20 Minutes Out

            I could feel the plane slowly losing altitude and then I heard the ding.  The fasten seat-belt signs came on.  The pilot made the announcement that we were 20 minutes out and had been cleared for landing.

            The flight attendants came through and made sure our tray tables were up and our seat backs were all the way forward.

            From this point on we were to stay in our seats.

            I remember the moment the pilot said 20 minutes out because it was the exact same time I knew I had to go to the bathroom.  

           I began mentally calculating the 20 minutes needed to land the plane, then whatever taxi time was needed to get to the gate.  After the plane came to a complete stop we would hear everyone unbuckle their seat-belts.

            The aisle people would stand first and get their carry-on from the overhead compartment.  Then they would just stand there.  Everyone would have to wait until the outside worker maneuvered the rolling gateway up to the plane and then he would open the door. 

            Eventually I would be able to see heads at the front of the line file out but each row would wait for the middle and window seat people to scoot over, stand up and then retrieve their carry on.

            This was going to be a very long process and that’s if nothing went wrong anywhere along the way.

            Assuming I made it that long - I still had to go single-file off the plane, traveling only as fast as the slowest person in front of me and then I would have to scurry to locate the closest restroom to that particular gate in the airport.

            All of this was running through my head when I felt the plane touch down.  I closed my eyes and held on to my armrests as the pilot gave it full flaps and applied the brakes.

           Just for a second I felt a glimmer of hope knowing that 20 minutes had ticked off the clock - although the moment I closed my eyes a vision popped into my head.