The Rerouted Skytress

Skytresses and Skyters despise being flown into their off days. Often these reroutes are pretty ugly. You can bet, the stories about the reroutes are retold for years. Yessiree. Skytresses and Skyters never get over being flown into an off day. When I was a new Skytress I got flown into my off day. I’ve talked about this reroute for years, too. Remarkably, this isn’t an ugly reroute story. No siree. It’s a love story. A love story about the Holy City called Charleston.

My friend Kristin and I were waiting in the gatehouse to catch an earlier flight home. The day before scheduling had granted us a deviation from our scheduled deadhead. We were absolutely giddy. Yessiree. We were beating the odds. As young Skytresses, we rarely got home hours earlier than scheduled. When the gate agent walked over and told us he had a reroute for Kristin and me, we laughed. We thought he was trying to be funny. Heck. He was definitely aware we were deviating from our scheduled deadhead. We laughed even harder when he handed us our pretend reroute paperwork. We admired him seeing his joke through… even at our expense. Then we realized he wasn’t joking. Holy Moly! Scheduling had gut-punched us. Our three-day trip was turning into a four day trip. Sadly, scheduling gut-punched our other crew members, too. Skytress Tracie and Skytress Sharon thought they were going to sleep in and deadhead home on the original deadhead flight. Unfortunately, they received a wake-up call from scheduling telling them otherwise. Yessiree. We were all heading to Charleston. A city none of us had ever been to. More importantly, it was a city we couldn’t care less to layover in. We wanted to go home. We didn’t want to go to Charleston. Amazingly, our hostile attitudes softened a wee bit when two commuting Charleston Skytresses repeatedly told us, “You’re just going to LOVE Charleston”. Yessiree. Their sweet southern accents soothed our raging rerouted Skytress souls. Ultimately, we decided to make the best of a bad reroute. We agreed to go out on our layover and explore Charleston. We quickly discovered Charleston is aptly called the Holy City. We couldn’t praise Charleston enough. Yessiree. We had unabashedly fallen in love with Charleston. Heck. We didn’t want to leave the next day. We all made a solemn vow we would come back. Fortunately, I have been blessed to go back to Charleston many more times since that layover. Last week I went back again. What can I say? I just LOVE Charleston.

We arrived to our hotel in Charleston just before midnight on Tuesday. Now, I’ve stayed in numerous hotels in Charleston throughout my career. Admittedly, I didn’t think any Charleston hotel could outshine the Mills House. Incredibly, that thought was proven wrong as soon as we pulled up to our hotel. I’m not sure how we ended up in this luxurious five-star hotel. But, I pray we never leave. My room was breathtaking. Boy, oh boy, I was in my glory. I happily stayed up until 3am finishing the novel, “Falling”. It was captivating. Ron’s sister, Sherri, thought I would like the book. So she mailed it to me to read. The novel was written by a Skytress. What can I say? I was a deliriously happy Skytress…reading a book written by a Skytress…where one of the main characters is quick-thinking, indomitable Skytress. It was a perfect start to my Charleston layover. I knew it was going to be hard to leave my lavish accommodations in the morning. Nonetheless, my love for Charleston will always be much stronger than my love for a super comfy bed. Thus, I eagerly woke up when my alarm went off a few hours later. I knew I only had a couple hours to shop and explore before I had to be on the crew shuttle heading back to the airport. My plan was to power walk and power shop. I’ll admit. It was the perfect plan. In just a few hours I single- handedly boosted Charleston’s economy. Of course, it was my pleasure to do so!

Our hotel was located across the street from the Charleston City Market. I walked over to the market a couple minutes after it opened. I’ll admit. I was thrilled I beating the rush of the tourist shoppers. I leisurely perused the items the vendors were selling. Well, as leisurely as one could while power shopping. I bought several items before I headed out to walk around the city. The weather was exceptional. It was sunny and cool. I can’t tell you how delighted I was to be out power walking without power sweating. Alleluia! A minor miracle in the Holy City!

I’m always mesmerized by the historical buildings and homes in Charleston. I love catching little tidbits of information the tour guides tell their guests whenever I walk around the city. That morning I would have completely missed the oldest liquor store in America if I hadn’t walked by a tour guide at the right moment. Yessiree. Power walking does have it’s drawbacks. I slowed down to read the sign outside the building. It made me chuckle to know people have been buying liquor there since the 1600’s. Cheers to this! I tried to picture myself walking these same streets as Charlestonians did in the early colonial days. The horse drawn carriages clopping down the street made it easier to imagine. I didn’t power walk by the numerous churches and graveyards. Instead, I stopped and read the gravestones. Time and weather had worn away many details engraved on the headstones. Fortunately, there were several beautiful stone inscriptions from the lates 1800’s that time didn’t completely erase. I always said a prayer for the people buried in the church graveyards before I continued on with my walk. I have always loved Charleston because of it’s juxtaposition. One moment I am walking by a church from the 1700’s. Then a few hundred feet down the street is a James Beard Award winning restaurant. I’m forever fascinated how Charlestonians seamlessly embrace the old and the new.

As I walked around Charleston, stories popped in my head of previous layovers and trips to the city. Yessiree. I, too, have history in Charleston. I remembered laying over in Charleston right after 9-11. My entire crew went to dinner. We were cognizant of the fact that so many people no longer had this privilege. I remembered the hamburger joint my Skytress friend, Ginger took us to on King Street. I tried to replicate the hamburger when I went home. Sadly, the restaurant closed when the owners got divorced. My sweetest Charleston memories will always be the ones I shared with Ron. Not surprisingly, I had a lot of beautiful memories of Ron and me pop in my head as I traipsed around Charleston. Each one made me smile. I believe Ron was beside me the other day as I zig-zagged from one street to another. Ron didn’t like to power walk. But, I knew he was power walking with me that day. When I walked back into the Charleston City Market to do a little more power shopping, he was with me, too. I’m convinced he pushed me past a few vendors so I wouldn’t spend all my money. I heard him whisper, “Leave some stuff for the other tourists”. Without a doubt, I heard him laugh when I said, “You know I will come back to get it on another trip”.

The last day of this trip we flew from Grand Rapids to Atlanta. During our flight I served a young couple their beverages. They had the most delightful energy and humor. They told me they were going to have a cocktail to celebrate going on vacation. Their delightful disposition compelled me to comp their drinks. They were happily surprised. They both thanked me. They jokingly told me they now had more money to spend in Charleston. I jokingly replied I had spent my fair share of money the day before on our layover in Charleston. The couple couldn’t believe we had a layover there the previous day. I asked the couple if they had ever been to Charleston before. The wife told me she had been there once years ago. Her husband told me this would be his first visit to Charleston. I looked at the young man and smiled. Then in the sweetest southern accent I repeated the words that were once spoken to me by the commuting Charleston Skytresses, “You’re going to just LOVE Charleston”. I told him I fell in love with Charleston the first time I went there. And that I have been in LOVE with Charleston ever since.