#i am at my gate and my flight to florida boards in 25 minutes so like a good dedicated blogger here i am posting my edit

[clumsyclifford]

“We’re not gonna die today, though.” “No, we’re not.”

a demigods!malum moodboard inspired by Win or lose I’m screwed by my sweet betrothed and recipient of my holiday edit exchange edit @cringeycal

[its8simplejulesblog]

Did I Ever Tell You About The Time I Got Stranded in An Airport In China?

It’s true. I was utterly alone. I mean in retrospect I wasn’t, there were hundreds of people in that airport. The difference, they spoke native Chinese and I didn’t. My family members have always been avid travelers, to the point where my mom let me, 20 at the time, travel to China alone. Of course, I was meeting up with people when I got there, but the travel part was alllllllll me. So naturally, things had to go wrong. 

So here’s the sitch. Before my brother was born, during the dark ages of minimal internet, my mom joined this online group of moms that were expecting around the same time so they could ask questions and go through the experience of being pregnant for the first time together. My mom really clicked with a woman named Sandie in the group who happened to be from Australia. As we grew up, our families became really close. We would meet up with them in Florida all the time. 

Eventually, we decided we would ship ourselves over to Australia for Christmas/ New Years, but that’s a different story. 

More background information: My dad helped start a robotics team 21 years ago, and has become really well known in that community so he’s friends with everyone. We were contacted while we were in Australia to come meet up with another family who is really involved in robotics internationally so we went to have dinner with their family. They are an INCREDIBLE family. You know the type where they always have a ridiculous story for everything you just can’t believe it’s real? That’s what they were like. Anyway, the mom started talking about how they were opening a robotics lab in China and they take students over to teach the kids about programming and lego league and just to be pen pals; and, if you know my family at all, I immediately invited myself to go. I really was like “oh I should go with you,” out loud, and my mom looked at me and instead of saying no, she looked at this lady and she said “yeah, Julia is learning Chinese, she could go with you.” and the lady just said “yeah! ok” and I was going to China...alone haha. 

Flash forward and I have to take two flights to go to China. The International flight goes sickeningly smooth. I have absolutely 0 issues, and my whole family is extremely relieved, BuT WaIT, there’s more. When I go to take the domestic flight to Fuzhou, the province that we were going to be “touring” I see that the flight is canceled. There’s an announcement over the loud speaker but I’m already panicked and it’s in rapid fire Chinese so I go to the desk instead. The lady at the desk is trying to be patient with me, but I’m clearly already freaking out and her English is broken. She manages to tell me that there was a bad wind storm so they had to postpone a lot of the flights. 

Okay, postpone..that isn’t so bad, right? ALSO WRONG, it’s at this exact moment that my phone’s wifi cuts out entirely, so it’s survival mode now. I’m crying on the floor of the Shanghai airport when I hear actual English for the first time in forever (I’m apparently really good at accidental Frozen references) but I FLY towards whoever is speaking English. The culprit turns out to be these 2 guys from Canada. One of them speaks fluent Chinese and they’re helpful for about 5 minutes before they have to abandon me because their flight was rescheduled. So, we’re back to square one. 

At this point, they announce that the flight is cancelled and I want to die, but the good news is my wifi comes back on. I immediately text my mom and my uncle, who my aunt met when she was in the Peace Corps in China so he starts a call with his entire family that lives in China apparently because I don’t recognize any of these people at all. The only thing they can tell me to do is to talk to a flight attendant so that’s what I do. 

Imagine a group of really cute and young sorority girls hanging out when they’re approached by someone that..is just completely a mess. Yeah that’s what it was like when I went over to them. I got one of the girls to help me and again, her English was about the level of my Chinese at the time, so together we were only slightly above idiot. She tells me that the Chinese airport doesn’t let foreigners stay at the onsite hotel, so I would be able to go with her and her friend once she got off of her shift to go to a hotel. 

SOUNDS SUS doesn’t it, but when you’re desperate, you’re desperate. When the flight attendant gets off of her shift I go with her to the parking garage because she booked a hotel for me. When we finally get there, this 25 year old Chinese Troy Bolton looking man whips his car around and we get in with him (completely safe, how could you not trust Chinese Troy Bolton). We drive about 30 minutes through Shanghai and honestly, it’s beautiful. It was one of those circumstances in life we’re you’re looking at the city lit up at night and you really can’t believe you’re there. It was probably one of the scariest, yet most memorable experiences of my life. 

