We're supposed to be on a plane to Houston right now to visit my parents. We'd made all the arrangements to be gone, told the necessary people, packed our bags, checked in online last night to avoid the rush at the airport, left some extra food for the cat, and headed to the airport. We left the car at the handy off-site airport parking this afternoon and proceeded directly to the security gate. I saw a coworker at the airport and excitedly told her that we were heading to Houston. When we got to the security gate, the lady checking boarding passes asked if we'd talked to the counter because she was fairly certain our flight had been cancelled. She let us through security and when we got inside, we saw that indeed, our flight had been cancelled. When we finally got a the lady at the gate to acknowledge us (she was on the phone so we were hanging back but it was obvious she was on hold since there was no talking happening), she was a) irked that we'd gone through at security and b) not that terribly helpful.** There was another flight that was boarding then but it was full. Another flight was delayed for maintenance issues--widgets and gadgets needed to be fixed--but the door wasn't closed so we *might* make it on that one as stand-bys. The other option was to head down to the ticket counter and see if we could get on the 6:50 a.m. flight tomorrow morning.
We decided not to hedge our bets on the delayed flight and cruised down to the ticket counter. As we are standing in line, and not moving at all for a good 10 minutes, the other delayed flight was cancelled. When the mad rush of passengers from that plane began to arrive at the ticket counter, Paul decided we should call the airline while waiting in line to see what was happening with our reservation. Sure enough, they'd already changed our reservation for the flight tomorrow morning. **(This is when the lady at the gate could have been more helpful--if she'd merely punched in the six digit confirmation code, we would have known about the change then and not wasted 10-15 minutes waiting in line in the freakishly hot airport.) So back to the parking shuttle where the same man was driving the shuttle bus; he was understandably confused about seeing us a mere 30 minutes after he'd dropped us off originally. The parking place was nice enough to let us get our car out of hock for free since the flight had been cancelled.
So we'll miss getting to visit with my parents tonight but will still make it early enough tomorrow morning to have plenty of time to do the sight-seeing we'd planned and have a nice weekend with them. Baring anymore unforeseen travel changes and cancelled flights, we leave Houston late Sunday evening.
There was a nice point that came as a result of this afternoon's adventures. After we left the airport, we decided to run a few errands that we'd left undone in our hurry to get away. Happily, I was able to make it to the library to pick up a few books. I'd run low on reading material and wanted to get the next book for my book club and another book that looked interesting (Thinner than Thou). As soon as we walked into the library, I spotted a new book about/by Laura Ingalls Wilder. It is a compilation of her diaries and letters written while on a various trips. I've read the first two parts (On the Way Home and West from Home) but the third part is a travel journey of a car trip Laura and Almanzo took back to North Dakota in 1931. Entertainingly, it includes their various expenses for the road trip ($0.50 for dinner one evening; $2.40 for 15 gallons of gas). I think I've read everything else written by LIW at least 15 times (I was, um, bookish as a child) and her house in Mansfield, MO, was like traveling to Mecca. That would have been a little better if I could have ditched my nay-sayer husband: "Oh, look, it's Laura's Gift Shop! Hey, it's Laura's Coke machine!" We have a picture of him by "Laura's Coke machine" just because he wouldn't stop already. The book will be a quick read but I couldn't pass it up.
And obviously, the cat was thrilled that we'd come back this afternoon.
(He's happily snoozing on the couch now; the surprised/angry look was because I woke him up when I took that picture. A cat needs his beauty sleep, you know.)
2 comments:
You sound incredibly good-natured about what must have been a very frustrating trip to the airport. I think if that had happened to me, I would have freaked out!
That book about/by LIW sounds fascinating -- I'll have to read it. I'm a similar fan and have read everything I can get my hands on, too. Although I've never been to her house in Mansfield!! That must have been so cool.
Again, you delight me with your "literary vacations!"
Happy Easter & hope your flight tomorrow goes off without a hitch.
I think I would have been more upset about the change in plans if we hadn't been booked on the early flight as soon as our flight was cancelled. We had a message on our answering machine at our house telling us all this but Paul didn't check for calls when he got home from dropping me off at work after lunch. So Continental had tried to spare us a trip to the airport--we just missed the message. And since we were in ABQ and only had to go back home, it wasn't too bad. The time we were stranded in Phoenix--that was cause for a meltdown.
The trip to Mansfield was very cool--the house is preserved exactly as it was when LIW died. We were in MO for a wedding and as soon as I figured out that Mansfield wasn't terribly far away, I told Paul and my sister Donna that we were going. I think Donna would have gone to the homestead site in KS on that same trip (it was about the same distance in the opposite direction) but Paul was having none of it. But, yeah, we're nerdy and do museums and historical sites on trips.
The last part of the book (called The Little House Traveler) was very quick to read but I enjoyed it. At one point in her journal, LIW was a little annoyed with Almanzo's driving skills. That was entertaining because I think I've said/thought the same thing about Paul.
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