I’m leaving, on a jet plane, don’t know when I’ll be back again…

John Denver

Day 1
Get out of DFW

O’ Dark Hundred

Since it’s such a drive to and from DFW, we thought it best to overnight in a hotel close to the airport. Great idea, poor execution. We were directly under the flight path, neither of us got any sleep. Disturbed by the roar of airplanes, the sound of the heat pump, an unfamiliar surrounding, screams in the middle of the night, and coughing-the struggle for shuteye is real!

Up, Up, and Away…no, wait a minute…

Arriving at DFW airport on time for check in is a feat in itself, DFW is huge, miles of access road and 5 different terminals, lucky for me, I generally fly out of the same terminal; E. Nerve wracking when you’re the co-pilot and your pilot cannot hear in your voice range, and you end up screaming at them. Poor Bob. The Navy was good to him, but left him with terrible tinnitus-I digress.
We say our quick good bye’s at the curb, he actually loves to say; “He’s kicked me out at the curb!” and I strode on up to the kiosk, shoved in my credit card, because I couldn’t remember my flight confirmation number, who has time for that? I can barely remember if I took my vitamins on any given day!
Confirmed who I was, then my flight details; DFW-EWR, EWR-PQI, yes, yes, yes, just print my boarding passes… Then the dreaded screen that says I need an assistant to proceed further. Great. Listen kiosk, I’ve got places to go, things to do, and people to see, don’t mess with my plans.
Here she comes…Miss Kiosk Attendant… “It looks like you won’t be able to make your connecting flight, your plane is delayed…It won’t be taking off until 12:30 or 1:30 this afternoon.”

Adjusting the Date

“You may need to change your flight to tomorrow, there aren’t any flights left to Newark today.”
“What? We drove one and a half hours to get here and spent the night in a hotel.”
“We can possibly get you a hotel voucher.”
(No! I don’t want a voucher, I want to go home to see my mum, who’s living on blessing days, the Doctors told us her expiration date was January 5th, 2024, that’s when her pacemaker battery was going to terminate and so would she. Blessing date number 117, what do Doctors know, they are just practicing medicine.)
“No, I won’t be spending the night, thank you very much, get me on any flight out of here, as long as I end up in EWR before my connecting flight.”
“That will be impossible, all flights are booked.”
“Ok, Newark has two flights every day that fly into PQI, one early evening and one late in the evening. Check to see if you can get me on the late flight.” (Don’t they know this? I don’t work for UA, but even I know this.)
“Yes, there are seats available, but I’m not sure you will be able to connect…”
“I’ll be able to, just change them.”
(I really didn’t know at that moment if what I said was true, but I had a plan. Get to Newark, anyway, come hell or high water. That must be a Yankee saying, because in the South they say, “Lord willin’ and the creeks don’t rise.”)
“So, I can leave you on your original flight which is delayed because of a broken part, they are getting it here from Houston, they expect maybe 10:00am.”
“Great, I’ll go with that.”

10:00am, 11:00am, 12:30pm, 1:30pm

It’s TSA time…wouldn’t you know? I forget to take my sobriety coins out of my pocket and I get the “pat down exam.”
I’m all good, put your shoes on, and high tail it to my gate to talk to an attendant there. In my frustration I read my boarding pass incorrectly, I transpose the gate number with my seat number, Gate E9, Seat 26E, and hoof it clear across the terminal, when normally I’m at a gate just outside the TSA screening area, odd I thought. Hmm, that’s odd, no one here at the gate, and it’s Delta, no UA. Pull out the Boarding Pass to examine, Oh, my goodness! Gate E9, Seat 26E, not Gate E26! I walk a little more slowly back to the correct gate, finding a very long line of disgruntled travelers, and I join the que.
By now, the flight has been further delayed, from 10:00am to 11:00am. They are offering meal vouchers because of the delay, oh, goody, I’m hungry!
I get something to eat, and mosey back to the terminal, the flight is delayed, again, it could be 12:30pm or 1:30pm before the plane is ready. At this point, I’m not worried, my flight out of EWR to PQI is at 8:00pm, I’ll make it.