I waited so long for this day to come and yet I was apprehensive about having to board my dog Jack for so many days. I picked a really nice place that cost me $350 for 11 1/2 days. He didn't have to stay in a kennel-like atmosphere, this was a country-inn type place for dogs, he didn't have to be caged, he had his own room and a 4 acre "yard" to play in with other dogs, plus a caring staff that is highly trained and a vet on duty at all times.
We dropped him off at 10 a.m., when we got there they told me to take him to the area where the dogs do their "duty" and then just slip back inside so he wouldn't see me leave. I did so and came back in, but before we could get out the front door, I made the mistake of turning and looking at the back door and could see Jack looking in at me, I felt horrible and the lady that owns the place said it would be easier if I just left without Jack seeing me crying (which I always do). We left and I felt terrible, but there was nothing I could do about it. This is the only thing I hate about traveling.
Our plane was scheduled for a 6:50 a.m. take off the next day and we were meeting my sister and my three nieces at my parents house later that day because we rented a limo to the airport for 4 a.m. My pet rabbit, Mrs. Beasely was going to spend 10 days at my parent's house, so I got her all ready to go and we were off to my parents.
I fit tons of shorts and tee shirts into a rolling pilots case, along with 4 pairs of shoes including flip flops for the pool. In total I had the rolling case and my WDW tote bag that carried some extras like my curling iron, passporter book and some reading materials for the flight.
We ate dinner at my parent's and then around 7:30 p.m., my sister attempted to put my nieces to bed, however, that was no easy task as they were too excited and every five minutes we could hear them running around upstairs. My sister and I decided it would be best if we just stayed up until it was time to go, she had sewn some sundresses with dolphins on them for our trip to Sea World and had to finish putting some buttons on them. One by one everyone else went to bed, my DH went at 9 p.m. and my parents conked out by 11 p.m. leaving me and my sis to watch continuous episodes of the Animal Planet's funniest animals, determined to stay up all the way through. Around 2 a.m. "slap happy" started setting in. My nieces started coming downstairs every so often as well, saying they wanted to stay up too, to which my sister quickly shooed them back to their beds.
At 3 a.m. we could barely hold out and decided that a short snooze to "rest our eyes" would be ok, so we sat up and dozed, and at about 3:35 a.m. the kids woke us up and we got everyone ready to go. The limo pulled up at exactly 4 a.m. and we already had our bags in the garage ready to go.
The limo was fantastic and very beautiful, the six of us were traveling in style and for only $70 each way plus a tip! We could not beat that. My sister and I were the only ones trying to stay awake in the limo, even the kids were bright eyed and bushy tailed. We both knew that sleep would not be coming any time soon.
We were flying Southwest Airlines from Midway in Chicago. We arrived at the airport at about 4:45 a.m. and there was already a small line waiting at the counter, but the line went fast and we were given "A" boarding passes.
I liked the old way of checking bags better, now because of security reasons, you get your bag weighed at the ticket counter, but then you have to cart it over to another area to have it xrayed and taken from you. Luckily the machine was not a far walk and soon we were on our way to the gate. Because one of my nieces was 4 years old we were able to preboard. We sat at the front of the plane and it took 2 hours and 5 minutes to get to Orlando. It was a nice flight.
My next report will contain pictures and I will post sometime this evening.
We dropped him off at 10 a.m., when we got there they told me to take him to the area where the dogs do their "duty" and then just slip back inside so he wouldn't see me leave. I did so and came back in, but before we could get out the front door, I made the mistake of turning and looking at the back door and could see Jack looking in at me, I felt horrible and the lady that owns the place said it would be easier if I just left without Jack seeing me crying (which I always do). We left and I felt terrible, but there was nothing I could do about it. This is the only thing I hate about traveling.
Our plane was scheduled for a 6:50 a.m. take off the next day and we were meeting my sister and my three nieces at my parents house later that day because we rented a limo to the airport for 4 a.m. My pet rabbit, Mrs. Beasely was going to spend 10 days at my parent's house, so I got her all ready to go and we were off to my parents.
I fit tons of shorts and tee shirts into a rolling pilots case, along with 4 pairs of shoes including flip flops for the pool. In total I had the rolling case and my WDW tote bag that carried some extras like my curling iron, passporter book and some reading materials for the flight.
We ate dinner at my parent's and then around 7:30 p.m., my sister attempted to put my nieces to bed, however, that was no easy task as they were too excited and every five minutes we could hear them running around upstairs. My sister and I decided it would be best if we just stayed up until it was time to go, she had sewn some sundresses with dolphins on them for our trip to Sea World and had to finish putting some buttons on them. One by one everyone else went to bed, my DH went at 9 p.m. and my parents conked out by 11 p.m. leaving me and my sis to watch continuous episodes of the Animal Planet's funniest animals, determined to stay up all the way through. Around 2 a.m. "slap happy" started setting in. My nieces started coming downstairs every so often as well, saying they wanted to stay up too, to which my sister quickly shooed them back to their beds.
At 3 a.m. we could barely hold out and decided that a short snooze to "rest our eyes" would be ok, so we sat up and dozed, and at about 3:35 a.m. the kids woke us up and we got everyone ready to go. The limo pulled up at exactly 4 a.m. and we already had our bags in the garage ready to go.
The limo was fantastic and very beautiful, the six of us were traveling in style and for only $70 each way plus a tip! We could not beat that. My sister and I were the only ones trying to stay awake in the limo, even the kids were bright eyed and bushy tailed. We both knew that sleep would not be coming any time soon.
We were flying Southwest Airlines from Midway in Chicago. We arrived at the airport at about 4:45 a.m. and there was already a small line waiting at the counter, but the line went fast and we were given "A" boarding passes.
I liked the old way of checking bags better, now because of security reasons, you get your bag weighed at the ticket counter, but then you have to cart it over to another area to have it xrayed and taken from you. Luckily the machine was not a far walk and soon we were on our way to the gate. Because one of my nieces was 4 years old we were able to preboard. We sat at the front of the plane and it took 2 hours and 5 minutes to get to Orlando. It was a nice flight.
My next report will contain pictures and I will post sometime this evening.
