“You got my phone, Right?”
“Uh… no, Should I?”
“Didn’t you pick it up in the car?”
“Uh… No, I thought you did.”
“Not in my pocket. I don’t have it!”
“OH $#!t!!!”
Ok… wait,
let’s go back to the start of our day.
Yup, it’s
Saturday and we are just finishing the packing of 4 suitcases. Chucky has this down to a science, or so he
claims, so he had his and the Boy’s done for the most part last night. HER’s, on the other hand, is always the last
to close up. What did you expect, makeup, Blow-dryer, oh… and don’t forget this…
or that or… WHATEVAH!
A quick
farewell breakfast and we’re off to follow Angie to Daniel’s school for baseball
practice, Danny and he had gone ahead.
The plan
is for Angie to point out a gas station close by the school,
Chucky will drop our crew off at practice, double back to fill up, and then
return to the school to pick them up for the trip to return the car before
taking a series of busses, trams shuttles etc. to the departure gate for our
flight.
The first
two parts worked out fine, and after first querying everyone at the station as
to just how in the hell you open the gas flap on the Hyundai Sportage [don’t ask] he finally finds it by accident in the least likely spot - under the drivers
arm rest...Seriously?!?.
With the tank filled, Infallible sense of Direction guy heads back to retrieve his precious
cargo. Welllllll… sorta.
Seems that
he forgot to pay attention to the name of the street... that critical right turn to the school as he heads too far and now he's lost. Well not quite, but he is fervently alternating up and down every street he passed and coming up zip. Time is of the essence… don’t panic… just
call Angie and get the name of the street.
Voice Mail.
$#!T. OK…
no panic here, call DL…
Voice
Mail. WTF!...
OK you
got this… one more street and HUZZAH!
DL calls back, just as he finds the right street and pulls
into the parking lot.
Big hugs
and Hearty Thank You’s to the whole McGlynn Clan for a fabulous Week, and we
were off to Dulles International. This time
in the right direction.
Finding
Dulles was easy, the Avis Car return, not so.
RODAH had us routed into the Thrifty Return, who promptly pointed us
down the road that didn’t show on the map.
The Nice AVIS Return Checker held the bus for us, and after throwing the
bags on the rack and kids in seats, we settle in for a 10 minute ride to the first
of several transfer points on the way to our gate.
If you have ever flown DELTA out of Dulles International, you'll know that their terminal is the farthest from the entrance to the airport, up and down stairs, at the end of the line by shuttle train.
Fortunately Chucky had been warned of all the tumult that would ensue from car return to gate so this was pretty much the reason he wanted to get here early for the 2:30 boarding of a 3PM flight.
Arriving
at TSA pre-check and getting ready to show our boarding passes and ID’s, our Ever-Lovely Dragon Lady decides she wants to use the “My DELTA App” on her phone to show HER boarding pass… which prompts our opening dialogue.
Followed by:
“You Gotta Be Kiddin’ me! As Umbilically connected to it as you always are, how do you NOT have YOUR phone?!?”
“But I thought you picked it up!”
“Why would I? it's your phone! OK, you guys wait here and I'll hot foot it back to AVIS, hopefully I'll get back in time or you guys fly out and i'll just have to wing it, no pun intended!”
Which prompts her to check her Travel-Pack one-more-time… and…
Sheepish grin
and all…
“Oh, heh-heh-heh, Here it is... Ooopps!”
Crisis
averted, no race back to Avis and we parade through screening unscathed to the very last gate [of course]. Now to find a spot for lunch, charge
electronics and wait to board.
The rest
of the day was relatively uneventful.
The flight was good, at least for the adults, the boys, not so. Much to their dismay, Abuela did not forget the
homework packet, and they have some work to do till we touch down in Atlanta.
Upon deplaning, and after a long slog in the wrong direction and back [curse you Gate-Guru App] and another shuttle train between terminals, the boys are hungry again. A stop for lunch is in order [beer included] and we're off to find our gate... this time in the right direction. A short wait and we're Headed Home, Finally!
Once back
at FLL Greg is alerted we're back. Of course he promptly heads to Arrivals downstairs, after being told to pick us up where he dropped us off last week, upstairs at Departures... where we are waiting.
Back at Casa d’ Chaos where Mommy awaited her
boys, we unloaded bags and stuff and shoo them off to their place and their own beds... two VERY tired young travelers.
We’ll
follow up later with our usual wrap-up albeit abbreviated as this was not one
of our Epic Adventures that culminates with loads of tips, recaps etc. but for now…
Where’s
that Scotch?
Ciao 4 Now,
Uncle
Chuck & The glad she found her phone,
Dragon
Lady
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