Sunday October 16: “Scare” in the Air!
The day of our trip was here!
Our flight was at 6:30 am from the Manchester, NH airport, about 45 minutes from where we live.
I’m always up much later than I should be the night before a trip, trying to get last minute things done. This time, it was attempting to get caught up on the BC/YC FAQ thread. I was determined to update the Be Our Guest list before I left.
I think I got to bed around 10:30 pm, and our alarm was set for 3:30 am. By 4, we were on the road and arrived at the airport a little before 5. When we got into the terminal we walked through a large group of people who were there holding signs, American flags and bagpipes. They were there for the arrival of a plane carrying members of the military- the name of the group that greets flights escapes me. Out of respect, I didn’t take a picture of the group. I was glad we were continuing on to security and our gate before the bagpipers started playing at that early hour, though. We did hear when they started playing before we boarded our plane. Small airport!
I love to take this little cooler bag on vacation. On most trips, I use it to cushion my “big girl camera” since my regular camera bag is too bulky and I want to keep the good camera with me instead of checking it. On my trip from Teena’s house, I used the bag to transport my lunch for the flight home.
If you didn’t catch the installment in my last trip report, read about it here:
Thank you Random Ice Pack Stranger
We got through security without incident, however I had to laugh when one of the agents asked if I have an ice pack in my bag. No lie. They are onto me!
First order of business after getting to our gate was breakfast. Mark and I were shocked that there was no line at the Dunkin Donuts counter- it is always busy when we fly, but usually we are leaving from the much busier Logan Airport in Boston. I ordered a Big and Toasted sandwich and a small,
black coffee.
“What do you want in your coffee?”
Seriously?
Mark got an iced coffee and he pointed out something we had seen on a commercial- a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup donut- chocolate topping and peanut butter crème filling.
It was not as great as it sounded.
We split everything, because that is what we do. We love sampling a little bit of a variety of food, so we knew we were in for a treat at Food & Wine.
We didn’t have any of the Southwest boarding drama when it was time to line up. As an anniversary gift to Mark, I coughed up the money for early boarding numbers. He HATES the cattle call. We had A16 and A17. I took the first row I found with a window seat- 4th row I believe.
“Scare” in the Air
Literally, the nightmares I have before any vacation usually revolve around forgetting to bring my camera, my phone and/or their chargers.
The first thing I usually do when I am settled into my seat on the plane is take out my camera so I can take pictures from the plane.
My go-to camera is a Fuji XP point & shoot. It is waterproof, so I can take it when I go to the pool or when I am at the beach. The problem with this type of camera is that at some point the seals on the camera fail, water leaks in and the camera dies. Kind of like a game of Russian Roulette- you never know when it is going to stop working. The last time I used this camera was on a trip to the beach.
I love this camera so much that despite the risk, I purchased a backup when it went on sale at Sam’s Club. I usually take both on the trip, but for some reason, I left the blue one behind. I think I figured since I have the Fuji as well as the Canon DSLR and my phone which I have been using more frequently for photos, that I wouldn’t need it. I forgot that the backup battery was in that camera and that I don’t have an external charger- the only way to charge the battery is by plugging in the camera, so I can only do that overnight unless I have the second camera with me.
I push the on button for the camera I brought. Nothing!
I open up the battery housing, remove the battery, put it back in and attempt to turn it on again. Nada!
I’m not sure if the camera is dead (not charged) or dead dead. Why didn’t I bring the backup Fuji?!? I am now down to two cameras, neither of them waterproof, but I do my best to convince myself it will be alright. I won’t know if the camera is ok until we get into our room and I have a chance to attempt to charge it.
The scenery outside the plane window is beautiful. There is a full moon and a spectacular sunrise-
Camera 2 and Camera 3- “Suit up!”
As we were approaching Orlando, the skies looked dark and we could even see where it was raining:
I texted Ben when our plane touched down:
9:17 Landed
9:23 OK. I’m still alive.
With that reassuring news, we made our way onto the Faux-No-Rail and to Magical Express.
We were loaded onto the bus pretty quickly, it was mostly full, so we got seats near the back. The bus left soon after we were seated.
Here’s my “arch” picture. Not bad considering where we were on the bus.
I timed the ride from when we left the MCO at 9:51 , stops at Caribbean Beach, Boardwalk Inn, Beach Club to our arrival at Yacht Club at 10:38- a total of 47 minutes. Not bad.
Next Up: “Welcome Home!” (sort of) and Walking RIGHT down the middle of Main Street USA!
I've been buying the Target gift cards lately for these trips. But I am mad that I spent the extra money for a Tables in Wonderland card before I knew that the new 20% AP discount would have been good enough.
Well, except for the point and shoot camera 
