I returned late Tuesday night from visiting with my grandchildren and I had an absolutely wonderful time. The two boys are 5 and 2 ½ and a lot of fun, curious and energetic. The only downside was that on the morning after my return I threw up and had a slight fever. Naturally, my first thought was that I had got covid but the test turned out to be negative. Then the following day, my temperature was back to normal and a second covid test also showed negative. Since I had no other symptoms at all, I think I had got food poisoning on the trip home.

It was my first flight in over two years thanks to the pandemic and I was reminded once again what a terrible experience flying is.

But I was able to compare two very different airport types. I left and returned from Monterey which has a small regional airport and it was interesting to see how a small airport operated. The ticketing area was a single room that consisted of about eight positions for all the four airlines that serve the airport. On my way out, the woman who checked me in at the ticketing counter later showed up as the person who checks people in at the gate. When the plane arrived, she went out on the tarmac and was one of the people with those little light saber thingies that guide the plane to the gate. Once the plane got there, she went and helped unload the luggage from the plane onto the carts. Talk about being versatile! I was half-expecting her to next get on the plane and fly it too.

The TSA security checkpoint was in the next room to the check-in area with just one person checking the ID and what was nice was that there was no line at all so I just breezed through the ID check and the security screening. The boarding area was in the next room and consisted of just four boarding gates. In short, the place was highly compact which made everything speedy. On my return, there was only one baggage claim carousel which is also right there and when you go out the door, the taxi stand and ride share pick up location is just there. It is all so convenient.

I had to make connections at Phoenix airport on both trips and the contrast was staggering because that airport is massive. To get from my arrival gate to my next flight departure gate was easily over a mile even though I was not changing airlines. Fortunately about a third of it consisted of moving walkways but still it was quite a hike through rather barren hallways. I had a three hour layover so I was not worried about missing my connection but on my return my layover was much shorter so this time I got a ride on one of those electric carts that airports have to ferry people around and I am glad I did because this time the distance to my departure gate was even greater. Boston airport is also large and to get from the ride-share drop off point to the ticketing counter was also quite a hike.

On my return trip, I had a very nice person sit next to me and we had an interesting conversation that made the long flight more pleasant. But there was also some drama. A couple right behind us were having a major domestic spat that kept going on and on loudly, so much so that other passengers told them to shut the hell up, that no one was interested in their problems and to save it for after they landed. The woman also alleged that the man had hit her, which he denied. I think that they had been drinking quite a bit too, which did not help the situation. The flight attendants tried to rein them in. The woman asked them to move him to another seat but he refused and she did not want to move either. I am not sure how the move would have been accomplished anyway since the plane was full. I am usually agreeable to moving to help the flight crew deal with a problem but in this case I would have declined because then I would be subjecting my nice seat companion to a pest.

I have to say that small airports provide a much better flying experience. But I still hate it.