Creative Class

My summer was quickly fading, filled with conference calls and meetings so I decided we needed a fun getaway. I struggled for a long time as to whether we should voluntarily take the risk on a flight to the east coast. Against my better judgment, I booked a connector from YYZ – Toronto to AUK – Nantucket with a connection in BOS-Boston Logan. YYZ to BOS, to my surprise, was smooth sailing – no delays, no thunderstorms. When we arrived in Logan, I was of course peeved that we had to screen security yet again for a connection. But the lines were short and the TSA agents upbeat and jovial (unlike the surly team at LGA). As I approached the gate, my heart jumped when I saw the size of the Cape Air flight. A tiny puddler with nine seats.

Cape Air - Welcome Aboard

I started to reroute us in my head. We could drive or take the ferry, I thought. But I was quickly escorted to the tiny plane and to the co-pilot seat where my legs were pushed up against the second steering wheel.  Any slight movement on my part and any one of the hundred year-old buttons and nozzles could have been accidentally hit.

My legs up against the do not touch buttons!

On my window, there was a small warning sticker with the following scribble, “Do Not Open Window!’

See crazy GPS!

All nine of us got on board, fastened our belts, and were off.  As we went tearing down the runway, the pilot held open his window held to allow for ‘air conditioning’ for the poor suffocating passengers in back, then quickly closed the window as we were airborne.

I could not look down on the beautiful body of water below for the entire duration of the flight as the turbulence was so bad it felt like we were dropping out of the sky. My only solace was the pilot’s cavalier attitude. Every time we fell down, I looked over to see a very bored pilot – which calmed my nerves.

With gas prices on the rise and airlines going bankrupt, remote locations are increasingly getting relegated to these third tier flights.  My advice for all you creative class travelers is to fly into a major city, then find other means of transport to get you to your ultimate destination.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008 at 8:27 am and is filed under Play, Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.