Day of Travel - 6.12.2005

We kissed the labradors good-bye at about 9:30am as we loaded up in my mom's car headed to the airport. My wonderful mother refused to just drop us at the terminal and instead parked to accompany us inside. After getting our boarding passes, we gave mom hugs and launched through security. Jeff was pulled aside as they searched through his carry-on luggage. He had carried his anti-rejection medication for his transplant with him, and I think this must have caused a slight scare. After security, we stopped at an airport cafe for breakfast. We were looking for bagels, but they claimed to not have any... instead, we shared a veggie omelet.

We left breakfast just in time to begin boarding for our flight to Detriot. Once seated, Jeff sat by a red-haired woman with an enormous engagement ring and a large bag that she refused to put in the overhead bin and instead tried to shove under the seat in front of her. I sat by the window. We did check one duffel bag for the trip, but carried everything else in our Victorinox wheeled backpacks and daypacks. It proved to be an excellent and efficient way to travel.

We arrived in Detroit just after 12:00pm. After having a late breakfast in Columbus, we weren't quite ready for lunch - and, we knew that we had a 9 hour layover ahead of us. Our flight to Paris did not depart until 9:24pm that evening. So, we hung out in the Northwest wing of the Detroit airport. We walked through the new terminal - which had a very cool fountain and a neat overhead train that ran the length of the building. We did check out the train and got off just in time to visit a neat store for pets. They had some really cool dog toys from Planet Dog (ps - the dog on the front page of their website looks just like Nash!). We decided to drop by on the return flight to pick up a bone for the boys.

We ended up eating lunch at the Chili's in the airport. I refused to eat at McDonalds, even though Jeff was having a craving for Big Macs.

We found our gate around 7:30pm. Around 8:00, they asked for anyone who would be willing to take a later flight because they had overbooked. Jeff went up to check it out. They offered the two of us $500 vouchers to fly into Amsterdam and then connect from there to Paris and arrive in Paris around 4pm. I declined - at that point, I had my fill of airports for the next week or so. We boarded the plane by 9pm and were on our way to Paris, France.

(I already missed my Nash who was having a ball swimming in the pond at my parents' house)