A Humorous Quiz

My husband is in Boston for the weekend "manning" a booth at a Men's conference for our favorite order of priests. Seeing as how he hasn't been on a plane in 15 years, the whole travel aspect of it has been quite interesting. As you can imagine, with 7 children and no discretionary income, most of our travel involves pounding metal stakes into the ground to insure that our accommodations don't blow away. With that in mind, I thought it would be fun to offer a little quiz about how his trip went yesterday.

Fortunately for us, he has had a very helpful friend who arranged everything for him and gave him many helpful hints on how to handle the ins-and-outs of airport travel. One of the first things she told him was to only bring a piece of carry-on luggage. So he followed her advice and stuffed everything into his carry-on, of course making sure that it weighed under the required 45 pounds.

Question 1: Since he followed her instructions, which scenario best describes his boarding experience with a carry-on bag?

a. Upon boarding, the stewardess happily pointed him to his seat and showed him into which overhead compartment he should place his carry-on bag, at which point he sank into his seat to enjoy the ride.

b. Upon boarding, the stewardess told him the plane was full and he would have to have his bag put in with the luggage, wrote his seat number down on a napkin, shoved it under the handle and happily pointed him to his seat, at which point he sank into his seat to worry about whether or not he would ever see his carry-on bag again.

The plane was 45 minutes late leaving the airport due to a mechanical problem. Of course this then meant that they landed in New York late and had less time to get to their connecting flight to Boston (mind you, he has never done anything like this before :)

Question 2. Which scenario best describes what happened while trying to retrieve his carry-on and make his connecting flight?

a. He walked to the nearest baggage claim area, found his carry-on bag and walked to his connecting flight with plenty of time to get situated.

b. He was told that his carry-on could be picked up at a different terminal and that he had to find Shuttle B to get to it. After searching and subsequently waiting awhile for Shuttle B (which then proceeded to stop every two feet), he finally got to the right terminal and was able to retrieve his bag. Upon going through security yet again, throwing his boots back on, repacking his bag and running through the airport, managed to get into his seat 5 minutes before the plane left the terminal. The other 3 people who were running behind him also made it just before they shut the door.

Our helpful friend told him numerous times that, once he got to Boston and was preparing to rent his car, he should make sure he spent the money to rent the GPS. (Hint: feel free to recall all that you know about men and directions in order to help you answer this question.)

Question 3. Which scenario best describes what happened next?

a. He remembers what our friend said about renting the GPS, decided it was a good idea, especially because she has tried to find her way around Boston before and he hasn't, got his car with the GPS and went on his way to find the place where he was staying so that he could relax awhile before he had to head on over to the conference to set up.

b. Decided he would rather save the money and not rent the GPS, because after all, he is a guy and how hard could it be to find your way around Boston, proceed to get lost, and end up driving like Nicholas Cage in "National Treasure I" through narrow streets with crazy drivers and absolutely no place to pull over.

"Wait," I said at this point, "you saw all the sights that were in 'National Treasure I'? Did you take any pictures, because you know the kids would love to see them?"

Question 4: What do you think his answer to me was?

a. Yes, dear, I made sure I got great pictures of all the important places so that we could all enjoy them together when I get home.

b. (I'm sorry, I can't put his answer here due to the nature of this blog and the length of his answer :)

I haven't talked with him yet today, but hopefully he has been having an easier time of it, although I don't know if he is because he has an 8 minute walk from the garage to the conference center and it is 40 degrees and rainy :)

Well, as St. Ignatius said, "Experience usually teaches that there will be greater profit where there are more contradictions."

Have a great weekend, and if you think of it, say a prayer that his return trip is a bit better!