Summer Vacation to Durham, NC

(I will try to post the details as accurate as possible)

In this post; I am going to try to explain the details of the trip that my wife Lynne and I took to visit her sister Sheryl, and family in Durham, North Carolina.

(Monday, July 18, 2011)

It all started on Monday, July 18, 2011 when I started my vacation two days before my wife was scheduled to start hers. I was out of the house very early that Monday morning, and when I returned, my wife informed me that she had received a call from her nice Lori in NC stating that maybe, it would be good for Lynne to come down and spend some time with Sheryl, as she had been feeling a little down due to Lori being in and out of the hospital due to having a double lung transplant in 2000; more on that later.

We started to make plans for the trip to NC, and my oldest grandson’s step-uncle in CT, heard about the plans, and stated that he would make flight reservations, using some of his Frequent Flyer Miles. By Monday night, we had our round trip flights booked and we were now planning on packing and leaving very early Wednesday morning on United Airlines.

I contacted a friend of our about driving us to Logan Airport in Boston, asking him to pick us up at 3:30 AM, for the trip into the airport. One thing that I need to state is that in 39 years of marriage, my wife Lynne and I have never flown together on an airplane. We have never gone anywhere, where we needed to fly, we always drove to our vacation spots.

(Wednesday, July 20, 2011)

Wednesday morning came and our friend Bob picked us up as scheduled and off to Logan we went. At that time of the morning there was very little traffic on the roadways; I mean, after all, it was only 3:30 AM (or o-dark thirty, as some would say), so making good time was not an issue.

We arrived at Logan about 4:30 AM, and were dropped off at the United Terminal; what a surprise when we walked into the terminal, got our boarding passes from the little Kiosk machines,  and found that about 300 fellow travelers were already lined up to go through security. Now; I know that our world has changed since 9-11, and I know that things were different as far as flying, but; sad to say, I did not do my homework in researching for the DO’S and DON’T as far as how we should pack and what/what not to take and what sizes things needed to be.

NOW; THE FUN BEGINS: We got into the line to pass through security, and when it was our turn (felt like we were going through a cattle shute) we found that at least half of our toiletries were in containers larger than the allowed 3oz. of fluid. At that point, the TSA felt (I guess) that they needed them more than we did, and removed them from our bags and then re-scanned the bags again.

OK; bags repacked, shoes put back on, belt back to holding up my pants (it would be good to have three hands when passing through an airport),  items placed back in my pants pockets; now cleared to head for the gate to check in for our flight.

It gets even better. We arrived at the gate a few minutes before the ticket agent, so we took a seat. Being a type of guy that likes all his ducks to be in order; I went to speak to the agent when she arrived at her station, and asked her if my boarding passes were all in order. Mind you; that this is Wednesday morning about 5:15 or so. The agent informs me that my flight from Logan to Washington DC was on time, but my connecting flight had been cancelled due to mechanical problems. I asked OK; now what do we do?

We were due to leave Logan at 6:00 AM and arrive at DC at 7:34 for our connecting flight, and leave at 8:27 AM and arrive in Durham NC at 9:30 AM; Well; Mr. York, seeing that your connecting flight was cancelled, we have rebooked you on a flight that will be leaving DC around 9:00 PM (forget the exact time) landing in Durham at 10:30 PM or so. No Way; was I going to have a 11-13 hour layover sitting in an airport. Let me see what I can do for you Mr. York; ………..Yes; I can put you on a flight on another airline (Continental), but it leaves in one hour, and it will take you to Newark, NJ. And not DC.

The chase is on; she prints me out the transfer tickets, tells me we now have to go to terminal “C” (we were at “A”). The agent says to get the golf-cart shuttle to take us to terminal “C”, and off we went to find the golf-cart (10 min walk at least) got on the cart express and drove for about 5-10 min. to arrive at our next terminal. I did not know that there was a tour of Logan included in our flight plans J the young woman dropped us off at the top of the escalator, down we went into another security line. Time now is getting tight to make the flight (we have not even left Logan yet). Waited in line, get up to the security desk, and was informed that the tickets in our hands were not Boarding Passes; NOW WHAT? Mr. York, you need to go to that ticket counter (200 feet away) and get your boarding passes. Got the passes (plane leaving in 20 min.) escorted back to the head of the security line, had to go through security again, and again the TSA decided they wanted/needed a couple more of our items.

Shoes on, bags repacked; belt back on, pockets reloaded; where’s my wife? Just get a glimpse of her going into the gang-way and into the plane. Walking as fast as I could, I join her, and they shut the door behind me.

Let me catch my breath; Whew……stow my bags in the overhead, take my seat and find out that I even have a couple of inches of leg room. (NOTE:  We were supposed to have Economy Plus (it was paid for) on all four flights, where we were to have extra leg room. It only happened on two out of four flights.)  Once the door was shut, the flight was smooth and uneventful.

