Before you read this story, I want to make sure it is that it is known that the weekend was totally worth it.  It may not seem like it while reading story, but seeing Whitney's wedding and hanging out with Chris and family was well worth it.

I wrote 95% of this story on my new iPaq with its keyboard sleeve. I started writing this story on Saturday morning during my first flight. I continued writing whenever I had free time throughout the weekend. I finished writing when the weekend ended with my arrival back at work Monday morning.

This is the story of my amazing trip to attend Whitney's (my friend Chris's sister) wedding. It all began easily enough in mid to late March. Whitney was nice enough to tell me ahead of time that I was invited so that I could book my travel. I went on to Expedia to book my ticket as I have done countless times before. Since I was flying to a very small airport my choices were limited. I was going to fly out of BWI since I was planning on leaving from work on Friday afternoon. I booked a flight from BWI to BOS on Air Tran and then a connecting flight from BOS to PWM (Portland, ME) on Delta. I also booked similar return flights for Sunday afternoon. There were no direct flights nor did any single carrier have a way to get from BWI to PWM it seemed. (I have since figured out that US Airways does do both legs of this trip and there are direct flights from DCA and IAD to PWM.) Booking a flight such as this was a mistake because for some reason I got paper tickets, this will become important later in the story. I also booked my hotel and rental car along with the flight as part of a vacation package to try to simplify things and possibly reduce cost. This again was a mistake that will cost me.

After booking my travel I found out the exact timing of a party being held at Whitney's parents on the Sunday after the wedding. I had booked the latest flight I could out of PWM which was 4:15 PM. Since the party was at 1 PM and a half hour from airport I decided I wouldn't be able to make it. This issue will pop up again though.

Whitney's mom contacted me in early July to see if I needed a room they had held for me. Since I had booked my room as package I declined and stayed with what I had.

Fast forward to Thursday July 17. On Thursday night I packed to prepare for my trip. I was fairly sure that I had packed all I needed.

From this point I will do a timeline as it lends itself to the rest of the story and events.

Friday July 18
5:45 AM - I get up at my normal time for work. I remember one or two more things to pack like a magazine and undershirt for my suit outfit.

2:00 PM - I leave work to head to BWI airport. I returned to my office several times because I kept forgetting things. In the end I still ended up leaving my cell phone in its charging base on my desk. It could have been very handy as the day unfolded.

2:41 PM - I arrive at BWI parking garage.

3:00 PM - I get to Air Tran ticket counter in preparation for my 5:05 PM flight. There is a short line of just a few people. I first ask about checking in and checking a bag through Delta. The ticket person is not sure, she asks someone else and they say yes so she will try. As she begins the check-in process she asks me for my tickets. As I have done since the late 90's I assume I have e-tickets. She informs me that no I have paper tickets, which I of course don't have with me. (Told you that would be important). It is at this point that I realize that I am royally screwed. As it is my only choice I decide to leave the airport and go to my house to retrieve the tickets.

3:22 PM - I exit the parking garage, paying my $2 for my less than 1 hour stay.

Now since it is Friday afternoon and I live in the DC-Balt metro this trip I am undertaking will not be an easy or short trip.

5:49 PM - I return once again to the BWI paring garage. This time with tickets.

6:00 PM - I return to the ticket counter at Air Tran. Again a fairly short line. I ask to be put on the 7:05 PM flight. "Oh I am sorry that flight doesn't exist" says the ticket agent (I thought the previous person told me it did). "Ok what is the next flight?" I say. "The 8:40 PM flight, oh wait it is overbooked and has a standby list of at least 20" says the agent. Thus I end up on the 7:00 AM flight Saturday morning. The ticketing agent scolds me and says "Make sure you are here at 6:00 AM tomorrow."

It is at this point that I realize I will obviously not be making my original 9:50 PM connecting Delta flight. I then proceed to the Delta counter to determine my options. I explain the situation and attempt to make changes. I now come to find out that since I have a paper ticket and it was issued by Air Tran Delta can't change it. After some pressing I finally got her to tell me the status of the Delta flights from BOS to PWM. All of them were sold out other than the 7:15 AM (Too early with my current BWI to BOS flight) or 3:00 PM (too late since the wedding is at 4:00 PM and more than an hour drive from the airport). Thus again I am totally screwed.

