URNotAlone

FINALLY HOME!!!!

August 18th, 2008 11:36 am MDT

Hi everyone....well, I FINALLY made it home to Anchorage....and even doing that was an exercise in itself...what should have been a 9 hour total journey turned into a 23 hour marathon involving three changes of planes and an overnight stay in the airport......         Thursday afternoon started easily enough...get to Harrisburg International, did the self check in thingie, check two suitcases, and float through TSA (suprisingly quickly, I might add)...then board the plane for the "quick hop" to Detroit...RIGHT....        Seems that the last flight crew had flown the aircraft with a labeling placard missing from one of the circuit breakers in the cockpit...Northwest had rushed all of us on board to get the flight off as close to on time as possible, then ended up cancelling the flight because the FAA wouldn't let them fly without the label...even though the pilots KNEW what the circuit breaker was controlling...         Mad dash to the counter, to find out they can't get me out anywhere close to on-time...I'd have to spend the night in Harrisburg and fly out at 12:30pm the following afternoon, getting into Anchorage at 7:20pm AKDT...grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr         I called Rhonda, explained what was going on, and she reminded me about getting comped for a hotel room for the night...which idiot girl here in her frustration completely forget about...        Running back to Northwest, I started to get the room when the agent I was dealing with said..."I can get you out of here tonight, but it will still be tomorrow before I can get to Anchorage...but I can also get you there 7-1/2 hours earlier"...I said "DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!"         So...what started off as Harrisburg to Detroit to Anchorage (all via Northwest) turned into:        Harrisburg to Dulles International (Washingtom DC area) via United...overnight stay...Dulles to Minneapolis-St. Paul via Northwest (Flight leaving at 6am)...and MSP to Anchorage, arriving at 12 noon...AND just to sweeten the deal....had to do the TSA thingie AGAIN at Harrisburg...only this time, because I rebooked....they did everything but a body cavity search....total patdown, ripped my carry-on luggage apart, and x-rayed my laptop not once, but twice....geeze, Louise...         Needless to say, the most beautiful sight to me in the world was seeing Rhonda standing there as soon as I passed out of the passenger only area...even more beautiful than some of the incredible scenery I saw on the flight up and just looking out the windows...         The girl is FINALLY HOME....settling in a bit, and have already been introduced to some really kewl peeps up here...and some not so kewl, but that's another story...      

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