fly free.

I always fly Southwest.

Greetings from Nashville. I have arrived.

My flight out of Kansas City was scheduled for 4:30. Tiffany dropped me off around 2:30 and I had a little wait before boarding. When I went through security, I had to go through the full body x-ray scan thing. Apparently they can basically see you naked, which is pretty weird/scary. I wasn't cleared because I was still wearing my belt and had my driver's license in my back pocket (whoops) so this lady patted me down before giving me the go-ahead.

I finally boarded the plane, choosing a middle seat about four rows back (I always sit near the front so I can get off quickly). The crew is about to shut the door when they announce that the flight is full and is there is anyone with a flexible schedule willing to take a 7:55 p.m. flight, please press your call button. No one did anything for what felt like 30 seconds but was probably just three. I know Southwest hooks you up if you volunteer so I reached up and pushed it. Then I got up and got off the plane. A lady with a baby and a toddler was waiting to get on and thanked me for giving her my seat.

The Southwest guy gave me a $180 voucher -- the cost of my trip back to Nash plus $100. So basically I got to fly back to Nashville tonight and I have $180 to spend on my next flight (in many cases that's a free round trip). Since I had to wait until 8 p.m., they also gave me a $12 coupon for dinner. If you know anything about airport food, you won't be surprised that a Caesar salad and a diet Coke was $11.

So I took a seat by the window and was finishing up my salad when I hear, "Alyssa." I look up and it's @nateoh who was one of Evan's groomsmen in the wedding. He was flying out to Louisville via St. Louis around 7, so we talked for almost an hour.

Now the strange thing is (Nate, if you're reading this, correct me if I'm just being forgetful) I'm pretty sure I've never actually met Nate before. We have several mutual friends and I follow him on Twitter and have seen him on occasion in places I've been (like the wedding), but no one has actually introduced us nor have we ever sat down and talked. But between friends and Twitter and blogs, we kind of know enough about each other that conversation was easy.

Nate said Jenn and Evan were flying out of Nashville tonight, but they are headed to the Dominican Republic for their honeymoon and thus they were not flying Southwest. Too bad. It would have been awesome to hang out with them at the airport before they left.

The 7:55 flight was delayed 40 minutes due to bad weather in Baltimore, and I boarded and found a seat in the third row between two guys who both used the arm rests which is ridiculous because everyone should know that the privilege of arm rest usage is rewarded to the person stuck sitting in the middle seat. If you claim an aisle or a window seat, keep your elbows tucked in. Thank you. After spending six hours at MCI, I made it back to Nashville around 9:45. My bag had flown in on the 4:30 flight, but it was waiting for me at the baggage office.

It is late considering I need to be up at 5 a.m. I probably would have taken a half day tomorrow to rest and clean up the house but I have to be there early to make some final changes on an important document before a morning meeting. But even though it took four extra hours getting home, that free flight back to Kansas City will be wonderful and I'll have more money to put aside for my trip to LA. (No, Mateo, I cannot fly to LA tomorrow. Sorry friend.)

DING!