Make A Splash::A Michael Phelps Love Story

I hate flying.

I had no idea what NBC was thinking sending me out here to Beijing. From New York.

'Yes, let's send Deborah, she's made it perfectly clear that she panics on a two hour flight to Florida, so let's send her on over to China.'

Sick bastards.

Do you have any idea how long that flight was?

Finally, I could feel the plane slowly descending to land. After it touched the ground and the pilot announced it was time to get off the plane, I stood up and went to grab my carry-on bag. My legs wobbled as I exited the plane after sitting for so long. When I finally got to the baggage claim, I noticed that the majority of the USA swimming team was there claiming their baggage too. Or so says their warm-up jackets.

One by one, people started picking up their luggage and left.

Ok, what's taking so long?

Pretty soon, it was just me and an exceptionally tall man, clad in a Baltimore Oreoles baseball cap and a pair of black sunglasses, waiting for our bags. I let out a frustrated sigh and a guy looked at me and smiled. He walked over to stand next to me to make the wait a little more bearable.

"I swear this happens everytime I go anywhere." He chuckled, casting his gaze downward to look at me.

"Oh, I know. There is no such thing as anything going smoothly that involves an airport."

He stuck out his hand to me, "I'm Michael."

His hands were the size of plates!

I placed my had in his, "Deborah." I smiled and turned to see two suitcases and a dufflebag appearing.

He swung the dufflebag over his shoulder and handed me both my suitcases, "It was very nice meeting you, Deborah. I hope to see you around." He stated and went off to join the rest of his team, turning back once more and smiling.