Flying Again

Becky and I had not been on an airplane since the pandemic began in early 2020. We had a couple of airline trips in 2019 and then we purchased plane tickets to Philadelphia for March 2020 that we cancelled because of the coronavirus. American Airlines held our tickets and initially we were given a year to use them. Then they extended the tickets until the end of the calendar year. We were planning to visit the kids in Philadelphia in October so we decided to use the airline tickets instead of driving. I called customer service at American Airlines and gave them our ticket numbers for the unused trip and they transferred the tickets to our October flights. We booked flights from Buffalo to Philadelphia for October 8 and return to Buffalo on October 18. A nice ten days with our grandchildren, We are a little apprehensive about being in an airport and the plane ride but fortunately it is a short hour long trip. I can't imagine what it would be like masked with all those people crowded on a cross country or to Europe flight must be like. They say the air filter systems on planes make it safe.

After we arranged for the tickets I was getting cold feet about flying. I always liked our October drive to Philadelphia which we have been doing for over forty years. I don't particularly like flying. I will certainly put up with it to go to Europe but I really wish America had high speed trains like most other modern industrial nations. I checked with the airlines and found that since we purchased these tickets with a slight increase in fare they were good for another year. I was thinking that we could then use them in January when we fly down to Philly for the birth of our new granddaughter. However, Becky really wanted to fly on this trip because it took so much less time. When we drive down it is a seven hour trip and sometimes more because we often stop for a long lunch in a restaurant. Since we started visiting Katie in Mt Airy it was a longer drive instead of going to Betsy's house and we were sometimes stopping half way to stay overnight in a motel to break up the trip. Now with Sean living in eastern NY we would drive there for four hours, visit with them, and then drive the four hours to Philly a day or so later. That will happen some time but not this week.

Flying can take up a lot of time too and usually about five or six hours by the time we leave the house and get to Katie's home. Getting to the airport in the morning, being there a little early because of lines, etc., potential delays which have happened many times, and then after getting luggage going from the airport to Katie's house. We've taken the train from the airport to Mt Airy but the bags are an issue. We plan to take a Lyft.

When we get there and are staying for ten days without a car we can use a Lyft ride to get around. There are too many of us now to all fit in Katie's car. Fortunately there are plenty of restaurants within walking distance of their home.

Anyway, we are flying tomorrow and we will need to get up very early.  Our flight leaves Buffalo at 8 am and arrives in Philly at 9:24. We need to leave for the airport by at least 6 am so rather than take a chance with a Lyft ride I booked Buffalo Airport Taxi Service for the trip.

I need to get up about 5 am tomorrow so I got to put an end to this now.