Traveling is so much fun.
You know I love to travel but maybe it’s time to clarify something. I love visiting new places, I don’t love getting there. I can’t wait for the day we can just “beam” ourselves to our destination.
I roused myself at 6 am to feed the cats, shower and head to T.F. Green Airport for my flight to Knoxville.
I am not now and never have been a morning person. At my age I doubt that I am going to change that so any morning that starts at 6 am is a challenge to begin with. The only reason I can do it is for the reward at the end of the tunnel.
When I arrived at T.F. Green I was pleased to find out that I was Prechecked by TSA or something like that. Apparently it’s something new to make the TSA appear to be kinder and gentler. Passengers are selected at random (or so they say) and get to skip some of the more intrusive pre-screening at the security check point.
I didn’t have to take the laptop out, or my shoes off or even my sweatshirt (jacket). I just put everything on the belt to be screened and trotted through the scanner, not the new full body scanner but one of the old ones where you just walk through. Easy Peasy! I like this.
I flew US Air because Southwest doesn’t fly into Knoxville. I got to pick my own seats when I booked my flight. I like that so much better than Southwest’s first come first serve policy. Anyway boarding went off without a hitch. We boarded like normal down the jet way. We were on one of the little skinny planes.
Sandy (my sister) calls them pencil planes, just 2 seats on each side of a single aisle and 1 flight attendant. I had to change planes in Washington at Ronald Reagan International. The flight was just 1 ½ hours. Pretty short by my standards.
I was in for a surprise at Ronald Reagan. We landed and taxied not to a gate but to some spot in the middle of the tarmac. The stairs were lowered and we climbed down that way where we were ushered onto a waiting shuttle. It was sort of like a bus with the interior of a trolley or subway car. There were hand loops and poles but no seats. This shuttle delivered us to the terminal.
Hmmmm. I felt like all that was missing was the paparazzi with flash bulbs popping and cameras clicking. Isn’t that where the president steps out onto the stairs of Airforce One and waves for his photo op?
I killed the time between flights by having lunch. The special of the day was Maryland Lump Crab Cakes so I gave them a try. Good but not worth $15.00 and the waitress wasn’t rude but was severely lacking in the personality department.
When it came time to board for the 2nd leg of the journey we were once again loaded into a shuttle and ferried out to a row of “pencil planes” sitting in the middle of the tarmac. We were in a line of shuttles. Smaller utility vehicles buzzed around making me think of scenes from Star Wars where all the little robots and droids are zipping around.
Eventually we were unloaded and escorted to one of the pencil planes that had the stairs down. 1 ½ hours later we landed in Knoxville. The flight was uneventful which is always a plus.
Oh and we exited off a jet way this time. No steep stairs in the middle of the airport.