TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18TH--DEPARTURE DAY!!
So, let me start by saying that Southwest's flight times were not the greatest. We only fly nonstop to Orlando b/c it's really only a 2 hour flight so we can't see the point in wasting half a day or more having a connection. Plus, having a connection increases the chances of flight delays, lost luggage etc. With that being said it also means that we don't have as many choices when it comes to flight times. There were 3 nonstops from Pittsburgh that day. The first one was at 6:00 a.m.--not a big fan of that one plus that one would be really tough on J. The second one was at 4:10 & the last one was at 7:00. We booked the 4:10 flight. Since we didn't have to leave for the airport until 1:15 I had 6 hours to kill at work. Lucky me!!
At least it made the time go by fast. Far better than staring at the clock waiting to leave.
Since MDE has been such a friend lately
(yeah right!!) I took pictures of my FP's & times on the computer screen a few days prior to leaving. Very wise move on my part b/c when I logged on that morning at work this is what I found:
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So here I am--24 hours away from my first FP of the trip & MDE claims I haven't made any yet......
I left work and drove to E's house around 12:45. Her husband loaded up the car & we were on our way about 1:10. On the way to the airport J asked me if I wanted to play a game. He would say, "I see something that you don't see and it's
(a color)." So then I would guess what he was looking at. When it was my turn I told him I wasn't going to use a color. I said, "I see something that you don't see and it's over there." I pointed to a few buildings that were blocked by trees for the most part. He told me, "I know, that's where Uncle R works." I was quite impressed--J has only been to R's work one time!!
E's husband had us at the airport by 1:40. We said our goodbyes, checked our bags at curbside & headed to security only to find the TSA Precheck line looking like this:
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The line actually stretched back further than this. We couldn't believe how long it was but the good news is that we got through it in about 10 minutes.
Someone's excited to go to Disney!!
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J is always excited to go to Disney but I commented to E that he seemed super excited this time. He kept talking about all the things he was going to ride. He had a different level of enthusiasm than he normally does. He really seemed into this trip!!
On the "monorail".
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When we got off the "monorail" J led the way to his favorite store at the airport. He gets a car from this store every time he goes to the airport.
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He picked a Camaro this time.
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A week before we left I found a little purse type thing(I forgot I had it) in my car. It has tons of gift cards in it. One of them was a gift card to TGI Friday's. There really isn't one by me so I made sure to bring it so I could use it at the airport.
E ordered potstickers & a spinach dip. I ordered fried shrimp & french fries.
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While we were eating an announcement kept being made. It was something along the lines of there being something active going on in a certain section of the airport. That area of the airport would need to be cleared while it was investigated so we should notice more traffic than normal in the section of the airport that we were in. We never heard what was going on but hearing that announcement(multiple times) made E & I both nervous.
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Neither E or I were too impressed with the food. Also, when I went to pay the bill our waitress told me that they don't take TGI Friday's gift cards
J wanted to go to the Sarris candy store. We each got a piece of chocolate.
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The lady who waited on us gave each of us a free pretzel!!
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