Sunday, 22 Sep 2024 – In our Bucharest, Romania hotel, our luggage was supposed to be outside the door by 5:00 AM. (It was not, and the bellman knocked on our door to get it. Sally was still in the bathroom.) We were supposed to be outside, on the bus by 5:30. We stopped in the lobby and added Sally’s last items to her suitcase. The hotel provided us with sacked breakfast with orange juice, yogurt drinks, pastries, and apples. (We were among the last to board the bus!)
The bus drove us to the Bucharest
airport. It didn’t have many passengers
because many had left even earlier. We
had drunk our orange juice and eaten the yogurt on the bus, since we wouldn’t
be able to take them through security.
Our flights (with lengths) on this trip were:
3h 35m = Bucharest
to London, from 8:35 AM to 10:10 AM (British Airways)
10h 15m = London to Dallas,
from 12:00 PM to 4:15 PM (American Airlines)
2h 9m = Dallas to Sioux Falls,
from 7:26 PM to 9:36 PM (American Airlines)
It wasn’t a very large
airport. We found the British Airways
line and stood there until we could check our bags. Then we were sent to the far side of the
building where Sally got a wheelchair, as she does in most airports now. We boarded the plane finally to London. Jesse was a little annoyed because no one had
called for early boarding for us, even though they claimed that they had. Soon an attendant came up the aisle with
drinks. Jesse asked for coffee, but upon
finding out that he would have to pay for $3.60 for a cup of coffee, he
rescinded his order! We were glad to
have the rest of our sacked breakfasts, which we enjoyed. The young lady in the window seat next to Sally
was a native of Romania and had been visiting her parents, but she spoke
English. She was married, with two
girls, aged 10 and 6, and she showed Sally dolls she had bought for them. She worked in research in oncology in
Southampton, England. Talking with her
helped pass the time. Jesse slept most
of the time.
At the
London airport, a wheelchair attendant was waiting as we exited the plane. There was a very close connection to our next
flight to Dallas. The wheelchair
attendant sped us through immigration and security; then, after a brief wait, Sally
was transferred to a second wheelchair attendant who took us, speeding along,
past other passengers and saying “Excuse me” loudly so they would step aside to
let us pass. That was rather
exciting! Boarding was already in
progress, but we were taken to the front of those still boarding. This was a long flight (more than 10
hours). Dinner was served, either pasta
or chicken; Sally didn’t care much for either and it was hard to eat with the
tray slipping down toward her. The man
in the window seat next to Sally was a young man, British, traveling for his
job from London to El Paso, TX. He was
polite and friendly. Jesse was busy
watching movies. Sally did watch one
movie, about Frances Xavier Cabrini, an Italian-born nun who helped mainly
Italian immigrants in the US, and became the first American female saint. Additional snacks and drinks were served
during the flight, along with a light breakfast before we landed. At Dallas, Sally was hungry and, near the
gate (while she was still in a wheelchair), we had milkshakes (cookies and
crème), but had to consume them quickly when early boarding was being
called. On our third and final flight to
Sioux Falls, Sally started to fall asleep as soon as she sat down. But somehow, she managed to drink a cranberry
juice. The next two hours passed quickly
and Sally was half asleep. When we got
off the plane, our next-door neighbors, Ron & Rosie, were waiting there for
us, and drove us home. It was after
10:30 PM when we got home.
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