And away we go!

Left this house this morning about 11 AM with our trusty chauffeur service and driver - Ellen.  We arrived at CLT in 23 minutes - just as she predicted.  What service.  Beth dropped Aaron off immediately after we arrived and we embarked on our traditional travel schema....waited on line for about 1/2 hour before we found out that the USAirways computer had been down for 3 hours, flights were backed up and/or cancelled and the crowds were reminiscent of Atlanta or NYC airports.  Finally a USAirways agent told "all who had flights leaving at 1 PM or later (that would be us!)  should walk down to the D terminal check-in.  So, off we went, each carrying a backpack and carry-on luggage and rolling our one larger suitcase.  Upon arrival, we found several agents behind the desk and one long Disneyesque line!  So wait and move a few feet at a time we did.  The good news was that the line moved a bit faster and the TSA line was much shorter than the ones at A, B or C.  AND our plane was leaving from D anyway.  The boys (teens and Poppa) were in good humor  and so the line moved along.  Until....the screening machine did not like Poppa's electric hair trimmer and we had to wait while the TSA agent went through our carry-on suit and ran Poppa's toiletry case and my make-up through the machine several times then wished us a good trip!

Off to lunch at the restaurant (as Carson remembered) where we ate breakfast before our trip to Mexico - Memories!  Then we went to our gate.  After a few minutes, it seemed a bit strange that there were no other people at the gate!!  Problem? We checked and, sure enough, they hadn't announced a gate change or posted it on the boards near the gate.  So off we tramped from D11 back to D2 (near where we had lunch).  Were we finished?  Oh, No....now there was a boarding delay and the Captain was coming in at D9 but hadn't gotten there yet.  Ultimately, we boarded about 40 minutes late and the flight to Phila. was short and uneventful.

When we arrived, we were delighted to find that we arrived in Terminal A and our plane was leaving from A20 - a long walk  but much better than walking to another Terminal.  When we got to A20 there was no sign that our plane was ac.tually to leave from there .... but we had a long layover and figured it just wasn't posted yet.  The strange thing was that Dublin no longer was shown on the boards for any flights.  Checked the USAirways Web site and we were still posted at A20.  By this time, the boys were....you got it....hungry.  So off to the food courst (Carson and I had Chinese and Aaron and Art had Italian).  Mike and Ikes and Hot Tamales for dessert and free Internet access made for a happy group despite the little bumps along the way.