The travel fairy strikes again

How does one get from NYC to DC?  Well since so many crazy people do this commute on a daily or semi-weekly basis, there are several modes of transportation.  I debated between the two favorite - train or plane.  By train you can often be comfortably seated, enjoy wifi access most of the trip, and have access to a beverage or food car....but it is a longer trip and it is a little more difficult to get to from my office.  The plane option would be for the Delta or US Air shuttle out of LaGuardia.  This 40 minute flight doesn't even require that you go to a main terminal, but instead uses a small building with only 4-5 gates and a majority of travellers without luggage because, as I said, they actually fly back and forth every day.

Tossing a coin, I decided on the flight to get in at a relatively reasonable time of 8:30, hoping to get to hotel, grab a bite and be in bed by 11PM.

All was going according to plan and I didn't even stress as we pulled up at the terminal at 7:00 for my 7:29 flight because I knew I could get my boarding pass, get through security and get boarded and still have 10 minutes to spare.  And so it went...smooth operating kiosks, no line at security, and short walk to Gate 4.  I sat for 10 minutes answering emails, and then boarded the plane.

There are no seat assignments on the shuttle you are either Y or F.  As the flight attendant instructed me that is F=Fortunate (or First Class) and Y= Y am I not an F?  But please, these are super comfortable seats and it's a 45 minute flight.  No sweat.

I grabbed the first empty seat, pleased to have (as everyone else did) few enough passengers that we each had our own little row.  And so I comfortably took my seat.

And I sat.

And I sat.

And I sat.

And at 7:45PM the pilot said..."well...the fuel truck is on the other side of the bridge and the bridge has been closed by the secret service because of a Government plane and need for security...but we should be back on schedule shortly..."

And we sat.

And we sat.

And we sat.

At 8:15 more passengers began to board.  They were scheduled for the 8:30 shuttle, but since we had seats and were still at the gate...what the hell.

The empty seat next to me was soon filled and the man joyfully told the party on the other end of his phone he was likely to get home earlier than planned.

And then we sat.

And then we sat.

And then we sat.

At 8:50 the pilot assured us we were next in line to get fueled up and head out.

And suddenly at 9:05 we were pulling out.  Hurrah! We taxi'd out to the runway....

And you guessed it, we sat.

And we sat.

And we sat.

Finally, at 9:35 the engines roared and we lifted off.

The flight attendants hurried up and down the aisles with gourmet nuts and drinks and in a flash we were on the ground in DC.

Only 2 hours later than planned.

My reward.....

In room dining still serving at 11:20PM

And a comfy bed to sleep in.

Good night.