Somewhere around the time we got married, we were talking with Jen's brother about possible honeymoon locations. His question was, "what do you guys want to do on your honeymoon?" Our response was "nothing." It had been a very long time since our last vacation, so nothing was all we needed. His answer was Anquilla. It's a perfect little place to do nothing. And so it was.

As we got closer to making plans and getting it altogether, we found more and more people who, not only heard of the place, but had been there and loved it. Apparently the appeal is doing nothing all day and going out to the most exquisite dinners at night. The island, in addition to its beautiful beaches, is a dining delight.

The day before we were to leave, a storm hit. First it rained, then ice and sleet and finally snow. The roads were horrendous. The plan was to drive to Jeff and Sara's place in the city to drop off the dog, stay the night and get a ride to the airport Saturday morning. Because of the roads and me having to plow our driveway just to get out, we didn't leave our place till 10pm Friday night. The trecherous trip took an hour and a half to get to West Philly. Not too bad a time, but our nerves were shot when we got there. After a few drinks to calm down we got to bed around 1am.

With a 7:40am international flight, we were up at 4:30am to head to the airport. Jeff drops us off, we throw our coats in the car and we're on our way. Not quite. All the Friday flights had been cancelled and most of those people were already at check-in. The line wrapped around inside the building from one end to the other twice before pointing and splitting 3 ways (US Air only had 3 people working check-in) to the counter. After standing for what seemed like eternity in that line, in front of a door that kept opening and blowing frigid air on us, Jen decided to look for another way. In that time, the Skycap desk (outside) had opened and they were checking baggage for those with boarding passes. Jen had printed ours out the night before. Though the line was completely outside, she figured it would move faster since it was so much shorter. It took an hour and a half of standing in the freezing cold to get through the line. There was only one guy working the desk. He would only take people traveling in a group. If there was an individual, that's all he took. He'd load up their luggage and head off somewhere for 15 minutes before coming back to the next person/group in line. If someone pulled up that needed a wheelchair, they got preferential treatment. It wasn't enough to simply get them a wheelchair, they got moved to the front and handled first over everyone else. At least 3 people "needed" wheelchairs.

Of course there was a lot of grumbling going on. I was amazed at how many people were actually surprised by US Airs poor performance. I thought it was common knowledge that US Air sucked so bad. There was simply nothing we could do. Get over it.

I stood so long in the cold, my quads started to shiver. My core had been shivering for a while. The feeling of my thigh muscles shivering under my jeans was really quite strange. Jen waited inside, while I held our spot in line. She would come out periodically to switch with me, so I could warm up, but it didn't work. The thawing process hurt too much. The people inside were really annoying me, so I stood outside. In the meantime we befriended the couple in front of us. They were also flying to St. Martin, so we decided to become a group and get "processed" quicker. Meanwhile the time for our flight departure was quickly approaching.

Finally we get processed and it's onto security. Usually security is at least twice the wait check-in is. I thought for sure we'd miss our flight since it was still saying "On Time". Security was a breeze. The four of us started to run to our gate. At first I held back. I didn't want to get yelled at for leaving everyone behind, but quickly realized my fitness was a desired asset. I could sprint faster and longer to reach the gate and hopefully hold the plane if necessary. I ran like hell, got to the gate, but they weren't even boarding. Shortly after Jen and the rest arrived, the sign finally changed from "On Time" to a new departure time. Whew! We made it.

The new departure times went on for a while until finally an entirely new flight displayed on our gate monitor. People were starting to get upset - again. US Air is still running the show people. What did you expect?

Can't remember if this was our plane, but the area looked pretty bad from the storm the day before.