100+ Hours of Travel

"NinetyQ" (NinetyQ) 08/28/2013 at 13:58 • Filed to: Flying

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!!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! got me thinking about airlines and my experiences with them. I haven't had any real negative experiences apart from the crazy flight plan I laid out for myself, so I can't blame them for that.

I made this image of my multi-ticket, multi-layover-per-ticket flight plan to get to Ghana and back in December of 2011. Interesting tidbit for additional craziness: I was actually in Cairo's airport the night of the first Tahrir Square riots. Got on the plane the next day with that on the newspaper headlines. I had no clue that any of it was going on though.

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What's your craziest flying experience?

pdx107 > NinetyQ 08/28/2013 at 14:08

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Nothing terribly bad like that. However there was

RNO->SLC->LAX->CVG and the reverse on the way back

also this fun filled adventure

PDX->SEA->MSP->AUS

gavinski91 > NinetyQ 08/28/2013 at 14:39

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Havn't had anything too crazy, although in three weeks when I go to Europe I'll be flying Seattle -> Reykjavik-> Amsterdam. I'll also be doing a 10,000 km road trip when I get there, so there's that...

It's a "Porch-uh" > NinetyQ 08/28/2013 at 14:47

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My dad invited me along on one of his learning flights while he was working on his pilot's license. What he failed to mention is that they were doing stall practice that day.

What that involves is pulling the little Piper Cub up into a steep climb until the engine stalls. The plane pitches forward and drops out of the sky while they restart the motor. This happens over and over again. I was very, very sick.

NinetyQ > It's a "Porch-uh" 08/28/2013 at 14:49

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Oh man, yeah there's no way I'd want to ride along with a beginner learning how to save a stalled plane.

J. Walter Weatherman > NinetyQ 08/28/2013 at 14:51

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My worst was a trip to India. I was supposed to fly from Tucson to Chicago, and Chicago direct to New Delhi. The plane in Chicago broke down, and the airline put the flight off until the next morning and put everyone up in a hotel. My roommate from undergrad lived in Chicago, though, so instead of going to the hotel, I called him up, and we drank ALL NIGHT. I show up, still drunk, the next morning to check in to the flight, and find out that the flight was delayed further. They had sent a message to all the passengers at the hotel telling them that, but since I was out drinking, I didn't get the message. The lady at the ticket counter, however, says "you're in luck, since you are the only person here now, we can just reroute you and get you on a plane right now." I was too out of it to even ask the details, so I agree. BIG MISTAKE.

They rerouted me from Chicago to Toronto, Toronto to Birmingham England, Birmingham to Amritsar India, and Amritsar to New Delhi. 55 hours of total travel time. With a whopping hangover thrown in in the middle of it all. My cousin, who was meeting me in India, started traveling two days after I did, and arrived only two hours after me. The plane that I would have been on, had I just waited in Chicago for it to be fixed, arrived before me...

NinetyQ > J. Walter Weatherman 08/28/2013 at 14:58

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Man, that ticket counter lady must have seen SUCKER written all over you or something. Either that or just DRUNK. That really sucks though. 55 hours is about the amount of time it took me to get to Ghana each way, but I went into it knowing it would take that long. I chopped the trip into two tickets: Indy-Barcelona, then Barcelona-Ghana. Each came with their inherent layovers, but it saved me like $600. Only problem is that I can't really sleep in airports or on planes. I did manage to nod off for a little while on the final flight from Cairo to Ghana, but I was pretty beat by the time I finally arrived. On the way back, I booked a hotel in Barcelona.