wheeee! Post holiday airline fun.

Now I know why we drive the 7.5 hours to my hometown on most holidays.

I had the day from hell yesterday. Mark and I got to the airport at about noon. Our flight was set to leave at 6, but there were two flights beforehand and 'standby' looked great on both of them.

Okay, cool. We got to the airport, ate lunch and went to the gate. The gate folks thought we could make it on standby as well so I bought a book and Mark and I settled in and read. Uninterrupted reading time is always a good thing, but I discovered that it gets old...fast!

The flight time comes and darn it they only had one seat.. . Okay, the NEXT flight was at 4, only 80 mins away. Settle settle, read, read. Then an announcer comes on. The flight is delayed out of Chicago because of 'weather'. It arrives at 5:30 and YAY we're on it. We happily troop onto the plane.

And sit. And wait. And wait some more. This 'weather' includes high winds and thunderstorms. We can't take off and fly right into the weather so we're being held on the tarmac. FOR TWO HOURS! It was a small reigonal jet and I'm pretty claustrophobic. So...where was I seated? The row with the bulkhead in front of me. I was SO glad that I have an engrossing submission to take my mind off my racing heart and quickened breath.

Our 4:20 PM flight finally took off at just shy of 7:30. We were on the plane for two hours waiting, waiting, waiting some more. Thankfully, everybody was calm and in good spirits. I read subs on my PDA until the battery got weak and then turned back to my paperback.

We land. YAY. We wait for a spot at the gate. UGGGH. We walked off the plane at just after NINE, central, 10 eastern! I've read over half a book and most of a plus novel length submission in that time! Of course me being....me, I was reading a book about a plane crash LOL!

But I'm here...

Fortunately, the vet let us pick up Moonlight at that late hour. Moonlight, you ask. Who is Moonlight? Welll... we got a kitten. She's a sweetheart and has really enriched our time here. Anyway, Moonlight was spayed while we were away and this poor tiny kitty has an Elizabethan collar on her that is as big as...oh maybe half her body size. This is so she won't bite or chew the stitches. Poor darling staggers when she walks because the collar is darned uncomfy. I'll try to post some pictures later tonight.