No Longer A Virgin Virgin

Homeward bound, I arrived at the airport by 3pm for my 4:30 flight on United airlines. It being Friday, I was eager to get home to start the weekend, which I already knew would be cut short by an all day training for work on Sunday.

I was dismayed to discover when I went to print out my boarding pass that my flight was now delayed 3 hours. New estimated arrival time: 10pm Friday night. This would definitely make me late for the dinner reservation that Eric had made for us.

There were two other airlines flying to San Francisco at 4:30pm - Alaska and Virgin. Alaska was sold out. Virgin had seats and a very nice staff of people who were all really excited for me to be taking this flight. (There weren't many people at the airport.)

"This is your first time on Virgin?" each of them asked me at least once during the 15 minutes it took to issue my ticket.

Yes, I told them. This is my first time.

"You're gonna love it!" they enthused with one inflection or another depending on which part of the Caribbean they were from.

One woman (I think Jamaican) walked me through some of the things to look forward to.

"When you get on board you'll really like the mood lighting. It's very nice. And if you see someone you think is good-looking, you can send them a chat message from your seat to theirs. It's great. People have gotten married this way. You're going to love it."

Apparently, I was flying home in a 70s-themed singles party.

She was right - the swanky purple mood lighting was very nice. And even better, it got me home more or less on time for dinner. Thanks Virgin!