On The Go To CO

I got back from my trip yesterday. I would have written about it earlier, but things have been a little crazy. Better late than never I suppose. I went to Colorado Springs (I know it’s not my first or even fifth time there – I’ve been there over a dozen times since 2010) but with any trip I take there always seems to be the good and the bad. This time was no different.

I started my trip on July 3rd. The date is important in that my dad was returning to Iraq the next day on July 4th (no fireworks for him.) Usually I drop him off at the airport, but this time he had to drop me off and then he would have to drive the Jeep to the airport the next day for himself and make sure to tell me where in the airport parking garage it was parked so I could find it when I returned. I was a little nervous that I wouldn’t be able to find it, but that is for another post.

I was flying Southwest. I haven’t flown them in about 4-5 years and when I did back then I always pre-boarded so didn’t have to worry or think about their stupid boarding system. Rather than give you a seat number they came up with the “great” idea of assigning you a letter group and a number position depending on when you checked-in. Then you have to wait for your Group (A, B or C) to be announced and then have to line up according to your number. Once you are on the plane it is then a free-for-all in finding a seat. Since I always pre-boarded  I decided to pay the little extra for their “Early Bird” check-in where they make sure you are in the “A” group and so can basically have your pick of any seat. I had no issues either checking-in online the day before or checking-in my bag the day of.

The airport is undergoing construction (until November.) It’s a small airport and yet for some reason they put no thought into the security lines until now. Supposedly, once the construction is finished the security process will be “efficient” and “speedy.” There’s still several months until I will know if that is actually the case or if it was just a big waste of time and money.

I went through TSA security. Of course I had to take off my sandals and so had to walk barefoot on the disgusting and sticky floor – it felt like being at a movie theater that they don’t clean the floors and you stick to everything. After putting my things through the X-ray machine I then went into the body scanner. I was wearing a short-sleeved polo shirt and yet the TSA officer had me stretch my arms out while he frisked my skin. It is things like this (and mistreating the elderly and the disabled) that help give the TSA a bad name. Anyone with even a sliver of intelligence or even basic common sense would know that there was no need to “check” the exposed skin on my arms since there was nothing covering them. After the TSA had made sure my bare arms were not a threat I was allowed to get my things and then went to the restroom to clean the stickiness off my feet (they should have disposable booties that you can wear through the scanner when they make you take off your sandals, flip-flops, etc.)

There was no issue boarding my flight to Baltimore. It wasn’t a full flight and so the middle seat (I was sitting by the window) was empty. It was a quick hour and 10 minute flight to BWI. I have been to BWI several times before (especially when I lived in northern Virginia) so knew the layout of the airport. I had to change concourses and walk pretty far to my next gate.

Boarding for the flight to Denver apparently was too complicated for many of the other passengers who didn’t know that “B” comes after “A” in the alphabet and that they would have to wait for the “A” group to board first and that B 19 was not the same as A 19. This time the plane was jammed packed and looked like a Third World country (Southwest is said to be the Walmart of the sky so it shouldn’t be too surprising.) I decided to just sleep the whole flight rather than deal with all the loud and smelly passengers around me.

When we landed in Denver (I’ve been there before) I had to walk a long way to the train that took me to the main terminal where I was meeting my sister. I assumed that she would be waiting for me at the “meeting point”  - where the ticketed passengers leave the secured area and mingle with everyone else. I guess I shouldn’t have assumed that since she wasn’t there. I had to call her on my cell (luckily  it worked there since it doesn’t on my mountain) and found that she was at the baggage claim so I went there. Here’s where Southwest’s intelligence comes back into play. They had 8 different flights on one small carousel with people pushing and shoving to get their bags. I waited there with my sister only to hear an announcement that I had to go to another carousel. I finally got my bag and then we had to walk forever through a maze in the parking garage to the car. You may notice that there’s a theme with BWI and DIA – long stretches where you have to tire yourself by walking.

So I was now in Colorado. We decided to wait to have lunch until we got to Colorado Springs. That turned out to be a bad decision since the hour drive took much longer due to all the traffic. I hadn’t eaten since 11 pm the night before and it was around 1 pm Mountain time (3 pm Eastern time) when we finally were able to eat something at  Cheddar’s. I had never been there before and it was pretty good.