Tampa to Frankfurt

The alarm clock went off and Michelle walked into the room at 7 AM. She obviously had already gotten up, but I was still sleeping hard; dreaming according to my Fitbit. That came to a screeching halt with Tucker pouncing on me expecting to be petted.
So into the shower, then shave and breakfast. We need to hurry out the door because I forgot to set the away message on my voicemail at the office and I can't turn it on from my cell. It's possible mind you, I just don't know what I'm doing. It is the first time I've needed to do it though. This is my first time off since joining HSN.
It's 8:30 and we're loading the luggage in the truck. I let Tucker out front to sniff around the yard because I feel sorry for him, and truth be known, I'm going to miss him, that is until he just wants to jump in the truck and go with us. He doesn't always take the word no for an answer.
So after he spazzes around the yard for a minute, he is back in the house and we are off... to the office. Luckily it's on the way and I'm not in there 5 minutes before we're back on ther road.
As we cross the HF bridge from St. Pete to Tampa, Michelle says she saw a dolphin, or a shark, she's not sure exactly which. She finally comes to the determination that it's a dolphin, which she says is more exciting than seeing a gator. I don't buy it.
As we pull into long term parking at the airport, the sign says all levels are full except 5. Turns out, a couple of levels are just closed due to construction.
So, there is an associate pointing me down an aisle to another associate that says "park right there." It's not really a parking space. It's more like an open space next to a maintenance closet, which happens to be right next to the tram that we have to take. Score one for us!
Now it's into the terminal where we check two bags. We carry on one, which is just stuff that we are taking to Adam. He left some BTUs that he didn't think he would be able to wear at his new station and we are going to reunite the two.
The flight to Charlotte was pleasantly uneventful. Michelle and I couldn't get our act together boarding though. Michelle left the $5 bottle of Smart water in the terminal that we just bought. We sat on the bulkhead so the carry on and my backpack had to go above, but they were full and I had to go 5 more rows down to find a spot for the carry on. That caused angst among some passengers as I had to fight my way back upstream to get to my seat. The backpack was small enough to go above us but I forgot to get our headphones, ipod, and peanuts out. The lady next to us was kind enough to retrieve them for us because Michelle said she was too short to put the back pack back up.
Our layover in Charlotte was two hours and we grabbed a bite at, where else, Chick-fil-A. We each had a #1 with sweet tea in non styrofoam cups. Then we headed back to gate D11 way sooner than we needed to because Michelle is worried sick that the gate may change, or the flight will leave early, and she does not want to run across an airport on a full stomach. Been there, done that, and O'hare is not our friend.
So now we're on the plane, which took off 10 minutes late, but that's ok. According to the captain and the display, we have a 18 mph tailwind and we will arrive right on time. We are flying at 559 mph at 39k feet. Our flight plan took us up the eastern seaboard, just east of Boston and then all the way up to the southern tip of New Foundland. Not exactly a straight line. The flight continued over Ireland, split the soccer rivalry of Manchester and Liverpool, and then going right over Nottingham. The display is also showing the locations of various shipwrecks. Some of which I've heard, Titanic and the Andrea Doria, but also many others which I haven't. Like the CSS Alabama which was unseemingly in a battle with a Union ship in the English Channel in 1862.
Currently the display says we will arrive at 7 AM, which will be 1 AM EST and we will still have a full day ahead of us. Michelle says that's nothing since we've done youth lock- ins, camp, mission trips. I seem to remember how dead tired we were during and after those events and we're another year older.
Dinner on the flight was great. I don't know if premium economy allowed for us a better meal than the seats in the back, but we had salad with an olive and vinegar dressing. The Burrata ravioli was very tasty, the cold bread and the even colder butter wasn't terrible, but the swiss cheese was lit on the crackers. Finally, the tiramisu cheesecake was a nice finish.Read more