Watch Your Step!

One of our editors at IDEAS was recently on assignment in Palm Springs and it triggered some very funny memories of visits to this fabulous town in the California desert. While I was working in Miami it was quite a journey to the land of many, many golf courses and beautiful scenery. I was heading west to attend a travel and tourism conference and this was my first visit to Palm Springs, so I let my hotel buddies know that I would be attending, since they always came east for these kinds of meetings. This was a first to head their way and I wanted to be sure they would hold a spot on their calendars for a visit. I was unaware that the main airport had not advanced to jet ways and still rolled the stairs out to the plane – just like in the old movies. This was going to be a hoot because everywhere I traveled previously via air, was in grown up airports and you didn’t experience the “outside” when you deplaned.

We landed and began the row by row exit and all I kept thinking as I looked out the windows – “just don’t catch your heel on one of the stairs and go crashing down to the ground.” This was during the time of wearing high heels and suits with skirts for business travel so that could be even more embarrassing.

As I approached the doorway it was a lovely sunset and the temperature was balmy – as I stepped out I decided to approach this moment just as Marilyn Monroe would – adoring fans waving and cheering and to my surprise that’s what happened. My goofy hotel friends had people turn out with signs and their very own cowboy singer, Tex – now singing to the angels – who greeted me with his rendition of Hello Dolly! I was laughing so hard and trying to be nonchalant about all the commotion when a former sports reporter from ABC who had also been on this flight, said rather loudly – “who is that? Should we know who she is?” And of course one of my good buddies tells him if he ever wants to play golf at Doral, he better know who I am.

Haven’t made an exit quite like that again…