Katy's non rev adventure

Once upon a time there was a ten year old girl named Katy. She loved her family with all of her heart. One day her family of seven (Grandfather,Grandmother, Mother, Aunt, Uncle and two cousins) decided to go to Hawaii for a well deserved vacation. This was possible because most all of the adults worked for People Express Airlines and received vacation passes from year to year. This was the year to treat everyone to Condos overlooking the ocean in Waikiki.
The flights looked good so everyone got on the People Express B-747 and off we went. Katy was good entertaining herself with a vivid imagination and with plenty of adult supervision we would play many games while flying to pass the time.
After visiting the lavatory an hour or so into the flight Katy came up with an idea. She had recently become obsessed with clipboards and checklists so what better game than grading the cleanliness and availability of supplies during this 9 hour flight. Surely the lavs will deteriorate over that length of time and she could be the one to document it. Off she went with herclipboard when there was a break in the constant lines. Toilet paper"check", soap "check", toilet seat down "check", overall cleanliness(grade). This went on for hours but she was on a mission and could not let it slip. I leaned over her shoulder and saw the columns and grid drawn perfectly with crisp check marks in the appropriate places. She was ghostriding and writing up her report with no one to receive it. I wanted to know why she was carrying a clipboard. Note to self - find out what else she had in her knapsack.
"Ohio gosaimas" (Good day), "Konichiwa" (Good evening) "Wait a second" we're supposed to be in Hawaii not Japan. Where's the "Aloha"? Oh, we'resurrounded by a Japanese tour group at the baggage claim. Seven bags arrived and we went off to find the van to Waikiki. Two Condos on the beach next tothe Outrigger Waikiki-we're in heaven right? Seven days in paradise to just sit back and enjoy life.
We had a ball on the beach. Just next to the Outrigger hotel and a couple of floors above the public showers. We saw and heard all the locals discussing the surf conditions while extricating the sand from their bathing suits and washing away their troubles. "Hey brudder that last set was 3-4 feet, withthe Kona winds holding it up I was tubed, did you see me?"
Since this is about non revving I'll skip to the seventh day. Two hours early with decent loads and seven checked in on vacation passes. Looked good! One hour to go the word in the seats was that Northwest had just gone on its tri-annual strike and they were sending them all over to us to rebook. Didn't look good to get us even to LAX today. We stuck around anyway until the pushback just in case someone didn't show. We planned to split up in the off chance of only a couple of seats. What an optimist I am. Ofcourse our bags went with the plane (pre 9-11).
Optimism and loyalty usually precludes you actually beating the rush but nonetheless I quickly called hotels in the airport area for a couple of rooms. All I could get was the Airport Inn. I should have known it was a low end hotel by the fact that it didn't have airport transportation. At least we had somewhere to go. I was soon to regret that statement.
Mold! That's what the room smelled like. Not a good start. Three of us opted to sleep on the chaise lounges by the pool rather than deal with the mold. Eleven hours in the same non rev clothes (the days when you dressed up in hopes of First Class) so I loosened my tie and took my shoes off, thinking"I'll shower later."
"Who's hungry? Let's try the restaurant out." We were stuck there overnight so we tried to make the best of it. "Good it's empty we can all sit together." Over sauntered the waitress and we wondered "Isn't she the same lady who checked us in?" Papa wanted a hot dog. "We don't hab dat!" Ok, Chefsalad for Memo. "We don't hab dat!" Ok, while they were looking over the menu I ordered a fish sandwich. "We don't hab dat!" Starting to realize the menu isn't doing us any good, I said "Ok, I'll bite. What do you have?""Hamburger-french fry." "No bite". I now realized English was a distant second language. Ok hamburgers for some and french fries for the vegetarians in our group. That was a start. I was wondering if I should find an excuse to look in the kitchen but I chickened out. "We don't hab dat!" still ringing in my ears I asked Katy to pass the generic bottle of Ketchup.
The next day we called rez and they thought that the last flight to LAX would be our best bet so we listed and crossed our fingers. It was a B-747and a through flight to Newark so this wouldn't be that bad. It worked out ok as the crowds had dissipated during the day and we got the middle five and two on the side. Thirty six hours later than planned isn't so bad. In LAX we lucked out and didn't have to change our seats. We were on the plane to Newark and the doors were closed. "Phew!" Non revving can be stressful.The plane shuddered slightly and I looked out the window. A lot of ground activity and a tug stuck under the number two engine didn't look good.
The Captain came on to say that the number two engine had to be changed and that would take 8 hours. They had the spare engine on hand and would put everyone up in a local hotel if they'd like to wait and continue on with us to Newark. Eight hours in the airport for us may have put us over the edge but no way could we get a hotel now with all these pax checking in. The Captain came over as we were standing there dumbfounded and offered us one room as he and the co-pilot could share one. What a nice guy. Sure we'd do that.
Our clothes were sticking to our backs and Katy's net stockings were implanting permanent grooves in her legs so this was a good idea. Feeling every part of the immigrant family that we were, we all piled into this one beautiful room. Ok who needs the bathroom first? Three on the king bed two on the chairs on the patio and the remaining two on the floor. This'd do nicely, thank you very much.
Back on the plane eight hours and thirty two minutes later we breathed a sigh of relief as the nose wheel lifted off. Seventy two hours after we checked in and our baggage left for Newark we were reunited with all seven bags. Katy's non rev adventure was history but it sure made an impression on all of us (not just Katy's legs). We laughed about it, cried about it. It was better than "Cats"!