Back!

I'm back from my trip to Minneapolis!  I did manage to get to the Mall of America, and I have to say I really enjoyed the experience.  Besides walking for hours, I did fit in a bit of shopping.  I had a great trip until it was time to come home on Wednesday. I got to the airport only to find that my flight was delayed, so I settled in for some dinner before having to board.  Hours later, they let us board, only to park us on the tarmac and tell us that we'd have to wait there! We sat on the tarmac for over two hours and the captain informed us that the east coast was in 'gridlock' due to severe thunderstorms.  Due to FAA reg's on the crews daily allowance of time they can work, our flight crew would be working too long if we ever did take off for Philly, so they cancelled the flight, brought us back to the terminal, and rebooked us.  Good thing I'm pushy; I found an employee who was sympathetic to my story that I had meetings in Phila on Thursday that I had to attend (not true).  She brought me to the front of the line, before 100's of other people, so the agent could get me on the first flight out yesterday at 7 am.  Then it was off to find a cab driver who drove me around to local hotels, at 9pm, only to find that most of them were completely full.  As we got further out from the airport the hotels weren't as nice, but we did manage to find a nice Marriott Courtyard where the staff was sweet and the hotel was clean and new!  I got a couple hours of sleep and went back to the airport the next morning!  The joys of summer air travel.  At least we didn't sit on the tarmac for more than a few hours!  Happy Friday, all!