Trains v. Planes

I've been traveling a decent amount in the past couple of weeks, at least for me, a self possessed homebody. In general, I'm not a big travel girl. Still, like most people, I've learned to deal with the joy of air travel. However, this last time around I took the train to NYC and back, followed by the plane down to OK. If I hadn't loved the train so much, I would almost detest it for making the subsequent plane raid seem that much more intolerable. Allow me to elaborate.

Plane

Pack very carefully to avoid any security snafus. Show up several hours early. Remember what to take out of carefully packed bags. Mess up, and get glared at by security guards. Board plane. Sit there while they mess with the engine. Sit there some more. Just 15 more minutes they promise. Ok, more like 1 hour. Connecting flight officially missed. Still stuck on plane for a total of three hours. Finally start to go down the runway. Ha! Just an elaborate plot, as the plane turns around for yet another problem. And finally, after three hours in a metal tube, and probably only thanks to federal law, they finally let us off. Where we get to wait in a giant line with everyone else on our flight to get everything rebooked. Go home. 

Try again the next day. Come back. Go through security, again. Note that they have changed the rules since yesterday and now insist on shoes being in bins, instead of on the track. Not that it matters, because my shoes have been randomly selected for extra screening, so I get to wait around on skeevy floor for five minutes. No wait, make that ten. The exact same bad that went through the day before without issue has apparently been flagged and gets to be rummaged through. But they let me through and 4 hours in the air and one layover later I'm done. Well, at least until the return trip.

Train

Buy ticket. Board train, no security, shoes and bags intact. Sit on nice, big seat, stretch legs, enjoy. 

Granted, going to Oklahoma by train probably wouldn't have felt as nice after 12+ hours in those nice, big seats. Still, it was a cruel contrast.