Hi Folks,
Here I sit in Vandalia, Ohio, home of..well, nothing that I know of.
I'm at the Dayton Airport Hotel awaiting a 6:30 AM flight back to Dallas.
I had many adventures! My trip started with a 10:30 am flight to Dallas. All went quite smoothly. Got to Dallas and had a 5 hour plus layover, so went to lunch at TGI Friday's. Nowhere near as good as I remembered. Read the whole book I brought, so went to buy another one. Finally boarded the plane to Dayton, and they had oversold the flight and asked for volunteers to deplane and get the next flight to Dayton in the am. As compensation, they were offering a $300 travel voucher, free hotel, dinner voucher, and hotel transport. I jumped on this since every penny counts right now and I had no need to be in Ohio until Friday at the earliest anyway. Unfortunately, they booked every person who volunteered to be bumped or who missed a flight into the Dallas Clarion, which was about 250 people. I waited somewhere around 1.5 hours for a shuttle, then another 1.5 hours to check into the hotel as the key machine broke and there was a line out the door. I survived the night and made it back to the airport in the am.
Then, things start going really wrong. I got onto the plane - small plane, 2 seats on each side - and I found out the ticket agent had booked me into a WINDOW seat. I immediately got frantic, and the guy next to me agreed to switch with me, when I found out the AISLE ARMRESTS on this style plane do not go up. The WINDOW armrests do. So, if you are booked into one of these small planes, you may actually want a window seat. They did rearrange people and get me a row to myself. Everyone was really, really nice. Then disaster strikes. The fuel pump on the plane was broken. They deplaned everyone and had us reschedule our flights. All the flights from Dallas to Dayton were full. I politely but firmly spoke to the ticketing agent and told her I needed to get to Dayton, not Cincinnati or Columbus (they were trying to reroute people), and furthermore I needed an aisle seat as other seats did not accomodate me. She booked me into a plane to Minneapolis in an aisle seat, but FIRST CLASS. Then she had me switch airline in MN to Northwest, putting me in Dayton at 6 pm.
First class is awesome. I had not flown first class since I was about 5. I do fit into the seat at a size 26/28. Anyone significantly larger than this may have problems, though so much depends on how you are shaped. The armrests in first class do not go up.
They still give you free alcohol, free food and free headphones in first class. I liked sitting by the window so I could see out. Unfortunately this plane landed when my other plane was scheduled to board. I had to be at the opposite end of the airport. They called me a cart, which took me to the train connecting concourses. I jumped on it then flew down to the end of the A terminal. Made it! I was in a window seat again, which barely accomodated me with the armrest up. God forbid you are any taller than me though. This is a teeny, tiny plane. http://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Northwest_Airlines/Northwest_Airlines_Canadair_CRJ_B.php
I am 5'4" and banged my head HARD, twice! I made it to Dayton, finally though.
Checked into the Dayton Doubletree, which is very, very nice. I took a shower and went to find my friends. Beth and Stan were running a hospitality suite. (Beth and Stan and I and most of the other people at the wedding are members of a party SIG called Hell's M's, whose motto is that a Hell's M party is one at which everyone has a good time at the party.) They had a large number of pizza hut pizzas, a huge bowl of salad, cheese and crackers, various types of salty snacks, homemade sweets. A refrigerator full of every type soda imaginable, water, beer (including Sam Adams) and regular domestic beer, and wine. We played double deck cancellation hearts until sleep overcame me.
The next day was the wedding day. I got up lateish and Beth and Stan still had food in the hospitality suite, plus they got sandwiches from Subway for lunch. We all played cards until it was time to get ready for the wedding. The hotel was running a shuttle bus to the Packard Museum (the wedding venue). It was really cool to see all the old cars.
The wedding was presided over by a Wiccan High Priestess. The bride and groom read vows to each other and also to their children. I got all kinds of choked up. I can't remember what all the vows were, but the stepdad's vow to his new son was something about "I will fix cars and computers with you." So very cute. All 3 kids got presents also - the girls got necklaces in their favorite colors and I'm not sure what the boy got. They were presented as a family, not as a couple, and the ceremony included a family hug.
We then had a seated buffet dinner (chicken and vegetarian entree, so you could have either or both. She thinks of everything!) and an open bar. Transportatation back to the hotel was provided by Packard; I got to ride in a 1947 Packard. I am not at all a car person, and I still think this was cool! The Packard I was riding in was donated to the museum by the Du Pont family.
And that is the story so far. I hope my return trip is considerably less eventful!
