Adventures in Traveling

Friday morning, I left the house at about 7:30am to allow plenty of time for my 10:50am flight. With rush hour and the fact that I wasn't exactly sure what to do, I wanted to make sure I did have a good amount of time. I got as far as the end of the subdivision before I had to turn around. I had forgotten my directions from the airport to Sue's house. That would have been bad. Anyway, I decided to stop at the QT for coffee and made my way.

Traffic was good. The only places it bottled up was around the I435 and I635 junctions. Other than that, I moved right along and made it to KCI exactly when I thought I would. I found a nice parking spot, pretty close to the terminal and under cover of a parking garage. I was pleased. I grab my suitcase and head into the airport, pretending that I know what I'm doing.

As soon as the doors to the airport open, I see the Southwest ticket counter. Mike had said to try to find the automated kiosks so that I wouldn't have to wait in line but it looked like these were the automated kiosks. I walk up and, sure enough, they have ticket agents hanging out around these things, only there if someone needs help. I pop in my info and it pops out a boarding pass. Not sure if that's all I need, I ask the lady if that's it. She tells me yes and points me in the direction of my gate. About this time, I pretty hungry but I figured that I'd just get something when I passed security.

I get in line and grab a plastic bin to put my stuff in. One of the guards comes over to check my ID and boarding pass. He asks me if I have any lip gloss or lotion in my purse (I do!) and then he pulls out a Ziploc bag. "Make sure you put them in this next time," he tells me as he zips up my gloss and lotion. "Oh, and take off your coat." So, I take off my coat and shoes and put them with my purse in the plastic bin. I put my suitcase on the belt and turn to walk through the thingy. For the first time ever, I did not set the thing off! As I wait for my bag to go through, one of the security guys looks at me, points to my suitcase and asks if it's mine. I say yes. He grabs it, tells me to put on my shoes and meet him at the counter. He waits until I get there to open it up. He pulls out my makeup bag and unzips it. He pulls out my lipstick, mascara and eye cream and tells me that they are technically liquids. Ummm...okay. He spots the ziploc bag I had been given earlier and puts them in. He zips everything back up and tells me to have a nice flight. Well, that was uneventful.

I walk into the gate area and realize that I've just made a mistake. There are no food places inside security. They're all outside. I look up and see a big Starbucks sign up on the second level...mocking me. Ugh. I sit down and call Mike. He tells me that I should just leave and go through security again after I've gotten something to eat. I decide that it's not worth it. I do end up finding a little cart that has coffee and muffins so I get something off of there.

While I'm waiting for the plane to arrive, I look around and am pleased with the lack of people. Because Southwest doesn't have assigned seating, the lack of people means that I'll probably get a window seat (I love a window seat). I wasn't counting on everyone coming at the last minute. I'm still not sure where everyone came from. SW has three boarding groups: A, B and C. I look at mine and I'm in group B. Should be okay as long as there aren't many in group A. Group A boards and they call group B to line up. I finally get onto the plane and it doesn't look like there are any open seats at all, much less a window seat. Then, I see it. A window seat! I throw my carry-on into the bin and go to sit down. I didn't realize that my desperation for a window seat would mean that I would be traveling with someone's thigh in my lap (I'm not kidding) the whole flight. Gross.

I get my seatbelt on and look out the window. How did I not know that it had started snowing? The pilot comes on and says that we'll be delayed about 5 minutes while they de-ice the plane. I'd always wondered how they did that and now I'd get to see. The poor guy in a cherry picker comes by with a hose and sprays stuff on the whole plane. He had to be cold.

So, the plane takes off and lands a little later. I decide to take a look around to see how the airport is set up so that I don't make the same mistake I'd made in Kansas and to see how backed up their security line is. Looks to be busy but moving and there's lots of food inside. Good. I look around to find the car rental. I'm the only one there so I'm in and out pretty quickly. I turn around and there are a lot of people from my flight standing in line. As I'm walking out to the car, I realize she didn't tell me what kind of car I was getting...just a spot number. I get to the spot and laugh out loud. It's the ugliest car I've ever seen in my life. A puke orange HHR. This car looks like a PT Cruiser and a Hummer had a kid. Ugly, ugly, ugly. It took me forever to figure out the controls and whatnot.

A little while later, I arrive in Kentucky and call Sue. She tells me to meet her at the Amish Parking at the WalMart, she'll be there in a minute. When she pulls up, she laughs at the car. Not my fault! LOL! She walks me through the visitor's center thing and we head to her house.

A little later, she takes me on a tour of the post. Completely different than what I had expected. Of course, I'm not sure of what I expected but I wasn't expecting a little town, complete with fast food and schools. They've got a little of everything there. I think Sue was laughing at me the whole time. Of course, I've got my Band of Brothers groove on since everything screams Airborne.

Saturday, Sue took me up to the museum, which was really cool. I got some bears for the kids that had the Airborne eagle on them, but I'm kind of wishing I got more stuff. For the most part, we hung out and watched America's Next Top Model while drinking really bad wine. LOL! It was nice to just do nothing.

I headed back to the airport around 2pm on Sunday. I was getting nervous because it seemed to take longer to get to the airport than it did to get to Sue's. And, I was driving about 5 mph faster. Strange.

I dropped off the car and headed inside the airport. I went through everything like a pro. I didn't get stopped at all in the security line, though I'm surprised they didn't stop the elderly lady behind me who was doing everything I was doing and was complaining very loudly (at one point she asked if she was going to have to get naked). I took off my shoes and she yells to the guy behind her, "take off your shoes!" I take off my coat and she mutters to herself, "take off your coat? Why can't I go through this with my coat? I guess we have to take off our coats. (turning to the guy behind her) Take off your coat!" I handed my ID and boarding pass to the security lady who was rolling her eyes at the lady behind me. She told me to have a nice flight and I wished her good luck with what was coming behind me. She laughed.

I hit Quizno's for lunch/dinner and headed over to the magazine place to get reading material. I saw these little airplanes that act like they're taking off and got them for the kids and headed over to my gate.

Once again, I was in group B, but it seemed like it was a bigger plane this time. By the time I got on, there were plenty of seats and I plopped myself into a window seat towards the back. It felt like the seat may be broken and just as I was going to get up to move, a lady sat down next to me. I figured that I'd be okay for a little while and sat back down. At least I didn't have to worry about someone's thigh being in my lap this time. I hadn't counted on her wanting to read the paper the whole flight...every time she turned the page she'd hit me in the arm or boob. Ugh! I think she knew that I was getting annoyed because when the flight landed, she took off.

When I walked in the door at home, I thought Hannah was going to start crying. She didn't let go of me for 15 minutes. The boys were less excited about me coming home, but they still were huggy.

All in all, it was a good trip and it was nice to see my nieces and to meet my new little niece, Sarah. I hope I get to do it again.