Fly Away.

So, David is finally getting his turn with the granddaughters. He reserved his flight about a month ago so it was only about $500 round trip. That isn't bad - if you try to book closer to the date it can be almost twice that. I only requested that he book for a more reasonable time than he did the last time he flew - we live about an hour or so from the airport and if you add in the two hours you need to be there prior even a 7 am flight can be nightmarish. His flight took off at 8:30 am,we got there in plenty of time and I was back home before 8. It's a long day, he had a few layovers which on a flight like this is not a bad thing, you can get out and stretch your legs, have a meal, etc.. David called me around 8p which I was surprised to hear from him that soon, but he had a layover in Seattle. There are two airports near Jackson and Brandi - one is in Bellingham which has much less traffic, Seattle is a major city and often has traffic jams that can last forever. So, he was in Seattle waiting for his connecting flight to Bellingham with a 5 hour layover - I actually thought I heard him wrong. 5 hours? I suggested he call to see if maybe they would like to come get him (as opposed to getting him at midnight) - turns out they did want to come get him. The only thing that made me laugh was when I suggested he leave the airport the first thing out of his mouth was "but I paid for the ticket!". He then decided it was not worth it to sit in an airport for 5 hours and got to Jackson's by 8p instead of 1 in the morning. Aside from that weird layover, the flight went well and he is now happily hanging out with the babies finally.
I'm constantly asked when we plan these trips if I'm going with him or he's coming with me -um, no. We rarely travel together - we've been married for 34 years and I can count the times we've traveled together on one hand. One reason is financial - when we travel together the dogs have to go to the kennel, if it's extended we have to hire someone to feed the cats, parking the car at the airport, etc... it can almost double the amount. But it's actually the other reason - we do not travel well together. I drive for a living so it doesn't bother me to drive for 11, 12 hours - David feels 5 is more than enough, 6 he is tapped out. I like to stop at rest stops frequently, David thinks they're a waste of time. We both want to be the passenger. I like silence, David turns into Chatty Cathy the second the car is in gear and I secretly want to open the door and push him out about 2 hours into the trip (sometimes not so secretly). David gets mad because I don't want to talk.  I love to road trip by myself, I can stop and take pictures when I see something interesting - with David it's constantly "why didn't you say something!" as we fly by at 75 miles an hour (I swear he speeds up as we go by graveyards!) - it makes him crazy with my constant stopping. So we travel separately and that way we will be married forever.