Getting back was the biggest adventure
As much as I love traveling, I do like getting home again. Being in my familiar surroundings with Max curled up sleeping in my lap is the most comfortable place to be. Or maybe I just feel that way because it was so tough to get home today.
Things started out well - my shuttle ride from Atlantic City back to the Philly airport was great. I was the only one returning this morning, so I got to ride in a nice car instead of the van and felt like a VIP getting my personal service on the trip back for that hour ride. If I had requested that service I would have payed a couple hundred dollars - but I got the same thing for my $45 shuttle fee. Gotta love that!
Thing is, I got back to the airport so early, I had to wait for the Midwest counter to open after their lunch break. Then I managed to lose my boarding pass.... tucked it into my book that I finished during the lonnnng wait. I thought I'd be nice and leave the book for someone else to pick up, forgetting about the boarding pass. By the time I came back to look for it 10 minutes later, it was already gone. Thankfully the Midwest guy at the gate just printed out a new one for me when I told him what happened and showed him my ID. With all the security measures, he could have been a jerk about it, but he also probably realized I'd never have gotten that far without a pass to begin with.
Our flight was almost empty - only about 10 passengers on the plane, and most of them seemed to be students coming home for their Christmas break. I really felt for them as we were preparing to take off and the pilot said he was hopeful that the Milwaukee airport would still be open when we got there or we'd be diverted to Grand Rapids, MI - more bad weather. Geez.... I finished my book at the airport, finished my People magazine on the flight, and might be stuck in Grand Rapids for the night with nothing to read and nothing to do? But it would have been even worse for those students who just wanted to get home after months away. At least I was coming home to yet another day off.
Thankfully the airport still had one runway open, but that meant we were in the holding pattern for an hour waiting to see if we'd get to land. About 45 minutes into it, the pilot said we might have to go to Green Bay to refuel and then see if we could come back.... more wondering, more waiting. Finally, the announcement we were all hoping for - 2nd in line to land! There was a pretty good cheer from the 10 of us on the plane. I was beginning to wonder if we'd run out of fuel yet while waiting to get to the gate though - the snowplows had to clear one out for us. 15 more minutes of waiting while sitting on the tarmac. Even though we had to disembark into the snow, we were sure happy to make it off.
Nothing though compared to seeing the families waiting for those kids as we emerged from our concourse. Those long delays were long forgotten in the smiles and hugs that were all around. Made my heart feel good, even though I only had my cold car waiting to greet me.
Yep, it's good to be home tonight after the adventure journey back. But this additional 5 inches of snow we're getting are making North Carolina look better and better....
Things started out well - my shuttle ride from Atlantic City back to the Philly airport was great. I was the only one returning this morning, so I got to ride in a nice car instead of the van and felt like a VIP getting my personal service on the trip back for that hour ride. If I had requested that service I would have payed a couple hundred dollars - but I got the same thing for my $45 shuttle fee. Gotta love that!
Thing is, I got back to the airport so early, I had to wait for the Midwest counter to open after their lunch break. Then I managed to lose my boarding pass.... tucked it into my book that I finished during the lonnnng wait. I thought I'd be nice and leave the book for someone else to pick up, forgetting about the boarding pass. By the time I came back to look for it 10 minutes later, it was already gone. Thankfully the Midwest guy at the gate just printed out a new one for me when I told him what happened and showed him my ID. With all the security measures, he could have been a jerk about it, but he also probably realized I'd never have gotten that far without a pass to begin with.
Our flight was almost empty - only about 10 passengers on the plane, and most of them seemed to be students coming home for their Christmas break. I really felt for them as we were preparing to take off and the pilot said he was hopeful that the Milwaukee airport would still be open when we got there or we'd be diverted to Grand Rapids, MI - more bad weather. Geez.... I finished my book at the airport, finished my People magazine on the flight, and might be stuck in Grand Rapids for the night with nothing to read and nothing to do? But it would have been even worse for those students who just wanted to get home after months away. At least I was coming home to yet another day off.
Thankfully the airport still had one runway open, but that meant we were in the holding pattern for an hour waiting to see if we'd get to land. About 45 minutes into it, the pilot said we might have to go to Green Bay to refuel and then see if we could come back.... more wondering, more waiting. Finally, the announcement we were all hoping for - 2nd in line to land! There was a pretty good cheer from the 10 of us on the plane. I was beginning to wonder if we'd run out of fuel yet while waiting to get to the gate though - the snowplows had to clear one out for us. 15 more minutes of waiting while sitting on the tarmac. Even though we had to disembark into the snow, we were sure happy to make it off.
Nothing though compared to seeing the families waiting for those kids as we emerged from our concourse. Those long delays were long forgotten in the smiles and hugs that were all around. Made my heart feel good, even though I only had my cold car waiting to greet me.
Yep, it's good to be home tonight after the adventure journey back. But this additional 5 inches of snow we're getting are making North Carolina look better and better....
posted by Kris at 12/15/2007 08:50:00 PM
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