Thursday, the day of our departure, started out like any ordinary work day: panic, chaos, crying, barking, hissing and shouts of “Where did I put that?” and “Did you remember to pack those?” All systems normal.
The drama actually began the evening before on Payton’s 18th birthday. He wanted to stay our all night with his friends and come home in time to leave. Two problems with that:
He hadn’t packed yet.We remember what happened last year when he had a sleep-over on his birthday.
Fuzzy and Sherra delivered him to the Amtrak station at BWI and were greeted by dozens of police cars, K-9 units and paparazzi there to greet Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley and his lieutenant governor. Through no small feat, Sherra managed to get on television standing behind O’Malley.
With Payton safely ensconced on the grain to New Jersey, Fuzzy and Scot focused on finishing their own packing and re-packing.
“This suitcase is 51.8 pounds. How much does a pair of dress shoes weigh?”
Once the weight was distributed evenly between two checked bags (48.5 lb each), James and Sherra drove us to Washington National Airport. Our plan was to fly to Raleigh/Durham and catch Flight 174, leaving at 6:15pm to London. The first plane to RDU was full and the next one was cancelled, along with two flights to Chicago. This considerably depleted our choices and we went back to Plan A (since Plans B and C were kaput and there was no Plan D). We got on the next flight to JFK, scheduled to leave at 2:40pm, now 3:00pm and with ATC delay, wheels up at 4:20pm. But at least our luggage was on its way to London by now.
The regional jet felt like an oven inside but we endured it, baking on the tarmac for 2 ½ hours in 91 degree heat. A woman decided she wanted to deplane, so the pilots had to taxi back to the terminal, where we all had to deplane and give up our place in the rotation to take off. We hate her guts.
We finally made it to JFK and several flights to London were delayed but we got onto Flight 104, scheduled to leave at 8:10p, now 9:15p, now 10p, actually 11pm. While waiting, we discovered that Flight 174 from RDU, the one we originally planned to travel on, had been diverted to JFK due to mechanical problems. Our luggage wasn’t any closer to London than we were.
The gate agent put us into first class on Flight 104, a 777, giving a very pleasant ending to an otherwise [expletives deleted] day.
Meanwhile, Mom and Dad received the royal treatment. The New York Jets sent three vans to pick everyone up at the Ryan household, chauffeur them to Newark Airport and check them in. Their preferential treatment included no waiting at security. Must be nice.
The agents from the Jets upgraded Mom and Dad to first class, so they’re a little spoiled right now.
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