Today, Conner and I started our trip to Atlanta. We have been planning this for a while and the excitement has been building. We are excited to spend time with Mark, Daina, Aidan and Mairyn. We are going to Atlanta to witness Aidan’s baptism.
This is Conner’s first trip on an airplane. I love flying and I am excited to share this experience with Conner. We want to spend as much time with Mark and Family as possible so Lori was nice enough to book us an early flight. We got up early, about 5:00 am. Lee was kind enough to watch the kids so Lori could drive us to the airport.
Our first flight was to Chicago. It left Salt Lake at 7:20 in the morning. Of course, once the door was closed they said there would be a slight delay. After about a 20 minute delay we finally backed out and started the flight. We still arrived on time in Chicago. I was a bit nervous because I wanted to catch our connecting flight. With the time change and everything I was a bit paranoid about missing the flight. Conner and I walked around a bit and found a McDonalds. We got some dinner and a place to eat it. After we ate, we walked around a bit and I thought we should get started back to our gate. Luckily, I checked the departure board again just to make sure and then I realized that our flight was canceled. Well, a bit of panic set in but I figured that they would have to take care of us somehow. I have never had a flight canceled before.
I talked to an airline employee and she said that I needed to go to an automated customer service kiosk. There were two flights that were leaving later in the day. I was able to get on the waiting list for the first flight and book an actual seat for the flight after that. Conner was a bit nervous because now it looked as if I was not going to be able to sit next to him on the flight. I told him not to be nervous, just sit quietly and if he had any problems to just get up and come get me.
I had my doubts that we would get on the first flight, especially because we had to compete with everyone else that had their flight canceled. Perhaps it was my charm, but after I talked with a gate attendant, I was number 4 on the waiting list. As the first flight was boarding, we were hanging around the ticket counter and they called my name. I told them that I would not go unless I could take Conner with me (I know, I am a great Dad). They said to give them a minute and then they called me back and they had two tickets for us. Conner and I got two seats next to each other on the very back row even next to a window.
So we had started out on time and expected to get to Mark and Daina’s at about 4:30 in the afternoon. With the canceled flight, we didn’t leave Chicago until about 4:45. Again, the flight was delayed until about 5:00. It is a two hour flight with a gain of one hour due to a time zone change so we didn’t get to Atlanta until 8:00 pm. Mark had church meetings that night so he was unable to meet us at the airport when we got there. Conner and I waited for another hour and a half until Mark was able to get there. Finally we got to Mark’s house around 11:00 (I think).
It was a long day. A lot of waiting. Overall, we had a good time.
I wished we had been able to get there earlier but we were glad to be there. Mark and Daina and family are great hosts. Aidan had everything set up like a hotel. Conner and I got into my room and there were towels on our bed and some small gifts for us. It was great.
