Arriving in Tampa

I had planned my flight for Saturday afternoon to allow for contingencies, so of course there were none. After a long morning of fretting over every single thing I'd packed the night before, I finally set out for the airport.

At BWI, I waited in the line at Air Tran for about fifteen minutes. On the counter were signs that said they were having an upgrade sale. Even the check-in kiosk automatically offered me an upgrade. I thought about it for a moment then said, "What the heck. I'm on vacation."

So I rode the whole way to Florida in the nearly empty business class section. I practically had the attendant to myself and she soon ran out of things to do for me. I had a more or less constant refill on my water glass. I even splurged and had a shortbread cookie from the snack basket she kept tempting me with. The two hour flight seemed far too short for once and before I knew it we were on the ground in Tampa.

TPA has free Wifi, so I took a few minutes to Twitter my whereabouts and then headed down for the long wait at the baggage carousel. Now if I had four planes landing at roughly the same time, I might find a way to use more than one baggage belt. Instead Air Tran had the passengers from all four flights scrambling for luggage off the same belt. So much fun!

My luck with car rentals is still holding up. I'd tried to reserve a Prius for the week, but they were all out. I had a coupon for a free tank of gas, so I stopped at the Hertz counter on my way. I mentioned the Prius and the woman said, "Oh, I can give you a Prius if you want." I walked out to the garage and it's the same exact color as mine back home.

I drove off into a beautiful Gulf sunset, ready for what I hope will be an enjoyable visit. Mom was waiting on the porch when I drove up. I got settled in, hooked up her wireless that had been disconnected when she switched to DSL, then turned in early. All this relaxation can wear a girl out!