Unlike the other Buspreneurs, my journey towards “20 strangers driving 60 mph for 4 days to build a business and pitch it” began with “2 old friends driving 75 mph to catch a plane in Houston.”
Tommy Talley and I left this morning (or is it yesterday now?) at 6 am and drove to Houston. The plane ticket was $400 cheaper, and we’re doing 14 hours travel time, rather than 20 and 22. You may point out that once you add the 4 hour drive to Houston, it’s pretty darned close, but I see them as separate trips not Planes, Trains and Automobiles.
The lady who was checking tickets before TSA said “No reason to go in the fast lane, they’re the same length.” Of course, the fast lane went *faster* than the regular lane. And besides, all of the people in the fast lane looked like they knew they were better than the rest of us. I turned to Tommy Talley and said, “That’s it – for the rest of the trip, we’ll not pass up an opportunity to be elitest.”
So, when we arrived at the gate (with a full 12 minutes to spare before we boarded), we had no hesitation in walking up the gate agent and asking for our seats to be moved together. Tasha was a dear when Tommy said “you know… seats together… a whole row to ourselves.” She said, “Do you each want your own row, or do you want to share a row?” I said, “We’re about to spend 10 days together. I want my own row.” David leans over to Tasha and says, “Be sure to block the other seats in the row with a courtesy block to be sure no one gets moved next to them.”
Whole rows in hand, we board the plane.
– Stafford