Getting there was half the adventure. Or too much adventure for one little body to handle.

I had opted to spend the night in the city where the airport was since it's about 1-1/2 to 2 hours by car to get there from the piddly town I live in since I had an early morning flight out to BotCon the next day.

I took a shuttle bus (or in this case shuttle van) which reached town without a hitch, in fact even early. So I decided to do a little shopping for modelling supplies while I was there and that's where the descent into madness began.

I hopped aboard the 13 Line, aka Normal Line (named for the street which makes up the main part of the route). Oh the irony! It was anything but normal. About three minutes into the ride a lady passed out and fell smack dab into the middle of the aisle. There was a big to-do, the paramedics and fire&rescue showed up and we got her squared away. I did a little contribution of getting the lady settled and trying to talk to her and keep her oriented. She had donated plasma and this is a fairly normal side effect. So she was taken from the bus and we finally got on our way again running about 20 minutes late.

My search for something to turn into a miniature cupola was a bit of a dud, but I did grab a package of scenery detailing items and some floral wire which is great for all sorts of things.

I caught the same bus going back and except for gabble of teenagers in the back (school was out) who were actually not bad for a condensed group in a small space all was well. Then some moron in Honda Civic decided to run a stop sign right in front of the bus forcing the driver to slam on his brakes and everyone and everything went forward. We weren't hurt, just more WTF?, and the driver of the glorified golf cart wasn't hit, but likely they were pretty shook up as we watched them sort of sit on the other side of the street for a moment before slowly moving away.

The next day turned into a veritable flying nightmare. Thanks to people dinking around and the airport shuttle getting a late start we arrived at the airport twenty-minutes before my flight. I wasn't too worried - it's 615am, I should be able to get through still, right?

Wrong.

No one came to the counter, the kiosk was fuxxored, and I ran up to the one of four gates at this podunk airport only to have the TSA guards tell me that the plane was pulling away from the jetway.

O_O

Okay, not gonna panic here. Deep breath, try to make new plan.

So I go on the phone with the airline and another reason to love being a perks member - they got me aboard the next flight from Lincoln the Minneapolis. Except said next flight wasn't leaving until 1055. Argh. Better than nothing though, so I sit tight until said time.

The plane arrives on time, but lo and behold the bad luck continues. The flight is being delayed due to some mechanical issues. Hmm, okay, if it only takes an hour I should still be able to make my connecting flight.

Time ticks by and we're running close to noon. Bad. We're all called down and reissued later connecting flights. *sigh*

Another 45 minutes go by and I'm paged to the counter and now I am on the 1300 flight since it's actually going to leave on time.

I finally arrived in Cincinnati at roughly 1900 and at the hotel at 1930. But there the fun continues. Due to some sort of miscommunication no one at the desk knows who I am. Eek. And my little phone has since died.

I finally get the brainwave to seek out at the Duke Energy Center where registration is in progress. I at last find her, looking rather like something the cat drug through the mud, buried in the sandbox, took a crap on, and then unburied and lugged around for a bit.

Special thanks go to Joe the deskclerk who took pity on me and got me a keycard where I proceeded to nap ... for a really long time.

Stay tuned next time for an actual report on BotCon2008!

For fun purposes this was my flight intinerary (ies) :

(1) 0635 LNK to MSP
1035 MSP to CVG
(2) 1055 LNK to MSP
1255 MSP to CVG
(3) 1055 LNK to MSP
1535 MSP to CVG
(4) 1301 LNK to MSP
1535 MSP to CVG

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Clubs :


Giant Robot Love! My first, best and longest love.

Medieval History - one of my other true passions.



Song of Ice and Fire- possibly one of the best fantasy series ever written.

Club for lovers of sea mammals.


For lovers of all things military!