World Tour of America #7: The Departure
I know it's a rather belated notification but I am home. I've been so busy since I got home that I've not had time to post till now.
As I mentioned in my last post on Friday, ftmichael and I went to Boston airport just after 6 to see if I could get on the flight out that night. The two girls who had been on the check-in desk the night before were on it again so they recognised me straight away. Although part of that could have been the crutches. The supervisor was summoned to authorise my flight change but there were no problems with that and my discharge papers from the hospital were perfectly fine. I was so glad, especially as there was no charge for it! After that we spent quite a bit of time sitting in the airport as we'd got there so early. I had to get a wheelchair to get onto the plane though as there was no way I could carry my heavy backpack on crutches. It had been mentioned about having one but for some reason it was for all the other airports and not Boston! Thankfully, nflutist went back to the check-in desk and put his foot down about it. The nice thing about having the wheelchair for Logan was that I got to have a pat-down rather than going through the body scanner :)
I had a great seat on the plane too; I'd got a decent one initially but when Caden went to badger the staff for the wheelchair, he also came back with a new boarding pass for an ever better seat. It turned out to be the very first row of the economy section that was behind business class, so it had loads of legroom. As a bonus, the 5 hour flight to Iceland was reduced to 4 hours because there was a tailwind! I mostly slept on the plane anyway; I was knackered as I'd only had about 3 hours sleep the night before. At Keflavik Airport, I got another wheelchair to transport me to the gate for the flight to Manchester. As it was so early - just before 6am - the gate wasn't open; the woman that was helping me also had an unaccompanied minor to deal with so she left me near the gate and took the kid off to her flight. So I sat near this cafe on my own with no food, drinks or anything to do for an hour and 15 minutes. Not impressed by that bit which was unfortunate as the rest of the staff had been lovely and helpful.
I got on the plane to Manchester before anyone else and found my seat was on the aisle but unfortunately it was on the left hand side and it was my left ankle that was injured. It was rather a cramped flight and I didn't have a great deal of legroom at all so it was rather more uncomfortable. Thankfully it was only 2 hours. It was supposed to be 2 and a half, but we landed early at 10am for some reason. I got to have breakfast on the flight anyway. I'd intended to have the fruit salad and traditional Icelandic pastry, but the fruit salad wasn't on the menu. There was a breakfast platter which consisted of omelette, sausage, bacon and potato cubes, with bread and a muffin for €10 so I had that instead. And very yummy it was too, although I didn't eat the sausage or bacon, naturally. I was met at Manchester by another wheelchair and taken through Passport Control which was extremely quiet and onto baggage claim where my cases were one of the first ones off. Then it was out to the arrivals area where I could see my cousin immediately, so that was a relief. My mother had come along to help with pushing either me or the trolley for the cases, and one of the munchkins had come along for the ride. It was about noon when we got back to the house and I was so glad to finally be home again.
Since then, I've spent most of my time helping my mother sort out all the paperwork that my stepfather has left behind. With occasional breaks for unpacking and eating. We've now moved on to preparing for tomorrow's funeral and the following wake. The wake is being held at home, so we've got to get tables and chairs set up and do some food prep too. My aunt and cousins from my stepfather's side of the family have arrived Oop North - some for the first time ever - and now we're waiting for my sister as she's coming here after work and staying overnight. It's really been all go since the minute I got in and will be like that for quite some time to come, I think.
As I mentioned in my last post on Friday, ftmichael and I went to Boston airport just after 6 to see if I could get on the flight out that night. The two girls who had been on the check-in desk the night before were on it again so they recognised me straight away. Although part of that could have been the crutches. The supervisor was summoned to authorise my flight change but there were no problems with that and my discharge papers from the hospital were perfectly fine. I was so glad, especially as there was no charge for it! After that we spent quite a bit of time sitting in the airport as we'd got there so early. I had to get a wheelchair to get onto the plane though as there was no way I could carry my heavy backpack on crutches. It had been mentioned about having one but for some reason it was for all the other airports and not Boston! Thankfully, nflutist went back to the check-in desk and put his foot down about it. The nice thing about having the wheelchair for Logan was that I got to have a pat-down rather than going through the body scanner :)
I had a great seat on the plane too; I'd got a decent one initially but when Caden went to badger the staff for the wheelchair, he also came back with a new boarding pass for an ever better seat. It turned out to be the very first row of the economy section that was behind business class, so it had loads of legroom. As a bonus, the 5 hour flight to Iceland was reduced to 4 hours because there was a tailwind! I mostly slept on the plane anyway; I was knackered as I'd only had about 3 hours sleep the night before. At Keflavik Airport, I got another wheelchair to transport me to the gate for the flight to Manchester. As it was so early - just before 6am - the gate wasn't open; the woman that was helping me also had an unaccompanied minor to deal with so she left me near the gate and took the kid off to her flight. So I sat near this cafe on my own with no food, drinks or anything to do for an hour and 15 minutes. Not impressed by that bit which was unfortunate as the rest of the staff had been lovely and helpful.
I got on the plane to Manchester before anyone else and found my seat was on the aisle but unfortunately it was on the left hand side and it was my left ankle that was injured. It was rather a cramped flight and I didn't have a great deal of legroom at all so it was rather more uncomfortable. Thankfully it was only 2 hours. It was supposed to be 2 and a half, but we landed early at 10am for some reason. I got to have breakfast on the flight anyway. I'd intended to have the fruit salad and traditional Icelandic pastry, but the fruit salad wasn't on the menu. There was a breakfast platter which consisted of omelette, sausage, bacon and potato cubes, with bread and a muffin for €10 so I had that instead. And very yummy it was too, although I didn't eat the sausage or bacon, naturally. I was met at Manchester by another wheelchair and taken through Passport Control which was extremely quiet and onto baggage claim where my cases were one of the first ones off. Then it was out to the arrivals area where I could see my cousin immediately, so that was a relief. My mother had come along to help with pushing either me or the trolley for the cases, and one of the munchkins had come along for the ride. It was about noon when we got back to the house and I was so glad to finally be home again.
Since then, I've spent most of my time helping my mother sort out all the paperwork that my stepfather has left behind. With occasional breaks for unpacking and eating. We've now moved on to preparing for tomorrow's funeral and the following wake. The wake is being held at home, so we've got to get tables and chairs set up and do some food prep too. My aunt and cousins from my stepfather's side of the family have arrived Oop North - some for the first time ever - and now we're waiting for my sister as she's coming here after work and staying overnight. It's really been all go since the minute I got in and will be like that for quite some time to come, I think.