Arriving at Newark, NJ; we had to take a bus shuttle from one terminal to another terminal to make our connecting flight. No problems were uncounted. As we were already on the Tarmac side of the airport, we did not have to go through security again; what a relief.   

We ended up waiting about an hour, boarded our second flight and headed to Durham, NC. Flight was smooth and uneventful.  We were scheduled to land at 9:30 AM originally, but due to all the issues at Logan, we landed at 10:30 AM in Durham, NC.

I hope that you read the entire blog, as then you will know “the rest of the story”

Let me share some additional details with you that were not previously mentioned. When Lori, Lynne’s nice called Lynne about coming down, it was too be a total surprise to Sheryl. She knew nothing about the covert plans.

As we were changing planes and times trying to get to Durham, we kept in touch with Lori (via texting; I love technology) updating her on our arrival time. Dave, Lori’s dad had told Sheryl that he had to leave and pick up some items as they had just moved into the house only 5 days earlier. Lori is like her mom and Lynne; nothing was to remain in boxes after the move. By the time we arrived at the house, everything was put in its place, pictures hung on the wall, moving boxes were nowhere to be seen.

Excuse me; I was getting ahead of myself; Dave met us at the airport and when we arrived at the house, Sheryl was completely blown away by Lynne and I walking through the front door. Totally surprised; more like shell shock, but it was a joy to see them all again.

As I mentioned earlier in the post; Lori is a double lung recipient, and has had a lot of issues in dealing with her health. On Thursday, the day after our arrival, she had to go into Duke University for a procedure where she would have to remain overnight. Dave was to spend the day at the hospital with her, so that left Lynne, Sheryl and I to remain at the house.

Dave has told me about the projects that he wanted to get done before returning to Chesapeake, VA (their main home; the new house is so that Lori can be close to Duke for her treatments) I told him that I would give him a hand in taking care of the projects. Long story short; I ended up installing two dimmer switches, one ceiling fan/light, fixed a door that would not open, setup a home security system and setup Lori’s new laptop, so that she can do her blogging. She is the one that got me interested in starting a blog. I had no idea that one of my first postings would turn into a book. You can read Lori’s Blog at  “http://www.laelobes.blogspot.com/” Reading her blog can give you more information on her journey than I could ever do.

The five days that we spent in Durham went by way too fast. It was a great time with family we don’t get to see often enough, and before we knew it, it was time to start thinking of packing up and heading home again. So we thought L

We were to leave on United from Durham to DC, and on Saturday, I received an e-mail (love the smart phone) from United stating that I could check in on line and obtain my boarding passes. That was great, except there was no printer in the house to print out the boarding passes; not to worry; the e-mail and website gave me a link so that I could store them on my smart phone and have the TSA scan them upon our arrival. Later found out that the TSA does not like to do that as they like to write on them after checking your ID against them. OK; that’s fine; got everything that we need to fly home.

The remainder of Saturday and Saturday night went by and we enjoyed each other’s company and a corn beef dinner. Dave had already left late Friday afternoon to return to VA. So I went to bed early and settled in for a good night’s sleep.

Got up a little after 5:00 AM to shower and pack. Sheryl had stated that she was going to cook breakfast for us before heading out at 8:45 AM for the airport. A little before 6:00 AM, my cell phone rang, it was a computer generated voice saying that our flight from Durham to DC was cancelled. WHAT? Is this happening again; is this a nightmare; what is going on…..I walked into the bedroom and called to my wife……”we need to get to the airport” Now everyone is up and cooking breakfast was put into high gear.

Breakfast over, bags packed, we step out of the front door……..Man; hot and very humid. I did not mention that all week, the temps were about 100-105 with a heat index of 115 on Saturday. That proved to me why I do not live down south. Anyway; make it to the airport only to find lots of people trying to rebook their flights. Lucky for me; most of them were behind me. Waited for just a couple of minutes, walk up to the ticket counter only to be told by the ticket agent, “I am in training, please bear with me” her trainer came over and after what seemed like 30-40 minutes Lynne and I were booked on US Airways, (United had rebooked us for a Monday departure) Went around the corner, got our boarding passes and then took a long walk through the airport to get to our gate.

We had about an hour wait, but all went well with that flight and also our connecting flight back to Boston. We left Boston about an hour later than scheduled, and arrive back to Boston 18 minutes earlier than expected. Our ride was waiting; home by 3:00 PM; unpacked and went out to dinner. Needless to say, early to bed.

Remember at the beginning of this post (so long ago, sorry) I stated that in 39 years of marriage, we had never flown together……hummmm; wonder how long it will be before that happens again. If it does; I see a direct flight out of Manchester, NH. Well; we will see.

Thanks for reading: