Airports making trips shorter everyday

So I spent most of my winter break in Colorado visiting my dad and the other morning I had a flight at 6:10 AM to fly back to Missouri. Now my dad, although I love him a lot, is very anal retentive and one of his little quirks is that you have to be at the airport at least 2 hours before your flight otherwise the world comes to an end! Ok so he's not that bad but it's still something that is just good to do. That's how I found myself at Denver International Airport at 4 in the morning.

Usually the process is not that bad, you walk to the kiosk, check your bag, go through security and then just sit at the gate and read and listen to my ipod or occassionally strike up a conversation with someone. Unfortunately, this trip was not going to be my usual routine and it started with the check in process. Apparently the kiosk did not open until 4:30 AM so me and about 20 other people just sat around waiting for the kiosk to open to even check our bags. Needless to say I am slightly annoyed that I have to sit on the wrong side of security and wait for them to open up, especially since I have been up since O dark thirty aka 3 AM. So around 4:20 I get into line since some other people were lining up and I didn't want to have to wait forever in line once the kiosk did open. So I  am now in line on my cell phone checking out twitter and facebook, bored when I notice that someone is just now coming out of the back room to help us check in and check baggage, the time 4:35. Ok so I realize 5 min is not that huge of deal but the time when the first person in line finally gets checked in sometimes after 4:45, cause they started settin up the computers at 4:30 which took at least 15 min to do. This annoys me because they knew people whwewanding around waiting, a lot of whom already had their boarding passes and simply needed to check in their one bag, so when the sign says opened at 4:30 you should be ready at 4:30 or at the most a few minutes past not 15 min.

So I finally get checked and go through security, which took forever! However considering the early morning I wasn't that angry that they only had one person checking tickets and three security lanes open, plus this really cute guy was right in front of me and he kept making really funny remarks about it making the wait entertaing.

I have now gone through security and am making my way to my gate, hungry I stop at Einstein to grab some coffee and a fruit cup and again I am met with frustration! The lady taking orders was so stupid! She asked me what I wanted, I told her a cup of coffee and a fruit cup, she asked you want the combo meal, I tell her no I don't want a sandwich I just want a cup of coffee and a fruit cup, she nods her head and puts in my order I pay thinking it was a pretty pricey cup of coffee and fruit cup only to hear my name called for a sandwich. The lady had put on my ticket that I wanted the combo meal with an egg sandwich to go along with my fruit cup and coffee. I was slightly pissed but just took it and left not wanting to cause drama and just really wanting to get to my gate and read my book and drink my coffee and get home.

It was at the gate that I once again ran into security line hottie! But not right away, first I was talking to this old couple who were once in the Air Force and the man was talking about how he decided to retire when satellites got really big because he simply didn't understand them. Then another guy entered the conversation who had just gotten a job working with satellites after leaving the Seminary, aka he quit Priest school to work on satelites. The conversation was interesting until I decided to get up and stretch my legs so I said see you later and started walking around, it was then that I spotted security line hottie, sitting near my gate. He made eye contact and waved me over so I went over to say Hi, turns out he was on the same flight as me going to St. Louis. I was so pumped! We talked about school and life and our different views but in a very flirty, cute way. No messy arguements, no confusion just good honest flirting. The kind of uncomplicated conversations I missed. And he was great and so much fun but soon his friends showed up and although we ended up sitting close on the plane I spent pretty much the whole ride absorbed in book. And when we landed and got to baggage claim he did ask for my number and although I said I wasn't comfortable giving it out to a virtual stranger he did give me his and told me if I ever find myself in the area bored I should contact him cause he would love to take me out on a date or something. So I took the number and told him that I was flattered, but I was seeing someone so probably wouldn't be contacting him anytime soon which he said was fine but if it didn't work out or if I just wanted to be friends he would be awaiting my call. And although I haven't contacted him and don't plan on it, it not only made my day a little better but made me feel better about myself.