Yep, kinda like the airplane line, looks like I picked the wrong day to quit sniffing glue. Mark got up to the radio on Thursday morning. He gets up to talk radio, easier to wake up if someone is talking, rather than just music. He heard the word, airport, terrorist and then we were all up. We got ready really fast, no coffee even. I dumped my makeup case in my bag to be checked. We were on our way. I got to the airport about 6am. My bags got checked and I went to find the security line at 6:15. That would be the easiest part of our day. Lon was loaded into the baby bjorn. I was pushing the stroller with the diaper bag ahead of me. I asked a man in a TSA shirt, Which way to the end of the line for security. He pointed me down to the end of the hall. I went to the end of the line. An hour later I was at the Disney dividers (you know, the kind where you wind your way through) I was pleased. I would actually make my plane! whoohooo!! Ah, what is that about chickens and not yet hatched? The SAME TSA guy who told me where to go in the first place said that this was the first class line and I should get over to the PARKING GARAGE where the regular people's line ended. Um, I had already been in line an hour and I was in the line where YOU told me to go. He then told me I should have known it was the first class line and it was not his fault he did not know I was not first class. And as a last parting gift, he said I should hurry up or I would even be farther behind in the line. I was not pleased but I thought how long could this be? Try to be cheerful. Well THREE HOURS later, that makes a total of FOUR hours in line, I got to the security check point. They let me keep Lon's milk, I had to take a drink, and they also let me keep the closed bottle of apple juice since it was for the baby. Whew. They took my Tide to go pen, and the hand sanitizer I forgot was in the diaper bag. But that was all I had that was liquid or gel. The lady behind me had expensive perfume in her bag and was doing her best to try and keep it. It was not working. This is part of the reason the line moved so very slowly. I knew my plane was gone gone gone. I got in line at the service desk to try and re book. A nice Navy man named Steve who was in line ahead of me through all this, called the airline on his phone. They got him rebooked on a flight leaving in 25 minutes, two gates away. Steve let me use his phone to see if I could get on the flight too. We were both going to DC. No dice for me and then they tell me that my bags are MY responsibility, and I have to find a way to get them back to me. Which is to say, I have to get a power of attorney fax it to Alaska Airlines in DC, and then to the person who would pick up my luggage and then they can MAIL it to me. This was not something I wanted to hear. Really. I got to the front of the line, and was told that even though it did not look good, I should wait for the 1pm plane. Okay, it was only two more hours. This lovely lady being me said, oh! I only missed my plane by a few minutes, but wasn't it nice they got all the people who were traveling with babies out of line and moved them to the front?Gee, she could have gone all day with out clueing me into that! NO, that did not happen to me. I waited. I was traveling with just me and Lon.
I waited for the second and last plane to DC. Finally, I was able to use the restroom, change Lon and get some food. When you are traveling alone, and in line, you can not leave the line. When the plane was boarding, I felt like a kid in grade school waiting to be picked for dodge ball. I was not picked. It was really sad. I missed the whole trip. I went to the counter, they could not get me out until at least TUESDAY. I canceled out. I was done. I did not want to rebook. I asked them how do I get my luggage. They were really nice, but they told me to go to baggage claim, where they were sure would be another long line. I just wanted to go home. I was exhausted. Lon was so good all day. He was just wonderful. He did not fuss. He seemed to enjoy the baby bjorn. Steve, the Navy man, in front of us and Marion and Samantha, a retired couple on their way to a cruise behind us, entertained him. Since I had the stroller open, we had lots of room for the carry on bags. It was good to push them. We did see a couple of elderly folks who were having enough of a difficult time that they were being attended to by EMTs. Those poor people. My aching feet and back were not so bad. I did not need EMTs.
I walked down to baggage claim, all my new friends were gone. Amazingly, wonderfully, there was no line. No one was there, but there were 7 baggage claim folks there to help just me! I asked if they could give me the fax number to DC's Alaska baggage claim. OH! Did you call about 10. 10:30? The very nice blonde lady asked. Yes, I did. That explains it, she said. Shortly after we heard about what they were telling people, we called and explained the reality of today to them. We will get your bags back with a lost claim and we will even deliver them to your front door. You do not need any more aggravation after today. THANK YOU! That was the nicest thing that happened all day! Hopefully the bags will come back some time on Saturday.
I am hopeful that I can get the bags back, I have alot of annoyingly useful things in there that I miss. Like tennis shoes, underwear, pants, cell phone charger and USB cable. I thought I could blog from Virginia if I was smart and brought the cable. Lon's night night music is packed and so is Grandfather. The mission of this trip was to finally put Grandfather to rest. Grandfather is somewhere. I hope to get him back soon and we will try this mission again. Looking at October. Unless something else happens than I am DRIVING.
