The last few days before the trip were madness. Trying to get Matthew packed for Montana was a nightmare. I keep saying all week don’t you need to pack, umm why don’t you go pack, hey I took the suitcases up for you, go pack. So at 11pm the night before he leaves (at 4am) he packs. I could have killed him. Off to bed about 1230 I had to get up at 330am and take him to meet his group to make it to the airport. I went back home and crashed for about an hour and got up and went to work early. I was flying out of an airport in Knoxville about 2 hours from home. My sister in law lives about an hour closer so I planned to head to her house to stay the night so the drive wouldn’t be as bad at 5am. She also needed a sitter that night so it worked out for both of us. I got all packed and headed off to her house. My plan was to get in bed kind of early and then sneak out in the wee hours of the morning without waking anyone. We ended up sitting around and talking till late so that plan was foiled immediately. Then when I got into my room I remembered my husband had asked me to stuff 120 envelope and mail them for a mobile food pantry we do every month. Snot. So I spent another hour up doing that. It was after 1am when I got in bed. And of course I had Disney butterflies so I didn’t go to sleep right away. I finally did drift off and before I knew it my phone alarm was going off. I jumped up took a quick shower and dressed and quietly head out. Uggh I am not a morning person, I’m becoming better at it but still I am one of those jump out of bed into the shower out the door people to get every last minute of sleep possible types. But if it’s for Disney I am out of bed like a rocket.

I made it to the airport in record time and it’s a good thing I did. I rarely plan on more than an hour or hour and half from airport door to take off. Our airport just isn’t that busy. I have never ever seen Tyson McGee airport that busy. I had done online check in and had only carry on’s so I skipped the counter. I got in line for security and it was almost out to the front door. Everyone around me also was in shock at the line. But it moved quickly and before I knew it I was getting ‘the scan’. I have that kind of luck I can’t win a contest but will always win the random one they search at the airport award. I must look like a criminal.  It really doesn’t bother me and make me feel safer in the airport and on planes. I got thru security and had about 10 minutes to spare a quick restroom break and they were boarding. Our flight was scheduled to take of at 725 am.

I settled into my window seat and got my work book out and my ipod. Then my seat mates sat down. A mother and teen daughter. And a dog. A little cute yippie puppie. It was wimpering. Great I thought that sucker is going to bark or whine all the way there. Mother and daughter we arguing because daughter said the plane would hurt the doggies ears, etc etc. Then the dog pooped. Right in its carrier before the flight even took off. The daughter was freaking out. I thought boy am I in for a flight. Mother used an air sick bag to clean up the mess and we were off. I was quiet surprised the pup did well throughout the flight and would have done better had mother and daughter not bickered the whole way about holding her/ keeping her in the carrier. I did manage to get some work done on the way though.

We landed early about 10 minutes (go Frontier!). I quickly got off the plane and made beeline for the mini monorail. I went over to side A and down to the first floor. I was a girl on a mission. I stopped and helped a few lost WDW visitors with directions to Magicl Express. One woman was so grateful and as I walked off said to her husband wow that was nice I wonder how she knew exactly how to get where we are going. Umm I would think she could have gotten a clue by the WDW shirt, the Mickey earrings, my WDW branded luggage, my Minnie luggage tag on the bag or the WDW charm hanging off my backpack. But whatever.

I timed a lot of things on the trip for reference purposes for this report.  We landed at 8:52, I was off the plane and into the terminal by 9:07 and walked up to the DME desk at 9:22. It doesn’t seem like it took that long but I guess it did. I think the adrenaline of being so close to WDW makes time insignificant. I got scanned at the entrance to my line and I headed right to the rope. They immediately opened the rope for me and I was on the bus by 9:24am. Got settled in, called my mom and we took off by 9:29. The bus was about ¾ full but I was the only one staying at Saratoga Springs and I would be the first stop. The scheduled stops were Saratoga Springs, Port Orleans French Quarter and Riverside and Ft Wilderness.

I sat back got ready for the magic and watched a little of this.

Only bummer was the sound was very low. I couldn’t heard neither could the couples around me. Most of us were straining to hear the movie at all. Good thing there was closed captioning and I had it almost memorized. Before I knew it we were pulling into SSR and I was hopping off DME. I grabbed my bag and headed to check in, the Cast Member opened the door and greeted me with “Welcome Home!”. Sigh. It still gives me warm fuzzy feelings thinking of it. I’m finally home.