Getting there is 1/2 the fun

I’m on my way to New Hampshire for my friend’s wedding. Currently, I’m sitting in the lounge at Laguardia airport typing this because I got to the airport early, yet again. I’d love to time it so I get here with just enough time to check in and then board the plane, but it never seems to work out that way.

I ordered a car to pick me up at 6:15 from my apartment for an 8:30 flight. I don’t know how traffic is just after work! I would have thought it was heavy. Even though my cabbie, an old Jewish man with a bad hair weave, was a total nimrod who insisted on driving no more than 40 MPH the whole trip while mumbling to himself, I still managed to get to the airport in only 30 minutes. Okay, so maybe he’s a better driver than I give him credit for. You could have fooled me the way he took me through the local roads of Chinatown for 10 minutes.

When I got to the airport, I went to check in and there was, mysteriously, absolutely no line. I entered in my confirmation number into the checkout video thingy and it told me to please check in at U.S. Air. Uh, aren’t I here? I looked up and no. I told the driver to take me to United Airlines! My ticket confirmation email only had the initials UA on it, so I made a guess and I was wrong. That’s what happens when you travel too often in a month. You forget some of your plans. Ok, no big deal, right? I’ll just walk down the terminal to U.S. Air. Let’s see….Frontier, Continental, Jet Blue, ATA….USAir? USAir? Nope. Not here. Another terminal. Thankfully, I got there early. ;-) I flagged down an empty cab who was dropping someone off but he refused, vehemently to take me to another terminal. It’s against the rules to pick up off the sidewalk I guess. So do I have to wait for a cab on that enormous line just so he can flip me off for having him take me ½ mile? Nope. A kindly baggage handler took notice of my plight and directed me to walk to the other terminal. “It’s only a 7 minute walk,” he said. Hmmm… I have two very heavy bags with me and a laptop bag. But I braved it out and walked the ½ mile through parking lots and all the way around the back of the airport. I checked in with no problems and had a slice of pizza in the food court.

I am now 5 minutes away from boarding what is sure to be a very tiny propeller plane to Manchester, NH. For some reason, my flight seems to be the ONLY one on the entire Departing board that isn’t delayed by at least 20 minutes. Can my luck hold? Could be. I started the day in a very lucky way, by finding my missing sunglasses. My very expensive prescription Oakleys which somehow made their way into my guitar case!?!? Plus, I had a very excellent date last night and I got quads and a flopped royal flush in one night on Tuesday. Did I use up all my karma in 3 straight days? Tune in, loyal readers, for the rest of this trip….

Oh, one other thing. New Hampshire has some form of legalized bastardized poker, ala Florida. I fully intend on visiting some card rooms Sunday night into Monday as well as seeing some excellent foliage coloring. I’ll keep everyone updated as often as possible.