Winter Vacation
Holly Frohling
My sister, Harlene, is pretty easy going and unexcitable. She lives in Mankato but loves to get away in the winter for a week or two to someplace where it is warmer than Mankato. This winter, that could be almost anyplace south of I-90. It was also a trip to remember!
This winter, she visited a friend in either Naples or Venice, Florida. (I know there’s a difference, but I get all those towns in Italy mixed up.)
Searching for Tickets
Having been brought up in a good Welsh family, she’s fairly frugal when it comes to buying airplane tickets. (Actually, frugality has nothing to do with it. She simply figures that the less she spends on tickets the more she’ll have to spend while there!)
She diligently searched the Internet and settled on tickets for flights on Spirit Airlines. All went well.
Until the trip home!
A Trip to Remember
Even Harlene has her limits. I’ll let her tell you about the trip to remember—the trip back to Mankato:
“I had a very nice vacation. The weather was cool for there, 60’s and windy. It still felt good to me.
The only negative part was the trip home. It was to be a 3 hour 25 minute direct flight!
When I checked in the 3:10 flight was delayed 45 minutes; at the gate the delay had increased the departure time to 4:45pm. We were loaded and pulled away from the gate, then the pilot announced that there was a light indicating trouble with the front wheel. The mechanic tried to fix it, but couldn’t. We pulled to the gate and were de-planned. We waited for about 30 minutes and the flight was canceled. All stormed the desk and the poor, lone, shaking attendant tried to answer all the shouted questions.
After his many telephone conversations, he gave us 3 options.
1. Get a refund
2. Try to get booked on the future Spirit flights. The next day was sold out, but there were a few seats left on the Saturday flight.
3. Take a shuttle to Fort Lauderdale, take the 11pm flight to Chicago-arrive at 2 am, and take a 7am flight to Minneapolis-arrive at 9am Friday.I choose #3. The bus ride took about 1.5 hours; the flight was delayed until about 12 midnight. We arrived in Chicago about 2am and had to get the Minn boarding pass in Chicago. They were not open to dispense them until 3am. We got the boarding pass and a $14 voucher for breakfast.
The TSA entry point did not open until 4am, so we again waited in line. Finally we were through that and where there was food, but they were not open. Soon McDonalds opened and I used my voucher to buy breakfast for myself and a young gal who had not gotten a voucher. $12.90 total.
I did read and sleep some, before our flight was delayed for about 30 minutes. I again was able to read and sleep some on the flight. It was about 9:30 before I was off the plane and able to check on the Land to Air next trip to Mankato, 12 noon. This resulted in another 2.5 hour wait.
(I am getting closer to the end of this book!) The bus arrives and I get to Mankato after some more reading and sleeping. I have someone at the bus depot call a cab for me. No one answers, so the owner? asks the driver to take me home. The driver then introduces himself, Kyle Hays! (He is the son of a friend from bridge club!)
I read the mail and watched TV and slept until about 10pm. I go to get my book when I am going to bed and remember I had left it on the bus!!!! I did read about 10 pages of another book and slept until about 9:30am.
It is not always best to buy the cheapest airplane ticket! I would not strongly recommend Spirit airlines.”
I suggested that next year she go on a Gulf cruise out of Galveston.
I heard a click. I think she was in no mood for such humor and hung up on me.