It is at this point that I decide just to find someway to BOS tonight in time to hopefully make a connecting flight. I proceed to the big board of flights. I find that USAir has two flights remaining Friday night. One is at 7:05 PM and would be perfect. I proceed to the USAir counter. I ask the emotionless robot for a ticket, she says they are sold out. I then ask about the later flight, also sold out. Apparently USAir cancelled an earlier flight to BOS and had to rebook all the passengers on the later flights.

Thoroughly defeated at this point I decide to retreat to my office to regroup.

7:30 PM - I depart the parking garage for a second time. This time I owed $4 since I had been there for more than an hour trying to get to BOS.

8:00 PM - I arrive at RPCS. I first decide to see if I can get any flights out of BWI, IAD or DCA to BOS on Friday night. Short answer no. I next try trains; there is a train from Baltimore to Boston. However it doesn't get to train station until about 8:45 AM which won't help me at all.

I called Chris to let him know I might not be making it to the wedding at this point. I was just about ready to give up.

At this point I work on other options. Building of my existing Saturday morning Air Tran flight I tried to find another flight from BOS to PWM early enough to make wedding. I found two USAir flights that had seats available. One was about 9 AM and the other was 11:05 AM. I went with the later since I was worried I wouldn't make the transfer with the early one. I booked that flight directly from USAir's website.

Since I was changing one thing I decided I would see what I could do about the party on Sunday. I first started by searching for later flights on Sunday night. Either they were sold out or they just don't exist. I then changed my search to early Monday morning. There was a Delta flight leaving PWM at 6:00 AM and then a connecting flight on Air Tran that got me into BWI at 10:20 AM. This is a pretty good fit for me and since it is basically the same flights I already booked I am thinking it might be an easy change.

I start out by calling Air Tran since after all they charged my credit card and are listed as the issuing agent on the ticket. The Air Tran person informs me that only Expedia can change my flights. She also told me that new paper tickets would have to be issued. Since it was 8:30 PM on Friday night that was not going to happen.

I decided to just go ahead and book new tickets myself at this point. I went to the airlines respective sites and I ordered e-tickets. It took a few minutes per and I was done. I will fight about credits and refunds some other day.

8:45 PM - I leave RPCS with the information on my three new plane tickets. I call Chris and let him know I am indeed coming. I head home.

9:00 PM - I decide to call Jerry and Karri to share my misery. In a strange happenstance Karri picks up the phone just as I call. It happens so that the phone never rang on either end we are both just surprisingly talking to each other. She was about to order Chinese food and asks if I want to come over for some. I figure why not.

10:00 PM - I arrive at J and K. I eat my sweet and sour combo and laugh at Megan. I also recount my story thus far.

10:30 PM - Now I needed to fix my hotel and rental car. I figured since it was a package I had to go through Expedia. I called them up and I found that I couldn't change the car through them. The Expedia guy called the hotel for me though and changed it.

I called Hertz directly now. The first person I got said the Portland, ME Hertz was fully booked and thus couldn't change anything. I got the local number for Hertz. I called that number and made the mistake of following the prompts and got back to the national Hertz. This time they told me they couldn't do anything since it was an Expedia package, I would have to call Expedia. This is of course is exactly the opposite of what Expedia told me. I decided to try the local number again, this time I got someone in Portland. I told them I wouldn't be picking up car until Saturday morning, they said fine like it was no big deal.

11:30 PM - After helping Megan make a Welch and laughing at her some more I left.

Midnight - Finally I make it home and go to bed.

Saturday July 19
4:45 AM - Get up.

5:00 AM - I leave home for BWI again. This time with all I will need.

5:54 AM - I arrive at parking garage for third time in twelve hours or so.

6:00 AM - I make it to the Air Tran counter. On the way there I passed the USAir counter which started with a traditional snake line then extended through two concourses. The Air Tran counter was better than the USAir one but not by much. They are not able to process people timely enough so they are resorting to triage. As they finish the flight before mine they start bringing all the BOS passengers up to the front to check-in.

