Although my plane for Orlando didn't take off till 4:30pm, I still got up around 8am, went through my morning routine, did my last minute packing, and closed down my apartment in preparation for a week's absence (turned off the A/C and computer, etc). I had plans for the day leading up to that plane ride, and needed to be ready to leave home at 10am.
But first I went to Home Depot to get a spare key for my mailbox, because in the two and one-half years I've lived here, I never bothered to get one; this was the perfect time, however, as my best friend Rick would be taking care of my apartment and bringing in the mail while I was away, and I figured he'd need a key to the mailbox to do so.
Rick arrived on schedule at 10:15, and after I presented him with my now-complete set of spare keys to my apartment, we were off. The plan was to drive to my parents' house, where I would leave my Hyundai Santa Fe for the week, thus saving me nearly $70 in long-term airport parking fees and making me feel safer about leaving it. After dropping off my truck, Rick would then take me to the airport, but first we would go to Arundel Mills Mall to see a noon showing of Star Wars Episode III.
When we got to the mall, however, I was really hungry, so we grabbed a bite in McDonalds first, and when we go to the theater we were disappointed to find that there was no noon show, as the internet guide I had checked the previous day had said, and we had missed the 11:30 show. The next available show was 12:45, which would have made me late getting to the airport, so we simply wandered the mall for a while and played video games at Jillians, a game room/restaurant in the mall, until it was time for me to go. I actually got to Baltimore-Washington International Airport a little ahead of the 2-1/2 hour advance time, which was fine with me, and after dropping me off Rick went back to the mall to see Star Wars without me.
I was looking forward to flying out of BWI today, because a new section of the terminal building, Concourse A & B, had opened for business the day before to great fanfare and celebration, and I wanted to check out this new Southwest Airlines facility before boarding my plane. I was surprised to find that the new ticket counters were not yet operational, and the 15-minute line I had to endure to check my suitcase was at the old SWA counters in the old section of the terminal. I got into the new terminal a few minutes later, however, and was impressed by the high ceilings, the huge glass walls, and the mondo-expensivo arrays of giant LCD monitors reading out flight information. I even took out my camera and snapped a few images; I had plenty of time for this because there was only one security station open for Concourse B, and the line backed up through most of the new terminal wing until a few more stations opened up. In all it took 20 minutes for me to get through security.
Once through the metal detector, I put my shoes back on and my laptop back into it's bag, and proceeded to snap some pics of both the new Concourses A & B and the food court/shopping area between them. My interest was two-fold: one, I was part of the "traveling public" and a citizen of Maryland who took pride in a lovely new addition to our airport, and two, the entire expansion was designed by the company where I am employed, URS Corporation in Hunt Valley, MD. I had not actually worked on the project myself, but I am well aquatinted with the group who did, and was impressed by the overall design and layout of the new facility.
I did think they skimped on the bathrooms, however. Two lousy stalls for a concourse that size? Forget about it!
Since I had plenty of time till my flight, I bought a snack and a magazine and sat in the nice new food court to read until it was time to board. At 4pm, I went to my gate and found it completely mobbed with people. As it turned out, the flight just before mine, a flight to Manchester (that's in New Hampshire, for those who don't know) had been delayed over an hour and was still sitting at my gate, unloading passengers from it's previous leg. Those lined up at my gate were actually the Manchester passengers, and the Orlando passengers were scattered all over.
I went to a nearby seating area and relaxed for another 25 minutes, until the Manchester flight was gone and my Orlando flight, which had just come in from Hartford (Conne- I say - Connecticut, that is), pulled up to the gate to discharge it's passengers, who had been sitting on the tarmac for over 20 minutes waiting for the Manchester flight to get out of the way. It was another 30 minutes, however, before the plane was 'turned around' and ready for boarding, and our 4:30pm flight actually got airborne at about 5:15.
We were delayed in taking off another 5 minutes, however, by an irate lady whose carry-on had been gate-checked. See, the overhead bins had filled up completely, and the last 15 or 20 passengers wound up having their carry-ons gate-checked. This unreasonable woman, however, didn't like this, and had gone to the rear of the plane and shoved a lot of bags around in the overhead bins to make a space for her bag, but by the time she got back to the entry door where she had left the bag, it was already on it's was down to the luggage hold of the aircraft. Irate Lady insisted on storming up and down the aisle several times, however, and haranguing the flight attendants and the man who was running the gate in a vain attempt to get her bag brought back up to the passenger cabin. Irate Lady was so annoying, in fact, that the sweet older lady next to me kept muttering under her breath, "Just throw her off the plane so we can go already!", and in fact I was about a minute away from giving Irate Lady an earful myself, and it takes a lot to get me to yell at a complete stranger.
The benefits of being in the front row of the plane are, well, plain: I was the first one off the plane and did not have to stand there with my carry-on in my hands for 15 minutes while the rest of the passengers took their sweet old time getting theirs out and getting off the plane. Of course, I still had to wait for my checked bag to come out onto the conveyor belt, but at least I wasn't sardined inside the plane while waiting.
While waiting, I called my mother to let her know definitively that the plane took off, flew, and landed in perfect safety, without a crash or hijacking the whole time. She worries.
Once I got my big blue American Tourister from the belt, I wheeled it over to the Alamo counter, where I again waiting in line to rent my car. After about 30 minutes, when I got to the front of the line, I noticed the small sign off to the side that said, "This line for Quicksilver customers." Of course, there was nobody in the Quicksilver line; I could have gone there instead of standing in the 30-minute line. Oh, well, I'm here now...
And when I actually signed the paperwork and handed my credit card over, the rental agent informed me that Alamo Quicksilver customers didn't need to come to the rental counter in the terminal at all, they could go directly to the kiosk in the garage and be on the road in about 2 minutes. D'OH!
Check in was pretty quick, and I was in room #8427, Building 8, first floor, parking lot side, by 9:40. I immediately unpacked a few things I would need in the morning, locked up my laptop to the wire shelving above the vanity, and began undressing for bed, and only then noticed the sound of running water coming from the toilet. Sure enough, the toilet had a leaky valve and would run all night, forcing me to keep the bathroom door closed to cut myself off from the sound. I was sure it would be an easy repair, but I was far too tired to have the hotel maintenance people fix it that night or to move to another room. I kept the door closed and resolved to call about it in the morning.
I was in bed by 11pm, but being in a Disney resort had me a bit keyed up, and that, combined with the heat of the day and the running toilet, gave me a terrible case of insomnia. At about midnight I gave up on trying to sleep, got dressed, and walked around the resort with my camera. I snapped 3 or 4 pictures and walked at least a mile trying to tire myself out, and when I staggered back into my room around 1am I was finally tired enough to sleep.