Man, flying is so weird sometimes. We were (of course) late arriving at the airport in Ft. Lauderdale, so we only had a few minutes to hang out in the terminal, and no time to grab food, as we had oringinally planned.

While our starving asses were staring out the big windows, we start to notice something... funny happening to the clouds. Specifically, a big funnel cloud was forming in the sky, touching down farther and farther. As we continue to watch, a waterspout creeps up from the ground to meet the funnel in the middle. Water twisting on the bottom, dark grey clouds swirling on top. You wouldn't think this was the most ideal scene to be flying into, but sure enough, plane after plane just took off and shot by the violent weather.

The people in the airport were freaking out, man. The poor airline employees had to repeat over and over, "I'm sure the pilot knows what to do."

When we boarded the plane, some dude cornered the flight attendant, laughed nervously, and was all, "Is it safe to fly in this weather?"

She was a little sprite and told him it was fine and dandy.

I leaned over to Neal and said, "What the fuck does he think she's going to say? 'No, and I'm praying right now! You should, too! Have you repented? The pilot has a death wish, and we're changing our name to Kamakaze Airlines, so buyer beware, OK? Would you like some peanuts?'"

Neal shushed me, but COME ON!

Anyway, we happened to be sharing the flight with some people who had been switched and very inconvenienced, so drinks were on the house.

Remember how I said we didn't have time to eat? Well, it showed. At one point, Neal leaned over and whispered loudly, "I think the whole plane HATES US."

We WERE giggling a bit. Just a bit. But those in-flight magazines are durned funny!

The funny thing was, we had a connecting flight in Cincinnati. We board the plane, settle in, then proceed to wait in line for the runway for AN HOUR, because of "bad weather." Rain. That's it. Rain.

I was all, "We survived a twister, people! Let's get this plane in the air!"

No one listened, and our flight that was supposed to arrive at 11:30 p.m. didn't make it until almost 2. My poor sister and her boyfriend said it was like torture - they'd delay our arrival time, and then every time it'd get within a minute of the ETA, they'd delay it another 15 or 20 minutes.

But we made it eventually. I'll tell you about the rest of the trip tomorrow.