So there are "direct" flights and "non-stop" flights?

One of the things I learned last weekend is that there is such a thing as "direct" flights. When I was told that I would be flying to Baltimore where I would then catch a different flight to Hartford, I thought I would be flying just to Baltimore. So you can imagine my surprise when I saw "Nashville" listed on the board when I actually got to the airport. Apparently, a "non-stop" would have meant that we would be flying to Baltimore with "do not pass 'go'", "do not collect $100" on the way. A "direct" meant that we would eventually make it to Baltimore, but in the meantime, we were going to stop at Nashville, where I wouldn't get off the plane, but other people would and still others would get on. Oooookaaaaaay.

I tried to put this in terms that would actually make sense to me. Back in the day, we would drive to Las Vegas, and since we were just going to Vegas, we would drive directly there. Now, we'd always stop off at Stateline (no, I refuse to call it Primm) either to have lunch or use the restroom or get gas or something like that. So it wasn't a non-stop since we did in fact stop, but we just stopped for necessities. So that would mean that Nashville was a food/potty/refueling stop? Except that when we stopped at Stateline, no one got out of the car and stayed there and no additional people got in the car when we continued our journey to Vegas.

So now, when I get on a plane, and it's not billed as a non-stop, that means I'll have no idea how many other cities I will be seeing from the "comfort" of my airplane seat. The biggest problem with that is that by the end of the day, I was tired of hearing the safety spiel, since I'd heard it 3 times in the course of several hours, and coming back two days later meant I'd heard it 6 times in less than 3 days.

Stewardess, I think I need a cocktail.