jgates
<font color=teal>Must vow NEVER to toggle the tags
- Joined
- Oct 12, 1999
- Messages
- 3,072
Mama - me, 42, Disney FANATIC and Swan's #1 Fan
Monkey - DD, 11, Disney FANATIC and Swan's #2 FAN
Well, Friday has come and work has been left behind. I have only packed about 20% of our stuff in a couple of borrowed suitcases and have to get moving. (My large suitcase will only make it with the help of a LARGE roll of duct tape, consequently the need for borrowed cases). Well, HOURS later, when I should have been fast asleep I managed to pack the last of our items. (Quite carefully I might add) and drag them to the back door. Little did my girlfriend know that she may never see those cases again - it is now almost a full week after return & one is not even unpacked!
Now I was TOO excited to even doze off. Monkey fell asleep close to mid-nite. My mother was coming with the UHaul to drag us to the airport around 2:30 a.m. Now the airport is only 70 minutes away and our flight is not until 6 a.m. but if you heard me ramble before you know we live in DEER country....oh wait, you missed that one? DEER country, fox country, squirrel country, possum country and even HORSE country. Any 4 legged critter that sees fit to seek the comfort of those blinding headlights will stroll out in front of you at any given hour of day or night. Since DH would be at work we knew we had one chance to get this 70 miles without redecorating her front grille on her van.
So off we go at 2:30. We arrived close to 4 and slipped thru the #1 requirement of a visit to La Crosse- Krispy Kreme's drive thru window.
Then off to the airport. Now you have to realize this is small town American. We are now there by quarter to 5. We wander up to the Midwest Express check-in desk and the guys down at the NWA desk yell, 'Oh, they don't even arrive until 5:30 or so. They'll be here in time for you to check-in for your flight'. OK.......so now we grace the divine comfort of the airline terminals hard plastic chairs for another 45 minutes or more until they wander in yawning for MW. Now Mama was not too smart here. Since there were no seat selections available on this jump flight, I did not worry about it. However, here is Monkey who has never flown before and we get up (2nd in line because someone bailed in ahead of us while we graced the plastic chairs) to check-in and the 14 year old kid behind the counter says, 'Well, I can't put you together, is that ok?". Well NO, but what the heck am I going to do about it? I couldn't get mad- he didn't even blink when he tore a couple of muscles lifting the one suitcase thru the divider. So I kept my mouth shut.
We then wait another 20 minutes before we can go through security and then stroll to another set of lovely plastic chairs. It is now 6:02. Flight time is 6:05. They are still not letting us out on the tarmac. Hmm.....don't they know we only have 35 minutes between flights in Milwaukee? Evidently they don't care. There are a couple of little planes out outside the building. Things are NOT looking good when the one they are fueling is definitely a crop-duster size (my son's contribution to my flying paranoia). Finally at 6:18 or so, they let us outside. Sure 'nuff. That's our plane!!! The group of us with our carryons head out to the plane.
'Oh, sorry, we have no room for carry-ons - we'll have to stow those up front.' Ummmmm......that's my laptop, a video camera and a $599 digital camera in there - hope your mom knows that if you break that her only son will no longer be amongst the living. Of course mine ended up at the bottom of the heap in the closet.
Monkey was at the far end of the plane and I ended up at the front. The gal next to me offered to change seats but since there were NO windows by us, I let Monkey stay in the rear so she could see out the window.
Hope you didn't have that extra cup of coffee to wake you up....this plane has no restroom facilities either. It is a 19 passenger prop plane and REMIND ME NEXT TIME TO DRIVE TO MINNEAPOLIS. I can't handle this. It is now nearly 6:30 before we taxi down the runway. So much for enough time between flights to grab some food!!! I clutched my bag with my now Kripy Kreme pancake shaped donut - I knew it would come in handy later.
The ride was surprisingly smooth and we made decent time to Milwaukee. However, after we ran into the terminal at MKE, they were paging us on the PA system. You guessed it - we were at the end of one terminal wing. Where did we have to be? The end of another wing. We ran like the wind and peeled into the appropriate gate. The attendants said 'We knew you would be here - there are a few late planes'. Gee thanks, can I go back and get that Egg McMuffin then?
Now this is a normal plane. 2/3 seating and jet engines!!! Midwest doesn't offer leather seating & 2/2 seating on its Florida or Vegas flights. Oh, well. I had selected seats on the left side and of course someone is planted in our seats. They quickly moved and we found my first mistake right away. I chose seats directly in front of the galley and seats don't recline. Oops - I'll remember that one. Monkey is doing quite well with flying so far and we shared a breakfast box from them on the flight - fruit cup, yogurt covered raisins, bagel chips with creme cheese and of course my flattened donut.
Orlando airport is a bit more impressive when we arrive around 11:30. We ride the monorail type vehicle into the main terminal and head down to the luggage carousel. What do you suppose we hear? 'Mama and Monkey, please report to the Midwest Airlines service office located on the main level near the luggage carousels' I JUST KNEW WHAT WAS COMING. Well, 10 minutes later when we finally found their location (shared with the Delta office), we get the wonderful news.
The nice, pretty little girl gave is the spiel (they do this for a reason - no one is going to punch out a pretty little 98 pound girl)......'I'm sorry, we had knew luggage assistants in MKE, you may have caught your flight in the 3 minutes and 12 seconds we gave you to run cross the terminal but your luggage did not make it'...........................
