denver at DIA, once you reach the gate area -- but its a long way to the gates.
Posted by: Denver doug at March 28, 2006 09:06 PMI had a similar experience on the way back from Austria.... contemplating where best to leave a puddle. Fortunately it ended up not being necessary, but OUCH!
I couldn't stop thinking of the Simpsons episode where grandpa's kidneys burst, because Homer won't pull over an let him pee... ;)
Posted by: Maria at March 28, 2006 10:57 PMI've had that experience, including a flight on a tiny commuter plane that -- I swear -- had no room for necessary facilities. I've worn protective underwear since then; I'm not that proud.
Posted by: l'empress at March 29, 2006 06:59 AM