De Plane! De Plane!

I've made it through one leg of the trip home. Unlike every other "businesslike" place I have been so far this weekend (the Marriott convention hotel, Orange County airport) DIA actually has fre WiFi available for weary travelers.

That's me.

I've got about 20 minutes before boarding the flight to KCI, so I'm charging up the laptop and re-connecting with the outside world for just a bit.

The great irony of attending the journalism convention is that it's the two times of the year when I am least involved in the news of the day. Usually, I can't easily get internet access. I'm up and out of the room by 7 a.m. most days, preparing to teach and attend workshop sessions. Once down at the convention, we really are in a bubble. It's all yearbook and newspaper all the time. Trends, headlines, great design, how to improve writing, staff morale - we've got it all. And we usually go straight until dinner time.

Except current events! About the only thing I've been keeping up with this week is the compound story out of Texas. And that's only because it's been all they're talking about on CNN and Today as I'm getting dressed and heading out the door.

I thought the flight from Orange to Denver was supposed to be three hours - it flew by. (HA!) Really, no pun intended. I watched one episode of The Office - they showed it on the inflight TV. Then, I had a very nice talk with the gentleman sitting in the aisle seat of our row. Normally I am not a talker when it comes to airplane neighbors, but our chat made the time go by really quickly. He's an East Coaster - so I'm hoping I made a good impression of Kansans.

Sometimes I feel as though I'm on a personal crusade to change the backward image of my state brethren.

I just had to run over to the podium to have a seat change. I don't think I've ever been paged over the gate intercom before. I was a little nervous getting on our flight because my good friend Laura was on the plane. (That's not what made me nervous.)

Lunch with Laura on Friday included about 10 tales of her flight woes - she's been in three emergency landing situations! She's also been re-routed, had flights canceled right under her nose, and had to drive all night to get to destinations. At lunch, I said "Jeez, don't take this the wrong way, but I hope I NEVER am on the same flight as you."

I should have known better - I'm flying United (she has about a bazillion frequent flyer miles with them and she's on a first-name basis with most of the employees) and I flew into Denver, her home airport. So, of course I'd be on the flight with her.

Luckily, no craziness occurred. It was smooth sailing all the way. Interestingly, the pilot AND co-pilot were women. That's the first time that's ever been the case on a flight I've taken. Kind of cool, I think.

•••

I'll put up a big photo post later tonight. I'm afraid I'll run out of time if I try it now. You'll see palm trees and Disney. We got home from the park about 12:45 a.m. last night. Even though I only got to do Space Mountain, Haunted Mansion, Jungle Cruise and Pirates of the Caribbean, I had a great time. Really, the only long line was Space Mountain (60 minutes) - on all the others, we got right in.

The "Walk in Walt's Footsteps Tour" was interesting and educational. I'll try to remember some fun facts with which to caption the photos.

It's time for me to fly.