The Ache

This feeling after being home in Oklahoma ... the ache. Wanting to hug a little boy and kiss his face. And hear his laugh - even his whine. It really stinks.

The trip back from Lawton to NYC was overwhelmingly negative and hassle-filled. First our flight out of Lawton got canceled - no explanation except something about the plane not making it from Dallas. (Weather was fine.) A long line and people at the front just yukking it up w/ the 3 customer service reps who were working to re-book people on later flights. If we'd done that, we'd just be arriving now.

Instead I called the 800 number while I stood in line and booked tickets on a flight from Wichita Falls to Dallas. WF is just about 30-45 minutes on down the road from Lawton, but still extra travel time for my mom, sister and Owen. Instead of flying into LGA we had to take a connecting flight to Newark, NJ.

The first flight from WF was in a small prop plane. The security at their airport was embarrassingly podunk. They take their jobs very seriously and individually asked everyone about liquids and laptops TWICE before we could even get in line. Then the flight was full of novice travelers who had to be told to take off their shoes, everything out of pockets, etc. There was also a lot of crying because there's an Airforce base nearby and several girlfriends were put on the flight.

Anyway, we got on the flight and on our way. It was a REALLY bumpy ride. So much turbulence (b/c those small planes fly so low) that there was no drink service and we all had to stay seated the entire time. No problem. BUT there was a (seemingly pregnant) lady who lost her lunch (or vom-dot-commed if you will) on the descent. So much that it overflowed the puke bag onto everything and delayed deplaning. She was crying and everyone felt so bad for her.

What could have been a really short layover ended up being about 30 minutes, enough time to transfer terminals and get a sandwich (although neither of us were super hungry after seeing the puke on the plane). Shawn and I weren't seated together, but we were close enough that we were able to get someone to switch so we could sit together for the 3 hour flight. It turned into about 4 hours on the plane because of a loooong delay b/c of an air system check. They weren't very open with the updates.

FINALLY we arrived at about 11:40, and I was pretty happy when we landed, thinking woo-hoo! Although we were 1.5+ hours later than our originally scheduled arrival AND we were at a less desirable, farther-away airport, I still thought we were almost home. UH ...

The only time I took a cab from Newark it took a long time and was pretty expensive - and that was WITH the driver doing a short cut to get around the Holland Tunnel line (residential streets to the front of the line). So we didn't really want to chance it and thought the NJ Transit train would be a safer bet. After getting our checked bag, a $15 ticket each, two AirTrain trains to the actual rail station and over an hour after the flight landed, we're on the platform ... waiting for another train to get into NYC. It was either 12 minutes late or 20 minutes early, but our wait was tolerably short and the ride to Penn Station wasn't TOO bad. Then a taxi from Penn Station was quick because by this time it's getting close to 2 a.m. on a Monday night, so not many people are out and about (although more than you would imagine).

Finally home and get inside - turned AC on and no surprises other than the expected sour milk. I'm still exhausted from fewer hours of sleep, but hopefully I can make it up in an earlier bed time tonight.

There's no real moral of this story, although avoid Newark airport if you can. And American Airlines is on my sh*tlist (no other way to get to Lawton though so no sense having a tirade or meltdown).