Leaving on a Jet Plane

Everyone in my house packed up their suitcases and brought them down to have near the door. We tried to get an idea of what cases should go where.

I couldn't sleep and it sounded like not many in the house could. The beds were very creaky and I could hear the bedroom above me being restless all night. I woke up every 15 - 30 minutes. The other folks in the other house had the same problems I learned. For the first time all week I felt hot and stuffy. The other house had air conditioning problems all week and could not get the house to a comfortable temperature. They found out on the last day two people were turning the temperature up. Not good. You could tell it was going to be the hottest, muggiest day in Florida.

I got out of bed at 5:20am, thinking I had overslept by 20 minutes but I forgot I turned the alarm to 5:30am. Nuts. I quickly finished packing up and headed out to the kitchen to make breakfast. All week no one came downstairs until they knew I was there. It worked out pretty well. Everyone got up and had bagels and coffee. Everyone was in a pretty good mood and anxious to get home.

We packed up the cars and did a sweep through the houses. Each person had their IDs either in a wallet worn around the neck, or a lanyard. That system worked out well. For the first time all week, we were 15 minutes ahead of schedule. I followed the GPS back to the airport. It did not take me on any highways which I thought was odd because I've always taken a highway from Orlando International. It was a foggy day.

We returned the cars to AVIS and grabbed three luggage carts to toss all the luggage onto. We took the elevators down one level and waited. And waited for Genese. Gense seemed to be stuck in the Twilight Zone, her elevator refused to go to the level we were on! After gathering up Genese, we went over to the ticket counter. I like for people to wait on me in the airport. I do a lot of travel planning myself but when I get to the airport I just want to flash my ID and get my boarding pass. I don't like these ticket booths where you have to scan your confirmation number, or scan your credit card. I did not want to do that 15 times.

A man from Delta came over and asked how many parties we were. Because I made three separate purchases, we were 3. I did have all of the confirmation slips printed and scanned one to find all 7 people showed up on the screen. It was then we we discovered the flight was delayed about 45 minutes due to a late arriving crew. I asked what that meant and the man said our crew who was flying with us arrived late last night due to weather and needed to obide by the mandatory rest period before flying again. I never heard of this! A flight from last night made us late almost 12 hours later? Blech.

The first group I made purchases for had their luggage included in their ticket price and a Delta representative tagged 7 pieces of luggage for us. The next grouping, with Bill, had to pay 15 dollars per piece of luggage. That's an extra 30 dollars per person, and I thought it was great the price had gone down but it was a wash in the end.

After tagging all 15 pieces of luggage, and paying for 8 more bags, we had to drag the luggage over to the xray machine. This is a stupid system. I like the system where you hand the luggage to the person who tags, weighs and tosses onto a belt. The Delta representative looked at our group, then to me, and said, "I should ask to see everyone's ID but if you'll vouch for them I'll just look at yours."

We all went to the side and had a quick pow wow on the expectations of the security check. Slowly and deliberately we confirmed we would all be taking off our shoes. The group looked at the staff as if we were nuts, of COURSE we'd be taking off our shoes, we did this LAST time, remember?

We went through security without a hitch. We took the tram/monorail over to the gate without event and began our 2 hour wait until we boarded. I walked over with Jim to ask about what time we would be boarding to ensure we got on first this time. I wheeled Jim over to the gate at 10:30am. They called his name at 10:40am and we got him on board first. Because he was sitting on the 2-seat side with me, it was easy for him to slide over to the window. He liked having the window seat and he especially liked the turbulance. He napped a little and chatted a little about how much the staff at the group home miss him. Behind me sat two of our folks who talked the entire flight about what they would do for dinner, breakfast and lunch this weekend. Lots of other folks napped.

We landed in rainy Connecticut on time and were surprised to find Lisa at the airport who had gathered up most of the luggage! It was a real treat! Lisa gave Jessica and Genese and a few folks a ride home. Bill and I took the other 8 residents over to the Park/Ride/Fly spot and got into our cars. It was raining pretty hard and an accident delayed us longer than we would have liked. I still had to pick up my daughter and my dogs, so I knew my day was far from over.

The residents teased me on the way home about our trip 'next month.' They indicated they knew the staff had a long week and needed some rest. They kept saying things like, "I know Jessica and Gense are going to sleep this weekened!" They met their staff at the office at 3:45pm and cheerfully waved.

All in all it was a good week. I know some new friendships were made and hope they are kept.

Honestly, I could not imagine going with a better group of staff people. They all worked so hard, putting in a minimum of 16 hour days. Jessica and Genese were the best. Jessica kept things moving at a good pace in her house, trying to keep a schedule and a consistent routine. Her knowledge of Disney allowed for the groups to have the best time in the parks without getting over tired or missing anything. Genese's easy going style remained constant throughout the week and was such an easy person to live with for the entire week. Though she had never been to Disney before, and lacked a GPS, she took on each challenge with determination and success. The residents all enjoyed having Bill on the trip and getting to know him in a casual environment. The constant laundry, dishwasher, meals, medications and other tasks kept most people busy when we were not out enjoying Florida. Cooking in the home kept things affordable for the folks but also healthier. If we had eaten out more often chances of people not feeling well due to salt and sugar issues could have made the trip more difficult.

What I learned this trip:
Check the medications and check them again before leaving.
Bringing less clothing and doing laundry is probably best because it keeps packing manageable.
The pool was not an important part of the environment. We only used the pool once and no one seemed very interested in it.
Shopping was an activity everyone enjoyed.
One week may be too long for most people. 5 days/ 3 parks may have worked.
Next time I'd choose a house with more sitting areas. The bedrooms had no chairs in them and the living room was not very large. I rented a house once for my family which had two living rooms and it worked well.

Thanks for reading!