Thanksgiving Travel

Outbound
Delta's been running some great fares between DCA and DEN recently.  I snagged one for $75 o/w right around Thanksgiving time.  Unfortunately, it was a 6:30 am flight.  I left my apartment a little before 5 am and hailed a taxi, as the metro was not yet open.  I arrived at the airport in no time and soon boarded my flight.  The plane was a CRJ-700, which I prefer to a larger plane because you only have to sit next to one other person instead of two.

I had a short connection in Memphis and decided to check out the SkyClub there.  I had recently signed up for a program that would reimburse me (up to $50) for any airport lounge day pass I purchased.  I walked into the SkyClub and inquired about a day pass, but while the agent was about to ring me up, I looked at the time and realized my flight was well into boarding.  I guess I had kind of lost track of time while I was shoving delicious Popeye's into my face.  I raced back to my gate, and boarded the second leg of my flight which was also operated by a CRJ-700.

Memphis Airport

On my flight to Denver, I was sitting next to a rather interesting guy.  He said he'd just gotten back from living in Africa for the last two years on a mission trip, and was headed to Bangladesh after the holidays.

One thing to note is the flight attendants on both my flights were all some of the best I've ever experienced.  They were constantly cracking jokes (yet, they were still very professional) and made the flights fly by quickly.  Delta, for the most part, has way better customer service than United in my opinion.  Every time I fly them, I'm pleasantly surprised.  Plus, Delta gives you cookies.

In the end, my flight arrived in Denver early and I enjoyed a nice week visiting my family.

Return
I wanted to return on the Sunday after Thanksgiving like normal people do, but the flights were extremely overpriced.   I ended up taking a relatively cheap fare on United on Saturday morning at 6 am.  Getting up at 4 am to head to the airport is a pain.  I could barely pull myself out of bed.  I made it to DIA just in time.  There weren't many people on my flight to Houston and I got a bit of rest.

Sunrise from the plane

After arriving in Houston, I headed for the lounge where I helped myself to a delicious breakfast of stale bagels and lukewarm OJ.

Lounge food at its finest

My flight to DCA was packed and it was delayed by about 40 minutes due to a storm.  After I boarded and took my aisle seat, one of the FAs approached me and asked if I'd be willing to switch to a middle seat so some woman could sit with her kid.  I gave the FA kind of a blank stare (thinking oh god, why me??).  Luckily, the guy sitting in front of me volunteered to give up his seat.  Despite keeping my aisle seat, the flight went by extremely slowly.  It just wouldn't end.  I'd look at the time and it would be 12:30 pm, and then I'd look it at again after what seemed to be three hours later, and it would say 12:32 pm.  When we finally did land, I had a giant headache (from the two dozen crying babies on the flight) and a backache (from the kid behind me who kept kicking my seat).  Travel will really wear you down.  I need me some first class upgrade.  Come to think of it, maybe I'll just fly private home for the holidays.