On my way to San Diego
Trip Start
Mar 15, 2008
1
2
8
Trip End
Mar 22, 2008
Milwaukee, Wisconsin,
Wisconsin,
United States
Saturday, March 15, 2008
I made it to the Milwaukee International Airport by 5:45 am and because I had the foresight to pack strictly carry-on I was able to bypass the lines at the desk and proceed directly to the security check point. Thank goodness my company booked my travel this round well in advance so I wasn't selected for special screening. I had all my cameras, lenses, and other technical gadgetry along that take forever to manually scan, but zipped seemlessly through the checkpoint in about 5 minutes.
Because I was early I stopped at Starbucks and grabbed a bagel and cream cheese for breakfast and nibbled it while waiting to board my Delta flight.
Delta had great service in the air, leather seats (though I find after many experiences in the air that their suprisingly hard seats were much less comfortable than plush fabric seats on other similar airlines such as NWA) an in-flight movie and really tasty meal purchase options
On my way
. I bought a parmesan chicken sandwich and was pleasantly surprised with the quality - for airline food it was truly gourmet cuisine. We were offered beverages throughout the flights and free snacks from the snack basket as well. All in all a great experience. The weather flying into and out of Atlanta was very choppy and rough air. I felt a couple times as though I might be sick and I usually fly just fine. I found out after arriving in San Diego that the rough air was due to the major tornado system that slammed Atlanta today just after we departed - good thing we got out when we did.
Arriving in Atlanta I literally had about 15 minutes until we were scheduled to depart and I deplaned in a different concourse entirely than my connecting flight. Atlanta's airport is very large, but it was easy to navigate as well and after finding out which terminal I needed to be in hopped on the rail system and rushed towards my gate. I managed to arrive at the gate just as the attendant was going to give away the remaining seats. Thankfully because this flight was also through Delta they knew I had checked in through to San Diego and were waiting for me to arrive.
My ticket had me seated in the middle of three seats, but the girls seated on either side of me ended up being friends and while I was stowing my suitcase in the overhead compartment they switched seats and gave me the aisle. Perfect!! It was exactly the seat I wanted and I didn't even have to ask.
The flight was long, but after clearing the bad weather near Atlanta also uneventful. We arrived an hour later than planned due to the Atlanta flight control keeping an eye on the weather, but my friend Alyshia waited the hour for my arrival so that we could ride to the cruise terminal together. We had worked a contract together in Australia/New Zealand and were reunited for this Mexico run.
When I got off the plane I called Alyshia and asked where she was standing. She told me that she was near baggage claim 3 so I walked that direction but didn't spot her. I called back and asked where exactly by baggage carousel 3 and she said across from the escalator. I kept her on the phone and told her I was under the Lindburgh plane situated between the carousel and the escalator and she asked "what plane?". So now I realized there might be a whole different baggage claim area with the same number system - sure enough she was in Terminal 2 and I was in Terminal 3. We met up and then grabbed a taxi to the cruise dock.
This concludes one very long day of travel. Why HAL sent me from Milwaukee to Atlanta to San Diego I don't know but I've arrived safe and sound and excited to get on my ship.
-T
