Kninja Knitter

Yesterday was my travel day, making my way to Zombie Knitpocalypse, and it was quite the adventure!

First Leg

I managed to be ready and packed Wednesday morning. I’d reserved an Uber to the airport, and he arrived early. It’s always nice to be at the gate with time to spare, and being there two hours before departure was more than sufficient. I sat and knit – working on my Pride shawl…

Our gate attendant apparently wants to be a stand-up comedian. She was very funny, but also quite adamant that folks should not crowd around “her gate” waiting for their group to be called. There were a number of people requiring assistance to board – I heard her inform a skycap that they had six people in need of a wheelchair. The pre-boarding started on time, but the attendant noted that regular boarding would be delayed a bit – but she assured us that it wouldn’t affect our departure time. She was accurate!

I’ve flown the Columbus to O’Hare route many, many times. It’s a relatively short flight. But I’ve never experienced reduced service before. The drink cart never appeared – instead, the flight attendants offered cups of water and orange juice.

We landed early, as expected, and I headed immediately to a United Club close to my next gate. These lounges are a Godsend to the solo traveler! I can put my carry-on goodies down, marking a seat, and go to the restroom. I’ve had far too many experiences of having to cart everything into a public restroom in the airport-proper. I was also expecting to get some food, but I was very disappointed with the fare that was offered. This is a challenge for the picky eater, but I at least expected something like pizza or sandwiches. Sadly, all I could manage was a bag of potato chips, plus a soda from the bar.

Second Leg

Knowing I was near the gate, I waited until a few minutes before pre-boarding was to start before making my way over. This was a very different experience from Columbus, though that’s not surprising. There was a mass of people congregating in the walkway at the gate which made it difficult to even get over to the gate seating area, which was full. And the wheelchairs… I counted eight from my vantage point, and it looked like they’d already started wheeling people onto the plane.

I’d gotten to the gate forty minutes before our scheduled departure. The gate attendant announced that regular boarding would be delayed due to the number of people needing assistance (no surprise). But the pre-boarding process kept going, and going, and going. I boarded the plane fifteen minutes before our scheduled departure, but I was in an early group. I received two notifications from the airline: a thirty minute delay “because we need additional time to assist customers on this flight.” Nothing I could do about it.

Again, the flight from O’Hare to Minneapolis was a very short one. It was so short, they didn’t even offer us water. Sigh. No snacks, no water, nothing. Ugh. At least I had knitting to distract me – I opted to work on the brioche cowl on both airplanes.

We landed at our scheduled arrival time, but then there’s the taxiing to the gate. I had scheduled a shuttle from the airport to my hotel in Rochester, and I arrived at baggage claim four minutes before the shuttle was scheduled to depart. I called them then to let them know, so I was moved to the next shuttle. I’m glad they had room! And while I was waiting (about an hour) at least I was able to open the box of Pop-Tarts I’d packed in my suitcase!

Third Leg

The retreat is held in Rochester, Minnesota, about 75 miles southeast of the airport. And we had one (very talkative) passenger who needed assistance – our driver wheeled him to the shuttle and recruited another passenger to help the talker get up into the van. Paired with what I’m guessing was rush-hour commuter traffic, our drive was a long one. It took about two hours to get to the first hotel in Rochester, and there were a couple more stops before we got to my hotel. The sky was spitting a bit as I hauled my luggage into the hotel, but it didn’t last long!

I was the last of the roommates to arrive, but no one was in the room when I got there. I dropped my stuff off and then went in search of some food!

After a bit of Googling, I decided on a pub that’s a couple blocks from the hotel. I walked over to Lucky’s Bar & Grill. My roommates joined me while I was waiting for my food, so it was great to finally meet everyone IRL.

Once we’d eaten, we made our way back to the room and settled in for the night. I wouldn’t normally be nodding off at 9:30pm, but for my body it was 10:30pm (joys of time zones) and it had been a very long day. I was glad to get a good amount of knitting in, and I also finished my book (Nora Roberts’s The Mirror: Book 2 of the Lost Bride Trilogy)! I’ve pre-ordered the next in the series, but now I can shift back to the sequel to the last book I read.

Oh, and a couple of my roommates were very sweet, bringing gifts… one brought three wallet-type cases, and the other knit up some Mochimochi Land chickens! Anna Hrachovec is the keynote speaker for the retreat, so they were inspired. I love that mine is in Buckeye colors!

That’s about all I have following my first day away from home… lots more to come later! I have a class today, and lots of knitting to do.

Knit on, 🧶