Thursday, January 19, 2006

Day One - Part One - Portland to Dallas

It was without difficulty that I responded to the 3:30 AM call from my alarm clock. After months of planning that bordered on the obsessive (okay it wasn’t just borderline, it was full-fledged), the day had finally arrived for our very first trip to Walt Disney World in Orlando. Because of the offer of a free dining plan, Jason and I impulsively decided to cancel our October trip to Disneyland and go to Walt Disney World instead.

I hopped out of bed, showered, dressed and finished packing well before my dad arrived a few minutes before 5:00 AM to drive us to the airport. We left home at 5:01 AM and arrived at PDX 28 minutes later. Oh, how great it is to leave early on a weekend morning!

For $2.00 a bag, we opted to take advantage of curb-side check in, which eliminated the need to stand in the long-ish line inside the terminal. Next stop was security, always an uncertain and nerve-wracking experience. No longer rookies, having flown to Disneyland last December, we felt somewhat more prepared. We knew that shoes would need to be removed and which equipment to have ready for possible inspection.

My plan was to proceed as organized as fashion as possible. I had already removed my watch and cell phone and placed them in my purse. My shoes were ready to slip off and I wasn’t carrying anything that needed to be out for inspection. I placed my tote bag on the conveyor and my purse and shoes in a grey bin and stepped through the metal detector without incident. Unfortunately, Jason was not as lucky. After he set off the detector, he removed his belt and passed through again. Still, the alarm went off. Finally, he was moved to off to the side where he was given a more thorough inspection. It was discovered that he had neglected to remove his cell phone from his pocket.

While Jason was getting his pat down, a security person approached me and said she needed to test Jason’s laptop. She opened it up and began to swab it, possibly testing for the presence of explosives. Meanwhile, I was trying to gather up all my belongings, which seemed to have multiplied, as well as all of Jason’s things. Arms laden, I managed to heave everything over to a chair located behind the woman inspecting the laptop and began sorting through the jumble of belongings. So much for being organized. Jason rejoined me and retrieved his laptop, which was found not to be a threat to the security of our nation. As we redressed and repacked, Jason asked if I had his boarding pass. I didn’t, and after a few moments of frantic searching, he located it.

Next stop was the shop where Jason looked without success for a puzzle book and then on to the gate for the 1-1/2 hour wait until our flight was scheduled to leave for the first leg of our trip. During this time, we medicated ourselves with the usual Imodium AD and Dramamine, as well as a newcomer AirBorne.

At last it was time to board and we gathered up our belongings and headed onto the plane.

1 Comments:

At 6:25 AM, Blogger NotesfromtheBarn said...

You must have been there the same time as us.. Check out our blog with video trip reports?

 

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