We pull into the hotel and since I finally had native speakers with me, things were going a lot smoother. The flight attendant was talking with my uncle on the phone about scheduling me a flight for the next day and she talked to the lady in the lobby about my room. At this point, I knew her pretty well because, surprise, she was actually 30 years old and had a daughter and I thought that was SO CUTE. I gave the flight attendant a hug and thanked her friend, and it was just me again. 

Here’s the best part of this entire story. The only hotel they could book me in was, wait for it, a honeymoon suite. A HONEYMOON SUITE. The hallways of the hotel were covered in mirrors and the carpets were covered in flowers. Everything smelled like drugs and smoke and clearly everyone was having the time of their lives. The bathroom in the room, completely see through, the bed had a HUGE mural of Barbie’s face above it and the curtains had minnie mouse on them and I don’t know how that’s romantic at all, but you can’t make this shit up haha. If you think I’m lying, here’s a lil (horrible) photo I took of the curtains. If you want to see video, ask me in person. 

At this point, I am way past delirious. I took a shower and time ceased to exist. I was so jet lagged and confused. I called my mom and after I hung up with her I immediately fell asleep. A solid 2 hours later I woke up and SCREAMED because my body clock was so off, I thought it was the next day and I had missed my next flight. I called my mom crying again, and she told me it had only been two hours so I went back to bed. When I finally woke up at the right time my uncle, god bless this man, got on the phone with me and helped me talk to the people at the desk. They got a cab for me and I trudged back to the airport. 

2nd times the charm, except, I need to get my boarding pass printed out at the help desk, which has a line of about the entirety of the Chinese population. Fun fact about China too, they don’t know what a straight line is. This is just fact, they just cut straight to the front and shove each other out of the way. This took me way too long to realize, and after I stood in this line for about 2 hours, I realized that I was going to have to assimilate. So there I was, a puny stick of a human, elbowing grown Chinese men out of my way to get this pass while my uncle and 300 relatives are on the call with me. 

I get to the the desk and surprise, the person is not helpful at all so I do what any actually insane person would do and I just continued walking my way through security to the gates. I get filtered into bag check of which, I don’t even have a bag so I just walk up to the desk anyway to see if anyone else can help me. 

After the longest 5 minutes of my life my SAVIOR of a 22 year old tiny little man decides to give me his attention. I don’t know HOW. I don’t. Know. How. But he manages to print a boarding pass for me and my soul left my body because at this point I had 30 minutes to get to my flight so I thank him and SPRINT and I mean really book it through security to the plane. I finally made it. 

Granted, the trip was entirely worth that stress. The kids I met in China were incredibly kind. They called me a Disney Princess and wrote me love letters and gave me hugs even though it was clear I didn’t know shit about coding. It was just amazing to be there as a friend and role model for them. I stood in front of them and spoke Chinese and encouraged them to keep learning English and it was the most grounding experience of my life, because it was clear that they didn’t have much. 

We went to five cities while we were there to tell the kids about lego league and cooperation and teamwork. I sat in on meetings with school board professionals and on interviews with students that wished to continue their education abroad in America. I learned so much about the systematic education there and there is nothing I want more than to go back there. The kids have already invited me back to their homes, and I have never met anyone more welcoming and kind. So think twice before you make jokes about the Corona Virus. 

At the end of the day, this trip defines what I want to do. There is nothing like stepping entirely out of your comfort zone to explore. There is nothing like shocking a bunch of Chinese men with your ability to use chopsticks. There is nothing like putting aside biases and language barriers and simply treating people like people. Everywhere I go, I think of that place as a new home to me, and I can’t wait to be home there again.

Also..the next semester when I got back, we learned the airport and travel unit at school in Chinese class, such is life I guess. 

Here are some pictures from China. 

-Julia 

[canaryatlaw]

Okay, posting from my phone because today was a clusterfuck and I am not home where I am supposed to be, but instead in a crowne plaza hotel room outside jfk airport because someone really fucked me over. I’m so done with today. I woke up at like 1, and we basically chilled and did nothing until I got picked up for the airport at 3:30. Some dude I didn’t know, just as well, we started talking a bit at the end (I mentioned I kinda did child advocacy law and turns out he’s got a whole thing going on in his family- very sad). But we make it to the airport just fine, checking in no problem and through security okay. Now, just to refresh, we rebooked this flight after my original flight took off at like 3 and then had a massive layover in fucking Florida (so flying from New York to Chicago by way of Florida, very logical) and then gotten in at like 1 am, but who knows what happened to that flight given that there’s a hurricane in the south right now.

