Uncle Chuck Note:
This was
composed on Thursday, since it has been a REAL Whirlwind ever since we landed
and the romps into and out of D.C. have been epic. Sooooo, sit back and follow the bouncing
ball as we try to recap all that has happened up till now.
You will
recall that Saturday's debacle started with a 5AM roll out and haggard return
to Casa d’ Chaos 5
hours later.
Sunday, 4AM came AWFULLY HARD!
But, it all
came together well. [Hell they already
had practice!]
Greg had snuck
in from work around 130AM and tried to grab a nap with the boys… not a good
idea. Jon insisted in rolling over onto
him planting his butt firmly in Daddy’s face and David kept stealing the
covers. He had to settle for Henry’s
empty room where the boys roused him anyway at 5AM, in time to ferry us to
the airport.
TSA was another
breeze through as was the wait for the first boarding call… which was a tad
late and started to look like a replay of Saturday’s debacle, however all went
well and we boarded the flight to La Guardia ahead of the crowd and were able
to swap Dave’s seat which was away from us to a window next to DL. thanks to a
kind fellow traveler.
Now Hear
This:
When
flying to D.C. try to avoid connections through La Guardia.
Why you
ask?
If you
have not been to La Guardia recently or at all, it is in a constant state of
construction, in and around.
And… you
may land at Delta’s spiffy new Concourse C but the shuttle flights to D.C and
Boston Arrive and Depart from Terminal A [the old Marine Terminal] so you MUST
have enough time for your connection as you have to hustle all the way
outside and grab a RED ROUTE shuttle bus. To Terminal A 10 minutes and- 2 miles away!
By now SHE is REALLY
getting the evil eye for Clicking the Wrong Button and booking the early flight. We could have had an easy connect at JFK. [Ok... Ok, I am reminded that nothing is easy at JFK]
That’s
not all, Oh NO!
Now you have gone out of the "Sterile Zone" [outside TSA oversight] and must go throughs screening all over again! And Of course at Terminal A, there’s only
one TSA checkpoint, No TSA PreCheck and if you have a tight connection, on a
busy travel day like SPRING BREAK WEEKEND, you may be on the phone [on hold for 4 hours] with DELTA, Trying to re-book a flight
‘cause…The line was Out-The-Front-Door, and only one scanner was working.
Fortunately for us, by the time we got to the checkpoint, the 2nd scanner was up and
after snatching everything required out of our carry-ons and re-stuffing it
after the scan [remember, with TSA PreCheck you don’t have to take off shoes,
pull out the laptop and liquids etc, just throw your cellphone and money clip in a bin and on the table and walk
through the Grey Arch’s].
And finally we were off to find a seat and a snack because
now we had 2 hungry little bears on our hands.
It went something like this at the snack bar:
1 sandwich, 1 quiche, 2 waters, 1 beer and a bag of chips: $55.
WELCOME
to the Big Apple!
After
scarfing down our King’s Ransom breakfast and charging the electronics, we see
the shuttle from D.C. passengers arriving and we begin to queue up for boarding. Chucky knows it’s a smaller aircraft and
pushes forward to be first on with our troop in tow since we’re in the back and
overhead storage is small and limited.
Smart move. As we settle in, the bins up top are crammed and several
late comers had to walk their bags back to the front door to be checked before they could
settle in, thus making our departure late.
In fact,
DL’s overstuffed bag which isn’t really a roll-on barely made it into the bin…
and it wasn’t even as stuffed as he has had it in the past.
The
flight was short and sweet, with just one small blip.
While passing out the snacks, the Flight attendant had to hustle back
and retrieve all the mixed nut packets as there was someone onboard with a
Peanut Allergy. In the close space of a
pressurized flying cigar tube, that could have been a disaster for someone.
The
Driver did a Quick drop in [and if you have ever flown into Reagan Airport you
know it’s a Real Drop In] and we were off to retrieve that great deal of a car at
DOLLAR-RENT-A-CAR that we booked through AAA.
DL is
signaling that this has gotten too long already so we'll have to get to the
W.T.F portion in the next post.
Hang in there... it only gets better.
Ciao 4 Now
Uncle Chuck & The still Groggy,
Dragon Lady
The Drop in landing is famous in some parts of the world... that's why Stapleton was closed in Denver...
ReplyDeleteBTW - $55 for such a wide assortment of such specially prepared food - includes $35 for the "location" fee!