The Kitchen Sink

Hello all from cold Michigan. I took advantage of Spirit's give away fares and went to visit my sister for less money than it would cost to do just about anything. Though to be honest, that's before you factor in the doughnuts, which of course was our first stop. Even before we got to the house. The hard part will be spending less at Dunkin Donuts then it cost me to fly 600 miles each way.

Having recently flown Jet Blue to Florida, after checking Spirit first and seeing Jet Blue was cheaper, I can honestly say I don't kow that the adage "you get what you pay for" holds true for this airline. First of all, you don't always pay very cheap on Spirit, but your still stuck in those dinky seats that I, Miss Shorty Von Short Short felt comletly squooshed in. Jet Blue had so much leg and arm room AND direct TVs. Spirit cramps you into the seat, supposedly offers snacks and drinks for sale (though to be honest I had a headset on, and they may have come around and I just didn't hear them), and practically charges you to use the air conditioning.

That said, both Spirit and other airlines have instituted a fee for check luggage. Now before this happened, there were a few souls who did not want to wait for their luggage or chance it getting lost, so they brought it aboard. Now, everyone does, and there is no one checking size and weight. It's almost like that old college trick of how many people can we get in the phone booth. Now, it's "Let's see how big of a suitcase and how much of my stuff can I get away with as carry-on." This tends not to be a problem for me, since I either spring for the extra few bucks, fly an airline that gives you one free bag, or I pack small enough that I can stick under the seat in front of me (the whole short thing again). There needs to be a point at which people say "you know, we're headed to visit the kids for two weeks, maybe we shouldn't try to bring these two overstuffed medium sized suitcases on board." Though, on the other hand, no one will stop you (if they do at all)until you actually try to get on the plane or are on the plane trying to stick it on top of row three even though your seat is in row 26, so you can probably ge check it for free, avoid the baggage and overweight charges. Brilliant.

It does however make for frustrating travel when everyone is rushing to get on the plane so there's room for all their extra -large-no-way-in-heck-is this-hand-luggage to fit on top. Then you wait to get on as other passengers are trying to find an empty space for their bags, cramming up the aisles while you wait in the freezing cold jetway getting nauseous from the outside plane and truck fumes cuz you haven't taken your dramamine yet since you don't want to risk taking it to early, and even when you get to your seat you're taking a chance since you never know when you're actually going to take off.

Off to do shopping, and probably get more doughnuts!