By Jacqueline Zuniga

I recently went on a trip to North Carolina, and it made me realize how unpleasant it is to fly now. If you’ve ever flown out of the Arcata-Eureka Airport, you know there are limited options. This time I was stuck with United Airlines. Tickets and baggage were expensive, so if I wanted anything other than a middle seat, I had to pay an additional 60 bucks. No, thank you.

I flew from Arcata to San Francisco, and that’s where it started to go downhill, I spent $50 on four snacks. I sat near my gate laughing out loud at Reels, not knowing it would be the last time I laughed for a while.

When it was time to board, the lady I was sitting next to decided it was Piss Off Jacky Day. It took her forever to empty her backpack and finally sit down. Over the next four hours, she woke me and the guy next to me five times so she could get up to use the restroom. I was so bothered ‘cause how many times does someone need to use the restroom on a four-hour flight? There we were, standing in the middle of the aisle waiting for our seat buddy to get back from the restroom. Oh, and she had her brightness all the way up on her iPad, and kept coughing in our shared space.

After that magnificent experience, I made it to my second connection in Chicago at 5 a.m. I thought I would treat myself to a coffee after that flight. Worst coffee ever. I was so upset because I spent a whole lotta money I shouldn’t have. The next flight was super chill, no one sat next to me and I finally got to rest. Once I touched down in North Carolina, I still had an hour and a half commute to my aunt’s house.

After hearing all the family gossip, my commute back to Arcata started. Woke up at 4 a.m. and headed to the airport, where the nightmare started again. When boarding, the flight attendant had sat someone in my seat and told me I was in the wrong seat. Where was I supposed to sit — the cockpit? It was shortly resolved. The man who sat next to me used his huge leather jacket as a blanket, which spilled into my seat and took over my armrest. I felt like a sardine in a can.

On my last flight, the United app said I had 54 minutes to get to my gate. Chill. Unfortunately, that was actually how long it was going to take me to arrive at my gate — I had 14 minutes until boarding. I needed to get from A23 to B58; the Denver Airport is so big for no reason. I had to phone a friend, my sister, for help navigating this maze. After hopping on a train and walking for what felt like forever, I finally got there.

The whole flight was noisy — no shade to them — but the people in front of me were yelling and laughing. Why are we being so loud on a flight? Have we forgotten airplane etiquette? Two hours of chatter and laughter at an absurd noise level was not fun. Their joy of making absurd plans at such a loud level made me miserable.

May we not forget, not everyone wants to hear your loud conversations. If you need to get up 15 times during a flight, buy an aisle seat. What was supposed to be a relaxing journey through the clouds became a flight straight from hell.

Jacqueline is the super duper cool sports editor,social media manger for LJ and news manager for KRFH.