Departure Day - Part Deux
So, let’s recap our manic departure day so far:
~ The boys and I getting antsy to go while waiting for Grumpy to get home from work
~ Our usual 5min border crossing turning into a nightmarish 2 hours!
~ Someone (might have been me
) panicking that we were going to miss our flight from SeaTac and annoying Grumpy, who was on a driving mission to get us to the airport on time (hey, I needed something to do, right?
)
~ Not having enough time to actually sit down and eat something resembling a proper dinner due to the border line-up fiasco
~ Being at the departure gate just before they started boarding passengers
We had our boarding passes checked by the departure gate agent and we entered the jetway – by this point, Grumpy and I were just sooooo thankful that we were actually boarding the plane! Well, halfway down the jetway, a flight crew member happened to walk past us on the way to the plane, saw the boys and said….
“Hey, do you want to see my cockpit?”
Yes, I know, but I did manage to hide my giggle. I’m sure he meant to say something a little less … um … giggle-worthy!
Yes, it just happened that the flight captain was the guy who walked past us! I didn’t know that they even did that anymore in this post-9/11 world, but I was so glad that the flight was starting on a high note after our rocky start to our vacation! I wasn’t sure when the boys were supposed to go see the captain – Grumpy thought in-flight – so I asked the first flight attendant I saw. She said that they had to go now or they wouldn’t be able to go at all (evidently, only before a flight can children do this when invited – the cockpit doors must remain closed/locked during flight). Good thing I asked!
Here are Mickey and Tigger sitting in the Captain and Co-Captain chairs (at the Captain’s invitation):
Here they are with the very nice Captain of our flight to Atlanta:
My opinion of Delta has gone up substantially with our experiences on the two flights we took with them this time (Seattle-Atlanta and Atlanta-Orlando). This wonderful treat for the boys was the first great thing that happened with Delta, I’ll get to the second thing in the next chapter. For now, we’ll just say that I am a completely braindead loser when I’ve been awake for more than 24 hours and Delta saved my bacon!
Our seats were a little different than our usual choice for both the Seattle-Atlanta and Atlanta-Orlando flights because I booked the tickets for the boys and me on delta.com and we used VISA points to book Grumpy’s flights. Therefore, I booked 3 seats together and he booked 1 seat. The original plan was to change the seats to 2 & 2 at the airport, but of course, we barely had time for anything at the airport, let alone having the time to wait for the agent to try and switch seats around kwim? So, on both of those flights, this is how we sat (plane seats were set up 3 seats and 3 seats):
Tigger – me – Mickey
Grumpy (2 rows back!)
I had Tigger chattering at me (he was trying not to fall asleep, I’m sure) and Mickey’s head on my leg for the first few hours (he was sleeping). Then I had Tigger’s head on my shoulder (he was finally sleeping) and still had Mickey’s head on my leg for the rest of the flight. Yeah, I slept not a wink.
When we landed, I woke the boys up, silently cursed Grumpy and his single seat two rows back (he had a fine sleep, of course
) and then waited for Grumpy to be able to make his way to our seats. I figured the least he could do was get all the carry-on bags out of the overhead bins. So, we made our way down the jetway and into the concourse – boy, that is one honkin’ big airport! Luckily, although they had changed both the arrival and departure gates from what I had been told the day before, both of the gates were in the same concourse, so it was easy to figure out. A good thing when you’ve been awake much longer than normal
So, we’re hanging out at the departure gate for our flight to Orlando when I notice something is missing….
...subbing on,
That day was crazy, and right around both your and I dinner time I started getting a wicked migraine
Hopefully, you were still able to enjoy the cruise!
Looks like they enjoyed it. 
) and Grumpy really got a deal with the seat situation! I may have switched with him halfway!
