Off to NYC

Instead of walking into the line, we left the gate, walked to the front where the AA counter is to check-in.   Thankfully, we were called up to the man who is the Operational Director.  We explained our circumstance and he started looking for flights.  Riley and my Mom sat down.  I went through the Priority Access line which helped get us through faster.  My dad and Jeremy were with me and I let them take over. 

The man was looking and looking for flights.  He found us three separate flights that were leaving tomorrow.  And two of them arrived later than 4:00pm – which is when the cruise ship leaves the dock.  So that wasn’t going to work.  There were only a few flights going out of the airport to Boston the rest of the night – as it was getting to be 3:00pm already and the last flight left for Boston around 6pm.  They let him know that we just had to get close to Boston so that we could arrive for the wedding tomorrow and make it onto the cruise.

After about an hour, he found all five of us a flight to New York City at LaGuardia Airport.  None of us had seats next to each other, but we were thankful to get a flight out tonight.  It was to leave in 30 minutes from gate C11 – which was right outside the doors where we were.  He got us our tickets.  We could make a connecting flight to Boston in the morning, but it would be tight and if the plane didn’t leave, we’d miss the wedding and the cruise.  But at least we were close.

We went walking to go back through security to find that the line was forever long.  As we were desperate, I asked a lady in line who had two kids if there was any way we could get in front of her so that we could make our flight.  Explained our situation quickly and she let us in.

The lady checking us in wasn’t too happy about it, but we were able to get through quickly, arrive at our gate, wait a few minutes and make it.  When they announced we were boarding for the flight, Riley said “Finally!!” 

I was in a middle seat of three seats so I asked the gentleman next to me if he would have any interest in switching seats with Riley.  He said “Sure!”  So Riley came up to sit by me.  Then another young man who was about to sit next to me came down and I asked if my mom could switch seats with him.  He said “Sure!”  So the three of us were able to sit together.  The guys were behind us and fine to be flying.

I took Riley to the bathroom.  She hated it!!  The light wouldn’t come on and it was so small.  I made her sit as I knew she hadn’t gone in a long time.  Thankfully she went.

Riley sat next to the window.  She giggled a little bit as we backed out from the gate.  As we were taking off, she started giggling a ton.  Then laughing and smiling.  She then said “I never knew flying would feel like this.  I love it!!!!”

She was fabulous on the flight.  Was able to yawn a lot to pop her ears.  Was able to walk down the aisle to see Dad and Grandpa.  She colored a lot, read a little bit, played on her iPod, but mostly just colored.  There were some really awesome clouds in the sky and it was fun when we went through the cloud.

As we started to descend, Riley loved seeing the houses and land.  She pointed out cars that were driving. 

The best part was when it was getting darker and we were able to fly directly over New York City.  Jeremy saw the Statue of Liberty on his side.  We saw the city skyline, where the twin towers used to be, the Empire State Building.  It was absolutely gorgeous.  It was about ten to fifteen minutes at least – great time to admire the city.  Easy landing at the airport.  And an easy exit out.