The area I was in was super small, and all the stores were closed oddly enough, so I ended up chilling at a small restaurant-ish place for a bit and got some Mac and cheese and a coke, then found a newsstand to grab a Gatorade and some pretzels for the flight. Go to chill by the gate, there’s an announcement we may be delayed, something about weather over Chicago, but then we board on time so we think it’s okay. We were supposed to leave at 7. Then we sit at the gate and sit at the gate, then eventually told we’re cleared to take off, but have to wait another like 25 minutes for the grounds crew to finish loading the luggage. Okay, that happens, we leave the gate and go travel somewhere I’m assuming was towards a runway, but then we stop, and we wait, and we get told we just got a re-route to avoid storms, and it was going to take longer, and they were crunching numbers to see if we had enough fuel. Maybe five minutes after that, they announced that they had concluded we did not have enough fuel, and have to go back to the gate to get more.

Cue various groans. So we go back to the gate, sit for 20-30 minutes, they announce we’re still waiting for the grounds crew to come over and fuel us, so while weather was the main delay, jfk airport certainly didn’t help. So we wait, and I think we eventually get fueled, but then we’re still waiting. Around this time I struck up a conversation with the girl sitting next to me, so I at least had a buddy through all of this. After yet another while (and it’s like 10:30 pm at this point, if we had taken off when we were supposed to we would have already been there), it’s announced that they tried very hard, but there was an order coming down from “several levels above them” (someone later said it came from air traffic control) and the flight was officially canceled. Major are you fucking kidding me???? Ugh I was so done. So we had to deplane, which took another like half hour, then stand in another line to get accommodated. We were told to consult the app, and it sounds like most of us got rebooked automatically for the next flight out, which is 7:45 tomorrow morning, but you can talk to them to rebook on another flight if you wanted.

So we split into two lines of local people who just needed documents printed to get back in the airport in the morning, and people who needed hotels. Now, there’s no way I’m going to have someone come get me and drive an hour and a half back to the house only to drive back in in the morning at the ass crack of dawn, so I opt for the hotel line, which is inevitably longer, and of course as things fall, I end up at the back of it. By this time my seat buddy and I have made a third acquaintance that was sitting in front of us, so we’re chatting and basically decide to stick together. When we finally get up there, they’re having to call to get more authorization for hotel rooms, and the hotel that’s like, actually attached to the airport (because apparently that’s a thing, I don’t fly out of jfk so I don’t know what the situation is) is full of course, so they eventually get us vouchers for one near by. From there we g

[dyernews]

Money at 30: Everything You Need to Know About Flying Allegiant Air

When my wife and I moved to Springfield, Missouri almost exactly three years ago, one of the selling points (or at least what kept it in the running) was that there was a nearby airport that served a number of destinations. Unfortunately, while it is convenient, flying out of such a small airport can also get pricey at times.  This is especially true when you’re looking to fly last minute.

A couple of weeks ago, a friend of mine needed me to head out to Orlando with just a couple of days notice. Normally I would fly Delta, passing through Atlanta on my way to Orlando International Airport (MCO). But, with ticket prices above $700, that didn’t seem very feasible for such a short trip. Luckily I remembered that Allegiant Air — a budget airline that serves a number of markets — offered direct flights to the Orlando area. Not only would I be able to fly straight to Florida on Friday and return home on Monday but my base fare came in at less than half the price of Delta.

Of course, with Allegiant being a “no-frills” airline, the experience of booking and traveling with them is a bit different from the big guys. With that in mind, here’s what you need to know before booking your Allegiant Air flight.

Booking Your Allegiant Air Flight

One of the first things to know about flying with Allegiant Air is that you won’t find them listed on popular third-party travel sites like Expedia, Priceline, or Kayak. Instead, similar to how Southwest operates, booking for Allegiant is done exclusively on their website. Once there you can explore which destinations they service, view flight schedules, and of course book travel.

Like I said, what really attracted me to Allegiant were their fares, which start at less than $100. However these base prices can be a bit deceiving as they don’t include everything your typical airline fare would. Additionally there are a few other steps in the booking process to be aware of.

Flight schedules

There have actually been times in the past where I considered flying Allegiant to Los Angeles. Sadly this never happened because of the airline’s limited flight schedule. For example my flight to Sanford (SFB — near Orlando but about an hour away from Walt Disney World) was being offered on Friday and Monday but not on either of the days in between. Moreover there was only one flight each way each day. Thankfully this schedule worked well in this instance but you may need to adjust your travel plans a bit if you really want to save with Allegiant.

