Travel adventures

On the first plane, the ear was better and the nausea ceased. Was it the xylitol spray?
The garlic oil? The Alprazolam?

I got on many planes as a child, flying alone or with my sister from one part of the country to the next...this was also useful to remember when a passenger had a meltdown and shouting matches with flight attendants ensued, in spite of the fact that the captain had announced everyone needed to be seated because of turbulence. A woman screamed, you are not sitting next to my son. You're scaring him.

You're scaring me, he screamed back at her.

Police were waiting at the gate and a number of us missed our connections. Things began to turn around with a free hotel stay, meal vouchers, good conversations with fellow stranded passengers and the bartender, a 3:30 a.m. wake up call ("Thanks but I still have 45 minutes to sleep /  Sorry, I thought you were in Atlanta!"), even more good conversation and tentative plans to meet again for lunch, but the challenge returned in that last sleepless hour of exhaustion, screaming children, desperate sips of water, ginger tablets, clumsy ear muffs, sea bands, and turbuleeence...and then, the sweet solid ground and beautiful humid air of the East Coast.