Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
More like Sherry in the sky with white knuckles. I shakily write this post after what can best be described as one good reason not to ever get on a plane with me. Yesterday I set off on a trip to San Francisco for a work related cocktail party that was partially being held in my honor. I was supposed to arrive in Cali by 1:40pm after a layover in Minneapolis but that flight out of Minneapolis didn’t really go as planned.
First we were told that we couldn’t take off due to some “mechanical failure”. Then we sat on the plane for an hour while mechanics worked on the engine (!) in an attempt to get things sorted out. But things weren’t sorted out. And we didn’t find that out until about an hour into our flight when the captain came on the loudspeaker and said “something’s still wrong with the plane. I can’t control the back rudders which are used to steer, which is why you’re feeling that twisting motion. We’re going to turn around and make an emergency landing back in Minneapolis. Expect the ride- and especially the landing- to be extremely rough. Buckle up.”
The rest of the announcements got more surreal as they went. There was the one explaining that we were “dumping fuel to have a better chance at landing” and the one about “flying low for the next half hour with our landing gear down to slow us down on our approach”. It all culminated with me trying to remember what would possibly be my last words to John and bawling my eyes out. All while holding on of course. And then there was the landing. Lets just say that it was rough enough to eject baggage from the locked overhead bins and pelt people sitting along the aisles (in some cases giving them black eyes). Thank goodness I was in a window seat, but my entire body is sore today, thanks to tensing every muscle to brace myself for the landing. But I’m ALIVE!
After losing my lunch in the airport bathroom (glamourous, I know), I was just happy to be back on the ground- although I was slightly irked that after all the pandemonium I wouldn’t even make it to my cocktail party. I ended up flying back to DC where my relieved hubby was waiting to rescue me. To say that it was good to be reunited is the understatement of the year. We all know that the most important things in life aren’t things, they’re people- and I can definitely attest to the fact that being alive feels pretty darn good. And the fact that we’ll be kitchenless for another month or two is no big deal in the scheme of things.
Here’s a picture of the cocktail party location without me- a punchy San Francisco loft that’s been featured in a slew of design shows.
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Comments
Thanks H! It was Northwest operated through Delta whatever that means. Basically it means they both blame each other so getting my money back is annoying. But I’ll get it, don’t you worry… you know I can be quite the bulldog. The funniest part is that I thought about your little bomb plane debacle afterwards and now I totally know how scary it was. I literally threw up afterwards. From now on I’m NOT stepping foot on a plane EVER without John and seeing as he’s now scared to travel with me (I’m cursed- first the plane fire, now this!) we might just be at his parents’ beach house for the next few vacays. Thanks for being the best little commenter on our blog:)
Oh my God, Sherry — I just read your entry, like, five times and I’m all shaky and nauseous. What you went through is pretty much exactly the recurring plane crash dream I’ve had my whole life (except in my dream we don’t actually make it…). I’m pretty sure that if I’d gone through that experience I wouldn’t have been able to hop on another plane so quickly, so kudos to you. I’m really glad you’re okay!
Thanks Marisa! It totally sucked but I like to think that it makes the chances of it happening again much less likely. Right? Unless my life is like Final Destination and death is chasing me. Which I refuse to believe because that movie was terrible.
Holy bejesus!!!! What an ordeal to say the least…Being as that I was on the bomb plane I understand the fear of thinking “oh crap I’m gonna die and I’m not allowed to use my cell phone.”
The cocktail party sounded like it would have been fun though…and in your honor…how fancy! I hope you got some free tickets because of what you went through. What airline was this?
Next time take John with you.