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Repacked my stuff to condense things for the airline. My main bag got heavier, but I didn't think it would be a problem. It ended up weighing in at 46 pounds. Thankfully, the limit was 50 pounds (more, and you get charged extra). I've seen it lower, especially in airlines that figure primarily in kilograms. It would have been overweight, actually, if I'd kept the maps and guidebooks. Fortunately, I'd donated them to the hotel. (I got them free with my AAA membership anyway.) Front desk person seemed kind of confused about that idea. I heard her calling someone (presumably the manager) to ask what to do with them. But hopefully they'll make a good library for future guests.
Speaking of collections... if you're interested, you can click here to see a bag with all the insulin syringes I used during the two weeks of the trip. (I kept them in a bag until I could dispose of them safely and properly.)
Got to the airport, returned the car (I'd forgotten to top off the tank that morning, but luckily I'd filled up not too far out of town the night before), checked in. Went to buy lunch to take on the plane, but the McDonald's was only serving breakfast. Ordered a chicken biscuit sandwich, but that turned out to take much longer to put together than anything else they were serving. Realized I was getting late for the flight. Rushed across the airport. Found the gate. Completely wrong airline, with a flight going in the completely wrong direction. Looked at my ticket again. In my haste, I'd gone to my seat number instead of the gate number. My gate was all the way across the terminal (though, fortunately, I was in the right terminal - both seat and terminal were A, even if the numbers were different). It was hot, I was short on sleep, and my bags were heavy. I looked for an electric cart, but the only one I saw was charging and there was no one to drive me. Made it as quickly as I could, and was the last on the plane. With a lot of carry-on. But I made it, and on time. Whew.
Flight took me, ironically enough, to Newark Airport, a place I know well. It's the closest one to home. But my family was in MA, having driven up the day before for our annual vacation. So I walked across good old Terminal C to the departure gate for my connecting flight. At Mom's advice, I stopped to double-check the departure board, and, sure enough, the gate had changed in the few hours since I'd checked in at Denver. Luckily, the new gate was only one over, and I had no trouble getting to it. Except the flight... wasn't there. Completely different flight leaving from there, and that one was departing late. I was told it was the correct gate, but that my flight had also been delayed. Even though it was still listed as on time at the departure board and the online systems.
Managed to piece together from stuff overheard and things my bro-in-law was able to find online, that, for some reason, the plane which had been supposed to take me had been diverted to another route for some reason, and there was a delay getting the new plane in.
Delay was 30 minutes. Then two hours. With the computers still insisting, right up until the time the plane was supposed to have taken off, that the flight was on time. Then they just wiped the flight status off the board. Flight listed, status blank. Then I was quietly told by the gate agent that the flight had been moved back next door to the original gate. The announcement was made shortly thereafter. And then, about 10 minutes later, they made another announcement... the flight wasn't going to be delayed for another hour and a half, after all, but would be taking off in about half an hour, and all passengers were requested to come back immediately. Which threw a bit of a wrench into the plans of those who had, hearing of the delay, gone off to find dinner.
The plane was small, and there weren't many of us flying. We got seated, and then were told that we'd have to move around a bit in order to balance the plane. How reassuring.
But things actually went smoothly from there. Got to the airport in MA to find that my niece and nephew, having demanded the privilege of greeting me, had been granted special dispensation to stay up long past bedtime. After two weeks away from the whole family, that was quite a greeting.
And then I settled in for two weeks with my parents, siblings, nieces, and nephews at our cozy, relaxing, familiar, and beautiful annual vacation spot. A very satisfactory end to the trip.
Speaking of collections... if you're interested, you can click here to see a bag with all the insulin syringes I used during the two weeks of the trip. (I kept them in a bag until I could dispose of them safely and properly.)
Got to the airport, returned the car (I'd forgotten to top off the tank that morning, but luckily I'd filled up not too far out of town the night before), checked in. Went to buy lunch to take on the plane, but the McDonald's was only serving breakfast. Ordered a chicken biscuit sandwich, but that turned out to take much longer to put together than anything else they were serving. Realized I was getting late for the flight. Rushed across the airport. Found the gate. Completely wrong airline, with a flight going in the completely wrong direction. Looked at my ticket again. In my haste, I'd gone to my seat number instead of the gate number. My gate was all the way across the terminal (though, fortunately, I was in the right terminal - both seat and terminal were A, even if the numbers were different). It was hot, I was short on sleep, and my bags were heavy. I looked for an electric cart, but the only one I saw was charging and there was no one to drive me. Made it as quickly as I could, and was the last on the plane. With a lot of carry-on. But I made it, and on time. Whew.
Flight took me, ironically enough, to Newark Airport, a place I know well. It's the closest one to home. But my family was in MA, having driven up the day before for our annual vacation. So I walked across good old Terminal C to the departure gate for my connecting flight. At Mom's advice, I stopped to double-check the departure board, and, sure enough, the gate had changed in the few hours since I'd checked in at Denver. Luckily, the new gate was only one over, and I had no trouble getting to it. Except the flight... wasn't there. Completely different flight leaving from there, and that one was departing late. I was told it was the correct gate, but that my flight had also been delayed. Even though it was still listed as on time at the departure board and the online systems.
Managed to piece together from stuff overheard and things my bro-in-law was able to find online, that, for some reason, the plane which had been supposed to take me had been diverted to another route for some reason, and there was a delay getting the new plane in.
Delay was 30 minutes. Then two hours. With the computers still insisting, right up until the time the plane was supposed to have taken off, that the flight was on time. Then they just wiped the flight status off the board. Flight listed, status blank. Then I was quietly told by the gate agent that the flight had been moved back next door to the original gate. The announcement was made shortly thereafter. And then, about 10 minutes later, they made another announcement... the flight wasn't going to be delayed for another hour and a half, after all, but would be taking off in about half an hour, and all passengers were requested to come back immediately. Which threw a bit of a wrench into the plans of those who had, hearing of the delay, gone off to find dinner.
The plane was small, and there weren't many of us flying. We got seated, and then were told that we'd have to move around a bit in order to balance the plane. How reassuring.
But things actually went smoothly from there. Got to the airport in MA to find that my niece and nephew, having demanded the privilege of greeting me, had been granted special dispensation to stay up long past bedtime. After two weeks away from the whole family, that was quite a greeting.
And then I settled in for two weeks with my parents, siblings, nieces, and nephews at our cozy, relaxing, familiar, and beautiful annual vacation spot. A very satisfactory end to the trip.
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