August 5, 2011

We left the house around 8:30 Tuesday morning and headed for Miami.  Cassie came to the house to wish us well.

We stopped in Naples for some Subway.  I love sandwiches.  (NOT!)

I brought yarn in the car and used all of it up half way through Alligator Alley.

At the airport we had to drive up four levels of the parking just to find the first empty parking spot.  I couldn't do the self check-in because the name of my reservation (Diana Friedman) did not match my passport (Diana Forman-Friedman), but everyone else could.  We encountered a very grumpy employee (must be what happens to people when they live and work in Miami).  She checked me in then asked for everyone's boarding pass.  I had a stack of papers and she impatiently watched me looking through them to find the correct ones, but her toe tapping and watch glancing made me just give her the stack to look through.  She looked through them all and handed some back to Bob.  She said, "Okay, there are five people travelling, right?"  I said, "No, seven,"  she said, "You only gave me five boarding passes, Diana, Ariel, Michael, Matthew, and Hannah."  I said, "Are you sure?"  I was positive I had given her all of them.  She said, emphatically, "Yes, I am sure!"  I looked around, Bob looked around, we looked at each other nervously...then I saw the grump grab two papers, that had been laid down on the counter, and scan them.  They were the "missing papers".  She never even admitted that she had them.  There is a five letter word that starts with the letter B that came to mind.  I will not use it here.

When it came time to board we discovered that the whole family was in "Group 2" except for me.  I was in "Group 4" which is the much nicer way of saying "losers who have to board last".  What a pity.  Did this mean that Bob and the kids would have to carry all of the carry-on and load it into the overhead compartments while I remained in the terminal that was rapidly getting quieter and quieter?  Would I be left alone to sit in a large seat where my feet still reached the floor while the rest of my family got to settle into the "too small" seat that would be their home all the way to Boston?  Things were looking brighter.  After my family disappeared behind the door to the plane a message could be heard through the speakers.  "Attention: Flight 1926 to Boston will temporarily suspend boarding due to weather conditions.  Lightning has been detected.  Hopefully boarding will resume quickly.  Thank you for your patience and understanding.  The safety of our airport employees is paramount."  Or something like that.  Wow!  Now I learned that my quiet stay in the terminal was going to last a little longer. 

Eventually they made me board.  Unfortunately, the delay made our arrival in Boston a bit too close to the departure of our next plane, leaving me to fret for the entire flight up there, but we made it.  Phew!  However... our luggage didn't. 

The plane ride was long.  It was six hours, but some how we lost an additional five hours.  Something about time travel and time zones. Dinner was beef with mushrooms, salad, rolls, a wedge of cheddar cheese and a caramel brownie.  The beef was white and (this is not a joke) tasted like chicken.  I kept thinking This tastes and looks a lot like chicken.  Then the flight attendant told us it was not beef, it was chicken.  Gives new meaning to "mystery meat". 

We finally arrived.  We were in the back of the plane.  There are a few advantages to being in the last rows.  You are closest to the bathrooms, you are the last to leave the plane which means you don't have to rush to gather all of your things and people, and other small things like that.  There are also some minor disadvantages.  You are the closest to the bathrooms and the last to leave the plane.  We made it through customs without any international incidents.  Once we discovered that our luggage hadn't arrived we reported it to the very polite English employee of American Airlines (nothing like his rude counterpart in Miami).  We finally got out of there to find the husband of the family we are swapping with patiently waiting for us.  Half of us went with him, while the other half took a taxi. 

We spent most of the day resting, trying to stay awake to get acclimated to the new time, eating, waiting for our luggage to arrive, and walking around the neighbourhood.  The luggage eventually arrived around 10 last night. 

I knew that some things were bigger in America.  For example, the country itself is so much bigger than the UK.  The homes, on average, are bigger too.  What I didn't realize is that even our fun is bigger.  While I have never done it, most people in the states are familiar with cow tipping.  Here in London they do things on a slightly smaller scale:

It's good to know they care for all of god's creatures both great and small.

Today we are off to visit a few palaces.  I plan on trying some authentic English food.  Wish me good luck.

-Diana  (hope you enjoy the spelling.  This English computer doesn't like American spelling.  It prompted me to change all of the words that seem odd to your American eyes.  I thought, In the spirit of "When in Rome..." I will go with the English spelling.)