Mercury in Retrograde

Departure

Dec 28^th – starts snowing in the afternoon and by evening there are 3 inches on the ground.  

Decide to stay awake to leave at 2 am for my 5 am flight. Car covered in 6 inches of snow. Crawl out of my neighborhood and head to the airport. The snow is lighter and there’s less of it on the ground as I get closer.

There’s a line around the corner at the Southwest counter at 3:30 am. It’s not for new passengers thank goodness. I’m sad for the thousands whose flights were canceled but mine is still going to Atlanta and on time.

Not checking my bag- the baggage scenes on the news are a nightmare.

We board only 2 minutes late hurray! Not so fast. Airport crew does not have deicer pad cleared. We’re only allowed to be on the plane 2 hours, or we have to return to gate. I hour 58 minutes and were on the runway finally!

We made up some time but still very late arriving in Atlanta.  

Lots of things happen after arrival and before returning home, some NSFW and will not be posted anywhere, for some of the other things, see yesterday’s blog.

Return

Jan 2nd – scheduled departure time of 1030 pm from Atlanta still showing on time at breakfast.

Time to leave Tennessee at T-minus 7 hours and we’re at 1/2-hour delay.

Stop for dinner and now delay is 1 hour.

Arrive at airport at T-minus 2 hours for original departure time to find out all fights out of Florida have huge delays. New departure time is 3 ½ hours later than the original.  

Plane arrives at gate 3 hours late and we’re finally headed home. So much turbulence, one of the bumpiest rides I’ve had in a long time. Storms over Kansas and typical mountain sass.

Finally on the ground and it’s 17 degrees with snow and ice on the road for that final stretch. I’m exhausted, bleary eyed, probably should not be driving, but I managed.

Reminder to self: flying while Mercury is in retrograde is a bad idea.