Boy, did I have the return trip from hell Monday trying to get back home to Florida from Michigan. What started out quite pleasant — an early-afternoon flight out of Traverse City to Detroit — turned into a four-legged yo-yo experience like nothing I’ve had in awhile. And even though I do love to fly — I really do — three more legs and three different planes later PLUS an hour-long delay out of Charlotte was about enough to do me in.
The most interesting stop by far, though, was my second leg from Detroit to Huntington, West Virginia. I mean, I know there’s not a lot of big towns on that side of the state, but this little ‘terminal,’ if I might call it that, was out of one of those sitcoms about the south. Remember WINGS? I’d been a little concerned about making my connections at each of my stops since I wasn’t familiar with the terminals and didn’t know how far I’d have to run to get to the next gate. I needn’t have worried. Arriving in Huntington, we deplaned onto the tarmac and walked into the terminal. I looked around for a gate monitor. When I finally got my bearings I realized I was already standing at the gates. All three of them. When I walked forward a little way, I saw that if I went TOO far, I’d be exiting the airport and would have to go through security again, which I could see right in front of me. I found vending machines and a bathroom, then settled in for the hour-long wait for my next flight. My turbo-propped airplane came screaming up to the gate, and that’s when I realized, without a doubt, that this was a reeeeeeally little airport. Soon all nine of us boarded this airplane and took off for Charlotte, North Carolina.
I like Charlotte’s airport. In the center of it there’s a bunch of nice shops and white porch rockers for your convenience, if you’re lucky enough to find one open, which I never am. But it’s a nice-sized terminal, nothing too far away — not like Detroit where you have to travel by foot under the runways to get from one terminal to the next. Aside from having our gate moved and our flight delayed over an hour, it was a pretty uneventful flight to Daytona Beach and home.
I’m staying put for awhile.
LiviKnit 