One More Hug

As I type this, we are sitting in first class on our way to Charlotte (in flight wifi is easily on my current top ten list of most favorite things) waiting for our omelettes to be served. In first class you even get real glasses, mine only has water for now, but I plan to enjoy all the perks of first before we land.  The real start to our adventure leads us to these seats, so I will back up a little.

We enjoyed a week in Denver, spending a little bit of time with as many loved ones as possible. Our last CO dinner was with our friends Amy and Patrick and their daughter Annie, who has pretty much raised the bar on cute little blonde girls. Not only did she ensure we had plenty of parmesan on our pizza throughout dinner, but she also shared her princess stickers freely.  Getting on our coats after dinner she told me she was going to "miss [me] so much." And, as if I wasnt already hooked, outside, after our goodbyes Annie through her arms open wide reaching to the sky and didn't so much ask but rather declared "one more hug" and when I happily leaned down to give her one said "no, Ben!" He, of course, ran across the street with princess stickers on his cheeks and gave her one more squeeze. It was an unforgettable goodbye and a story I want to tell so often that as Annie grows up she becomes tired of my 'hug story'.

Our flight adventure began yesterday morning as we arrived at DIA at 4am. We are flying standby on USAir and hoping to get out on the first flight of the day. For those unfamiliar with buddy passes, they are an opportunity to fly standby on any flight with open seats. Our reasons for going this route not only include some savings on tickets, but more importantly a shot at first class to Europe and no pressure to try planning a trip amidst our hectic move out of state. As you saw in our previous post, our itinerary was just decided earlier this week.

You probably picked up on some foreshadowin - catching a flight has taken some time! Yesterday we tried to get on 5 different flights. And we even got on one to Phillie only to later be removed (yes the awkward walk off the plane past staring passengers with luggage in hand) because a paying passenger was able to get on board after the doors had closed. That was a roller coaster of excitement and disappointment that spanned all of 7 minutes of our day.

After failing to get a seat on the 4pm flight we decided to head home for some sleep before returning to catch the red eye at just after midnight. My mom returned to the airport to get us after having dropped us off twelve hours earlier. As we waited I dropped Ben's phone in the street and shattered a corner of the screen, having grown accustomed to his accident prone girlfriend he was not upset, despite being tired. I felt awful and wished to discard my ten thumbs and guilty conscious.

My mom returned us to the airport at midnight and even let us take two blankets that may not make it home. This was her third round trip of the day spanning from 4 am to midnight, which also came with one more hug. We are so thankful for her help! And, my stepmom who generously gave us the passes was also up waiting to see how she could help with flights.

We did not make the 1am flight, but at one point there were 30 seats still open so it was looking good! Then a team of kids from Bermuda with their chaperones began to check in, very late, to their flight. They came in waves to the gate and we sat and waited as the open seats disappeared. We would have been pretty excited to be on that plane, but I think the excitement of the chaperones to make their flight with all those kids in tow far outweighed our own need. So, it was meant to be.

And, as you already know, we made the next flight and took our seats in the first row of the plane, there was some excitement and cheering as other standby passengers (McLean, Black and Loftis) who had been waiting almost as long as us also made the flight.

Here are some answers to your questions:

• No, we did not have to put anything in the new marijuana deposit boxes at the airport before going through security
• Yes, we slept on the floor of the airport and that included wearing eye masks
• No, we are not embarrassed, eye masks are awesome and we will never go back
• We are traveling with backpacks and have kept everything with us so we had no luggage issues
• Yes, we showered before returning to the airport
• I did look at the Sky Mall catalog and, Josh, my new favorite is the singing gondolier on page 31
• Yes, breakfast on the plane was yummy (enjoy the first photo of our trip)
• The best place to nap at DIA is on the second floor of concourse B under the desks...quieter, darker and warmer than anywhere else on the concourse
• Next stop is Charlotte where we are planning to catch a flight to Paris. If we don't get on that, we also have a flight to Rome and one to London that also leave tonight

It is starting to feel like vacation!!