We finally left for the airport at 4:05 pm, not because we'd tried for a late flight, but because that was how it worked out. Parking has become difficult at OIA and we wound up on level 8 on the terminal top. By 5:05 pm, we'd dropped our bags at Delta and the three of us headed for the food court for dinner. I got a chocolate shake from McDonald's, because I'd had plenty of soda at lunch. We got the rest of our meal from Panda Express. My husband and I had the chicken teriyaki platter, while my daughter and I did our usual splitting of two meals to be able to try more things. I got the Angus beef bowl and she got the chicken teriyaki bowl. The meals were okay, although nothing to write home about.
At 5:53, we said good-bye to our daughter and headed into the TSA Pre-Check line. By 5:55, we were through security! This is why we paid the $85 for 5 years of Pre-Check. It was not as fast to get on the tram, because a security company had a guy go through each car when it arrived. Then, a guy on our side had to put down the straps in front of each door and use a key to open our side. This is new.
We didn't really have trouble finding seats out at gate 71. It was interesting to see that there was a theater stage there and Big Hero 6 was being shown to the obvious delight of the children there. The adults got to watch the fall-out from Trump's latest comments being shown and discussed on CNN.
Sigh.
At 6:40, we were seated in 30 B and C on Delta Flight 2282 to Minneapolis. Pushback was just 18 minutes later and we were in the air at 7:13. Each seat back had its own entertainment screen. I watched My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 and my husband watched Steve Jobs. We were brought drinks and each person could have 2 snacks, which was surprising. But, there were empty seats, so maybe that's why. While I was watching an episode of John Oliver, they came around with cups of water. I'm not used to that much service on a relatively short flight.
We landed at 9:13 pm CDT and taxied to Gate F9. We began to wonder, if we'd be getting back on the same plane. If so, we'd be coming back to the same seats! When we got off, we found out that we would indeed be getting back on the same plane. I took the opportunity to walk a bit to get out some of the kinks. I came out of the end of the F corridor and saw a beautiful tile mural called "Tranquility" in the open doorway of the Women's restroom. Not only that, but it was a Severe Weather shelter. We just don't have that in Florida.
The flight to Kansas City looked like it was going to be more crowded, based on the number of people at the gate. By the time Zone 3 was called, it was quite a line. Just before reaching me, the ground crew decided the rest of the bags would have to be gate checked. However, I said, mine couldn't be because of my CPAP machine, so they waved me on. My husband would not let them take his instrument case. There was indeed enough room for them in the overhead bin.
At 10:18, we were seated in our old seats on Delta Flight 2113. Pushback was 11 minutes later and takeoff was shortly thereafter. I watched more John Oliver, because the flight was way too short for a movie. As it was, he got cut off mid-sentence as we landed at 11:38. The captain soon came on to say there was no one to take the plane to the gate because all of the ground crews were busy with other planes. That sounded stupid to me and he was obviously not happy. Finally, we were taken to the gate.
Kansas City's airport is a bit odd, as all of its gates are at the outer edge of arcs. The baggage claim was at the end of the arc and there were flights from both Delta and Alaskan Air with luggage at the two carousels. We didn't have our luggage in hand until 12:13 am.
We then had to find the shuttle bus to the rental car center, which I remembered was a huge building. We were on the shuttle and moving along less than 10 minutes later. They really blasted the air conditioning on that thing!
One advantage to arriving at that time of day is that there was no line at Avis at 12:32. I'd reserved a car that was Ford Focus or similar. I was to be the only driver, so as not to pay an extra fee. The clerk talked at one point of giving me something else, but I wound up with a white Ford Focus. We dragged our luggage out a long way until reaching our car, which had an Oklahoma license plate and 9180 miles on it. My husband dealt with the luggage, while I photographed the car from stem to stern. The keys were very sticky and the guy at the gate tried using cleaning wipes on them, but I later discovered they were still sticky.
We were on the road at 12:50 and found it to be empty in our direction. That made it easier for me to get used to the car. At 1 am, with the odometer at 9183, we pulled into the Hampton Inn, chosen to get me Hilton points. Check in was a breeze, since I'd really done it at home.
Things were fine, in spite of the hour, until we opened our suitcases to find they'd been opened by TSA, although there was no card stating this. But the luggage was a mess, with the straps not connected correctly and the stuff in side moved all around. Not what you want at that time of morning!
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