Gil's Flight Out

(Posted by Jean; it's way past Gil's bedtime.)

Dad leaves tomorrow; he's spent a lot of the past few days going through a full page list of things "to do" before leaving for a month and a half. (As I got back from CO yesterday, he was mowing the lawn. Today he's spent a lot of time weighing various packing configurations, since he's limited to 30 lbs of luggage. He may have to squeeze out some more ButterButt; I felt that sunscreen was better to ditch, since that's easier to buy smaller amounts of on the road. Plus, ButterButt sounds fun to have and also kind of important.)

Today he mentioned that his layover in Atlanta is about 35 minutes long. (Somehow this never came up before today, under the reasonable logic that if travelocity or the airline would market that itinerary, it must be feasible.) His brother RJ and I were a bit more dubious. We went to see them this evening, and on the way home it came up that it would probably be well worth the fee to change his flights if possible. Instead of leaving for the airport at the ungodly hour of 4:30 am (at latest), he's now flying out at 9:07 with an hour and a half layover - and he's in business class. He now fully appreciates the fare changes that happen 12 hours before departure! He considers this a good omen for the trip, and is very excited to have a first class kind of counter agent taking his luggage and to be sitting with first class kinds of people. (It's a far better omen than dealing with standby while stranded in Atlanta, I think.) His original ticket was pretty cheap - I suppose you get great fares when you book months in advance, fly out before 7 am and have to runrunRUN for your connection - so it's a reasonable total cost even with the rate difference and fee taken into account. And three phone calls and 60 minutes later (over 40 on hold with various places, because AirTran staffs way better than Travelocity at 10 pm), I've earned my room and board for the month. He REALLY happily "good daughter!"ed me, much in the same way one would praise their pet.

He's in bed now, relieved about his new layover and tickled pink about flying in class, and seems excited about the trip. He chose Domino's pizza for his "last meal." I think the deal is that he'll post from various motels and internet cafes along the way as he's able, and Mom and I will post when it's not convenient for him to do so. He should have pictures available to post pretty quickly, but even if there's a problem getting pictures from the card or burned DVD on a computer on the road Mom and I should have copies of his pictures within about a week to put up.

So, all in all we're off to a good start for the adventure. Though Mom is a little worried that after flying business, he won't want to ride in coach with her/us on the way home from Boston at the end of the trip...