6:30 AM - I attempt to make it to the security checkpoint. I first go to where I think I am supposed to be and then I realize the end of the line is back where I was at the Air Tran counter. This line is similar to the previous line in that they simply aren't efficient enough. They soon start a separate line for people on flights leaving at 7:00 AM. As I am waiting to get through metal detector I notice one of my clients from my previous job as consultant. I assumed we were both in a hurry and I wasn't really in a mood to talk so I didn't say hello.

7:00 AM - Air Tran flight 450 takes of with me aboard from BWI. It is a 100 seat plane that is absolutely full. I had a lady sitting next to me that kept fidgeting and trying to make her dress into blanket.

8:08 AM - Flight lands at BOS. As I am exiting my seat I notice my client was a few rows in head of me. He didn't notice me I guess and we part ways.

8:35 AM - I retrieve my bag from Air Tran baggage carousel. I then proceed to make my trek from the lower level terminal E to the check in level of terminal B. When I get there I find out that USAir is on the other side of a parking garage from the rest of terminal B. This is because the only flights are Express or Shuttle flights.

8:45 AM - I arrive at the USAir counter. There is a fairly long line, but there are self service terminals with no line. Since on this flight I have an e-ticket I can use these and I am done in less than a minute.

8:48 AM - I arrive at the security checkpoint. I am thrilled to see there is a very short line of only a few people. However I am lucky enough to be randomly picked as it were.

8:58 AM - I finally make it thru the super security. They searched my book bag full of gadgets and magazines. They also took my Teva's to verify they weren't molded out of plastic explosives with the straps acting as a fuse.

9:03 AM - After grabbing some breakfast at au bon pain, a delightful OJ and chocolate muffin (they were out of blueberry), I arrived at my gate. Since I am on an Express flight it is actually two small gates that share a walk out tarmac for the small planes. I was impressed by the fact that this gate had its own Hudson News and sbarro.

9:45 AM - sbarro starts selling pizza. Even for me pizza doesn't sound appealing this early in the morning.

10:30 AM - I see an elderly gentleman in the bathroom charging his phone at an outlet near the sinks. He is watching it charge, I guess he believes it will be able to charge enough in a few minutes to be useful. That won't be happening though.

11:05 AM - I board my USAir flight on a little plane with 19 seats. There was a whopping 5 people on this flight. This brings me to the only good part of the trip thus far. Amazingly I was seated across from a cute woman. She actually started a conversation with me by asking about my iPaq with the new keyboard attached, which I was writing this story on. We talked for the entire 30 minute flight. She is in between her junior and senior year at Ithaca.

11:45 AM - The flight lands and my new friend and I went to go find our bags. She left me at that point to find her ride.

Noon - I go to the Hertz counter to get my car. The guy tried to up sell me better cars as well as various insurance. I declined them all.

12:12 PM - I turn on the radio in the car and Alice in Chains came on, good car!

12:14 PM - After a few wrong turns I make it to the hotel. On the way a cop buzzed me flying, I figured it was something big. I saw an interesting sign that said local firearms laws in effect. I wonder what is different about local versus state or federal laws?

12:30 PM - I went to grab some lunch. I saw the cop along with another one, two fire trucks and an ambulance. You might wonder what required so much manpower? A fender-bender with no visible damage!

2:30 PM - I leave hotel to head out to the wedding. After a few mix-ups I get on highway and I am on my way.

3:30 PM - I arrive at the home where the wedding is being held. It is at one of the grandparent's houses. It sits on a river and the wedding it set up facing the river.

There are about 50 people at the wedding. Mostly family with a few friends such as myself and in wedding party. The wedding is very good, by which I mean short.

After the wedding about two hours is spent taking pictures. We then sat down under a tent on a different part of the lawn for dinner. Dinner was very good and was followed up by cake. Once the eating was done the dancing began.

