Little update: remember that "10 hour journey," which would be closer to 16 accounting for other flights and transitions to other flights? Turned out to be - and I counted - 24 hours.
Just about everything that could go wrong barring actual disaster - flight delays, unexpected turbulence, irritable jackasses behind me in the queue for the scanner, beaurocratic rigmarole leading to nearly missing the Abilene flight because there were only 8 offices out of 56 attended at Dallas, having our toothpaste and a small bottle of water confiscated (seriously, a sealed tube of toothpaste!?!) the clerk at the car rental place refusing to accept Scotland was part of the United Kingdom, not getting our luggage for the final leg of the trip, my new shoes were somehow starting to fall apart - Mitra wept.
The flights themselves were fine barring a bawling baby (and it's hard to blame a poor infant trapped on a plame) and a small child practising his future drumming career in the seat behind me (again, he was a wean, so just bless 'im), and the stewards were fantastically helpful folk, but overall, this is by far the most stressful journey I've ever undertaken.
Add in the heat - remember that scene from Total Recall when the atmospheric change caused Arnie's eyes to bulge out and his face to distend horrifically? It's kinda like that: I'm a boreal creature, and just incapable of really adapting to the heat - and I barely know how I'm going to make it to Baird, let alone Cross Plains.
Well, wish me luck! I'm sure gonna need it.
I sympathize entirely on the heat situation.
ReplyDeleteOnly thing I can really offer is, just be glad you didn't have to go through Atlanta or O'hare airport.. worst airports in the country.
also, if/when you should need to mail any packages back home from the Post Office.. make sure you say " Great Britain "... England, Scotland, Wales, and United Kingdom aren't in the computers as viable destinations. I've no idea why, but I've figured that out thanks to trial and error.
Anyway, Have fun at Howard Days.. take lots of pictures.. expect a full detailed report when you get back etc etc...
and Now I'm off to get my 3rd molars out.. which is still preferable to getting stuck in O'hare airport...
Stay strong!
ReplyDeleteWhen I went through the Dallas airport on my way to Hawaii for a wedding, someone took my carryon, even though it had my name and address on it. Blech.
Al,im a Scot myself,ive considered going a few times,the wife isny really that keen though . . .
ReplyDeleteCheers, all! I managed to survive the heat, but only barely. Scarily, this was considered by the regular attendees as a *mild* Howard Days: we had plenty of cloud cover, didn't breach 100 Farenheit,
ReplyDeleteGerry, I think every Howard fan should go at least once. This trip just about killed me, not necessarily for the heat or exertion, but the general stress of being in a strange land. Still, even with the trials and tribulations (which shall be chronicled on the blog) it was totally worth it.