Hotel and travel offers

An interesting aspect of Allegiant’s booking process is that, in between selecting your flights and entering your personal information, you’ll be invited to book hotels, rental cars, and other travel services. Presumably Allegiant has affiliate deals in place with these various vendors, entitling them to a cut of booking profits and allowing them to keep their fares low. It would also partially explain why they shy away from listing on third-party sites.

Personally I didn’t have any need to book a hotel, although I suppose it could be convenient to have all of your travel reservations in one place. Plus, from the limited research I did, it seemed the prices Allegiant listed were in line with other travel sites. I should also note that, unlike some other sites I’ve encountered, Allegiant made it really simple to decline these extra services and get to the good stuff, as it were. So, three clicks later, I was ready to enter my info.

Entering passenger info

This next step is fairly straightforward. Here you’ll enter your name, birthdate, e-mail and other information that’s usually required by air travelers. For those with special needs or who want to travel with their pets, this is also where you can make those arrangements.

Choosing your seat

After you select your flights, made it through the additional services sections, and entered your traveler info, the next step in the Allegiant booking process is to select your seat — or not. Unlike many carriers, Allegiant’s system allows you to either pre-select a seat and incur an additional fee or have a seat assigned to you at check-in without a fee. Additionally the various seats have different values assigned to them. For example a window seat at the front of the plane with extra legroom might be close to $30 while a middle seat toward that back of the plane might only be $12 or so.

Now, you may be asking why you’d pay to book a seat all the way in the back of the plane. Well, if you’re traveling with a group and looking for a place to sit together, that may be your only option on a fast-filling flight. In fact Allegiant advises that parties wishing to sit together should select their seats in advance as there are no guarantees this will happen if the computer assigns you a complimentary seat.

Luggage and priority access

Another big difference between most major carriers and Allegiant Air is that, with the latter, you will need to pay to travel with a carry-on item. That said they do allow you to travel with a “personal item” — such as a backpack, purse, or (my personal favorite) a messenger bag — as long as you stow it under your seat. In other words, if you want to be able to store your item in the overhead, you’ll need to pay up. Naturally there are also fees in place for checked luggage as well.

The bag fees that Allegiant charges can also vary on a number of factors. For one they advise that rates are far lower when you pay your luggage fees in advance, rather than wait until you’re at the airport. These fees can also depend on where you’re flying to. In my test case, a carry-on would cost $18 each way while each item of checked luggage would add $25 to the fare. Apparently each of these fees would go up to $100 if done at the airport.

Speaking of luggage, perhaps the most stressful part of flying for me is worrying about finding overhead bin space. Heck I presume that’s a large part of the reason why frequent travelers pine for elite status and the right to board the plane early. With Allegiant, such status can be purchased for just a few dollars. In my case I was able to purchase priority access boarding — which gets you on the plane after the typical preboard — for $6.49 each way.

Wait — but since Allegiant is charging for carry-ons, wouldn’t they know how many bags were coming on board and ensure there was enough space? Probably. However that’s not to say that the open bin space you seek will be located anywhere near your assigned seat. Thus, in order to avoid a scenario where I might need to swim upstream to retrieve my bag after landing, I’ll admit that I ponied up for priority.

Selecting a boarding pass option

Yet another question that will affect your final flight price is how will you be checking in? If you plan to print your boarding pass at home or use their mobile option, you will not have to pay any additional fee. However, if you’d like to have an agent print a boarding pass for you once you arrive at the airport, this will cost you an extra $5. For me the choice was easy and I had no problems using the Allegiant app and my mobile boarding pass.

Trip Flex, changing fees, and checking out

Finally, Allegiant offers a service called Trip Flex that allows you to change your flight plans without incurring change fees. For my flight this option would have been $26. Without it, changes could only be made seven days before the flight and would result in a $75 per passenger fee. Despite the fact that I was already beyond that window when booking, I declined Trip Flex and proceeded on.

As you’d expect the last step of booking your Allegiant trip is entering your credit card information. If you’re in the market for a new credit card, you can also save a few dollars by signing up for their Allegiant card. Otherwise just enter your existing credit card info, accept the terms and conditions, and clip “purchase my trip” to seal your booking. (Bonus tip: book the flight with your Uber card and earn 3% cash back.)

Flying with Allegiant

When it comes to Allegiant Air, the differences from major carriers don’t stop with the booking process. In fact some of the most noticeable differences come when you arrive at the airport and board your flight.

