flying around

This weekend I got to go down to Florida (for the first time since I moved from there) for Jenna Rhames' wedding. Now that I type this I am reminded of my wish that I wished for YEARS after I moved....to go to Florida with all my friends and a million bucks. Okay, so we didn't quite have a million bucks but there was a big group of my friends (Grace, Brienne, Ryan, Clark, Joey, Kirk, Jordan, Adam, and of course Jenna and Josh) and it was quite fun! We got to stay in amazing houses, play and canoe in a lake...or some type of body of water, go to the Island of Adventure amusement park, attend our friend's wedding, and have all kinds of fun in between. So I guess this is my long time wish coming true. :)

First of all, before I forget, I have to comment about Southwest. I will fly three flights with them in the past month and I'm starting to like them. The seating took some getting used to but it's nice to be able to pick your seat (I like getting a window as close to the front as possible so I can make a quick departure from the plane!) Since a couple of these flights have been (or will be) me moving across the country, or transferring my stuff across the country, I LOVE that Southwest still allows you to check two bags and then to check a third, it only costs $25 bucks. That's awesome compared to most other airlines right now. I admit my flight down to Florida was kinda rough. But that was mostly because the expected two hour trip turned out to be a 7-hour wait at the airport and not LEAVING the airport until three hours after I was supposed to ARRIVE. But it was all good. I actually had a fun time just listening to my ipod, or more specifically, my Summer Songs songs for 2008, specifically Gone in the Morning by Newton Faulkner. Something about that song just puts me in a way relaxed, go with the flow kind of mood. The perfect Summer Songs song just gets better the more you listen to it, so this was a great testing period. Anywaaaays, the main reason I wanted to mention Southwest is because there was a very interesting dynamic on the flight, maybe specifically related to a particular male flight attendant. It was the first time the attendants were actually attempting to be entertaining....I mean, they had the whole cabin laughing most of the time. I wasn't paying a whole lot of attention to specifics because it was early and I was slipping in and out of sleep but I caught a few snipits.

While explaning where the "laboratories" were located the guy says, "And for any of you who graduated from the University of Florida, "laboratory" is just a big word for bathroom."

And of course the song he sang while we were pulling into our gate, sung to the tune of the Barney song:

We love you You love us We are faster than the bus We hoped you enjoyed our hospitality If you marry one of us, you can Fly for Free

Anyways, it was really kinda funny throughout the whole trip and it kinda reminds me of some of purposes of my old job at Build-a-Bear workshop, where they really try to make an ordinary experience something fun and memorable. Wouldn't it be kinda interesting to see something like that applied to the airline world. To make an ordinary experience something fun and actually entertaining. Like holding auditions for the flight attendants and making the whole experience like a big amusement park ride. Of course, I am torn about the idea because sometimes I do like just entering the plane and having my peace and quiet to sleep and do whatever else. But I definitely think there would be a consumer interest in the idea and could maybe help eliminate some of the dissatisfaction with airlines right now....or was that just me?

Here are some pictures from my trip. I don't have many from the amusement park cuz those are all on Grace's camera. Jenna's wedding theme was "happily ever after."