Love ya, mean it - I don't think so!!!
Pre-trip (some duplication)
Pre-Trip
Monkey - DD, 11, Disney FANATIC and Swan's #2 FAN
Well, Friday has come and work has been left behind. I have only packed about 20% of our stuff in a couple of borrowed suitcases and have to get moving. (My large suitcase will only make it with the help of a LARGE roll of duct tape, consequently the need for borrowed cases). Well, HOURS later, when I should have been fast asleep I managed to pack the last of our items. (Quite carefully I might add) and drag them to the back door. Little did my girlfriend know that she may never see those cases again - it is now almost a full week after return & one is not even unpacked!
Now I was TOO excited to even doze off. Monkey fell asleep close to mid-nite. My mother was coming with the UHaul to drag us to the airport around 2:30 a.m. Now the airport is only 70 minutes away and our flight is not until 6 a.m. but if you heard me ramble before you know we live in DEER country....oh wait, you missed that one? DEER country, fox country, squirrel country, possum country and even HORSE country. Any 4 legged critter that sees fit to seek the comfort of those blinding headlights will stroll out in front of you at any given hour of day or night. Since DH would be at work we knew we had one chance to get this 70 miles without redecorating her front grille on her van.
So off we go at 2:30. We arrived close to 4 and slipped thru the #1 requirement of a visit to La Crosse- Krispy Kreme's drive thru window.
Then off to the airport. Now you have to realize this is small town American. We are now there by quarter to 5. We wander up to the Midwest Express check-in desk and the guys down at the NWA desk yell, 'Oh, they don't even arrive until 5:30 or so. They'll be here in time for you to check-in for your flight'. OK.......so now we grace the divine comfort of the airline terminals hard plastic chairs for another 45 minutes or more until they wander in yawning for MW. Now Mama was not too smart here. Since there were no seat selections available on this jump flight, I did not worry about it. However, here is Monkey who has never flown before and we get up (2nd in line because someone bailed in ahead of us while we graced the plastic chairs) to check-in and the 14 year old kid behind the counter says, 'Well, I can't put you together, is that ok?". Well NO, but what the heck am I going to do about it? I couldn't get mad- he didn't even blink when he tore a couple of muscles lifting the one suitcase thru the divider. So I kept my mouth shut.
We then wait another 20 minutes before we can go through security and then stroll to another set of lovely plastic chairs. It is now 6:02. Flight time is 6:05. They are still not letting us out on the tarmac. Hmm.....don't they know we only have 35 minutes between flights in Milwaukee? Evidently they don't care. There are a couple of little planes out outside the building. Things are NOT looking good when the one they are fueling is definitely a crop-duster size (my son's contribution to my flying paranoia). Finally at 6:18 or so, they let us outside. Sure 'nuff. That's our plane!!! The group of us with our carryons head out to the plane.
'Oh, sorry, we have no room for carry-ons - we'll have to stow those up front.' Ummmmm......that's my laptop, a video camera and a $599 digital camera in there - hope your mom knows that if you break that her only son will no longer be amongst the living. Of course mine ended up at the bottom of the heap in the closet.
Monkey was at the far end of the plane and I ended up at the front. The gal next to me offered to change seats but since there were NO windows by us, I let Monkey stay in the rear so she could see out the window.
Hope you didn't have that extra cup of coffee to wake you up....this plane has no restroom facilities either. It is a 19 passenger prop plane and REMIND ME NEXT TIME TO DRIVE TO MINNEAPOLIS. I can't handle this. It is now nearly 6:30 before we taxi down the runway. So much for enough time between flights to grab some food!!! I clutched my bag with my now Kripy Kreme pancake shaped donut - I knew it would come in handy later.
The ride was surprisingly smooth and we made decent time to Milwaukee. However, after we ran into the terminal at MKE, they were paging us on the PA system. You guessed it - we were at the end of one terminal wing. Where did we have to be? The end of another wing. We ran like the wind and peeled into the appropriate gate. The attendants said 'We knew you would be here - there are a few late planes'. Gee thanks, can I go back and get that Egg McMuffin then?
Now this is a normal plane. 2/3 seating and jet engines!!! Midwest doesn't offer leather seating & 2/2 seating on its Florida or Vegas flights. Oh, well. I had selected seats on the left side and of course someone is planted in our seats. They quickly moved and we found my first mistake right away. I chose seats directly in front of the galley and seats don't recline. Oops - I'll remember that one. Monkey is doing quite well with flying so far and we shared a breakfast box from them on the flight - fruit cup, yogurt covered raisins, bagel chips with creme cheese and of course my flattened donut.
Orlando airport is a bit more impressive when we arrive around 11:30. We ride the monorail type vehicle into the main terminal and head down to the luggage carousel. What do you suppose we hear? 'Mama and Monkey, please report to the Midwest Airlines service office located on the main level near the luggage carousels' I JUST KNEW WHAT WAS COMING. Well, 10 minutes later when we finally found their location (shared with the Delta office), we get the wonderful news.
The nice, pretty little girl gave is the spiel (they do this for a reason - no one is going to punch out a pretty little 98 pound girl)......'I'm sorry, we had knew luggage assistants in MKE, you may have caught your flight in the 3 minutes and 12 seconds we gave you to run cross the terminal but your luggage did not make it'...........................
Love ya, mean it - I don't think so!!!
Pre-trip (some duplication)
Pre-Trip
