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The plane was full full full. And, they boarded us passengers oddly. First Class. Then Elite Members in rows 20 - 40, then Elite rows 6 -20. Then the cattle 5 rows at a time. Ed and I moo'ed our way on when they got to rows 21.
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The plane was very full, and as we trundled down the jetway, we realized why. Turns out there was an elderly Christian Church Group taking a trip to Israel..
Now we got in, and helped people but their bags in the overhead (because the complaining about having to lift their own bags was deafening - plus we're good boys). One of the little old ladies said I looked like Anderson Cooper (which was sweet, but she was clearly losing her eyesight).
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Now, the plane takes off and I fall right asleep. I was up at 4:30 AM for a conference call and was tired. I sat in the middle and slept.
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Ed sat on the aisle, and had the luxury of 5 hours of air travel, with big boned people walking constantly back and forth - to the bathroom - to visit Bertha and Marv - to "run" down the plane and point something out of the window to a friend - to share something in their LARGE SCRIPT READER'S DIGEST MAGAZINE that they just could not believe. Basically to make a bother of themselves, and to knock into Ed's shoulder every single time that they traversed the plane. Either the aisles were thinner than the last time they flew (which was never ago) or they were wider, but either way, Ed's shoulder took the hit.
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When we landed at EWR, the PA asked (fruitlessly - of course) that the 9 people waiting for wheelchairs wait until everyone else had deplaned. After all, they boarded first, so they had to wait for the wheelchairs.
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They did not. They proceeded to shuffle their asses from row 18 to the front of the plane in the relatively quick pace of 18 rows in 24 minutes. Relative to the laggards in row 19, who couldn't keep up the pace, and had to stop repeatedly to catch their breath. All of this to the strains of "hurry up, Marv has claustrophobia" coming up from farther back in the plane.
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Fun