It's Bananas - B-A-N-A-N-A-S

I can’t believe I didn’t mention this before. When we get to the New York airport, we’ve got plenty of cushion time. We’re nothing if not early birds when it comes to air travel. Anyway, Shawn took our big suitcase (remember the water) to check, and I stay put with the small carry-ons.

It’s super early – pre-6 a.m. – but everyone who walks in the doors looks around at the crowds in a panic, wide eyes and hearts beating too quickly. Eyes dart, looking for escape, or at least the shortest line. Eventually that leads to acceptance, and they trudge in line like everyone else. But the panicked faces continue to flow into the terminal. And I just stood there and watched, fretting as more and more time ticked off the clock (what a way to start a vacation, right?)

After about 30 minutes of that (i.e. how inefficient can American’s check in system be? VERY!), a group of 20-something girls comes through, and they each have small rollers. There’s something stuck underneath one. It’s small and white-ish, and it’s hard to tell what it is. I thought she’d dropped something and I was going to tell her, but then her suitcase rolled over it and it was obvious – AN UNPEELED BANANA.

Seeing as how I had no paper towels and no way to navigate with two rollers anyway, I just stood there and watched as people smashed it, slipped on it and wheeled through it. It got caught underneath a few suitcases as well, until finally a cleaner happened by and wiped it up. Nobody fell, thank goodness, but it was still ridiculous.

Butch, our cruise director, told us to look for those “once in a lifetime experiences.” I’d say seeing an unpeeled banana act interrupt the day of dozens of travelers is something I’ll only see once in my lifetime!