Boarding process

Admittedly I didn’t become too well versed in Allegiant’s boarding process considering that I sprung for the priority access. That said it seems that they utilized boarding groups like most other airlines. When flying to Sanford, passengers would just line up once their boarding group was called but, returning from Sanford, they had a few lines already set up for each group.

The seats

Allegiant’s fleet is outfitted with leather seats that, to me, appeared to be a bit thinner on padding than most airline seats I’ve experienced. Meanwhile the legroom in my standard seat seemed about normal and posed no issue. However it should be noted that I am not a large man, neither in weight or height, so unfortunately I’m not really the right person to fully assess the comfortability of Allegiant’s seats. Still, for my less than three-hour flight, I was content.

Food and beverage

If you’re one of those travelers that can’t wait to hit cruising altitude so you can get your complimentary tomato juice, I have some bad news for your regarding Allegiant. While the airline does offer a number of snack and beverage options while on board, each of these comes at a price. For example cans of Coke go for $2 a pop (pun intended). Each of these purchases can be made with a credit card as they do not accept cash. In short, if you want to munch or sip during your flight, you might want to pack some snacks and fill a water bottle before boarding.

In-flight crew

To be honest, I had nothing but positive interactions with the gate and in-flight crew while traveling with Allegiant. In fact, on my flight home, one passenger had some medical issues arise and the crew proceeded to take good care of her, handling the whole thing very professionally. I suspect some people who aren’t prepared to pay for water or aren’t happy with where they need to stick their luggage might take it out on these crew members, which is a real shame considering what pleasant people they seemed to be.

My Impressions and Thoughts on Flying Allegiant

Overall I have to say that my experience flying Allegiant was quite positive. For one, even with the additional fees and upgrades (some of which I could have avoided), my total was still $250 less than flying Delta — and was direct (well, it was a longer Uber ride from Sanford than MCO, but still). Furthermore, as I’ve been monitoring Allegiant’s flight prices, I’ve seen tickets from Springfield to Sanford going for as little as $63 each way! With flights from here to L.A. starting at $78, it might even be worth arranging an itinerary where Allegiant takes me to LAX before boarding a flight with a different carrier to Asia or wherever.

As far as traveling on a budget airline, considering that I’m not big on eating or drinking while in flight and don’t have many leg room requirements, there was really nothing for me to dislike about my flights. That said I will say there was some noticeable wear and tear along with some dinge on the plane, but nothing rising to the level of being a turn-off.

To conclude, I’m definitely interested in flying Allegiant Air again and would likely purchase the same upgrades as I did this time around — although I might forgo a carry-on if I’m taking another short trip. On the other hand it’s nice to know that some of these add-on fees can be passed over if I so choose. For that reason I’d recommend checking out Allegiant the next time you need to fly.

The post Money at 30: Everything You Need to Know About Flying Allegiant Air appeared first on Dyer News.

[timetravelingbarista-blog1]

At Last

Today’s the big day. Would he be there? Is he even alive still? Gosh, it’s been six years, there’s no way he remembers me, let alone our promise. All I can do is hope he’s able to meet me after all this time. In 2008, the president, who was somehow elected, had very radical views on relations with other countries, and thought trying to trump North Korea’s military was a good idea. My lover, Ron, and I had to part ways, and once I got on the train and saw those hazel eyes grow more distant, I knew all I could do was hope for the best. I told him, before getting on the train, to meet me at the MaddysInn bar at the Nebraska City airport on 2/15/2014, exactly six years into the future, and what would be our 10 year anniversary. One small problem though. I live in Illinois, and I have no idea if he still lives in Florida, so to the airport I go.

“Hey, Alex! How’s it going? Are you excited for later?” Stacy, the girl I’ve become good friends with at a local coffee shop asks.

“Yeah, nervous, excited, I feel like I’m about to throw up or something. It’s been so long,” I say back.

“Don’t worry hun, he’ll be there, I just know it! Are you headed to the airport now?”

“I am, but I kind of just needed to see you for some encouragement.”

“Aww, I’m sure it will all be fine. You’re drinks’ on me today, good luck!”

And with that, I set off towards the airport with about an hour and a half before my flight. Getting through security always takes forever, and today was no different. After getting my pass to get through, I head up the stairs to fight the what feels like a mile long line of other people. All of them going somewhere; to see loved ones, business trips, some maybe on their way home, and others just searching for some alone time in a far off land.

