We planned on flying on an 8:50AM American Airline flight. We checked in and were on the bus when I noticed the flight was coming in from Kansas City and had diverted somewhere else. Not good. When we got to the gate the flight was delayed because the flight had smoke in the cabin and diverted to Wichita, Kansas. The flight was expected to get to Dallas at 9:40AM and depart with us at 10:15AM. I checked www.flightware.com and saw the flight had a plan filed to DFW from Wichita...but had not left. I started making backup plans. There was a 9:30AM flight to DCA (Ronald Regan Airport)...but it was very full. I then found a flight to Washington National that was very empty leaving at 10:30AM. I checked the Washington Metro authority website and found we could easily get from Washington National to the museum with little fuss. We easily scored first class seats out to Washington. We had a nice lunch and arrived a little late. Well we had tickets for 2PM for the museum. We landed at 2:30PM. We rushed through the airport looking for transportation. We saw a sign about a bus to the metro rail station. Somehow it was $9 a person....the Washington Metro website stated $4.50 all in. In a hurry we paid. I later learned it was a private company charging $9 and the Washington Metro buses leave from another area. We got to the museum and had no issues getting in (even though we didn't get there till 4PM). Using a new mobile employee website I checked us in for the 8:55PM return flight using my phone. Museums tire me out. Not the walking...but the reading. There was information overload (all very interesting) to absorb. After about 3/4 the way through I was done reading. We left and walked over to the subway and rode it to Ronald Regan Airport. We were early and ate dinner. The airport was vacant...very few passengers. I looked at the load for the return flight. Only 4 people in first class and 14 in coach. There are 140 seats total! I thought about first class, but since we already ate dinner we sat in coach. We each had our own row.
We REALLY like the many options we have being able to book our own flights and re-route as needed. There were many passengers who were out of luck on our original flight as it was delayed till 1PM and eventually cancelled. Flying standby can suck....but it can also really pay off.
Below is our trademark "outstretched arm " photo. We take one everywhere we go. I will one day post them all.
Toward the end there is a live crime scene with a ton of information and clues given so you can help solve the crime. Again information overload. They did have a few informational posters which Kelli verified as correct....but dated.
The Museum has a lot of hands on and neato exhibits. Around the middle of the tour is a room with a thermal camera. Pretty nifty.
No comments:
Post a Comment