My dream starts with my family members and me at the airport. They are here to see me off to a business occasion at some really nice place or other. Convention, sales meet
I think it was one of my siblings -- probably David -- who set up my flight arrangements, and I didn't check with him on the details until now. Letting him set this up seemed to be really important to him.
So there are 4 or 5 of us gathered around me as I stand near a wall, and I ask my brother what my flight time departure was. He told me the plane left in 15 minutes. Now, we're in the first section of the airport -- nowhere near any departure gates. And at this point, I don't even know which airline he selected. So I can't even sprint madly towards the departure gate, since I hadn't a clue as to which direction in which to run.
I ask him, as calmly as I can, which airline he was dealing with. He wasn't sure. I ask him to remind me which city I was supposed to fly to. He didn't recall.
My rising panic is met with an equivalent calmness: True I was going to miss my flight (and I recall that there were "opening ceremonies" scheduled for all of us who were attending this event. So I will likely miss most or all of them.) This will not go over with Corporate Management, as they had invested considerable funds to make this event something really nice. And expensive.
BUT there is nothing I can do except try to find the next flight and go from there. Panic would only interfere with clear thinking on how to best handle this situation.
I open my carry-on luggage to find my ticket -- to tell me where I should be headed. A sensible step one. To my great surprise, my ticket doesn't identify the destination city. Or the time of the flight. Or the airline scheduled to make the flight.
Okay, maybe now is the right time to start panicking.
I repeat my questions to my brother: What airline? What city? He's terribly embarrassed, as he wanted to prove something by handling my travel arrangements. He still can't recall anything or any paperwork that might have the answers.
Somewhere along the line, a stranger stops to "help" me. He nods his head and tells me that he understands that I'm looking to get the cheapest air fare and the best seating. I tell him that, if the ticket cost $1000, that would be okay by me. He shrugs his shoulders a bit and wanders off.
I start rifling through the carry-on looking for any hint or where I should be headed. If I could find sun block, it would suggest the meeting was somewhere in the south. A bathing suit would suggest a shoreside event -- but not necessarily.
Nothing in the bag helps me identify where I should be headed or anything like that.
