As always, the trip home is a long haul. I need to fly into the Burlington, VT airport (the closest one) and there is never a direct flight coming from Texas – so a layover is expected, you just need to find the best one.

I chose to go home early for Christmas for a few reasons. Cheaper, short flights / less layovers (one is enough) and to avoid the anxious Christmas travelers. Plus, I don’t have to share my family and friends. A little selfish here, haha.

I left Dallas / Ft. Worth headed to Burlington via Dulles. I’ve now adapted to having layovers only where I have friends. No sense in getting stranded where I don’t know a soul. The first flight was great. No turbulence, beautiful clear day – we were even a few minutes early. Awesome!

Flight #2 – I arrive at Dulles and immediately see my next flight is delayed about an hour. OK that’s not so bad. A little time goes by, an announcement is made – flight cancelled due to mechanical issues. As much as it sucks, I appreciate them telling us then and not later (I was on an AA flight once and we waited 11 hours before they cancelled the flight. That was fun.) So everyone rushes to get a new flight. All the flights out of Dulles to Burlington are booked.

I ended up being put on a direct flight out of Reagan National Airport to Burlington. Yes, I was at Dulles. The airline provided a voucher for a cab. Thank you. I just had to get there. I grouped up with three other lovely ladies in line and decided this was going to be a group traveling effort. We were all from different backgrounds, all older than myself. One a retired publisher/consultant (I believe) who lived in the DC area for thirty years. She now lives outside Savannah, GA and was headed to her second home in Vermont. Another, a retired wedding planner, not estate sales / interior designer who lives in Lake Placid, on her way home. The third, a woman from Bethesda who was on her way to Vermont. We all had Green Mountains on the mind. It was great to spend some time with them and listen to some of their stories.

We left Dulles Airport headed to Reagan and it turned out to be more of a mini DC sight seeing tour. We drove by Arlington Cemetery and the Pentagon (they’re still fixing it from 9-11, hard to imagine ten years later) and finally arrived at the airport. We went thru security for a second time (chugged an overpriced bottle of water I purchased earlier in the day) and we were good to go. Considering I do love the sights of DC, the change in flights wasn’t at a loss. After take off, I had the BEST view.