Sitting In a Long Metal Tube for the Day

This will be short . . .

I have internet access again – at the Day’s Inn by the Minneapolis/St. Paul Airport (MSP). We were scheduled to leave San Diego this morning at 8:45am . . . we finally took off around 2:00pm. During that time we boarded twice and managed to spend over three hours in the plane at the gate. I think Got is reminding me that I need to be patient, or maybe He’s reminding someone else on the flight!

Due to the delays we missed our connecting flight and are holed up in the Days Inn until our flight tomorrow morning (Lord willing.)

It’s been a long day . . . not my idea of a great Sabbath although I did manage to get quite a bit more read in Dan Kimballs’ “The Emerging Church” and spent a bunch more time with my family, something I’m always grateful for.

GRR to SAN

Today we flew from Grand Rapids (GRR) to San Diego (SAN). Our flight from GRR was delayed by about 45 minutes due to weather (snow) and as a result we had to run to our connecting gate in Minneapolis (MSP). We managed to get off our flight from GRR to MSP as quickly as possible and hustled our way to our departure gate. As we arrived at the departure gate, a good 10 minute hike from our arrival gate, we could see our plane – already backed away from the gate. We’d missed our connecting flight by about five minutes.

Oh well, such schedule disappointments are part of travel. We were thankful that Northwest Airlines had booked us on the next flight from MSP to SAN prior to our leaving GRR. Not finding any gate agents around to confirm our seating with we decided to walk back towards the main entrance. Realizing it was lunch time, we headed to Chili’s Too, a restaurant at the airport, and had lunch. After lunch we decided to walk to our new departure gate, again at the proverbial “other side of the airport.” Along the way we found a Northwest gate agent and proceeded to get our new seat assignments and boarding passes for the later flight. To our suprise and pleasure the gate agent booked all four of us in First Class for the flight from MSP to SAN. This was the first time that my son and my mother-in-law had ever been in First Class; in my son’s words – it was “AWSOME!”

Sometimes delays are met with pleasure . . . the wait in the airport wasn’t wonderful, although the upgraded seats were appreciated by all.

Carry on limitations

My mother-in-law (mom to me) and I were just talking about packing and I realized that it’s been a few years since I’ve flown much and I had some questions about what was allowed in our carry on bags.  Specifically, mom wanted to know if she could take a crochet needle on the flight.  We’re flying from Grand Rapids to Minneapolis and then on to SanDeigo; there will be plenty of time to occupy while on the flight.  Not knowing the answer, although assuming that TSA would not allow a crochet needle on board I decided to check online.  To my amazement TSA actually had a crochet needle on the authorized list of items you can take on/in your carry on luggage.

Mom was pleased to learn this and I spent a few minutes updating myself ont he various limitations for carry on luggage contents.  Nothing too suprising, although certainly I will have to pack a bag as normal luggage.  No cramming everything into my carry on for this trip; the TSA limitations would make that endeavor a bit to challenging for my desire.  Oh well, I suppose with four of us travelling I should expect to wait for luggage claim in SanDiego.  Maybe I’ll be able to talk my wife and mom into waiting for the luggage while my son and I go get the rental car . . . hmmm.  Maybe!