Now, if you have to be confined to a teeny tiny airplane seat on row 22 for 5 hours due to inclement weather, it is best that that name on the plane is JetBlue. If you are travelling with your 20 year-old brother, you must ensure that the name on that plane is JetBlue. Why? DirecTV. Think: 4 channels of ESPN, Bravo, 3 music channels, The Food Network, and some other channels I clicked thru by using the handy dandy control panel on my armrest.
My brother and I travelled to Washington, D.C. on Sunday of last week to see Coldplay perform for exactly 86 minutes before a 4-minute encore that included a shower of colorful paper confetti. The next morning we arose at 5 a.m. to catch a JetBlue flight to Boston to see Coldplay play another 86 minutes before a 4-minute encore that included a shower of colorful paper confetti. Now before you get any grand ideas about the two of us being crazed fans that follow the tour bus across the country, please note that a) we aren't rich people and b) the original Washington, D.C. date was cancelled only to be rescheduled after we decided to see them in Boston instead. Both sets of tickets were valid and both shows would be back-to-back. We thought, why tha heck not.
Back to JetBlue.
So, on the way back to D.C. from Boston, our flight was delayed for 30 minutes due to thunderstorms. Then the flight was delayed to 90 minutes because of incredible thunderstorms. Then a 3-hour delay and so on and so forth. To be perfectly honest those hours kind of passed me by in a blur of TV that included: "Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List" episodes, Tyler Florence showing off his perfectly roasted pork, U2 rocking out in Harlem back in the 80's and endless reports of Brett Favre joining the ranks of the NY Jets. It was only when I noticed that I couldn't feel my tailbone that I started to get antsy about taking off. And as for my brother, he was OK once he finished ranting about never flying again and swearing to change the weather patterns of the entire East Coast.
It seems pretty obvious that flying will either become more and more like taking a Greyhound or it will become a privilege only the uber wealthy enjoy - at least that's what Anderson Cooper says. I think he places most of the blame on fuel prices, but nevertheless I think passengers would put up with the $4 diet cokes, $12 boxes of crackers and cramped leg quarters if each passenger could possess the power of flipping through 30 channels of entertainment. While you can't do anything about the weather grounding your flight and you certainly can't stop chatty Cathy from loudly talking on her mobile phone while reclining her chair in your lap, you sure can exercise a wee bit of control over the small screen centered on the back of the seat in front of you.
And a message to Mr. Chris Martin and gang, I'd like to request that maybe you shake up the set lists a bit. D.C. and Boston were the.exact.same.show. With the exception of one song. And the lead-singer-to-crowd banter? The same for both shows. No joke.
But it was a good time - if only for the chance to get reacquainted with my brother after many years of living in different cities.
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