Here I sit in Vandalia, Ohio, home of..well, nothing that I know of.
I'm at the Dayton Airport Hotel awaiting a 6:30 AM flight back to Dallas.I had many adventures! My trip started with a 10:30 am flight to Dallas. All went quite smoothly. Got to Dallas and had a 5 hour plus layover, so went to lunch at TGI Friday's. Nowhere near as good as I remembered. Read the whole book I brought, so went to buy another one. Finally boarded the plane to Dayton, and they had oversold the flight and asked for volunteers to deplane and get the next flight to Dayton in the am. As compensation, they were offering a $300 travel voucher, free hotel, dinner voucher, and hotel transport. I jumped on this since every penny counts right now and I had no need to be in Ohio until Friday at the earliest anyway. Unfortunately, they booked every person who volunteered to be bumped or who missed a flight into the Dallas Clarion, which was about 250 people. I waited somewhere around 1.5 hours for a shuttle, then another 1.5 hours to check into the hotel as the key machine broke and there was a line out the door. I survived the night and made it back to the airport in the am.
Then, things start going really wrong. I got onto the plane - small plane, 2 seats on each side - and I found out the ticket agent had booked me into a WINDOW seat. I immediately got frantic, and the guy next to me agreed to switch with me, when I found out the AISLE ARMRESTS on this style plane do not go up. The WINDOW armrests do. So, if you are booked into one of these small planes, you may actually want a window seat. They did rearrange people and get me a row to myself. Everyone was really, really nice. Then disaster strikes. The fuel pump on the plane was broken. They deplaned everyone and had us reschedule our flights. All the flights from Dallas to Dayton were full. I politely but firmly spoke to the ticketing agent and told her I needed to get to Dayton, not Cincinnati or Columbus (they were trying to reroute people), and furthermore I needed an aisle seat as other seats did not accomodate me. She booked me into a plane to Minneapolis in an aisle seat, but FIRST CLASS. Then she had me switch airline in MN to Northwest, putting me in Dayton at 6 pm.
First class is awesome. I had not flown first class since I was about 5. I do fit into the seat at a size 26/28. Anyone significantly larger than this may have problems, though so much depends on how you are shaped. The armrests in first class do not go up.
They still give you free alcohol, free food and free headphones in first class. I liked sitting by the window so I could see out. Unfortunately this plane landed when my other plane was scheduled to board. I had to be at the opposite end of the airport. They called me a cart, which took me to the train connecting concourses. I jumped on it then flew down to the end of the A terminal. Made it! I was in a window seat again, which barely accomodated me with the armrest up. God forbid you are any taller than me though. This is a teeny, tiny plane. http://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Northwest_Airlines/Northwest_Airlines_Canadair_CRJ_B.php
I am 5'4" and banged my head HARD, twice! I made it to Dayton, finally though.
Checked into the Dayton Doubletree, which is very, very nice. I took a shower and went to find my friends. Beth and Stan were running a hospitality suite. (Beth and Stan and I and most of the other people at the wedding are members of a party SIG called Hell's M's, whose motto is that a Hell's M party is one at which everyone has a good time at the party.) They had a large number of pizza hut pizzas, a huge bowl of salad, cheese and crackers, various types of salty snacks, homemade sweets. A refrigerator full of every type soda imaginable, water, beer (including Sam Adams) and regular domestic beer, and wine. We played double deck cancellation hearts until sleep overcame me.
The next day was the wedding day. I got up lateish and Beth and Stan still had food in the hospitality suite, plus they got sandwiches from Subway for lunch. We all played cards until it was time to get ready for the wedding. The hotel was running a shuttle bus to the Packard Museum (the wedding venue). It was really cool to see all the old cars.
The wedding was presided over by a Wiccan High Priestess. The bride and groom read vows to each other and also to their children. I got all kinds of choked up. I can't remember what all the vows were, but the stepdad's vow to his new son was something about "I will fix cars and computers with you." So very cute. All 3 kids got presents also - the girls got necklaces in their favorite colors and I'm not sure what the boy got. They were presented as a family, not as a couple, and the ceremony included a family hug.
We then had a seated buffet dinner (chicken and vegetarian entree, so you could have either or both. She thinks of everything!) and an open bar. Transportatation back to the hotel was provided by Packard; I got to ride in a 1947 Packard. I am not at all a car person, and I still think this was cool! The Packard I was riding in was donated to the museum by the Du Pont family.
And that is the story so far. I hope my return trip is considerably less eventful!
