3.9 - GETTING OUTTA CASA D’CHAOS

Oh tired that deeply she did slumber

And for two hour Chucky cut some Lumber

When at 5AM her alarm did clang

And from her deep sleep she sprang
So What if 5AM is just a number

Another reprieve for Nantucket, still struggling, let the Departure Chaos commence.

Fortunately the Varsity team was true to their word and Brian was just in watching TV when all the bells went of.  Her Alarm, His Alarm, Both Phone Alarms, her ipad alarm and his laptop.  They weren’t taking any chances if you remember the wake up call, or lack thereof for China.

Only thing left to pack were the toiletries, his Laptop, 5 more blouses… just kidding, and they were good to go with Departure scheduled for 10 minutes to 6 to insure they would be there at 6:30, but of course it was 6:!5 out of the driveway.  Tranquil  Brian delivered them to Terminal G at MIA at 6:47.

Finding Sky King Airlines [baby boomers will get a kick out of the name] was easy… seeing the length of the line was not.  And of course, there is NO help directing traffic or advising which line you should be in for what as we came to find out by overhearing numerous groups discussing what they SHOULD have done first.  While Chucky tried to scout out the situation, Cuban Lady made friends with the couple ahead of us who we later found out were part of a Humanitarian group [there were A LOT of them] this is when she found out that you first had to check in with your passport and Visa at one station [not the one with a long line] where they took all our information, copied the Visa’s, and handed the paperwork off to the baggage checkers.  Then you went back into the now much longer line, and waited to check you bags and they handed the paperwork off to someone else, then went to another line to wait for your name to be called to get your tickets and pay the $20 baggage fee.  All the more reason to deal with a Travel Provider that has an agent on site to guide you through the process as did all the groups.  Curb to Ticket in hand - headed to the Gate – 1½ hours.

A pleasant surprise while we waited in the baggage line, Any and Nelson Gonzalez showed up to see us off… welllll not really, they were dropping off another of their cousins [Please don’t ask how many cousins she has…] who was also flying to Cuba but on another airline.  Being a NOWAT junkie, Nelson knew we were somewhere in MIA so imagine my surprise when the phone rang and I hear… “Where are you, I'm on the curb at terminal G.”  They found us in line - hugs & kisses around and they kept us company till the line started to move.

Thanks guys… it was great to see you again.  And thanks for the tip about not drinking the water.

Then came Security.  Another line of unmentionable length, complicated by our Congressional Sequestration – 6 X-ray screening belts, 5 Body scanners and only 2 x-ray machines and one scanner are manned… and the scanner seemed to be very balky.  After getting all our STUFF on the X-Ray belt, we line up for the scanner, Of course Chucky forgot his shoes while trying to wrangle the computer, camera case, beachbag carry on, etc, and have his computer case rejected and realigned in the machine twice.

Shoes on the belt… way out of line with his STUFF - he steps into the body scanner…HONK…not really, it just doesn’t want to scan.  “Step out of the Scanner sir” as the army of scanner officials surround the machine and tinker with it for 3 minutes… “Step into the Machine Sir.” Swish….Swish… “Damn, Step out of…. Oh wait… ok Stand still” …Swish..Swish…”Ok… come ahead.”

He now joins the Cuban Chick who with a smirk asks, “So… did you break the machine?” 

From Curb to past security… 2 ¼ hours

We grab the STUFF and move away from the out belt of the X-ray machine and proceed to get dressed, stow the STUFF and make off for Gate E-31, totally missing any [if there ever was any] indications that you had to take an elevator to the 4^th floor to get on the train to another building to get to Gate E-31.  Soooooo…. We keep walking only to find that the numbers stop at E-20.  Chucky stops at the coffee stand to ask “E-31?” only to be directed all the way back to security to look for a poorly marked elevator to the 4^th floor and Gate E-31.

A quick stop at Café Versailles for a croissant, pastelito and coffee and we camp at the electronic charging station at E-31 until the flight is called.  Boarding is relatively painless we drew the double lucky card, Aisle seats in the emergency exit row with tons of leg room and pleasant seat mates.  Curb to Seat

I'll wrap this part up and get on with the flight to La Habana in the next edition… The Departure Continues…
Getting this post up was a real chore with certain connections being blocked by the great firewall of... well you know... we'll try one more time, and then may seriously make this an all E-Mail NOWAT.

HASTA LUEGO,

Uncle Chuck & The Frustrated with Poor Airport Signage

Cuban Lady

Gettin' Ready for Hot Salsa, Sweet Plantains, and Fine Aged Rum