Jeanne & Keri Faceoff: Race Through the Charlotte Airport
So the most important thing to remember about this story is Jeanne won. We had to race for our connecting flight yesterday and her Reef Wedge flipflops outstripped my Max Studio Mecca wedges by a long way.
I don’t know if it’s because she’s in better shape (quite possible!), because I’m still getting over what at times feels like bronchitis, or because my Mecca wedges have passed their prime. It didn’t help that with every swift stride I announced my progress with a loud clanking sound. I’m no longer advocating these heels as great for running in. You can run in them, it’s just going to be pretty conspicuous.
But be that as it may, Jeanne had outstripped me by a couple of gates and was making strong progress in flagging down the flight that we only had 15 minutes to cross the CLT airport for. And I was huffing and hacking my way desperately across the food court, luck intervened in the form of an empty US Airways cart, and the very very very kind woman stopped and offered me and a fellow traveler a ride. Soon I was speeding along trying to catch my breath. Without me saying anything, although I was going to, the woman pulled up alongside Jeanne (I guess the driver could recognize the subtle signs of desperation in people’s backs) and asked her where she was headed.
“She’s with me!” And Jeanne did a very impressive jump into the vehicle while it was still moving. We arrived at our gate halfway through boarding and still very much out of breath from the race. So much so that the guy scanning our tickets stopped, looked at us, and said “you seem pretty excited to be on this flight”.
HAH.
First class was already full, so we had some scrambling to find room for our stuff, but managed to settle in. My knee was throbbing and when I looked down, somewhere along the way I’d bloodied it. Poor Jeanne was in worse shape, although she didn’t know it yet. Her seatmate had a live cat underneath the seat that would soon be coming out to play…hopefully she’ll write about that experience.
But fortunately we had Wendy, one of the best flight attendants in the US Airways fleet, who soon had welcome beverages to calm us down and attentive service the whole 5 hours. 🙂
At least there wasn’t a dead cat under he seat, though I suppose I haven’t heard this story yet 🙂
Anyway, I’m looking forward to hearing it!