Wowser. I've been gone for 25 days. That's a long time to be away. I basically had 3 separate trips end-to-end, which is the only smart way to travel out of Maine because no matter what trip you're on, it takes two full days to get there and come back, so you might as well make the most of it. I figure I saved 4 travel days by doing the back-to-back thing. And fortunately, I was able to do laundry in all 3 places, so I packed light (one 36-pound roller bag). I did some shopping in Albuquerque, but I shipped a box of stuff home from ABQ, too.
So today's marathon was: up at 0230 CDT to shower and pack, leave KMO's casa at 0400 to arrive at airport at 0430 for an 0600 flight. I flew to BWI (sat next to a delightfully inquisitive and articulate 1st grader), changed planes, flew to Boston, B A R E L Y caught the 12:35 Concord Coach to Portland (Maine), waited 30 minutes, caught another Concord Coach to Augusta, drove my car from Augusta to Farmington arriving 1715 EDT. What a day. I stopped at the grocery store then went home where I opened all the windows (storm windows were still down 'cuz it was still cold when I left) then sat on my veranda and soaked up sunshine and cool breezes . . . very cool breezes, not like the ones in Austin. But I was exhausted. I started to listen to the Red Sox game on the radio while I was unpacking but went to bed when the game was still tied 3-3. I missed the 42-minute half-inning where we scored 10 points and went through the lineup at least twice. Go Sox!
So this marathon trip was more than just today . . . I was gone for 25 days! That's a long time to be gone. But when traveling from Maine, it makes sense to put your trips end-to-end 'cuz any one trip involves two full days of travel just to get to and from your destination. I saved 4 days by putting 3 trips together: a week in Dallas for Hank's ordination to the priesthood and lots of great friend visiting, 11 days in Albuquerque with my parents and all of their/my friends, and the big KMOve.
Thank you, God, for safe travels, fun adventures, and amazing friends and family. Here's to the next adventure!!
Showing posts with label weather. Show all posts
Showing posts with label weather. Show all posts
Monday, June 20, 2011
Saturday, March 8, 2008
3/7/08 getting home
It was after 3:00am Saturday when I finally got home to Farmington, ME. We left our hotel at 8:00am Friday. That is a L O N G trip. Of course, there is the 3 hour time difference, but even accounting for that, it was a long time to be in planes, airports, and cars.
As described earlier, when we got to the Vegas airport, we found out we were leaving on a flight to Atlanta that was leaving over an hour later than our original flight to JFK. The flight to Atlanta left on time but we got put in a holding pattern for 40 minutes over Atlanta. It was hard to hear the pilot over the intercom when he was explaining it, but it seemed it was weather related. The good news is, when there's a weather delay, it generally effects all flights and that was true for us. Our next flight was scheduled to leave at 8:10 which we would've missed, but it was now scheduled to leave at 9:30. [We timed our walk to the gate where we would've been leaving from. We got to that gate at exactly 8:10. We'll never know if they would've held the plane for us or not.]
It was closer to 10 when the direct flight to Portland finally left. We landed in Portland around 12:30am only to find out that though we made the transfer in Atlanta, our luggage didn't. Now add close to an hour to 1.) wait for all the luggage to get off the plane and find out yours isn't in the lot and 2.) fill out paperwork so that you can hopefully get reunited with your suitcase. That's what we did. All 5 of our suitcases between the 3 of us were enjoying their stay in Atlanta and wouldn't get back to Maine until Saturday.
We left the airport around 1:00am. I drove Beth home to New Sharon (about 12 miles away from Farmington). It was close to 3 when we got there. It was rainy but fortunately above freezing, so it was slow going but not too frightening. When we got to her house there was a light on and she recognized the silhouette of her son in the window. I later found out that the family had received a phone call from Beth's sister asking if she was home yet and that woke them up so they all just waited up. There were flowers and everything. :-) I was home by 3:15 and without any luggage to unpack, I was able to get to bed pretty quickly after that. Praise God for a safe and happy trip.
As described earlier, when we got to the Vegas airport, we found out we were leaving on a flight to Atlanta that was leaving over an hour later than our original flight to JFK. The flight to Atlanta left on time but we got put in a holding pattern for 40 minutes over Atlanta. It was hard to hear the pilot over the intercom when he was explaining it, but it seemed it was weather related. The good news is, when there's a weather delay, it generally effects all flights and that was true for us. Our next flight was scheduled to leave at 8:10 which we would've missed, but it was now scheduled to leave at 9:30. [We timed our walk to the gate where we would've been leaving from. We got to that gate at exactly 8:10. We'll never know if they would've held the plane for us or not.]
It was closer to 10 when the direct flight to Portland finally left. We landed in Portland around 12:30am only to find out that though we made the transfer in Atlanta, our luggage didn't. Now add close to an hour to 1.) wait for all the luggage to get off the plane and find out yours isn't in the lot and 2.) fill out paperwork so that you can hopefully get reunited with your suitcase. That's what we did. All 5 of our suitcases between the 3 of us were enjoying their stay in Atlanta and wouldn't get back to Maine until Saturday.
We left the airport around 1:00am. I drove Beth home to New Sharon (about 12 miles away from Farmington). It was close to 3 when we got there. It was rainy but fortunately above freezing, so it was slow going but not too frightening. When we got to her house there was a light on and she recognized the silhouette of her son in the window. I later found out that the family had received a phone call from Beth's sister asking if she was home yet and that woke them up so they all just waited up. There were flowers and everything. :-) I was home by 3:15 and without any luggage to unpack, I was able to get to bed pretty quickly after that. Praise God for a safe and happy trip.
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