[zefyr]

Okay...so here we goooooo.... (in voice of Peter Pan)

Like I mentioned in the first post, my sister and I were on two flights on two airlines. Because she bought MYW tickets she wanted to get 3 full park days in. I have an AP so I'm less concerned about that. Her flight was to land at 10:30am while mine wasn't scheduled to leave until 2pm.

Now the night before apparently my sister was working late, very late so she ended up with no sleep. Me...as of the night before, I hadn't yet started packing.... I don't think I even got my suitcases out. Now this is odd for me and should been a warning but I kept chalking it up to not knowing what to bring b/c of the weather forecast changing while we were there. Oh well, water under the bridge.

Day of flight, I pack...I've got short sleevers, long sleeves, shorts, capris, and long pants. I mean I was ready for anything. I drive to my parents house, drop my car off and they drive me to HPN (White Plains). If you've been to HPN you know it's small but there's definitely not alot of room to maneuver your suitcase.

Anyway, I manage to get to Airtran counter (I've already checked-in online the night before and for $69 upgraded myself to business class), so all I've got to do is check my bag in. Now since I upgraded they didn't charge me for the baggage, but I asked to prepay them for my return. They said 'no problem'. I hand over my cc they charge it $15. No receipt....huh? I'm told their printer isn't working but if I go to the counter where the gates are they can do it there or they can do it when I get to MCO. Okay. I get through security and go to the counter. I'm told a story.... I'll save you the details. One person says they'll bring me a receipt (they never do). Another person says the receipt will just show a charge was made for $15. But she did say that it was under my flight confirmation number...okay, I can use this when I come back.... (stayed tuned).

I'm sitting around waiting, my phone goes off and it's my sister. She's on ME getting towards SSE and she wants to know where I am. Um...waiting for my plane?! (As if I could answer the phone in the air?!) That's when I notice it's starting to snow. Oh geez. It's 1pm and I'm hoping that I'll make it out of there. Naturally, the inbound plane is late (20 min) but no sooner do they touch down and unload, they start lining us up. The only problem...the people getting off the plane were going slower than HPN had hoped. They made us wait in the breezeway (unheated mind you) while everyone (including people who had to be helped off in wheelchairs) got off. I'm tell ya I could see me breath out there.

We get on the plane and I strap myself in (and now I"m ready to go....I've had it with the snow and cold) That's when we're told the plane is going to be de-iced. Okay, can't argue with that. If you've never been on a plane when it's being sprayed let me tell you a few things. One the stuff is orange and two it stinks. And even with the doors closed you can smell it and the smell sticks around for the flight. But with that said, the stuff (propylene glycol... it says it on the truck) does its job. Any snowflakes that touch it instantly disappear. Whereas the flakes that don't land on it stick around.

Anyway, they spray the body of the plane once and wings twice and then we line up to take off. I think we were about 5th in line and I was really worried that they'd have to de-ice us again. But we took off and zoomed through the clouds/snow. I mean zoooom. I've never felt the pressure pushing me down into my seat during a take-off like I did that day. Obviously it was to get through the storm area and once we popped up through the clouds it was like a whole 'nuther world up there. (I took pictures to entertain myself).

Surprisingly even though we were flying through states that were storming we had no turbulance. Basically we were flying over all that stuff which was cool. Now, I hate flying and considering how often I fly I know that sounds pretty silly but it's true. I suddenly get temporary ADHD when I'm strapped into a plane. So I listen to my ipod, try figuring out how many songs it'll take to get through the flight, and hope I don't lose my mind.

Luckily I was also pretty tired so I was dozing and this is when I smelled smoke. You have to understand my aunt was a smoker (she died from lung cancer) and right around the time of her diagnosis I got a really respiratory infection. Combining those two things makes me super sensitive to smoke. This means I can smell it after someone has left the area, I can smell it on peoples close, etc. So while dozing I smelled smoke. Now I was sitting in seat 1A which was right up in front near the bathroom (which was a revolving door this flight). So I just chalked the smoke smell to someone who had it on their clothes.... because after all no one would be stupid enough to smoke on a plane... I mean federal offense....all those warning signs....fines/potential jail...right?

Well, we land (already 25 min late). Everyone gets up starts getting their stuff. The door opens, I turn around and there is an uniformed officer with a side arm walking in who I hear telling the flight attendance to get everyone back in their seats. And they mean everyone! You have to get in your seat and clear the main aisle. So everyone who had pulled out their suitcases were stuffing back away while this officer and an Airtran official walked down the aisle with the flight attendant.

While this is going on I ask the lady sitting next to me if she smelled smoke. She said she smelled something on a guy who went to use the bathroom. As she's telling me this. The Airtran official and the officer are coming back and in between then is a guy (which the lady next to me said was the same guy she smelled smoke on) clutching all his stuff.

So... I ask you... did he really think he wouldn't be caught? The other thing I wondered... how did he get cigarettes and matches/lighter on the plane? I thought at the very least the lighter/matches weren't allowed at all in the cabin... am I wrong about this?

By this point I"ve lost track of how late the flight was (it was supposed to arrive at 4:45pm), so I booked it to the airport restroom and then ran to ME to luckily be put on a waiting bus.... Now I'm trying to look at all the bright sides...1) I beat the snow 2) Orlando was warm 3) I was going to WDW 4) I was on terra firma.

Now I just had to find a way to quickly get a MK bus, find my sister and meet the fairies and find some dinner (last time I ate this day was in the morning) all before MK closed at 10pm....


Okay, I'm going to take a little break and then I'll be back finishing day 1, which will include my happy adventures (and I mean this sincerely) at the MK. Please feel free to chat amongst yourself....