We were up early this morning, its travel day. We finally got everything in the carry-on suitcases but not without re-packing one of them again when had I to add what was still out because we used those items last night and this morning.
We left around ten for our trip to the Philadelphia airport. Arriving forty five minutes later it was now time for the dreaded goodbyes. Remembering my pact with mom from the night before I hugged and kissed Dad "so long". I filled up but wouldn't allow the tears to spill over, I was going to be good, I wasn't going to cry. In the meantime Bob was saying so long and thanks to mom and she filled up but kept things in check as best as she could. She looked at me, pointed in my direction and said, "You!, catch ya later" and I replied, "See ya around" and then we both burst into tears and hugged and hung on to each other for dear life. Oh geez, give me a sec, I need to wipe these tears away that have somehow appeared just by typing this.
OK, so we get through this, what I thought was going to be the hard part of the day. Little did I know.
Our plane didn't take off until 11:55 so we had darn near an hour to just hang around. We already had our boarding passes because we printed them the day before using my parents computer so we didn't have to deal with that. I'll take this time now to give you some pointers on cheap flights next time you want to fly somewhere. Pass right over Expedia, Priceline, Travelocity and all the rest and go straight to the airline's web site that you are going to fly with. I would bet 99% of the time you will get your best price there. I wouldn't have thought this but my brother Billy pointed this out to me. We flew Southwest coming east because they had the best price. Going west, US Air had the better deal, granted, we had two stops flying west but the layovers weren't long at all. Southwest wanted $158 with one stop but didn't have a good morning flight time available and US Air wanted $109.00 per ticket. Also, the earlier you buy the tickets the better. Start looking about a month out if you have that much leeway. We bought our tickets about two, two and a half weeks ago, Bob looked just for the heck of it just this past week and our $109.00 tickets were up $238.00! Go figure!
So its time for us to board. Now neither one of us likes to fly, we do it, but we don't really care for it. Its faster than driving cross country, that's all I can say about it. The first leg of our trip went pretty well. Here we are flying west! Thank YOU US Air for your pressurized cabins...no ear popping!
An hour and a half after takeoff we were landing in Charlotte, North Carolina. We had plenty enough time to get to the other gate and even had time for a beer and a Pepsi. Time to board the next flight. We weren't in line fast enough and had to find space for our luggage and it ended up in the overhead bins several seats behind us. That didn't set exactly well with Bob because it would cause a traffic jam in the aisle when we landed in Phoenix because people would be walking up the aisle and we would have to go in the opposite direction to retrieve our luggage.
So we're settled in our seats and more people are coming on board. Bob is in the window seat, I'm in the middle and the aisle seat is still empty. I don't think I ever prayed so hard as I did in the next few minutes. You see, I could "smell" somebody coming down the aisle before I could see him. "Oh dear God, please don't let him/her have seat 13-D,anywhere but 13-D, please put him/her in the last seat in the back of the plane" I bet I wasn't the only one praying! This person was now in sight and the odor got worse! I can only describe this odor as a mixture of perspiration, Limburger cheese and a skunk! Please, don't sit here....please don't sit here, I said to myself over and over again. I watched him look at the seat numbers that were affixed to the seat armrests and he got closer and closer to our row. He looked at the seat marker on the seat next to me and down at the seat and back at the marker again. I'm holding my breath! Literally! He looked at his ticket again and realized that he had come too far down the aisle and turned back. WHEW! Boy did I feel sorry for the ones who had to sit around him. I watched them all sneaking looks at him and then at each other and I thanked my lucky stars that we were in 13-E and F. What does one do in a case like that? The plane was full, there were no seats to even be moved to.
It took us awhile to get off the ground once everyone was settled. It seems there was a traffic jam on the take-off runway. We were number eight in line. The captain announced that it would be 15 minutes or so before takeoff and that he would try to make the time up in flight so that those of us who had to make connecting flights would be there in time.
So we're flying along, taking a nap, reading and the next thing we know we're landing in Phoenix. On time. This is good because our next layover time isn't as long as the first and we're going to have to hustle a little bit. We just have to make time for a beer and Pepsi. Oh wait, not all is as smooth as it seems. Over the loud speaker came the announcement that there was a medical emergency on board and that we were all to stay in our seats until the passenger could be taken off the plane. OK, no problem, how long could that take? They said medical emergency, therefore the airport personnel would be onboard directly with a wheelchair or whatever they needed to get this sick passenger off. And they were quick, onboard and tending to the sick passenger in no time at all. So we sat. And sat. And sat. Passengers in the very front of the plane were getting up and gathering their luggage and getting off. Word came up the aisle that the sick passenger didn't want to get out of his seat. What??? Plane connections need to be made for a lot of us, we've got to get off this plane. I think the passengers had had enough because those behind us started getting their luggage and moving up the aisle to leave. Well, you guessed it, we had to buck the traffic to get ours and those in the back of the plane didn't want to wait for us to get our luggage. So you've go two men in the small aisle, one being Bob trying to get our luggage from the overhead compartments and another trying to pass Bob at the same time. To say that Bob was NOT a happy camper would be an understatement!
As luck would have it there was no time for a break from flying, we had to beeline to the next gate for our last flight since we were held up by the sicko who wouldn't get of his seat dear soul who wasn't feeling well.
Last leg and we'll be back in Salt Lake City. I called Carol when we landed in Phoenix to let her and Steve know that we would be on time and that we would meet them outside.
So we go to get on the plane and we're pulled out of line so that the airport guy could put one of our carry-ons in a box to see if it would fit and meet airline regulations as far as size was concerned. We explained to him that we had been on US Air all day and that this was our third flight and we didn't have a problem in Philly or Charlotte. We'll according to him it was too big. I think someone took a saw to his box and cut down the height of it because our bag was sticking out by an inch. We were going to have to check the bag. I let it be known that we weren't paying baggage fees and he assured me that we wouldn't be charged. This Queen of Cheap was happy with that.
We're finally settled on this last flight and Bob and I are at each other's throats by this time. We're tired, we're hungry, we just want to be HOME!
Once again there was a tie up on the takeoff path but we got through it pretty quickly and were on our way.
We landed in Salt Lake City around 7:30 local time, 9:30 "our" time. Steve and Carol were there waiting for us, and thank heaven, insisted on taking us to a restaurant to get something to eat. Their main purpose this evening was to get Bob and me into our comfort zone as quickly as possible. Did they ever do a good job at that!
We visited with them for a little while on their patio watching night fall and then we headed to their yard where our rig was parked.
AHHHHH.....HOME! Its always nice to go away but there's no place like home.
We didn't even bother unpacking, we just pulled out of our luggage what we needed to get through the night.
Bob settled into his recliner to watch TV and I heard a soft moan as he settled into it. Bob was once again a happy camper.
Me, I was tired, I went to bed and turned on the TV there. Ahhhh, my own bed, my own pillow, all is right with my world.
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