Got up at 4:30 and was on the 5:45 hotel shuttle to the airport. Since today is the 17th anniversary of the 9/11 attack, I couldn’t help but be nervous about flying. The airport was very busy even at this time of morning and it was hard to find the TSA pre-check line. It was poignant that 2 Marines stood at attention at a memorial honoring the 9/11 fallen. Security was more visible than when we arrived 2 weeks ago.
We had already gotten a notice that the flight would be delayed 15 minutes. It actually took longer than 15 minutes. The plane came in from Hawaii and there had to be a crew change before going on to Atlanta. We left a little after 8:00.
Thankfully, the flight was uneventful and I watched 2 movies to pass the time: Deadpool 2 (funny); Showdogs (lame). We landed in Atlanta after 4:00 which was fine since our shuttle was not scheduled until 5:15. The plane let the people trying to make connections get off first. Glad I was not one of them.
After retrieving the luggage, we walked outside to the shuttle area. Oh, the heat and humidity. My hair frizzed up immediately.
The shuttle was on time and there was only 4 other people riding so we had room to spread out. The new northern Express Lanes were open and we were able to speed by the stalled traffic in the Windy Hill area. We dropped off 2 people in Calhoun and 1 person in Dalton. We got to East Ridge (Chattanooga office) around 7:30.
Got home (after stopping to pick up a bag of Krystals – love those little square burgers) about 8:00. Called for the cats and they came right to the door. They were both purring loudly but I am not sure if they were really happy to see us or just wanted dinner.
One disappointment – zipper pulls were ripped off the largest bag and only left a stub that we were able to get it open. Must have gotten caught in a conveyor or something. I don’t think it can be repaired. I doubt that the travel insurance will cover it as we didn’t notice it at the airport so we failed to get an incident report. Lesson learned. Check the condition of bag as soon as it comes off conveyor.
Tomorrow will be busy unpacking, laundry, filing Chuck’s insurance claim, a Wal-mart run, and the dreaded post-cruise weigh-in. I hope the laundry shrunk my jeans.
Looking forward to our next adventure in November.
Fondest Travel Memories 