The Dangerous Ding Trip Report Thread 2 **Updated 11/30 ** COMPLETE About This Page:

[Starla4436]

Loving it already! More More More!

[FanOfMickey]

Great start to your trip so far Amy, can't wait to read more

[BritDisFan]

Great start Amy, looking forward to more.

[BelmontBelle]

I'm just like you the night before a trip, the excitement is just to great to get any good sleep! Glad your errands are done and your on your way!

[EeyoreNeedsLoveToo]

looking forward to reading more!

[jdawsonrn]

Great Start! I can't wait to hear more..... Hurry back!!!

[angiek1024]

Great start! I love that excitement of leaving for a Disney trip!!!

[JaimeandChad]

Great start!!

[KirstenR]

more please!! Can't wait to hear about the convertible and will you get to eat at Sonic??? The suspension is killing me!!!!

[ACampbell]

Well I have read through all of the pre trip report and am just now caught up! i hope you guys had a great rip. can't wait to hear more!

[DyanKJ130]

Great start, Amy!! Hurry back with more

[lauren-roxy]

Great start Amy!! Can't wait for more!!!

[rhinohunter]

Way to go girl. Waiting for your TR is like to waiting to leave for Disney. I will be having the same anxious feelings as my DW and I get ready for our trip in December. I keep sprinkling pixie dust in hopes that everything goes well.

[Jamieaob]

Can't wait for more.

[iamgrumpy]

So now that Mom had FINALLY come out of the Post Office we headed through town hitting every traffic light we have (all 4 of them) and headed up into the outskirts of town where my friend Victoria lives. She has a lovely home with a huge yard and so she doesn’t mind me parking my car next to her garage when I go on vacation. Well we pull in and of course her dog Simon insists that he is going to TRY and act Voracious and yip his little mouth off Simon is a Bischon and about maybe 20 lbs at the most the only thing he scares is himself but regardless he was going to make a fuss until I took out the treats I bring him then of course he was my best friend! So with Simon properly fed his treats, hugs and promises for a good vacation and safe keep of my car, we said our goodbyes to Victoria and Simon and I loaded up into Mom’s car. We headed down the windy back road and finally got to the Highway That always seems to take forever when your in a hurry to get to the airport for vacation!

We are about 40 minutes from the airport and hoped we wouldn’t hit any traffic since normally we leave for the airport at the wee hours of the morning but today it was about 9:30am so we may hit some construction or morning commute traffic eek! We only hit a little bit of traffic from construction but the worst thing were the drivers well who didn’t know HOW TO DRIVE! I swear they must give people their licenses from boxes of Cereal or Cracker Jacks because frankly they didn’t know how to drive! No I’m not this hard on drivers only on vacation… I’m hard on drivers every day of the year but frankly today there was an overabundance of stupidity and this wasn’t a good way to start vacation : I remembered to breath just about the time we hit the airport exit on interstate 91!

We wanted to catch breakfast before getting on the plane so we headed over on Old County Rd which is off of the airport exit and bypassed all the traffic and lights. We pulled into McDonalds and grabbed some breakfast sandwiches and parked eating them while locking up the luggage since we knew now we were all done packing. Mom had a Sausage McMuffin with Egg, Hashbrown and Coffee, and I had a Sausage McMuffin and Orange juice. Total for breakfast was $7.40.

Once we finished eating breakfast we headed down Route 75 to Executive Valet Car Park and parked the car. Mom went in and arranged our parking and shuttle while I helped the guy unload the car and separate the luggage between checked and carry on. Mom came out a few minutes later and we were loaded onto the van and whisked away to the airport. Total time spent there between arranging, parking, and unloading was about 15 minutes. They take such great care of us there that we wouldn’t imagine parking anywhere else!

Everyone who was on our shuttle were going to Southwest Airlines the driver and mom started talking together about Southwest and Ding and their website. He told us that he didn’t know much about Ding and had been going to Boston to fly out so he could get cheaper fares from Jet Blue. We explained Ding and he was so grateful not to have to drive hours to fly out when he could drive minutes instead! I really should get paid for advertising for these companies

He dropped us off at the terminal and unloaded all our bags mom stayed with the carry ons while I went and checked the bags in with the sky cap that were going under the plane instead of being carried on. The sky cap was very nice as well and while we were getting my bags checked his co-worker was checking in the “Gin Blossoms” a Band that regularly plays at the casino where I work. They had so much luggage and equipment that I don’t envy their jobs and travel!

