Western Mediterranean Cruise - On Our Way!

With our packing all done and Suki’s pet sitter instructions all set, we headed for the airport for our flight to Philadelphia. Lines at security weren’t very long so we had no trouble being on time for the flight. We were on time - the flight wasn’t. We had a clue something was going on when they pushed back the plane that was at the gate and all everybody was left staring at was empty space. Pretty soon there was an announcement that they would be brining another plane from the hanger and that the flight would be about 15 minutes late leaving. Now I’m thinking this is one of the reasons I always like to have at least a 2 hour layover! Other people were cussing as some of them had tight connections in Philly. Finally the plane shows up, we get boarded and we’re off! It was a mere 30 min late in leaving.

We flew U.S. Airways to Philadelphia. We commented that we thought the seat pitch was a little weird and not very comfortable. But because we had business class tickets they had put us in first class so we really couldn’t complain. The flight was about 4 hours. No movie - shsh! So instead we read or played our travel scrabble game.

Arriving at Philadelphia, we were in for another surprise. The plane we were on was the same plane we were flying to Lisbon. It seems they had another equipment change. We landed and took off at the same gate, on the same plane, in the same seats. The only difference was they had set the plane for an international flight which meant that they had put out the little ditty bags with a sleep mask, travel toothbrush, etc. in them. They still had the same comfort level though. On this flight, they came around and inserted little T.V. screens in a holder in each seat so we did have the chance to watch some movies on this leg. The flight was going to be a little under 7 hours so we were going to actually arrive early. As usual, Hank slept while I didn’t! On the plane, we met two couples who were headed to Lisbon to meet the same ship we were taking. Like us, they were headed in to get some sightseeing done before the ship left. In fact, one of the couples was staying at the same hotel where we were staying. Who says it’s not a small world. On to Lisbon!