Taking My "Baby" Back Home

Tuesday, August 5, 2008
The alarm went off at 5:00 am and we all got up to start the process of getting to the airport. It was the day for Elizabeth and me to return to Kansas City to prepare for her to go to Truman. Easel drove us to the airport and dropped us off at the terminal so we wouldn’t have to drag our bags so far. We went inside, checked the board for our flight and got checked in. No problem. Our flight boarded and we were off to Amsterdam. I was surprised at how much room we had on the LOT flight but we were happy to ride comfortably—quite a contrast to our trip to Nashville in June!

We arrived in Amsterdam and began our “trek” to our next flight. It was quite a hike from the “C” gates where we landed to the “G” gate we needed to reach. We hurried as quickly as we could because we only had an hour and a half to get the boarding pass and get to the gate. We got to the “transit” desk and felt relief because we had plenty of time and the “transit” desk was right next to our gate. The line wasn’t even very long. False hope is a terrible thing. The line was long enough and my need for a bathroom strong enough that I left Elizabeth in line and ran to the nearest restroom. I didn’t take long but when I returned, Elizabeth had not moved from the spot where I’d left her! As we stood there waiting, it became obvious that things weren’t going very well at the desk. First, there was only one person handling customers, then there were two but nothing seemed to be happening very quickly and everyone who stepped to the counter seemed to have difficult issues to settle. I stepped out of line again for a moment to check the departure board. For the first time ever while traveling by air, I was excited to see that our flight was delayed. Finally, we were called forward and, at first, it looked like things would be pretty straightforward. And it was, until the agent realized that we were supposed to catch a continuing flight to Kansas City in Chicago—and our bags were only routed through to Chicago. First, he told us we would miss our connection, which I’d already figured out. Then he told us that our new connection would be on another airline and much, much, later than our previously scheduled flight. Lastly, he said he would try to get our luggage continued on to the new flight. He suggested we go to baggage claim in Chicago to look for our bags but that he would try to get them continued on to Kansas City. (We didn't realize it at the time, but we would have had to get our bags anyway for Customs. Our kind agent was successful in getting the bags checked through so we didn't have to haul our bags very far in Chicago. It was very helpful!) With no idea about what things would be like in Chicago, we weren’t worried; we thought we’d have lots of time in Chicago! The last thing this poor, harried agent told us was that our gate had been changed. We were first supposed to go to “G3” but it had been changed to “G4”. No problem. We thanked him and wished him well for the rest of his day. He seemed to appreciate the thought but didn't expect things to get much better. We got some water and a snack because it felt like lunchtime to us. We knew we’d get something on the plane but the plane wasn’t due to take off for another hour and a half. Then, we went to wait in the gate area. Airport security people started setting up for people to go through security to board the flight when it was announced that our flight was going to board at gate “G5”. So, we and the rest of the hopeful passengers moved to the new gate. We saw the plane land and the “deplaning” process began while security people set up for our flight to go through security. As we were waiting, we heard an announcement asking that passengers named "Roberts" report to the desk. We alerted one of the security people who got us through the first step of security and in line for the x-ray machine and metal detector. Once we were through those requirements, we went to the desk. When the people at the desk looked at our tickets, they asked a couple of questions and then said, “It’s your lucky day. You have been upgraded to business class!” After we walked away from the desk, Elizabeth and I giggled quietly to each other and went to sit down and wait for boarding.

The boarding announcement finally came and we were told to board from the “red carpet” which turned out to be a rectangle of red carpet right where they were taking the boarding passes. We got on the plane and not only were we in business class; we were on a side by a window rather than in the middle where the seats were three-across. Our seats were wide and comfortable with adjustable headrests and extendable footrests. They also reclined! Even with my footrest extended and the person in front of me reclined, I still had LOTS of room. We had blankets and pillows, TV monitors and headphones. We were given warmed nuts for a snack, our water glasses were always full and the food was very good. In short, it was a seven-hour flight but it was an extremely comfortable seven-hour flight.

When we arrived in Chicago, we got in line to go through Customs. A very, very, long line. Bad weather earlier in the day had caused quite a back-up but more Customs agents opened more stations and the line began to move quickly. We got our checked bags, took them through Customs, and proceeded to get our boarding passes for our last leg. We were almost home. All we had to do was wait a while and we would be in Kansas City by 10;00 pm. It was more like 10:45 but we did make it home. Next step, a quick shower and bed!