They were still checking in bags by the time I finished I couldn’t imagine traveling with that many bags. Mom and I grabbed our carry on bags, our id’s and our tickets and headed over to security our longest piece of the flying process. With mom’s knees and back there is no more “breezing” through security because she has to get wanded, poofed and searched. So we put all the bags and things through the machine, I go through and then she does. She is poofed for explosives, then wanted manually, and then a female officer is brought over and pats her down. We have a card saying it’s a knee replacement and a spinal fusion but they don’t even want to look at it. We understand why they do it and appreciate their keeping us safe but it doesn’t help when I have 4 bags, a cane, two pairs of shoes, and electronics to all be packed up alone and they are pushing me to go faster then is humanly possible so that those behind us can get through! I wish there was a way for them to have a line for those who know ahead of time they will need more time to get through to line up in so that those who don’t need the extra time can go through quicker. Does that make sense? I dunno I just ramble sometimes about things.

Anyways after being poofed, wanded and patted down we made our way 10 feet to the chairs and waited for the motorized cart to come over and they drove us to our gate which always seems to be the farthest regardless of where we are going For once I’d like the gate that is right by security!

While waiting for the cart I ran into a lady named Marcia who works at the casino in a different department but whom I talk to on a daily basis. She was heading to New Mexico and I knew she deserved this vacation as hard as she works so it was nice to see her. While we sat there a couple came over to wait as well they were visiting family in New England, and New York and were flying home to I want to say Mississippi or Alabama I can’t remember now. But they were very nice, the wife was wearing some outfit from QVC so of course mom and her had to discuss that topic to death Luckily our cart arrived we loaded into it and were driven to our gate. It was the same gate as our last trip and we found seats right in the pre-boarding area.

Mom turned on her laptop and started watching a dvd of old Dick Van Dyke Shows and I wrote up some trip report notes but as soon as I saw a gate agent go to our counter I went over and got mom’s pre-boarding envelope. Then waited for our plane to arrive. It was early still as our flight didn’t leave until 1:05 and it was about 12pm so we knew the plane wasn’t probably scheduled to land until about 12:30. So since I had about 40 minutes until boarding I figured I would head over get some sandwiches, use the ladies room and get situated for our flight.

There was a deli right by our gate so I headed over and got one ham and one turkey sandwich for us to eat and $12 later we were set for lunch on board the plane. I got to the gate just as they flight arrived and everyone was getting off the plane. I was excited by now because this meant that we would be leaving very soon so I went and looked at the plane and was in shock because we normally have one of the Orange and red Planes or the Blue and red planes but this one was a special plane and I was thrilled to get to ride it!

What I saw was this:


We were flying on the Lonestar 1 Plane and that was really cool!

Well this was our first flight where we noticed that most of the people were in Pre-board and not in the regular boarding lines. And all of them were in wheelchairs or medical preboard and not as many families. Where as earlier flights tend to be more families and less medical preboards. But everyone got loaded and it was not a full flight and the turn around was quick.

We took off right on time and the flight was smooth with no turbulence but mom’s seat was broken and the plane wasn’t as clean as we had seen in flights previous to this one. We hoped that this was not normal and just an exception now.

Halfway into the flight we ate the sandwiches and had our beverages. Mom watched some more dvd’s and I took a nap I woke up and we were just approaching the coast of Florida and the pilot was pointing out Nasa and the Space Program buildings. We were in the ground in like 15 minutes but it was the hardest landing we had ever felt even the pilot came on the air and made a comment about it The flight crew was great always laughing and helpful so all in all a great flight on board Southwest once again!

We were 30 minutes early landing but we had to sit for 20 minutes waiting for our gate to get open for us and so we only gained 10 minutes in reality. But who cares we were in Florida!!!!!!!

Up Next… That was quick, and ummm which one do you want?