Thursday, May 14, 2009

First time flying?

What a strange flight today!!!!

So we get to the airport 2 hours early and pay our fees to get on the plane. From there the characters came in. There were the very loud old Americans traveling in a group. There were the backpackers. There were the locals. Then there were the requisite Asian tourists and one really embraced the Andean culture. Her hair was in 2 buns like pig tails held up by what looked like straw, but upon further inspection was a scrunchie like thing made of rubberbands? Then she had on her pins she got as well as wrapped herself in the traditional Peruvian blanket. (please note that the tourists were not young, trendy Asian, but older)

So we are one of the last people to board the plane because we are in row 3 and they board from back to front. We had an aisle and middle seat. We get in and the Andean Asian tourist is sitting in Ann's seat. Then there is an older Peruvian/Andean woman sitting by the window. So turns out that the Peruvian woman is in the wrong seat and doesn't understand to move so the flight attendent took charge and we figured it out, but he was very concerned with boarding and yanked Ann's backpack off to get us seated. Now the fun started.

First the Peruvian woman is sitting at the window seat and all of her luggage is at her feet. None of it fits underneath the seat in front of her and none of it is in the overhead storage. I guess this is not a problem on LAN Peru with old people because she was never asked to move it. So then she could not figure out her seatbelt. After about 15 tries she got it. THen she saw me reading my book and freaked out and could not find her libra. The belt then came off and the searching started. Dios mio she finally found it. The belt then went on and we are getting ready for take off. The reading then starts. She read her prayer book outloud. We are then in the air and the pilot comes on with his announcement. So she turns to me and starts talking asking me all of these questions. I had NO idea what she was asking me so I just shrugged and looked dumb and pointed to the flight attendent. Then it was snack time. On LAN Peru, you get a snack box and a drink. So Ann and I put our trays down, but Peruvian woman doesn't. She gets her snack and puts it on my tray. Then she gets her coke and again puts it on my tray. I almost started laughing because that has never happened. I've shared a middle tray with someone if there is no one in the middle seat, but I've never had someone just use my tray without asking. So Ann is laughing and I am trying not to and just reading my book.

The reading continues and we are coming into Lima.
What happens? A cell phone rings while we are in air.
Who's is it? The old Peruvian woman's.
What does she do? Answers it and has a conversation after fumbling with it. FOr the record it was on a string around her neck
What happens next? We are still landing and it rings again and she answers it and has a conversation.

It was the most random flying experience I've ever had.

2 comments:

Sara said...

I love it. Isn't flying in other countries refreshing? I loved flying AirLao where there were flight attendents, but no rules or safety instructions. And the Vietnamese flight where the vietnamese guys stood up and got their luggage out of overhead bins while we were still racing down the runway and screeching to a stop.

Jessica said...

yep, I laughed out loud.