Making the Connection

Anyone who has traveled by air without a direct flight knows how precious each minute is when it comes to making the connection.

This morning, Jim was up in time, his co-worker was at our house at 3 a.m. to pick him up. They made it to Madison in plenty of time to make their flight and boarded on time. Unfortunately, the plane did not take off in time so when they arrived at the Atlanta airport, they missed their connecting flight to San Antonio.

They were supposed to arrive at 8:54 a.m. and make the 9:46 a.m. flight. That in itself is a tight squeeze for time in that huge airport.

So what did the missed connection mean?

Well, simply put: 8 long, long, long, long hours in the airport!! There is only so much reading, talking, walking, eating and attempts to sleep that one can do in a somewhat confined space -- plus having to lug their carry-ons with them.

They kept an eye on flights that were going to San Antonio and were placed on standby in case someone didn't show. That didn't happen. They ended up on a flight just about exactly 8 hours later and, thankfully, Jim just texted me and said they'd landed in San Antonio.

Finally!

Now last week I will admit I was jealous about his business travel. Golf and California sunshine just about had me holding a pity party in the midst of the snow storm.

But today, I was reminded that business travel is not all it's cracked up to be. The traveling alone can take up full days on each end of the trip sometimes and, while you aren't really doing anything, it is exhausting all the same.

So when he calls in a bit I probably won't mention that I had a good day at work, Carter is already doing his homework and I just pulled some fresh-baked banana bread out of the oven.

Nah, I'll just mention how cold it is here so at least he's got that going for him!