And Awaaaay We Go! (Part 1)

 September 30/October 1, 2021

This day is really two days long, so it's hard to know how to label it!  Up at 2:30 and in the car by 4:00, or Oh Dark Thirty as it's sometimes known!  Car in Betsy's driveway before 4:45. It's an easy trip when there's no one else on the road!  Long-suffering Betsy drops me off and it's official.

After yesterday's debacle with Jet Blue on-line, Turkish Air on-line,  the power outage, the promised 95-minute telephone hold time, the disconnect mid-conversation, and the "you'll have to check in at the airport" I didn't know what to expect!  But it was easy and the girl at the counter was even fun!  TSP Pre-check is a breeze and I'm at my gate in time to even eat my breakfast sandwich before our flight is called. 

Oh!  Row 26 isn't at the back of the plane;  but it only missed by one row!  It doesn't matter.  What does matter is the little two or three year old girl in the middle seat.  It's a good thing her shoes are new because they spent a lot of time attempting to decorate my leggings as she tried to get comfortable or to go to sleep.  Mom never seemed to notice.  And since she was trying to sleep I couldn't raise the window shade and the overhead light didn't work, so instead of reading I watched "Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar".  I'm almost ashamed to admit that I watched the whole thing;  but just as I'd be about to give up, something cute would happen and before you know it, it was over and we were about to land at JFK.

This is a really, really big airport and Jet Blue doesn't work out of the same terminal as Turkish Airlines. I've finally learned to open my mouth right away and found out that I had to go toward baggage claim, then skywalk to get to the airtrain. But so far I don't know what terminal I need. (There are eight of them)

Ah! There's a directory!  It's terminal 5.  And when I get there I learn that my boarding passes for the next two flights won't be accepted and I queue up with all the other people who need new boarding passes.  Now there's another round of security (laptop, shoes, liquids, phone, jacket) and then it's on to gate 5.  But there's an A and a B and no hint as to which one does what!  The desk in the middle has a sign with my flight so maybe they will both work?  We'll find out in about an hour!