"Leon Bracey, Jr." wrote:
Me again. Here is part one (getting there) and part three (train trip). Part Two (Washington on the Metro) will be coming soon.
March 5, about 6pm.
My flight, Southwest Airlines flight 198-nonstop service from Jackson, MS to Baltimore, MD is scheduled to take off at 6:40 pm. I was running late getting to Jackson International Airport because I knew that Southwest doesn't serve meals, so my mother stopped at a Rally's. It took awhile before I got my meal, and by the time we got to the airport, it was alredy 6:20!! I ran into the terminal and checked my baggage. I was running on pure adrenalin because of the fact that this was the first time I was flying in four years. My nerves were so shot, that I barely noticed my father was at the airport. We ran to the gate, so I could get a boarding pass. It turns out that I was the last person to get to the plane, and I was on standby status because they oversold the flight. Very typical of Southwest. My father was acting all upset because I went to Rally's to go eat. The flight was 30 minutes late coming in from Houston. Anyway, I was able to get on the flight. When I got in the plane, I realized that there were no seats! I finally found one of those "lounge" seats that face each other. There was only one seat there. I was literally touching the kneecaps of the passengers across from me. We took off at about 7:15. The flight was very turbulent on the way to Baltimore. I passed the time by reading magazines, and ate wheat thins. We finally landed in Baltimore at 10 pm, 30 minutes late. I got off the plane thanking God I was alivem and could hardly wait for my train trip to Hampton later that week. BWI has a hideous layout. The gates for my plane were way over on the Southern side of the Terminal, while the baggage claim was way over by the other side by the International Pier. I lugged my heavy bag all the way to the baggage claim and got my luggage and went to my uncle. We sped down I-95 to my Aunt's house in Prince Georges County. What is really weird about the Maryland Suburbs is the rural look of it along the interstate. Although we were going through the heart of the DC/Baltimore Metroplex, it didn't seem like it. Even along the interstate in Mississippi, you can tell you are going through urban areas. I got to my aunt's house at about 11:30 (Baltimore is a LONG way from Washington!!!!). I arrived at her house, said hello to everyone, looked at some movies and went to sleep. I had a good time in Washington, DC. I went to Tyson's Corner Mall, saw Melba Moore preform, went to the Newseum, and took the Metro by myself through the Capital. Then, I endured Washington DC's worst March Snowfall. Being a native Californian (San Diego, where I swear I think the sun lives there), and living in Mississippi (with very little snowfall), I was truly shocked by this!!! On thursday, I packed my bags to go to Hampton, Virginia by Amtrak for a college tour of Hampton University.
To be continued...
