Flying Rules... Well, they're more like guidelines

I am happy to report that I successfully made it to Ohio via flying. Michelle and I haven't had the best luck when it comes to flights, so it was really nice to have short, uneventful flights, even if it did include a nearly-three-hour layover in Detroit.

Ever since I graduated from college, I've been flying more often since I've either been a long way from my home state or been in a long-distance relationship. As I was going through different parts of the flying process tonight, I was thinking about the "code of conduct" I've come to learn about flying. These aren't strict rules, per say, but there are some common courtesies that I think everyone should adopt in order to help everyone have a good flying experience. Here were a few I was thinking about:

- When you're through security and grabbing your stuff from the gray bins, make an effort to stack the bins or at least move them down the line. Sure, the TSA officers will move the bins back to the beginning of the line, but it's nice to help them out and avoid having a cluster of loose bins.

- There are some trips where you will be the person madly rushing between terminals in order to get to your flight which is boarding in 3 minutes, and there are other trips where you will have a few hours to burn and you know what, there's really no reason to rush. You will probably get annoyed at the other type of person, but you should at least recognize that they exist and not get in the way. If someone's in a hurry, let them scoot past you, but don't wildly dash across an entire walkway, if you can avoid it.

- Be mindful of your surroundings on the moving walkways. Definitely stay to the right if you're going to just stand there. If I'm walking though and not the fastest person in the area, I try to glance behind me to make sure I'm not getting in the way of someone else.

- If a group of people is starting to line up at a gate, try not to bob and weave through them. They are usually right about to board, so just see if you can pass behind them and not make yourself an inconvenience or appear to be a line cutter.

- Be patient. Everyone will have flights when they are tired, stressed, or simply done with human interaction. Unfortunately, that last part is kind of a necessity with flying, so just try to keep your head down. During my layover in Detroit, I got dinner and came into a very crowded restaurant where the wait staff was all bouncing between many tables, collecting orders and distributing food. I was thankful to see that everyone was patient with the wait staff and understood that it was a rush, even if that meant that some menu items were sold out.

So yeah, just some random stuff I was thinking of today. I know I'm in the middle of the pack when it comes to flying experience, especially since flying is not part of my work routine.

Today is Paul Bunyan Day! My hometown is one of the places that claims to be the birthplace of Paul Bunyan, except that every other place is wrong and my hometown is right. Duh. Anyway, Bemidji, Minnesota is the first city on the Mississippi River and we have a big Paul Bunyan and Babe statue right by the lake. Since the city is close to the headwaters of the Mississippi River, we had a lot of tourism and so the town really took to making Paul Bunyan a part of everything. Definitely my favorite tall tale.

DFTBA