Day 7

07.26.2003 Saturday

Today is our final day here. Our flight checks out at 12:48. We wake up semi-early, because we want to get to the airport early. We pack up, and I check out of the hotel. I find that a local call was priced at $4. Wow, that's economical. My phone bill was $40. We leave and go to Dunkin' Donuts for a breakfast sandwich, and a muffin for later.

We finish and begin following signs for Myrtle Beach International Airport. It's actually quite easy to get to, at least compared to Newark. We follow signs for Car Rental Returns and drop off the car in the lot. The guy initials my paperwork, and I go inside to get my receipt. Wow. That's a long line, and I just have to drop off. This sucks. The line moves very slowly because everyone in front of us is picking up a car. We move about halfway thru the line, when one of the girls at the desk says, "Is anyone returning?" Yes. That takes care of that wait. It's now 10:50 or so.

We zip down to Continental to check in our luggage and get our boarding passes. This part was cool because they have a touch-screen computer to check in. And there was no line here. The guy checks our bag and the computer spits out our boarding passes. Now we find the security check-in. There is only one line, and it wraps around quite a while. So more waiting, and I get antsy because this could take a while. Luckily, the line moves at a decent pace. Same routine as Newark-shoes off, etc. We're through and have to find Gate 2. That's funny because there are only 5 gates at this airport, as opposed to the hundreds at Newark. Easy. We spot it, and sit down.

It starts raining harder. We do not want to be stranded here. Just get our plane here and let us leave. While we wait, I head to the gift shop to kill some time. Our plane arrived a few minutes late, but not much. We just had to wait a little for them to refuel and check everything. We began boarding at about the scheduled time, and take off on time as well.

Once we got to a higher altitude, the flight was pretty bumpy. There was a lot of wind. The plane shook one time that made me stop breathing for a moment. We were watching a reel of George Lopez and news on their monitors, and after this one pocket of turbulence, the plane shook pretty roughly, and the lights dimmed and the monitors went back up and shut off. Then everything was ok again. We continued to hit a few bumps. When we were nearing our home, the plane insisted on dipping up and down, and turning on its side a lot. This was making me anxious, because I just wanted to land already. I would look out the window, and he'd be ascending again. Dammit man, just land already. The pilot's interest in roller coaster caused a passenger behind us to vomit on herself. We finally landed very roughly and got the hell off the plane.

We strolled through the airport to find our ride and our baggage. We got home around 3 or so. Happy for now, but knowing I'll soon be bored of being home.