We have been planning a trip to Texas for a good long while. With a big band of Texas being in the path of totality for the upcoming complete solar eclipse, the timing for our trip was kind of a no brainer. I made our hotel reservation a year ago and ever since then, we have been planning and anticipating our trip. As we counted down the days, I have been increasingly more excited (although not as excited as Nathan!) and was glad that today was finally the big day.
So, let’s talk negatives first. I have discovered that I’m not a huge fan of flying. It messes with my tummy. It messes with my back. It messes with my head.
The last time I flew was in 2009 when I went to New York. That was the trip when I discovered that the 1-hour lead time the instructions on the box of Dramamine recommend is not long enough for me. Armed with that information, I took the meds further in advance and they were fully active by the time we lifted off. Nevertheless, this time around I discovered that the over-the-counter type of motion sickness remedies are not quite enough anymore. I wasn’t super sick or anything, but I was definitely a bit on the queasy side. The turbulence we encountered during the first hour of our flight did nothing to help that, but once things calmed down a bit and I got some ginger ale to sip on, I felt a bit better. The next time I plan to fly, I will call my doctor and get the good motion sickness patches. I think it will make the experience nicer.
The second strike for flying is the fact that I often have trouble sitting for long periods of time simply because chairs of all sorts are generally designed for people who are taller than I am. That means that all the ergonomic curves that make things comfy for taller folks are in all the wrong places for me, which means that I often come away with an aching back. And while frequent position changes help on long drives, the cramped quarters in airplanes make that much more difficult. In addition to those general seating woes, the plane we rode to Texas was an old one so all the padding in the chairs was compacted which made things even more uncomfortable.
The trifecta of air travel contradictions is completed by the reality that the noise, the altitude changes, etc. are not great for chronic migraines. Kev has some really great noise canceling headphones and they helped a ton, but I still came away with a bit of a headache. Luckily for me, it was just a bit and didn’t end up being a huge headache like it could have been. Which was nice in a way because it gave me plenty of brain power to focus on the queasiness. 😂
Now that I’ve gotten the complaints out of the way, let’s get down to the good stuff.
We flew into DFW airport, and that airport is so big that it has its own freeway. Seriously. Once we hit the runway, it took a good 15 minutes of taxiing to get to the terminal. Our travels included traversing an airplane overpass. Yup. Its own freeway for cars and overpasses for the airplanes. Once we deplaned, we caught the shuttle to the car rental center and after 10 minutes riding on the bus, we were still in the airport. So yes, the airport is huge. And the city itself is supersized just like the airport. For any of you who think Salt Lake is an actual city, let me assure you that it is just a modestly sized town.
Once we arrived at the rental car center, we were instructed to choose a car. Kev has traveled a lot more than I have of late, so being told to pick one was not unexpected for him. I was kind of surprised though. I had assumed that they just handed you the keys to whichever car was next in line. Having options was nice though. Kevin’s eyes were drawn to a gray car as light colors are cooler in the sun, and we are in Texas. Knowing that smells are a big deal for me and can trigger headaches, he asked me to smell it. I stuck my head in the window, gave it a good sniff, and declared it was fine as it just smelled like new car. Selection made, we headed to the checkout booth and when we were asked to report the mileage of the car, we discovered that the car had 2 whole miles on it. It smells like new car because it is a brand-new car!
Long travel days are generally the least enjoyable days on any trip. But with today behind us, Nathan is super excited to start visiting people tomorrow!
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