kimmar067
TAGS?? It's all about the 'likes' now!
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2001
"...we spent THREE DAYS at the airport one night...."
The last time we flew out of Atlantic City airport, it was so hassle-free. No long lines, no extensive baggage-check, no ungodly overnight parking nightmares. It really was a 'breeze'. Well, New Jersey's best-kept secret was finally let out of the bag, because lots of other folks apparently had the same idea. I pulled up to the entrance to let everyone out and to unpack the car. Then I was going to park and catch the shuttle back to the airport, only mere mintues away. What I didn't realize was that the parking lot at night was a VERY SCARY and creepy place when alone and its raining! That and the fact that I was forced to park in the VERY LAST SPOT available, which also happened to be the one furthest from the airport..... I headed towards the bus stop so I could catch said shuttle. Well, I certainly SAW several shuttle buses entering and exiting the parking lot - unfortunately, they didn't see ME....picture if you will, a 50-year-old crazy woman, wearing Christmas Mickey ears, flailing her arms, jumping up and down on the bench, screaming at the shuttles as they dash away....after about 5 minutes of this fruitless behavior, I finally took off my Mickey ears and walked in the rain towards the other depot to wait there. It was just my bad luck that the next shuttle driver drove towards the FIRST depot as I made my way through the parked cars....are you kidding me??!?!! ....Somehow, this was not how I envisioned my Christmas get-away to begin...needless to say, I finally DID hop aboard the next shuttle ( Honestly, I can't even make this stuff up! ). Drier, and decidedly safer, I was happily making my way back to the airport, hoping that, at the very least that my DH had enough gumption to check in the bags....NOT!! Guess who had all the paperwork?? ME! And, guess who had to check us in?? ME!
This task was not such a daunting one, considering that there were only 5 or 6 groups ahead of us, so the wait to get to the front of the line was a relatively short one. That's where nirvana ended....
...the woman behind the counter was so very pleasant - even when she remarked how our flight was 2-1/2 hours late......"HUH???!?!?! WHAT??!?!? Two-and-a-half hours LATE??!?!". She further went on to describe how the flight, which originated out of West Palm this morning was side-tracked to Tampa for almost 2 hours, because of heavy winds and fog. As a result, it had pushed all subsequent flights back. Here is where my DH gave me that look that said: "Why didn't you call the airlines before we left the house??" Counting to ten [in my mind] we walked towards the checkpoint where we had to take off our jewlery, our belts, our shoes, and any other non-attached items that could be construed as a weapon of mass destruction and proceeded through the metal detector. This is where I found out that my DS's friend had brought along his X-Box game, which was shoved in his backpack, because they began to inspect the backpack and its contents. Donning our shoes and grabbing our belongings, we finally made our way upstairs to the second floor, the smell of fried chicken, fried potatoes, fried burgers, fried pizza (okay, so the pizza WASN'T fried... ) wafting in the air. Interesting how that faintly delightfull smell turns really rancid after about, ohhhhhhh say-y-y-y-y-y, 6 HOURS!!
Yup, you heard me right - after all was said and done, our flight did not leave ACY until 11:35 that night! My DH noticed that the last time it [the flight] was 'bumped' there were two state troopers next to the flight attendant, as she announced the bad news on the loudspeaker. You see, there were many people on this particular flight who were connecting in Orlando to catch ANOTHER one out to San Juan, Puerto Rico to depart on a cruise, and the 'powers-that-be' figured it was gonna get ugly. Unfortunately for them, there WERE no more connecting flights out of Orlando. Those folks were given their choice of staying in ACY overnight to catch the first flight out, or boarding the first one from Orlando (SOME choice....) However, cooler heads prevailed and no bodily harm was done. In the midst of all of this, my DS began having difficulties breathing, but his nebulizer and meds were packed in his suitcase. So, I had to go back to the first level and explain the situation to the flight attendant, whereas she went to where the luggage for our flight was being held, retrieve my luggage, and I removed the nebulizer and medicine to bring it back upstairs so that my DS could have a treatment. Given the circumstances, the folks of Spirit Air were extremely accommodating - they also had set up a cart with free non-alcoholic drinks and snacks in the area where all the passengers had been seated. Armed with $5 dollars worth of quarters, and able to breathe again, Dylan and his friend, David started to talk to some of the other kids that were waiting for the flight and they played Ms. Pacman, round-robin style....
...once in the air, most of the passengers seemed to drift off into a satisfied sleep, dreaming of those wonderful turkey legs, the echo of "....it's a small world, after all....", the first drop on the Tower of Terror, and......well, I was, anyway....
....at two a.m., disembarking the plane, I couldn't help but notice the soon-to-be passengers, red-eyed and disgruntled waiting to board the airplane....hmmm, they wouldn't be arriving in Atlantic City until wa-a-a-a-y past 5AM - I wonder if this motley group resembled US back at ACY....
