Safety, safety, safety

Safety is certainly the "watch word" when flying these days. From airport security, immigration controls, baggage inspections to onboard safety demonstrations (which I never watch anymore, by the way). Today though, enroute to Bristol, UK, I encountered not one, not two, but three instances of airline safety that made me...well quite frankly... wish I had not "seen" these safety issues in the first place.

More times than not, I cannot get a direct flight to Bristol, but rather usually have to make a connection through Amsterdam. Today was no different, however, the plane that I usually fly is a twin propeller job. Yea, you get the picture. I often try not to think about the fact that I am actually riding on this "flying brick" by entertaining myself with my iPod or a book. Today, though, the winds were whipping about so much that the plan was actually floating from left to right and back again throughout this first flight leg. Then, there were the inevitable pockets of air that the plane would hit which would cause the plane to drop a bit, thus eliciting verbal outbursts from passengers (i.e. screams and a few choice words I shan't repeat here). Terre firme never looked or felt so good.

The other lovely thing about this journey, and something I always look forward to (not), are the buses that take us to and from the terminal to the plane on the tarmac. One roundtrip to Bristol: 8 bus trips. On bus trip number 3 (coming from the Amsterdam terminal back out to the tarmac), our bus hit and ran over a suitcase just laying in the roadway, causing a flat tire. The bad news is that apparently no one missed the fact that this bag had fallen off a luggage cart nor did the bus driver see it before plowing into the bag and causing an explosion sound of sorts (a few more screams and choice words). When we actually verified that we were all okay, we then received the pleasure of walking the albeit short remaining distance to our plane from the decommissioned bus. Lovely! The good news: it was not my bag.

Finally, just few moments prior to departure, the flight attendant requested all passengers to unfasten their seatbelts, stay seated, and not touch anything electrical in the overhead bins such as lighting, A/C, or call buttons. Sitting towards the front of the plane, I naively asked, "Why?". Well, the plane had not been refueled yet, and the petrol was being loaded as we all waited in our seats. Apparently there was some concern that static electricity would cause an explosion. Ah, well....fabulous. So glad I asked.

By the time I landed in Bristol amidst a thunderstorm, fog, and high winds, I was utterly unfazed. I had already experienced the safety trivecta for the day.