This past weekend I travelled by air for the first time ever! In line with a plan I’ve had for months (and that I feel safe calling a “tradition” since it’s now happened more than once and even moving to Texas did not stop me), I went to a Steelers home game last weekend. So, I boarded my first airplane EVER, at the age of 22, and flew from DFW to CLT to PIT (and back). I’m doing a lot of stuff for the first time ever at the age of 22, actually. It’s a damn good year.

Anyway, my first flight was at noon on Saturday and it was clear and beautiful. Not even so much as a bump. And I got through airport security quickly and easily. Nowhere near the nightmare I anticipated. I guess not having travelled before 9/11/01, I don’t have anything to compare it to, so flying doesn’t seem as annoying to me as to people who flew both before and after all the new regulations and whatnot. I had an hour layover in Charlotte, which was tolerable, and then flew into Pittsburgh. Now, I am not irrationally partial to Pittsburgh in everything, but I am rationally partial to Pittsburgh. Of the 3 airports I travelled through, PIT was my favorite. Besides seeing black & gold everywhere, it also had the nicest seating areas, the best dining/shopping arrangement, the easiest-to-find bathrooms, etc. CLT was nice, and to be honest I only saw a small fraction of DFW so maybe it’s not fair to compare that one. (Did you know DFW airport is larger than the island of Manhattan? Insane!)

So, once I landed in Pittsburgh, I had to navigate my way to where Dan was picking me up (thank you, random lady in the airport who eavesdropped on my phone conversation and told me how to get from where I was to where he was). Then he and I had a good chunk of time to catch up while we drove to my family’s house. I tried to spend a good bit of time once home entertaining my siblings, but they’re always so hard to be around for short visits; it’s much easier to spend time with them over a longer 1-2 week visit. It’s not that they’re intolerable or annoying or rude or anything, but the short visits go like this:

–children screaming, running up to me and tackling me, yelling “AAAAAANGELAAAAA!”

–hugging, etc

–small talk: “How’s school?” “How are your friends?” “What’s going on?” with short answers from them

–boredom and staring: “So, what do you guys want to do while I’m home?” “I don’t know.” “Oh, okay.”

–sit around, watch tv, play board/card games

–I do whatever I came into town to do (in this case, go to the Steelers game)

–I leave

Not super interesting or exciting itinerary. When I have more than a day or two, it’s a lot easier to engage my siblings in plans, but with schedules as tight as the one I had this weekend, I hope it was enough just to get some face time in.

So, the visit home went well. Then Sunday morning Dan & I drove back into Pittsburgh for the game. Traffic was surprisingly easy to navigate. The game itself was a lot of fun and the Steelers played quite well (except Jeff Reed’s two missed field goals) until the very end when the defense inexplicably gave up a touchdown and Charlie Batch threw an interception. AHHHH the frustration! But still all in all a very fun experience. Although I still have yet to find any liquor in Heinz Field. I’m convinced the only alcohol they have is beer, which doesn’t work out for me. 🙁

The most entertaining part of the game was probably the people who sat behind us. There was this old lady who kept telling me to sit down, and that you should only stand up on “important plays.” The guy beside her told her every play was important. She also kept bitching about how she was too crowded and people needed to scootch away from her and give her room. Her kids paid good money for those seats for her!!! (As if we all didn’t pay money for our seats. Bitch.) She was all around unreasonable and unpleasant, but the guys behind us (sitting next to her) were hilarious in making fun of her ridiculous demands. They proceeded to tell me when it was or was not an important play and when I was and was not allowed to stand (jokingly, mocking the lady). And the one guy’s wife/girlfriend is apparently pregnant, and he’s a Buffalo Bills fan, but he said he is seriously considering raising the kid to be a Steelers fan so he doesn’t have to experience the pain and suffering he experiences as a Bills fan. Hilarious! I hope he does so. 🙂

However, all good things come to an end, and so did the game. Lost 17-14 to the Ravens. (Steelers were up 14-10 until the last 30-something seconds!!! Even after the Ravens scored – which they shouldn’t have! – there would have left enough time to try to get into field goal range and tie and go into OT, if Batch hadn’t thrown that interception…) Then I began the trek back to Texas. Made it to the airport in plenty of time to catch my first flight. The flights back were at night, so the lights below were mesmerizing. I loved it. On my final flight of the trip, from CLT to DFW, I sat next to this really interesting guy and we had some awesome conversation. He’s an SAP administrator of some kind, so we talked a lot of IT stuff. I knew about SAP implementations from ABC and he’d been travelling to Boston to interview for a new job somewhere else so we had a lot to talk about. Plus, he was intrigued by my path – math grad student, etc. – so I got to talk about myself some too. He said I didn’t fit the mold, and that I am a very interesting, unique, non-stereotypical person. Also, we made fun of the chick behind us, who was talking rather loudly to the guy next to her about how she is a dance major in college and she has to wear tights all the time and she hates going to clubs even though she’s a good dancer, and blah blah blah. Not that I have anything against dance majors in general, but this chick sounded extremely boring. I did not get a look at her to see if she was attractive or not. Also, the guy she was talking to was eating up every word she said. He was all “Oh my! Dancers are so awesome. They have such good balance and are so aware of their bodies and blah blah blah.” Sorry dude, I don’t think this chick was interested in you, she just liked hearing herself talk.

But anyway, got into DFW around midnight and went home and went to bed. It was an awesome weekend. I had a lot of fun, and a lot of new experiences. And I got to see some people I hadn’t seen in months (Dan, my family) so that’s always great. I would like to have seen more people while I was home, but it’s okay. I’ll just make sure to figure out my schedule for Christmas break and pencil in as many friends & family as possible.

All in all, a successful trip. Although now I can’t use “never have I ever been on an airplane” during drinking games. 🙁 A small price to pay, I guess. 🙂