Thursday, September 14, 2017 – Atlanta



The craziness of Hurricane Irma is rapidly receding into memory, thank goodness!  My wonderful sons put up and later removed tons of heavy plywood from my windows to make us (the cats and me) as safe as possible, and my super next-door neighbors let me use some of the power from their generator for necessities, like keeping my phone charged and running the cats’ water fountain.  (We all have our own scale of necessities!)  I’m told that we now have power, and that removed the last of my worries, so I’m free to go adventuring with a clear conscience and an eye for the new and exciting!

Ewww!  Ladders!
 Stu drove me to the airport this morning at yuck o’clock, after I got ready in the dark house.  Happily I had packed before the power went out, so that wasn’t a problem!  When I got to TPA there were nearly no travelers!  I guess everyone who wanted to leave had done so days before!  I breezed through security and returned to E62, from which I left for Ireland. I left a message for the Irish waitress at Four Green Fields who had given Connie and me advice before our Ireland adventure.

The gate agent gave me a wonderful seat assignment (he assured me that it was on the inside of the plane!) and his compatriot agreed to take my suitcase even though they weren’t fully booked!  On the plane I discovered that no one was sitting in our middle seat!  And when beverages were served we received both the GF pretzels and biscotti!  It was like the Universe was trying to make up for the past week’s unpleasantness.

Yum!  (Weird light in the plane!)

What a treat to see clouds that aren't spinning!!
 It even extended to deplaning.  When I went looking for baggage claim I found that I didn’t have to take the plane train!  And my bag showed up within fifteen seconds of my arrival! 

Amy met me outside and off we went to lunch, the drugstore for last-minute shopping, and Ginger’s house.  This is really happening!  Tomorrow we are going to see Cirque du Soleil’s “Luzia” and the very next morning we’ll be airborne!!  First to Toronto and then to Shanghai!

Somehow in all the hurricane frenzy I misplaced my magic luggage tag and name badge.  Ginger calls the folks at Sinorama and speaks to a non-native speaker who has a really difficult time understanding our problem.  Finally he agrees to email us new inserts;  but we’re responsible for the lanyard, holder, and luggage tag.  Off to Target we go and we find something that will do nicely!  And Ginger gets a new purse for the trip and I get a new rain poncho so I don’t have to bring a rain jacket.  All in all a successful outing.  When we get home the email is waiting so we print it out and cut the inserts to fit.  

 
Harriett doesn't want Ginger to go, either!

 I think we’re ready, or we will be as soon as Ginger finishes packing.  She had a better deadline than I did!!  No hurricane spinning in her life!


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