In the Portland Jetport gift shop is a magnet that says, "Maine: You can't get there from here." It's pretty much true. It's very tricky getting out of Maine via plane without paying an arm and a leg and without spending hours in cars, planes, and airports. Since it takes me 2 hours to drive from Farmington to Portland, I figure I might as well drive an extra 1.5 hours and get to Manchester Airport where the parking is cheaper and the flight selection and prices are better. And I can fly Southwest.
One of my first flights out of Manchester left at 7am and I was nervous to try to get up at 2am to drive 4 hours to arrive an hour before my flight. So I remembered the Cathy P. strategy (Girl Scout buddy from Austin) that when you have an early morning flight, stay up as late as you need to, then head to the airport and nap there instead of at your house. It worked well at DFW, why not Manchester. The first time I did it, a janitor told me about the comfy furniture on display in the ticket area. It happened that someone else had already claimed it on that first trip, but I've been able to finagle being the lucky lounger on every trip since. See below. A local furniture company has a display of very nice (and obviously very durable) living room furniture that isn't cordoned off and is inviting to travelers and other airport people. Here you can see my favorite leather chair (which reclines . . . I didn't discover until my second time to use it) with foot rest, electrical outlet for my computer, and end table. There's a matching set up on the other side of the leather couch and nice wood coffee table. I've seen employees on break enjoy the comforts of home as well as other travelers. Most don't spend the night which is what I practically do. I get into Manchester anytime between 8pm and midnight and just wait (while using FREE wireless internet access--another great feature of MHT) until my morning flight.
This time, I didn't want to pay for 25 days of parking, so I drove to the Biddeford Park and Ride and caught the Mermaid Transportation Shuttle to Manchester Airport. Grace is going to visit her parents on Sunday (who live in Biddeford) and get her dad to take her to the Park and Ride. Then she'll drive my car back to the Park and Ride in time for my arrival 25 days later.
No comments:
Post a Comment