Adventures in Travelling, Part 1

A week later and I'm still exhausted.

I went on a trip, and it was adventurous and fun and held unexpected discoveries around every corner.

But getting back into the swing of things has been challenging, at best.

Intending to post while I was gone (again with the unrealistic expectations), I began the tale of my journey while in the midst of my journey. I was fortunate to get where I was going and back without having any of my flights canceled or dying.

I left home on Wednesday, Jan. 26 flying from Manistee Blacker Airport (what? you've never heard of it?) to Milwaukee to New York LaGuardia. Here's an excerpt of my thoughts before leaving Manistee and during my wait in Milwaukee:

Manistee Blacker Airport, Jan. 26, 5:45 a.m. EST

This plane isn't very big.

I get travel anxiety. It's tough leaving home and especially tough leaving my babies in the care of someone else.

All the animals, except the cat that lives in the bathroom, knew something was up and didn't like it one bit. As I drove away, there was a silhouette of a Big Dog in one window and that of a Little Dog in the other. Both gave me that look -- the one that said, "you're not REALLY thinking of leaving us here, are you?"

I'm flying out of the local airport (hopefully) and my flight is scheduled to leave at 6:30 a.m., a scant 5 1/2 hours after leaving work. I hadn't packed and was in full panic. At about 3:15, I decided to take a nap. I'd just about fallen asleep when the alarm went off at 4.

So now, on about 15 minutes of sleep, I'm blogging, all in an attempt to avoid looking at how small that plane is ...


Milwaukee Airport, Jan. 26, 6:45 a.m., CST


We made it to Milwaukee. I feel a little sick, not sure if it was the stress of flying over the world's 5th largest lake in a model airplane, a little bit of motion sickness or the fact that I'm working on 15 minutes of sleep.

I have to say, darling as they were, I'm glad I didn't notice that the pilots, Brett and Brian, probably had to rush to 1st hour at their middle school after landing. They did a fine job and let me take this picture after we landed. (That's Brian):

I joked before leaving that maybe if I was the only passenger they'd let me sit in the cockpit. Well, there were four of us, and we pretty much were in the cockpit. I'm not sure why I expected a 19-seat plane to be bigger than it was. All 5-feet, 4-inches of me didn't think I'd have to duck to walk down the aisle, but it was all OK.

Now, I've got about an hour left before my flight to New York. I heard a message over the PA about wifi hotspots, so I was excited figuring I could finish this and post the pictures. But it's a complete racket! They want you to pay $8 and they'll give access ALL DAY LONG! (Several expletives about $8 wifi hotspot deleted).

I think I deserve more coffee, and I'll settle in to read my book the rest of the way. Feeling considerably calmer now that I'm on my way.

Already miss my dogs, though!

I did settle in with my book and boarded the airplane as expected at about 8 a.m. CST. However, after sitting for quite some time at the gate, they had us all get off the plane and wait indefinitely in the terminal because it was apparently getting pretty snowy in New York.

It was about the time we boarded for the first time that I realized I'd lost my ID. I even called the Manistee airport to see if they'd found it anywhere, but no such luck. They did lead me in the right direction, though. The TSA security guards remembered that I'd shoved all my stuff back in my backpack after they'd searched it and recommended I look in there.

Sure enough, I'd zipped it in my toiletry case. But it wasn't before I spent about an hour wondering how in the world I was going to get home from New York without an ID.

Frustrating as the wait was, I was much calmer with my ID found. We were eventually able to fly out between storms in New York and I arrived at about 2:30 p.m. EST. I breathed a huge sigh of relief as I stood waiting for the M60 bus that would take me into Manhattan, a feeling of homecoming washing over me.