Dfw to Philly

Well the trip has begun… Got all the bags in the car and Lil Girl in the front seat and headed to Hurst…Lil Girl’s ‘temporary’ home for a month. As usual she was excited to be traveling in the car with me…but don’t think she anticipated the ‘parting’ at Karen’s. We said our goodbyes and I was on my way to the airport to catch my 11am departure for a one stop flight to Athens…no weather, no wind, no ashes, no problems….well except for the TRAFFIC from Garland to Hurst, but when they are rebuilding every major freeway in North Texas I guess that is to be expected.

Once at the airport I “proudly” placed my bags at the “baggage check in” curbside kiosk…you see I was smart and checked…AND PAID…my bags online the day before. I wasn’t going to have to lug baggage all over the airport. WRONG!!! I was informed they could not check international baggage…..of course I asked why then was I allowed to do it online!!! Reply….”I don’t know…take it upstairs”!!!!!

In typical fashion for today’s “skeleton” airline industry. The flight out of DFW was 1 hour and 15 minutes late which meant missing the connection in Philadelphia. So…the US Air agent was just beside herself, how could she possibly get me to Athens. Well after 20 minutes of me serving as an “agent” for US Air and helping others check in on the computer the agent finally decided I would go to Philadelphia as planned, and from there to Munich, THEN to Athens. This puts me in Athens 5 and one half hours later, but…with the state of air travel these days, guess I should just be glad I’m getting there the same day I planned….but DAMN, I left my peanut butter cookies in Lil Girl’s bed!!!!

One other thing….Why do they load the aircraft from front to back…seems like it would make MUCH more sense to load back to front so you don’t have to wait for EVERY on to find JUST the right place for that carry on luggage!!!

Oh well….27,000 feet over Kentucky on my way to Philly……more later .

WELL!!! USAir changed my reservations to take me through Munich because I wouldn't be in Philly in time to make the connection....but the connection left for Athens 20 minutes before I left for Munich..said they couldn't change it because my luggage was already on the other plane...oh well, rough trip over the Atlantic, but I made it. Have been lucky to have a vacant seat next to me on the first two flights.

Walked the terminals at Philly for a while, had a Philly Chesesteak and on my way....catch ya'll tomorrow from Germany!!!