Houston
This past week I flew down to Houston for an interview with a consulting firm (not necessarily for a job in Houston – that’s just where the interview was). It was my first time to Houston (outside the airport anyway) and I really didn’t get to see much more of it on this trip. We were put up in the Intercontinental Hotel – the hotel of choice when OPEC ministers come to town. My hotel window on the 16th floor had a lovely view of the Galleria mall and a very large Starbucks – and of course lots of parking lot pavement because Texas is basically a continuous string of strip malls. The interview lasted all day – from 10am to 9pm. Needless to say I was exhausted at the end of it. Stay tuned for results of the interview.
One of the best things about Houston is the Houston Chronicle newspaper. The Houston Chronicle has 3 full pages of comics. 3 full pages. Make of that what you will. One of my favorite newspaper quotes also came from the Houston Chronicle. Across the top of the front page they give a summary of the weather for the day. The weather for Wednesday, November 15th was listed as, “Sunny, Chilly, High 70”. Houston is one of the few cities where 70 degrees (that’s 21 degrees Celsius for all you non-Americans) is “chilly”. I’ll bet they were runing for the goose down coats when they saw that one.
For the flight back to Boston I made the mistake of drinking a bottle of water right before getting on the plane. As soon as the plane pulled away I started to feel the pressure on my bladder. Well, I figured no problem – we’d be airborne soon and I could use the lavatory then. The day I left had very high winds in Houston. As a result the planes were taking off slowly. It turned out there were about 20 planes in front of us waiting to take off. Oh no. That’s not good. Of course you can’t leave your seat while taxiing. It took us nearly an hour of waiting on the tarmac before we finally took off. I thought I was going to burst. Because of the high winds the plane was all over the place as soon as it got airborne. That didn’t help anything. Finally we got above the clouds and I was staring at the “fasten seatbelt” sign willing it to turn off. Finally I could wait no more. I just jumped up and ran to the bathroom. Thankfully no one stop me and I was finally able to relieve myself. Note to readers: do not drink a bottle of water right before getting on the plane. You will regret it.
Jeeezzzz…from 10 am till 9 pm???? What did you have to do for so long?
Notes to the water problem: when I was a child Mom always told me to go to pee before we went to long car trips…and BTW I always go to the toilet before getting on a coach bus or a plane in order to avoid this problem or reduce the possibility of this problem arising
Yeah, Ryan, don’t you know you shouldn’t drink anything and visit the bathroom before you get on a plane? You’re a big boy now!
I usually regulate my fluid intake to such an extent that I never visit the in-flight lavatory even on 10+ hour trans-Atlantic flights. That being said, recently I got on a short flight with a little bit of pressure on my bladder and waited for the “Fasten Seat Belt” sign to turn off. When it did, the beverage carts came out, and when beverage service was finished, we began our descent and the “Fasten Seat Belt” sign came back on. It was such a relief when the plane finally came to a stop!
BTW, why are your commenters all discussing toilet issues for the last two posts?