Fun at the Oakland airport

Well, first off, fly Oakland whenever you can. No wait at the ticket counter, no wait for the security check point. Just keep walking through 🙂

I got here about four hours early (I finally got all packed), so I had lots of time to kill. I found the Castlemont High School Knight’s Cafe in the airport, it’s run by students from Castlemont High. I got a decaf soy mocha (of course) and sat down to drink it. I got to talking with a woman there who asked if I had just attended my high school 20th reunion (I have on my BHS 20th reunion t-shirt). Turns out she’s writing a book about parents and kids (she’s a counselor in elementary schools in Portland), and asked if I would mind answering some questions for her book. I, being the shy and introverted person I am, of course said yes. She had some interesting questions, but I wouldn’t answer her questions about what I’d ask myself if sitting next to us was me at 80 back from the future.  I guess I just don’t want to know what the future has in plan: I’ll just wait and see what it will bring. I’ve had a good enough life that I am not worried about what the future brings (and, of course, there’s the whole can you really change the future if you know what it is, ’cause if so, do you really know what the future is?)

After talking with her, I proceeded to my gate, still a couple hours ahead. Then they announced that all people flying to Philadelphia or Charlotte (me) should return to the ticket window (at the front, outside security, this is important later) because they had arranged a shuttle to SFO where they had non-stop flights in store for us. I headed out to the ticket window, only to find that this was for the flight scheduled for a couple hours before my flight, going through Phoenix, which was running late. Guess they figured no one would be there two hours early and think they were talking about my 8:20 flight.

So, it’s back through security (love Oakland’s: no lines!) and back to my gate. Now I’ve only got an hour to wait for my flight, so figured it’s time to add to the blog.

Suddenly next to me I hear a kid’s voice “Grandma, it’s me, pick up the phone.” What a great ringtone. Guess I’ll have to get Bijou to record a similar tone for me soon 🙂

Well, time to sit and enjoy another hour in the airport. Life really is much more pleasant when you’re not in a rush…