[...next installment - Post #105]
The last time we flew out of Atlantic City airport, it was so hassle-free. No long lines, no extensive baggage-check, no ungodly overnight parking nightmares. It really was a 'breeze'. Well, New Jersey's best-kept secret was finally let out of the bag, because lots of other folks apparently had the same idea. I pulled up to the entrance to let everyone out and to unpack the car. Then I was going to park and catch the shuttle back to the airport, only mere mintues away. What I didn't realize was that the parking lot at night was a VERY SCARY and creepy place when alone and its raining! That and the fact that I was forced to park in the VERY LAST SPOT available, which also happened to be the one furthest from the airport..... I headed towards the bus stop so I could catch said shuttle. Well, I certainly SAW several shuttle buses entering and exiting the parking lot - unfortunately, they didn't see ME....picture if you will, a 50-year-old crazy woman, wearing Christmas Mickey ears, flailing her arms, jumping up and down on the bench, screaming at the shuttles as they dash away....after about 5 minutes of this fruitless behavior, I finally took off my Mickey ears and walked in the rain towards the other depot to wait there. It was just my bad luck that the next shuttle driver drove towards the FIRST depot as I made my way through the parked cars....are you kidding me??!?!! ....Somehow, this was not how I envisioned my Christmas get-away to begin...needless to say, I finally DID hop aboard the next shuttle ( Honestly, I can't even make this stuff up! ). Drier, and decidedly safer, I was happily making my way back to the airport, hoping that, at the very least that my DH had enough gumption to check in the bags....NOT!! Guess who had all the paperwork?? ME! And, guess who had to check us in?? ME!
This task was not such a daunting one, considering that there were only 5 or 6 groups ahead of us, so the wait to get to the front of the line was a relatively short one. That's where nirvana ended....
...the woman behind the counter was so very pleasant - even when she remarked how our flight was 2-1/2 hours late......"HUH???!?!?! WHAT??!?!? Two-and-a-half hours LATE??!?!". She further went on to describe how the flight, which originated out of West Palm this morning was side-tracked to Tampa for almost 2 hours, because of heavy winds and fog. As a result, it had pushed all subsequent flights back. Here is where my DH gave me that look that said: "Why didn't you call the airlines before we left the house??" Counting to ten [in my mind] we walked towards the checkpoint where we had to take off our jewlery, our belts, our shoes, and any other non-attached items that could be construed as a weapon of mass destruction and proceeded through the metal detector. This is where I found out that my DS's friend had brought along his X-Box game, which was shoved in his backpack, because they began to inspect the backpack and its contents. Donning our shoes and grabbing our belongings, we finally made our way upstairs to the second floor, the smell of fried chicken, fried potatoes, fried burgers, fried pizza (okay, so the pizza WASN'T fried... ) wafting in the air. Interesting how that faintly delightfull smell turns really rancid after about, ohhhhhhh say-y-y-y-y-y, 6 HOURS!!
Yup, you heard me right - after all was said and done, our flight did not leave ACY until 11:35 that night! My DH noticed that the last time it [the flight] was 'bumped' there were two state troopers next to the flight attendant, as she announced the bad news on the loudspeaker. You see, there were many people on this particular flight who were connecting in Orlando to catch ANOTHER one out to San Juan, Puerto Rico to depart on a cruise, and the 'powers-that-be' figured it was gonna get ugly. Unfortunately for them, there WERE no more connecting flights out of Orlando. Those folks were given their choice of staying in ACY overnight to catch the first flight out, or boarding the first one from Orlando (SOME choice....) However, cooler heads prevailed and no bodily harm was done. In the midst of all of this, my DS began having difficulties breathing, but his nebulizer and meds were packed in his suitcase. So, I had to go back to the first level and explain the situation to the flight attendant, whereas she went to where the luggage for our flight was being held, retrieve my luggage, and I removed the nebulizer and medicine to bring it back upstairs so that my DS could have a treatment. Given the circumstances, the folks of Spirit Air were extremely accommodating - they also had set up a cart with free non-alcoholic drinks and snacks in the area where all the passengers had been seated. Armed with $5 dollars worth of quarters, and able to breathe again, Dylan and his friend, David started to talk to some of the other kids that were waiting for the flight and they played Ms. Pacman, round-robin style....
...once in the air, most of the passengers seemed to drift off into a satisfied sleep, dreaming of those wonderful turkey legs, the echo of "....it's a small world, after all....", the first drop on the Tower of Terror, and......well, I was, anyway....
....at two a.m., disembarking the plane, I couldn't help but notice the soon-to-be passengers, red-eyed and disgruntled waiting to board the airplane....hmmm, they wouldn't be arriving in Atlantic City until wa-a-a-a-y past 5AM - I wonder if this motley group resembled US back at ACY....
[...next installment - Post #105]