My Most Embarrassing Travel Story

The military offers free flights for eligible veterans, retirees, and their eligible dependents on a space-available basis. These flights are often referred to as “hops” or simply, Space-A. This video shows the interior of a C-17 airplane with web seats that I had the privilege of flying on years ago when I was still considered a dependent. It may look cold and unwelcoming but I actually love this plane because you have unlimited legroom and can bring sleeping mats to stretch out on once you’re at a safe altitude.

Space-A can be a wonderful way to see the world if you’re flexible and understand you can get bumped from any flight by active duty individuals that take priority. Sometimes you have to wait a few days until you get a spot, but to me, it’s a completely worthwhile tradeoff in order to travel for free. My parents often visit Hawaii and sometimes even other countries via this type of travel.

Ok, enough background! On to the juicy stuff – my awkward and embarrassing travel story! This tale begins back when I was attending the University of Kansas (go Jayhawks) and my parents were living nearby in Nebraska at the time. I was on break from school, and my Dad and I signed up to “hop” Space-A to California to visit a family friend. As luck would have it, we ended up on a 7-seater General’s plane traveling from Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha, Nebraska to Travis Air Force Base in California.

Usually with Space-A flights, we were assigned to much, much larger planes like the C-17 I mentioned earlier, but if a smaller plane has empty seats and it’s not a busy time for active duty travel, you can occasionally end up on these smaller planes. I had been on this type of plane once before with both of my parents when we were flying out of DC. As you can see in the super flattering photo below, the 3 of us were snugly packed into the back seat of this tiny aircraft because the flight was full.

As my Dad and I settled in for the 4-hour flight to California this time, we had a little more room as we only had one other incredibly talkative passenger on the plane with us. His name was Seven and I only remember that because it was so unique! I proceeded to try to sleep as my Dad chatted away with our new travel companion.

About an hour or so into the flight, I started to feel the urge to pee but figured I could hold it the rest of the way. After another hour, I started to panic slightly when I realized I wasn’t going to be able to make it 2 more hours until we landed. I saw no restroom on this tiny plane but I was desperate, so I mustered up the courage to ask the co-pilot (who was only a few feet away from where I sat) if there was a place to use the bathroom. He kindly responded by pulling out what looked like a DRAWER behind him that had a toilet seat in it. I was mortified that there was no private space, but when you gotta go you gotta go!

There was an accordion-like door to pull around myself for a modicum of privacy so I proceeded to empty my bladder as quickly and quietly as possible! I was suddenly grateful for Seven’s loquacious nature as he was too busy continuing to talk to my Dad about who knows what to pay me any attention. Shortly after I returned to my seat, the co-pilot also proceeded to use the makeshift toilet, and I felt somewhat relieved that I wasn’t the only one who had to suffer the humiliation of the drawer toilet, ha! Perhaps he did it to make me feel less awkward, or maybe he really had to go; I’ll never know. The experience taught me two things:

1. Always maintain your sense of humor when traveling
2. Don’t overhydrate before a flight

It struck me as odd that on a General’s aircraft, the restroom option would be this rudimentary, but perhaps since then (around 2004) they have upgraded the planes to have more privacy and an actual airplane toilet like you’d see on a commercial flight. If you’ve flown on one of these aircraft recently, please let me know in the comments if anything has changed! Do you have a travel mishap or awkward story to share? I’d love to hear it!

Thanks for reading!