Flying the friendly skies
Monday October 30/Tuesday October 31
The next morning I got up and had my shortest commute ever to an airport!
I could even look down from my balcony to see the crowds at the security checkpoint
Unfortunately, this is the TSA precheck area- Not the lane I’m looking for.
I passed by this lounge area- there was someone stretched out on one of the couches who apparently had spent the night sleeping in the terminal.
There was a pretty substantial line when I got to the security checkpoint.
Remembering the issues I had the previous afternoon, I was prepared by taking out the cookies I had in my carryon and guess what! They didn’t want the food out this time.
Seriously?!? They changed the rules again in less than 12 hours?
GRRRR!!!
After getting to the gate area, I had some time to get breakfast. As I waited in line for something for Burger King, I was checking my phone and I discovered two things:
1) School back home was cancelled because there was no power thoughout most of my town
2) There was a creep behind me. He was reading my phone over my shoulder and made a comment about how I pronounce my last name. Stop it!
When I boarded the plane, I found I was seated in a very large row, next to a jump seat used by one of the flight attendants, Susan.
Exit row?
I had a fantastic time chatting with my new friend Susan while she was seated during take off and landing. I told her my tale of how my flight was cancelled the previous day and Jet Blue saved my butt by being able to fly me home a full day earlier than Southwest could get me home. We talked about our families and she asked about my job at the farm. At the end of the flight, she told me to look her up on Facebook and send her a connection request, so I literally made a new friend on this flight.
I regret not asking Susan if we could take a picture together, but I didn’t know the protocol about whether it was ok while she was working so I kind of have a fail there.
But I did take a bazillion pictures from the unique window
In the car on the way home, I learned that electricity had gone out at my house around 2 am, so I would be coming home to a dark, powerless house. And a pretty grumpy husband. Mark really doesn’t do well without electricity. At one point he ran out and purchased a marine motor so he could run a radio and some lights. We have a propane powered camp stove, so we were able to heat up some leftover coffee and even cook some meals from the food we had to transfer to coolers.
Power remained out through the rest of that day and most of the following day, which was Halloween/my birthday. There was another another day of no school and more grumpiness. Around 9:30 that night, power was restored!
Wednesday November 1
The last incidents from the trip were a couple of phone calls I made the following day.
The first thing I did was call my dad’s phone/internet/cable provider. As you may recall (or maybe not, since I have been writing this for nearly a year), the day I departed on my trip, I discovered I had inadvertently lost the telephone number my dad has used for more than 50 years and everyone was telling us we couldn’t get it back. With the power back on, and a few quiet moments with everyone else back at work and school, I was able to reach someone at the company to help. My dad’s phone number was restored!
I also called Southwest. At the airport, they had told me that they couldn’t refund the money for my cancelled flight, but they could issue me a credit for future travel. I didn’t have any plans to travel in the foreseeable future, so that option was not acceptable to me. When I was able to speak to someone about this, I was able to get my money back.
And finally, I sent a message to Jet Blue about how their flight attendant Susan helped make my return flight an enjoyable one.
A satisfying end to another epic trip with my girlfriends.
Thanks, everyone, for reading along and helping me relive our adventures!