Movin' on up.

Riding in Airplanes with Cats.

I took Macaroni on the flight with me probably more for my sanity than anything. My sanity went straight out the window when we had to go through security. They required me to
1. remove my laptop from my carry on
2. remove my shoes
3. remove my cat from his soft sided carrier
4. remove my keys from my pocket
5. carry frightened cat through metal detector
all of this while fighting back tears and fears.

Getting to my seat on the back of the plane after all of the other passengers had already been boarded was another task. Despite making my shoelaces loose enough to slip my foot back into the shoe, I could not actually get my feet back into my shoes while shoving my cat into the carrier and my laptop into the carry-on and extracting my boarding pass and drivers license. So I trudged down the narrow isle pulling my carry-on and carrying my cat with my feet falling out of my shoes. We finally made it to our seat only to discover our seat was taken. We took our place on the row behind since that row was empty.

The plane ride was nice. The plane was not full so we had the whole row to ourselves for the entire flight. Macaroni did not cry or whine, not that I could have heard him with the noise of the plane. I don't remember planes being that loud.

When we arrived in Detroit I stayed on the plane until everyone else had exited. The nice Northwest lady at the gate directed me to the tram that runs along the ceiling and that took us to our gate at the opposite end of the terminal. Once I found the gate I started to look for a place to let my cat run. We found a family bathroom so I locked the door and unloaded the cat. He ate and walked while I brushed my hair and lint rolled my bag. We then packed back up and found some food and magazines. I headed to the gate about 30 minutes before the flight time only to find that my flight had moved from gate 73 to gate 23 (after I traveled from gate 6).

Detroit is a beautiful airport. There are plenty of food vendors and shops, I actually wished that my layover was longer so I could shop. We arrived at the gate just before they began to load the first class and special needs passengers. I loaded with the special needs passengers since I had my cat (yes we have special needs). Once again the flight was not full and we had a row to ourselves.

Macaroni was not happy during the second flight or the drive home. Kenny had us stuck in the parking garage for a little while and then we stopped at WALMART. Once we got to the house I unloaded the cat, and he went underneath the bed to hide.

We got unpacked and Macaroni has walked around the house and terrorize the dogs a bit. All the humans like him though. Shawn and Janelle surprised me by being here Saturday but they left yesterday and the girls went to school today. The town in very pretty but some of the countryside looks like Kansas. Yesterday we did go to an outlet mall that had some great deals on books.

I love the house and the neighborhood but I am having a hard time finding my way around the kitchen. Pernille, the foreign exchange student from Demark, is having to show me the ropes. It is sad and strange how well she fits into this family. She had Kenny set up the LCD projector and we watched Big Fish on Saturday night (great movie by the way).

More later from PA.

posted by Unknown @ 5:20 PM