I don't know if I danced as much as I did that night in my life. I got to dance with three beautiful women all night, Whitney (Bride), Kate (Maid of honor) and Erin (Bridesmaid). The other bridesmaid Porter danced some too, but not as much. The dancing went on for at least two or three hours. Most of the dancing was fast but I had slow one with the bride and two with the lovely Kate.

The limo arrived at 10:00 PM to take the new couple away. The few stragglers left at the party at that point either helped clean up or left.

10:30 PM - I leave to return to hotel. Again I took a few wrong turns and I don't think I took the most direct route, but I made it all the same.

11:30 PM - I arrive back at hotel.

Sunday July 20th
9:30 AM - I get up and have an amazing continental breakfast of a muffin and bagel.

12:15 PM - I leave to go to Whitney's parents house. Somehow I continue to go odd ways, but still end up in the right place in the end.

12:40 PM - I arrive at parent's house. About half of the people from wedding are there for a lobster feast. Lobsters are boiled and served to all.

After eating and relaxing Whitney and Patrick open all their gifts. They received things ranging from a picnic basket and accessories to poker chips. There was also a good deal of drinking supplies and accessories as well.

People left throughout the day at various times. There were many goodbyes as they went. I must admit I got more hugs from pretty women, the bride and bridesmaids, than I have had since I was dating Jess. It is a southern thing I guess, two of the bridesmaids and Whitney went to Ole Miss.

Patrick and Whitney left at about 8 PM to go to Boston (which I found out is only an hour and a half drive). They were catching their flight the next morning from there.

I stayed and chatted with Chris for a while after he put Zach to bed.

11:30 PM - I left to return to my hotel. I think I actually went the right way this time.

Midnight - I arrive back at hotel.

Monday July 21st
4:30 AM - I get up and get ready to leave.

5:00 AM - I checkout of hotel and head to airport.

At this time of morning there is no one at Hertz so I just drop keys in drop box. I head to the Delta counter to check in. It looked like there was a giant line, however it was all one big group just milling about. I used the computerized e-ticket check in and was again done in under a minute.

I then headed over to security, where there was actually a line for this small 11 gate airport. As I waited in line I noticed there were direct flights to both IAD and DCA, ugh. I guess I didn't do so good planning this trip after all.

I was again randomly selected to be wanded and searched, lucky me. After making it through that I walked over to gate.

5:30 AM - They were already boarding flight so I walked right onto plane and sat down.

6:10 AM - I take off on Delta flight 6255 from PWM to BOS. No cute girls this time, just a full 30 seat plane.

6:35 AM - The plane lands at BOS.

6:50 AM - After trekking from Terminal C to Terminal E I arrive at the Air Tran ticket counter. As a pleasant surprise there is no line and I am done in a minute or two.

6:55 AM - I head over to security next. No line here either and somehow I make it without being randomly selected.

7:00 AM - I find my go to breakfast place au bon pain. This time I get my blueberry muffin and a croissant to boot. After eating I realized I was at the gate that Whitney and Patrick are leaving from. I wander over to see if they are there. The flight had already begun boarding, so I missed them. Oh well, some other time.

7:30 AM - I sit down at my departure gate to wait for plane.

8:00 AM - Air Tran announces the flight is oversold and they are looking for volunteers to get bumped. Yippee a full flight.

8:38 AM - I begin to board my flight to BWI.

9:05 AM - Air Tran flight 493 takes off, almost done. No cute girl this flight either, although there is an ok one another seat over. I wanted to try to take a power nap anyway. The kid next to ne was drinking a huge coffee and had to get up before we took off then again mid-flight. This is why I like window seats. It is just too bright (cloud layer just below us and blazing sun above) and I can't comfortable so no real good nap.

10:19 AM - Flight lands, home stretch.

10:44 AM - With my bag successfully retrieved from baggage claim I leave to try to find bus to parking garage. With luck helping the last few steps a bus is just pulling away, but I caught and I was on my way.

11:02 AM - I finally leave the parking garage for last time. Good riddance BWI.

11:30 AM - Back at RPCS and time to go to work.

I wanted to do a quick table to show what my forgetfulness and stupidity cost me.