I clear the line, the guard asks for my ID and pass, and sends me through the scanner. I’ve always heard people talk about how these scanners invade privacy, but seeing how they have prevented absolutely zero attacks, I don’t know why they still use them. Oh well, now to find my terminal.

“Hi, how are you? I’d like to check into the flight to Nebraska City, please,” I tell the woman behind the desk at the terminal.

“I’m fine, and yourself? Can I see your pass and ID for a second?” she replies with a welcoming voice.

“Good, thanks. Sure, here you go,” I respond as nicely as she did. These people practically control your life when it comes to getting onto the flight you need to be on, so it’s ideal to be as nice as possible.

“Here you are,” she says while handing my ID back, “though, I am sorry to say, your flight has actually been delayed about 35 minutes or so. The weather coming in has gotten a bit rough.”

“Oh, really? As long as it still comes in,” I start, “thanks for the help!” I finish with, and walk away.

Crap, 35 minutes isn’t much time, so I should still be fine. I’m fine. Everything is fine. Now I have over an hour of time to kill before boarding, I don’t even know what to do in an airport. I could go get food, but my stomach is far too jittery for that, I’d probably throw it up the second we take off. Maybe I’ll just walk around or something. I guess getting a bottle of water wont hurt.

Wow, $4.95 for a bottle of water, I forgot how expensive airport stuff was. 20 minutes left, I should head back to the terminal. I bought this plane ticket a while back, so I am one of the first to board, and I choose a seat near the front. It takes close to 25 minutes for everyone to board, despite how empty the flight is. Was it 25 minutes, or did my anxiety just make it seem like it did?

It’s a short flight, but a couple hours, but it feels like I spent an entire lifetime flying through the air before we finally land. I grab my backpack, and exit the plane as fast as I can. I find my way to those electric boards that show incoming flights, and I search for one coming from Florida, but with no luck. It’s okay, he might not live there anymore, maybe he beat me here? I need to find MaddysInn. With the help of wall-map, I see that I’m about 3 terminals away.

Hmm, the place looks a little different from last time I was here, but oh well.

“Hey, sir, what can I get for you?” the bartender asks.

“Mmm, I’ll take a Bloody Mary, thanks,” I say back, trying to quell my nerves.

I look around and stare at every other male patron in the place, trying to figure out if any of them could be a six year older Ron. Not a set of eyes like his in the whole place.

“Will this be all for you?” the bartender asks, while placing the Bloody Mary in front of me on a nice stone coaster.

“Um, I’m not sure yet, but keep my tab open,” I say, trying not to look too down.

“Sure thing.”

Two Bloody Marrys later, and still no sign of Ron. I’ve been here an hour, and yet it’s not even 2:00 P.M yet. Patience. He’ll come soon enough. I look around and see another screen displaying arrivals and departures, and I notice there are six inbound flights within the next three hours. He could be on any one of them, but which one? If I attempted to meet him at one of the gates, I could easily go to the wrong one and surprise the wrong person. Crap, I don’t know what to do. I never booked a return flight, as I didn’t know what Ron and I would end up doing.

“How’s it going, sir?” the bartender asks, simply checking up on me.

“Fine, I’d like another Bloody Mary though, please.”

“No problem. Hey, what’s going on? You seem a bit down,” he states while preparing my drink.

“I’m actually supposed to meet someone here, but I’m not sure if they’re coming or not. Kind of a childhood promise we had made a while back.”

“I’ve got a pretty good view from behind this counter, what’s he look like?”

“I’m honestly not too sure right now. I haven’t seen him in six years. We had to split up back when everything started happening.”

“Gotcha. Well, what did he look like?”

“He’s got these,” I start with a chuckle, “lovely hazel colored eyes, he was thin last time I saw him, and had messy light brown hair,” I continue, picturing him in the train station.

The bartender looks around a bit, and then squints his eyes off into the distance, then grows quiet.

“Hey, is that your guy?” he says a few moments later, likely as the person he is indicating grew closer.

I turn around, and sharpest of chills runs the course of my body as I feel my face growing a tinge red. Oh my God, it’s him.

“Ron,” I start, but my words seize in my throat with a growing choke.

“Alex,” he says, taking his last few steps into my arms faster than the previous.

“I’ve missed you,” I say.

“I’ve missed you too,” he says, tears moistening my neck.

The bartender stands there, smiling while wiping a glass, “I told you, I’ve got quite the view.” _____ Latest Amazon Publication: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01K37N2U4#nav-subnav